How did it happen?

[JBOHMSS]

I like those threads that get people talking so here goes - what got you into making models? If you are like me I can liken model making to being an addict.

For me I was five when I did my first - an Airfix see through bag 1/72 Gloster Gladiator - pretty rough when it was done. It was seeing these wonderful machines in miniature (I liked looking at railway models and layouts at the time too) -the miniature stuff fascinated me and that was it I was hooked - 1973 was my first serious kit a Tamiya Panzer Ausf whatever with DAK soldiers.

My dad was a great fan of pretty much anything with an engine - steam, propeller, jet etc. he kicked me off into that part of the hobby but my mum was the one who helped me with the kits - she made a beautiful Airfix 1/72 Catalina for me and spent all night making it for me. I lost them both last year so models have a poignant place for me as well.

[Roemanish]

When i was very young i remember my dad had lots of model trains around but it was seeing him build a Formula 1 Ferrari kit that got me excited, not being allowed to touch them made me want one of my own even more.
When i was about 8 i asked for a rc car and he built me the Tamiya Porsche 959 rc kit. I think he got this not knowing much about rc cars. It had a tamiya technigold motor and was far too powerful for me at that age.

I would crash it and break it every time i used it and then have to wait months for it to be repaired

[galileo1]

TOP GUN. After seeing those F-14s taking off the carriers and seeing the 1/72 Testors TOGUN F-14 that came as a result of the movie, man I was hooked.

[Roemanish]

Haha yeah watching Top Gun when i was 5 years old got me into Jets for sure

[UKguyInUSA]

Seeing "Battle of Britain" when it was first released into the cinemas....seeing all of those WWII Aircraft in all their glory....from that moment, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Building the aircraft from the movie, when I was a teenager, helped with the fantasy that never came to fruition.

[robertw]

I've always been into military stuff so when I got back into the hobby last October I just naturally migrated over to the military side of modelling.

[JBOHMSS]

It's funny but an awful lot of people get into making models because of movies and Top Gun is an excellent subject matter as well as Battle of Britain.

[Joker56]

Not getting very much pocket money unless I did odd jobs for neighbours ,money was tight, 6d old money 2.5 pence now days got me Airfix kits which would take a weekend to build , hardly ever painted them as only enamels were around , used to fill them with cotton wool ,soak in lighter fuel , light and throw from 4 floor window or empty bangers into them and use a fuse , light and run like hell, I worked at Airfix for two years in early 70s when they where based in Haldane place Wandsworth

[NAMBiohazard]

I have always been a military nut....
Since I was young my dad had all these books about past conflicts, essentially the war between South Africa and Angola.

And my greatest fascination was the vehicles used in war times and the improvement of their designs.
Since I loved the tiger Tank for its fear factor,and I found a kit that has the full interior at 1:16 my hobby life started.
My goal in the next few years is to finish of the Tiger and the the King tiger 1:16 and display them in a full glass coffee table

But now the bug has bitten and I have a great hobby to keep me busy

[dp74]

Hey All,

well, for me it was a mixture of Star Trek, My Dad and Top Gun when I was younger.
Not sure anymore how it started in detail..
My dad and I share an interest in model railways and at some point he started showing me how to glue together some Kibri / Vollmer models for the railway in HO scale (1:87). The Kibri ones where vehicles and the Vollmer ones were buildings.
Pretty sloppy at the time, not sure how old I was...
Then came Top Gun and I started buying and building the Revell F14 .

I even painted them, but in a black/luminescent orange, as in my little head it was a special squadron.
When I discovered the old AMT Star Trek models, I was sold. I build a NCC1701-A, DS-9 and a NX2000 (Excelsior), which I believe still exist (in parts at least...)

Fast forward 2 decades and I have rediscovered the hobby and am building SciFi, Space, (soon) planes and armour



There you go...

[Goose]

Here's for me.

I began in fact by the rc part of the hobby when I was 12. I was a kinda factory-pilot. Daddy buit the planes and i flew them. the thing was that i wanted to build but i was just the assistant who gave the right tool at the right time but no touch on the model. To prove him I was able to really help i've built two or three old models he had begun but never finished. There were tamiya's model Porsche (but what kind exactly don't remember. i just remember that one was with the martiini decals. they were old i had no microsol nor microset..let you guess the disaster...

then, life's though, I had to move for my job and i had no place to put all the rc stuffs, so i discovered a little club not far from my home and i went through plastic models.

As any "good" model maker, my stash grew up faster than the models exposed in a showcase.

Cheers

Goose

[Top1Regor]

I started when I was about 8 years old back in the 50s. My dad was in the U.S. Air Force flying as radio operator in C-124s so we were always on or near an air base. All the planes inspired my over active mind so I started using my allowance money to buy models from the local dime store. Usually just glued them together, most times applied the decals in mostly the right place then had a blast playing war with my friends. Lost interest in my mid teens (girls became more important and was a more expensive hobby).

Fast forward to last Christmas and I asked for a model of the B-17 (my dad flew in those during the war) and I got the Revell 1:48 kit of the B-17G (huge) and had a blast putting it together and painting it (brush painted ALL of it, did I mention that this kit was huge?). Despite all the trials and tribulations I did manage to finish it and was surprised that it looked fairly good for a first try in 50 years. I was hooked.

Then I started looking up modelling on the internet and watching You Tube how to videos and realized I had a lot to learn. Still learning and loving every frustrating minute of it.

[Larry48]

Well for me I go Way back to the early 1960's. I mean like 1960. Yeah I'm ancient. I think what got me started was slot cars. Back then we made our slot cars from scratch with brass tubing and solder for the frame. We bought the clear body and painted it on the inside like todays rc kits. Well the hobby got too expensive for a kid so I turned to model cars and was hooked.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

Cheers

[cameron123]

Well for me it started like 9 months ago. When I bought a Revell Russian Hind.. The thing was big and all I had was the colors that you buy at your local grocery.. Olive green, black, and tan ended up being okay, not historically accurate .. But hey we all start somewhere.

Then It just took off from there

[Munch94]

I found my first kit when my dad was cleaning out his cupboard when he found an old airfix spitfire and hawker hurricane. He showed them both to me and asked if I wanted them, I said yes not knowing what I was getting my self into and since then it has escalated quickly