How many years have you been modelling

[kruno59]

Guys,

It's now 6 months since I started back - have build quite a few bits - none are that good (I seem to make silly errors) - looking at how good yours are I was just wondering how long you have been at this.

Don't get me wrong I don't get upset it the decal is slightly in the wrong position or I mess up gluing the undercarriage or I forget to paint a stripe on a spit after changing the colour scheme and not realizing after I put the decal so making it too late to correct.

To me this is all a learning curve and I love it - am I better than I was say, 5 months ago - I would say yes, slightly - like anything that requires skill some people have a talent - others have to rely on just pure determination (me).

Either way I love every minute of it and chatting to you guys -

Cheers

john

[Avgas]

A year for me after about 35 years away from it. It would be interesting to have another go at the kits I found challenging when I first started to see how much I've progressed. I don't think it's a progression so much in skills as in using the equipment you have to best advantage. I was really cack handed with the airbrush when I first got one but I know I've improved ten fold in the last year and around 20 kits. Plus I have tons more patience! When I was a kid I would build a kit on one rainy afternoon, when I came back I expected to build a kit in the most two days and would get annoyed if I didn't. Nowadays I give myself a month, it doesn't usually take me anything like that but a month is my mental target.

[Coen]

I've been at this off and on since the early 80's, possible the late 70's. I don't remember exactly when I started now.
I would spend a few months here and there building this or that, without any real knowledge of what I was doing or how to use any of the materials I had.
I did that for almost thirty years. It was fun, didn't need any more out of the hobby than that.
About ten years ago I was diagnosed with a nasty case of PTSD, anger management issues, anxiety problems, and acute stress issues. Almost at the same time I rediscovered the hobby.
Been going at it steady ever since, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You'd think that I'd be good at it by now?
I guess it shows how far you can get on luck and repetition.
I leave talent for the truly initiated.

[Timplastic]

I have been modelling form the age of 9ish
Had the usual brake from it as i entered my teens then came back too it 10-9 years ago. i was buying mags for a year before i really started too get new kits and buy new tools. Then came the big jump 6 years ago with buying proper airbrush and compressor.
Now i have far too many kits in my stash and a good supply of paints and weathering material with my own little work area.
Looking forward too the years too come

[panzerdodge]

Started in the early 70's stopped doing it in the early 80's. Picked it back up again in 2013 pretty much cars only and then discovered you tube videos. After watching those and checking out what kits were out there I was full on back into armor. So you people and this great site had a lot to do with me returning. Thank you.....

[Paul]

I started when i was about 6 and then on and off from then, got back into it for a year in 2003 then back in to it big time in 2010 after a car crash stopped my old hobbies.

[kruno59]

Interesting stories guys - I had a very bad accident 16 years ago and nearly lost my left leg (spent 6 months in hospital)- since then I've had a knee and patella replacement, the last one only 6 weeks ago, with 5 other operations in between (not nice when you consider I have a terrible needle phobia lol)

I'm still in lots of pain which won't ever really go away so absorbing myself in to this hobby helps with the pain relief.

Strange thing is I also suffer a little OCD but it doesn't manifest itself in this.

john

[Lee]

Did a little as a kid 12/13 years old. Started again when I was 40 (6 years ago) when my doctor advised me to take up something that would de-stress me due to a medical condition. I've been wondering why, oh why did I take up modelling ever since...!!!???!!!

[ForbesHutton]

I started when I was about 7 and stopped around 14.
I restarted about 3 years ago, after playing World of Tanks for a couple of months and having fun with the Dicker Max I found a 1/35 Dicker Max model on ebay and things snowballed from there....

[Smiffy]

I built my first model a Matchbox FJ4B Fury with my dad in 82 or 83. Modelled pretty much constantly from that age to my early twenties. Just in the process of getting back into the hobby after being diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression a few years ago. Unfortunately I sold my stash about 10 yrs ago, so I'm starting totally from scratch.

[Sturm]

At age 16 in 2013, I started getting into the hobby. My first kit was an Airfix new tooled FW-190, of course I ruined it and the model went into the trash. I use to collect die cast models so I decided to have a go at scale modeling. My Dad said he use to build them when he was younger so that kinda influence me too. I've been building models on and off for three years now, however I'm still a complete greenie at it. In total I have attempted to build five models, only one was successful.
I'll keep trying though!

[Akula1959]

The very first model I ever received was Rat Fink (I think it was a Revel). I was 4 or 5 and my grandpa had higher aspirations for me. (He passed away that next year so I never built it.) Then I picked up a Tamiya Panther and an F16 at the local PX in Germany and built them. The Panther I even put the little motor in and ran it around the barracks some. The F16, well, I tried to paint it... It was bad. Then about 8 years later I was busy building just about any models I could. All OOB, a few were pretty decent, but they left a lot to be desired. Then I got into 1/72 and 1/76 models and kit bashing. I wanted minis for my Twilight 2000 campaign. I did some scary things to get what I wanted, but they looked almost, sort of, a bit, like they were supposed to. That was back in the late 80s. I last year found a video by Coen and was like: OMG! I can DO this now! I joined ISM and now have a wee stash of 2 whole models! (STILL waiting for tools...) I have learned LOADS just reading the threads and watching the vids though, so I am feeling very confident about my foray back into the hobby. (Okay the whole airbrush thing will forever be a dream for me.)

