Its a great time to be a modeller

[Stokesy44]

I just wanted to post about how much I enjoy this hobby. My build rate is slow but there is so much amazing stuff out there. New releases, new manufacturers, new tools and paint suppliers.

If you're still in love with the hobby I ask you to say why. I'm going to have a good waffle and see if anyone fancies joining me.

Supply - while the last 20 years has sadly seen the demise of many high street model shops there are still some out there and for me, there's nothing like the feel of wandering round a store, regardless of size, and seeing what takes my fancy. I have a local store about 20 miles from me, its small and only open at weekends but its still a little oasis for kit builders, a good selection of modern kits and excellent supplies. I always buy more than I intend to, A, because I cant help it, and B, I want to support the owner.

The internet has revolutionized the hobby giving access to a multitude of new manufacturers and online content that inspires, educates and awes at the same time. Hannants is a personal favorite, mostly because they list all the aftermarket stuff with each kit

What gets my juices flowing - military from 1939 to modern day but mostly WW2 and film related Sci-Fi. I find historical military subjects highly evocative of the time they hail from and they feed my imagination as well as reinforcing my fascination with history (in a healthy way, I'm not a nut case ). Star Wars is a big deal for me and I lament the lack of kits I really fancy from the current offerings.

New releases and wish lists - this year has been massive for me. Andy's Hobby HQ in the US has teamed up with Takom to bring out new 1/16 kits of the Sherman Easy 8 and the Tiger 1. These are brand new, new tooled kits without interiors so they dont cost the earth. The Easy 8 is already out and the Tiger is due Q1 next year. Takom has been releasing new 1/16 content for some time now with their Panzer 1 variants and their Stug III which is an absolute beauty. They also have two 1/35 Apache Helicopters coming out soon and they look spectacular. Airfix has their new 1/24 Spitfire IX and early reviews and build logs are very encouraging. Former WNW staff in NZ have started a new company called Kotare Models and their first release, slated for next year, is a 1/32 Spitfire early Mk1 which looks like a cracker.

For those of us who couldnt cope with the big 1/32 Lancaster from Border Models, Border have now released a separate nose section kit which is a straight lift from the full kit.

I would love to see more Star Wars content, especially something a bit more risky than the Bandai offerings. Apparently Disney are responsibly for the lack of new releases having gotten cold feet following a drop in sales.

My wish list is pretty well catered for right now. I would like to do more large scale figures but that is more about researching what's already out there than waiting on something new.

Currently on the bench is my Takom 1/16 Jeep. The plan is to prime and paint at the weekend then kick on from there. After that, who knows. I have some beauties in the stash and all those new releases are getting closer.

[RangerNeil]

Nice post!!

I got back into modelling to save whats left of my sanity. Used to be a staff engineer for Ford Motor Co which involved long hours and what felt at times like 8 day weeks so I was always busy. Then my department got moved abroad and the UK employees either re-assigned or pushed out on early retirement. So suddenly I'm not busy..... Alas the sudden drop in income meant having to give up my main hobby at the time - owning ex-military Vehicles - so re-enter modelling, something I'd not done for about 30 years. It came as a bit of a shock to see how the hobby has advanced since I last built a kit!! Things like resin upgrades, Photo-Etch, metal upgrades, replacement decals. Even 3D decals!!

I 've always had a thing for rotary wing machines (helicopters) - particularly the Russian machines. Things of beauty they ain't - although the Mi-24 has a certain "look" to it - but amazingly functional. They always seemed to me to embody the uniquely Soviet design philosophy of:
Does it work - Y/N?
If No - make it bigger/fit bigger engines.
If Yes - make it bigger/fit bigger engines.
In proof of this I offer the Tu-160, Mi-26 and Mi-V-12.....

Also been rather fond of the quirky Swedish designs from Saab. Just recently I seem to have branched out into RAF WW2 bombers in memory of an uncle who was a tail gunner in Wellingtons then Lancasters. Tracked armour can be traced back to time in BAOR. I've yet to work out a way of producing a kit "as seen through the sights of a Charlie G" though.

