Saturday, November 25, 2017

What hooked you on building scale models?

What got you interested in building scale models? Can you remember that first kit you fell in love with, that you just had to buy and build? That first old-school hobby shop, with built models in showcases? Or was it a toy shop with a couple of Airfix plastic bags at pocket money prices? What got you hooked?




I recently purchased a Tamiya 1/35 88mm Flak 36/37 model kit. It's a kit that was first released in 1972, and I've wanted to build it since the early 1980s. There are some areas where it most definitely shows its age, but it's going to be a fun build and it only cost $29.99. I started thinking "Why have I waited so long to buy this?", which got me thinking about the early kits that I longed for when I first started scale modelling.

I'll admit it: I am a massive Tamiya fanboy. There, I've said it. All my favourite kits from my formative years as a modeller are from the Tamiya Military Miniatures series. I still have a bucket full of my early builds in the shed, built to a godawfully bad standard, but the important thing is that they still spark my imagination when I hold them thirtysomething years later.

Tamiya was also a game-changer for me in that their builds went together well - they were well engineered compared to some other kits I built (I'm looking at you Revell and Airfix aircraft and AMT hotrods and Matchbox 1/32 Lysander). Tamiya looked "right" as well, they were scale representations, not just "toys". And Tamiya's box art was always incredible - those evocative paintings on plain white backgrounds! I think Airfix had more inspiring box art, but Tamiya's were more iconic.

I'll also admit, I had more than a few "Calvin and Hobbes" moments in my early builds:

Calvin and Hobbes building model airplane
Yep. Plus firecrackers also accounted for some.
Source.


Calvin and Hobbes building model airplane
I still wonder about the eyebrows sometimes.
Source.


Anyways, enough of me rambling. I want to know what got everyone else into this hobby. I've produced a video about "What got you hooked on building scale models?" and I really do want to hear from you lot. So either comment below in this blog post, or comment in the Youtube comments section - I'm fascinated to see if there are trends, certain kits or manufacturers who really stand out as the first of many builds! What are the gateway drugs to this hobby people?

Video is embedded below, but in case that doesn't work here is the link:
What got you hooked on building scale models?

Cheers,

Dave





P.S. If you're interested in picking up the Tamiya 88mm Flak gun yourself, here's the best price I could find on Amazon. If you purchase using this link, I get a little kickback from Amazon and it doesn't cost you a cent more to purchase - stick it to the Amazon man, brother! ;)


6 comments:

  1. Tamiya Stug IV and the Francois Verlinden pics in the catalogues. It was years before I’d even look at another brand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh heh, that's so cool that there is another Tamiya fanboy as strong as me out there! Thanks for sharing abantz :) Dave

      Delete
  2. Star Wars MPC X Wing is what got me hooked plus my dad was into 00 guage trains and dioramas . I also had two mates at school who where into Airfix and Matchbox 1/72 kits too. In the 80's in England you could get kits and paints from just about any local newsagents (or milkbar as you'd say here) and there was always a good selection of bigger Hobby shops in the city centre. In Liverpool we had City Models, Beatties (which was massive) and Catchploes. In the window of Beatties there was always some amazing finished models which where very inspirational.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I grew up in Sydney, and in the city HobbyCo was always an incredible inspiration for me. Their current location in the QVB is rather sterile, but back in the 80s they had a basement shop on George Street which had heaps of built models on display and a large scale train running on a track mounted to every wall about 2 metres from the floor. Loved it. Thanks Ian, Dave

      Delete
  3. Hi!
    Modelbuilding has been a favored hobby in my family for decades. My dad and my uncles have been into the hobby since the sixtes. I was a keen observer when my dad built these wooden ship models (Billing Boats I think). When I turned 5, my dad baught a Revell Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor. We started to build it together (I still admire my dads patience). Anyway, we didnt have the right colours for the kit so we painted a desert camoflauge. Sounds kind of wierd but it turned out realy good. Theres were I fell in love with model buildning. I started to glue all kinds of airplanes together, didnt care at all for paint and details (hey, I was only 5-6 years old). Later on, as I gained some kind of skill I started to care more for detail and colour. The years went by and I turned 12 and one of my uncles gave me a Tamiya KV2 tank for birthday present. Until then Id never built anything else exept ww2 aircraft (and a 1/72 B52 bomber). I was a little suspicious about the kit but my uncle explained that the quality of Tamiya kits was great. And he was right! I was stunned about the detail and quality of the parts in the kit so from then on it was allmost only Tamiya. I continued the hobby untill I was 16. Then things like girls, computer games took over (and later partying...hmm..). The last kit I put together was in 1996, a 1/32 Hurricane. Now, almost exactly 21 years later Ive picked up the hobby again. I have a Tamiya Panther in progress and it feels great. I still have the Condor. Its nice to look back on what started the whole thing.

    Skål,

    //Fredrik Granath

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's brilliant that you still have the Condor Fredrik :) How satisfying is it to have kept some of your early builds? I think most of us gave the hobby away for a while once we discovered girls, but there really does seem to be a recent groundswell of lots of people coming back to the hobby after decades away. Great story, thanks for sharing, Dave

      Delete