DonP

[TheTroyster]

On January 5 it will be one year. Oh sure I built some kits back when Bob Greese was the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins and Nixon hadn't been caught in his crimes and was still in his first term - but I was all of seven or so. A few years ago I got divorced, could only brew so much in my homebrewing hobby, and I am loosing my eyesight so my reading has fallen off dramatically, my son is old enough now (8) that I dont need to supervise him 24/7 - so have to do something on half the evenings of the week when my boy is with his mother - so I build models now.

[OneSmallStep1966]

I started again last year after a 35 year break, although I have built a few in-between that time.
The biggest difference for me this time around is airbrushing and weathering. I have no issue building the kits but I still have lots to learn about painting and weathering techniques.

[Nev]

I used to build air fix as a kid the usual stuff put decals on no paint. Then at 12 I got into GW Warhammer stuff in a big way! Painted lots of armies and played the game into my 30s. Stuff got so expensive recently and the slow decline of quality, I started looking at scale models. So couple of years ago went to euro militre, bought my first kit and then that's it totally addicted

[CharleyGnarlyP290]

I built my first model (with pop's help) in '69 at 5 years old. Kept building off and on as a pastime, but didn't get "serious" until '76 at 12 years old, when a friend introduced me to the Monogram Armor Series. Continued on until about '80 when I started racing BMX.
Around '86 started building again. Made the most progress in my skills at that time. Built until '90 when I got engaged. Got married '91, started raising a family.
Summer 2013 started building again.
So, off and on for 45+ years.

[qeialto]

I started when I was around 15YO with some models my father used to collect from some magazine. He was into trains and when I was a small kid he used to assemble and fly RC airplanes so is in my blood. I stopped when I was around 20YO due to University and sport and started again 2 years ago

[Nige201980]

I 1st started when I was in the air cadets so around 13 stopped when I left home and joined the army just shy of my 18th birthday. Started again just before my sons birth so I could but some up on his ceiling. Stop again a couple of years later was going through I really really bad point point in my life I was diagnosed with ME and PDST and I needed something to help with both so started back up around the same time I found this great forum summer of 2013 since then I've got back to work yes the hobby helped that much and meet the great poeple with the hobby (a few idiots too). The hobby and ISM are in my blood now and are great for my over all health.

[kruno59]

I haven't come across any idiots as yet on here - this is great forum with guys that are more than willing to help starters like me - and as you say it de stresses you and helps me forget the pain in my leg

[gazmat]

Remember the year "The Battle of Britain" came out in the cinema's , when you used to get the ice cream breaks at half time during the film lol...started then for a year or so...then "grew up" (yeah right!!) ....dabbled about 4 years ago with a Revell Monogram A-10, stopped after that build (can't re-call why I stopped )....but started up again about a year and half ago, now, just can't stop... 12 models in so far, its got me hook line and sinker. Love this hobby....

[Novorus]

Being model making since i was 14 or so making models with my brother, (this did not last long as sibling got the arse).

Made models for a local model shop including a window display diorama they supplied the models and I made them.

Went away from the hobby for a while as got married had kids, kept buying them and hiding them away. Got divorced, lost a career had a break down and become a house dad for a while. Got back on my feet found a job that pays well for very little or no stress on the railway but only really re found the love for modeling when i was told i had heart disease blah blah blah

Been very luck in that i now have a hobby room, (in which is still being re developed as my ideas keep up) but, have a great wife that supports me in the hobby as much as leave me to it......

My biggest problem is my skills are not matched by my imagination and developing ideas, every thing becomes a monster quickly. Joined ISM as the site i was a member of went tits up all the time and then it was changed into a facebook format. I lost the friends i had made.

But at home here with the added bonus of POP hangouts were my hobby is no longer a lonely one, although you can find me quietly in the corner

[Avgas]

My biggest problem is my skills are not matched by my imagination

I have exactly the same problem!

[Novorus]

My biggest problem is my skills are not matched by my imagination

I have exactly the same problem!

I sure that we all are in the same boat, that what makes it all so much fun

[Joesdad]

A familiar story for me..
Mid '70s about 8, 9, 10 years old into comics ie Battle, Action, 2001, Crazy (who remembers that?) Commando story books (they're called graphic novels now). Into sci-fi, war films and making cheap Airfix and Matchbox kits. I had a little tool box as well!!! All this carried in until I discovered beer and girls, it went downhill rapidly
Scroll forward to August 2013 and helping (or rather taking over) my lad with an Airfix Heroes of WWII set, got hooked a second time and became obsessed ever since. I enrolled here In that mouth.....and thus marks the date of my re-birth.


Ps. I still don't really know what I'm doing.....

[heel]

3 years from ages 12-14 and then stopped for the same reasons as others. Picked it up again two months before the birth of my daughter. So I am a little over a year and a half back into the hobby. I spend a lot more time reading and thinking about building than actually doing it, due to family and work obligations.