And then there's Sci-Fi..... Again the odd and quifky appeals to me more than the mainstream. I like the look of the many Star Trek & Star Wars modells but not really tombuild. As can be seen on this forum my taste runs more towards Battle Stars, Vipers, Eagle Transporters and various Gerry Anderson vehicles... My wish-list would include a 1/48 or even 1/32 Thunderbird 2....

99% of what I buy is on-line because, to the best of my knowledge there are NO shops anywhere near me. As a kid I used to love saving up the pocket money and the visiting the local model shops to just browse the shelves and make a selection. I wish I could do that today. There is something visceral about seeing all the boxes on shelves, picking them up and reading the blurb on them - its like the difference between reading a real book and using something like a kindle....

Not really got a wish list - apart from large scale Viggens and the afore-mentioned large scale TB-2. So much in the stash now and currently no display space.... Working through the stash slowly though. The BTR-60 is on the bench at the moment together with the D30. There is so much PE on the BTR its killing the mojo at the moment. I'm finding I have to have something else on the go to take my mind off it.... I keep looking at the Border Models Lanc sitting there in its box, my fingers itching to get into it - but I need a LARGE display space first. Same goes for the big Mil helicopters.

[digger303]

I'm agreeing with your sentiment in general Stoksy
High st shops...well I never really had access to them until late in life and the only one which I truly loved was Stanbridges in Perth WA. They had everything unfortunately they also had some of the highest prices so they passed away a couple of years ago. What I find a bit sad is finding a shop that sells a bit of everything and they have 1/10 of a shelf with some kits on it. It doesn't seem right in this golden age of modeling.

My wish list is fairly stable atm ( 56 items not all are kits) with the only addition likely to be the new Revel Hurricane due out in a few weeks and I model armour mostly so why am I hanging out for this. Well mostly because there isn't a decent kit available and the Hurricane was duded out of the glory in the battle of Britain by the spit. EVEN though I love the spit I feel the Hurricane should be recognised more widely. I also love the WW1 aircraft probably more so.

I'm mostly interested in WW1 aircraft,tanks/vehicles, WW2 land based vehicles, some aircraft. I particularly like the odd ball types and the more rivets the better. I will do some figures but only to show scale in relevance to a kit normally.
Civilian cars and trucks don't really do it for me. For some reason every now and again I get the urge to buy a battleship or cruiser, but I just remind myself or the expense with upgrades ( I don't like blobs of plastic pretending to be something ) and imagine trying to install PE railings and 100 different rigging cables. Then I walk away saying yep that's smart.

I love Starwars, but can't really bring myself to build anything from the franchise.

The internet for me has been the catalyst to my stash growth so it has been both useful, eye opening and my downfall. With a upbeat benifit of interacting with you bunch of loonies and good hearted guys

[Tomcat64]

Great Friday post Stokesy

Like many others I built kits when I was young and then came back to it after a hiatus about 8 years ago now - my work involves the thrill of sitting in front of a screen all day and I felt that I needed to get back to doing something more creative, at which point the stash happened...

There used to be loads of places to get kits back in the day; as well as the actual model shops in town our village newsagent used to stock a range of the matchbox kits when they first came and then of course there were places like Woolworths & Beatties. I think there is just the one model shop in town now which also carries model railway stuff (good for scenery) and role playing games amongst other esoteric stuff from time to time. So yeah - the internet is my playground too.

I have a decent sized stash, and having thinned it out a couple of times everything in it now is something I really want to build but again display space is at a premium so I'm going to have to get creative or throw out some older stuff... or heaven forbid actually clear the garage out.

In terms of interests I'm definitely most at home building WW2 armour although I've tackled a range of subjects and will continue to try & build a mix of stuff. I also love Star Wars and whilst I enjoy the occasional Bandai kit as a bit of light relief some decent kits wouldn't go amiss - I've got a couple of early Fine Molds kits in the stash which are more like aircraft kits although in 1/72 so I might dig one out for the year long sci-fi sig and maybe build a fine molds next to its Bandai equivalent as I think I've got a couple of pairs (Mr Vader's TIE Fighter comes to mind). I've mentioned before that I'd like a kit of the TIE Bomber from ESB as that seems to have been overlooked for some reason.

Apart from that there's always something that comes along and grabs my attention from time to time but no real wish list as such.

Have a great weekend folks

[Twokidsnosleep]

Excellent post David, Bravo