[PrivatePublic]

Started about the same age as everyone else with cheap Airfix kits slapped together with PVA, tracks stapled on and either unpainted or better left as such. Good enough for my little mind I guess. Teenage years came and went with the occasional weekend foray when bored and then when I got to uni I, for some unknown reason, decided I needed more procrastination tools so I've gotten back into it in the last year or two. Guess I'm pretty young around here relatively speaking, small fish in a big pond

[martin57]

Ha airfix has a lot to answer for, i started waywayway back in the mid 60s buying airfix kits in a plastic bag, and glue in a tube .
this when on for a few years, my father was in the R A F and so i had plenty of different aircraft to watch .
Then as time moved on and work and girls and beer flowed in .
did a bit here and there but nothing much , then got back into it 2 years ago ,
i like to do a range of diffrent kits.
my main problem is i have shade blindness, not uncommon but a right pain when trying to sort out your paints , have to stick to the paint call outs ,
or call the wife .

[Goose]

I started R/C modelling at the age of 14. did this till 2007. then I moved from my parents house and had no more place for the r/c lpanes. I then began static modelling and never quit since then.
still do a bit of R/C when the weather allows it.

Goose

[mannloon]

I built a few Star Trek kits in like 1994 when I was in high school and then didn't touch it again until 2010. I got a small stash of Tamiya armor but only attempted to build one until Christmas break 2 years ago. Been doing it since then, and YouTube since April last year. So I'm quite a newby.

[schweinhund227]

Started the hobby in the early 70's ; I was into A/C and Heavy transports at the time.
Stopped in 1982 cuz I joined the army; when life got slower and postings got longer...
Started again in 1994 till now... re-discovered Tamiya kits...
joined the YouTube community in 2008.

Has it been this long ?

Take care guys and have fun !

[aceST90]

I built my first model when I was about 10 or 12. It was a F117A Nighthawk. I remember that I didn't really paint anything other than what the instructions called for and I used regular superglue on the canopy so it all fogged up and you couldn't see anything. I loved building that kit and would like to find it again to build it right. I had built a muscle car not long after that, but then I never built anything again.

Around this time last year I started looking into modeling again when I was looking for a new hobby. I was blown away at some of the kits and things I've seen people do and I knew I wanted to start building again. So I bought what I needed to start and its grown since then. I still have a long way to go, but I am really enjoying it so far.

[Corkmyster9436]

Building models on/off for approximately 38 yrs, started at the age of 10 when I got a 1/72 scale Lancaster Bomber for my birthday, I do mostly 1/48 scale aircraft w/ the occasional 1/35 or 1/25 scale armor or vehicle model.

[glennfiftyfive]

The first model I ever made was an airfix Halifax bought as a Christmas present for me by mum and dad in 1962 I was 8 years old. So by my reckoning that's 53 years with all the usual breaks for marriage, kids, illness, divorce, marriage, heart attacks(2) phew! We in our hobby are living in a golden age of model making, fantastic kits and brilliant paints and tools we are truly blessed, so enjoy!

[liamconnor15]

I haven't been building models that long since im not that old but started at a pretty young age of 7 so that makes it 7 nearly 8 years now.

[wookiee76]

I built my first kits from between 5 and 8 and then other issues got in the way, started up in rc at 18 and did that till my later 20s, built a couple of random things down the years but only really started in earnest last april after a messy break up and wanting a hobby that didnt cost a small fortune, yeah, right!

[Larry48]

Like at lot of other people I started as a kid. Made a complete mess of it. Had the old tube glue and got it everywhere. Sadly still doing that today.
As with many people I was away from the hobby for many years. I am retired now since 2011 and can devote more time at the bench now.

[trekfanj]

I've been doing this for about 11 years now, but I've just barely begun to put the extra effort into my projects (filling/sanding seamlines was a major hurdle) and I've just gotten the hang of using an airbrush.

YouTube tutorials and ISM have really helped me improve my skills; my latest projects are miles ahead of my earlier stuff.

Now I just need more hours in the day....

[SMAddict66]

As Larry48 said,I also started out as a kid and too much tube glue which wicked from the seams leaving styrene fingerprints all over the badly fitting airfix kits of the early 70's. Painted the external surfaces with a choice of 15 different humbrol enamels all performed on a big stainless steel tray on my mom's dining room table. Still have the tray and 15 original humbrols, although they've been joined by another 150 or so tins of humbrol enamel purchased prior to my "road to Damascus" conversion last year to acrylics. I won't go into print how many of those Vallejo acrylics I've got just case ....

Really believe we live in a golden age of modelling where the kits, paints and gear improve on an almost daily basis, with the huge added benefit of the interweb giving loads of freebie advice on how to use it and improve our skills.

I agree Jarod, just need the hours ...

[McClane187]

Did some plane models in the 90's... found back a year ago and now i can't belive how i lived all of this years without this great hobby...
Saw some YouTube videos and bought some magazines and now i'm infected again... it's so much fun to learn new techniques from all of you great people...