Since last November, my 8 year old son and I have put together a glow-in-the-dark ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’ and an ‘Incredible Hulk’. We’re about to start work on a ‘Klingon Battle Cruiser’.
I’m having a blast rediscovering models, and it just made me wonder if there are any other modelers here in The Dopeland. We could share ideas; anyone game?
What I love about doing models with my son is that he now has an idea of the importance of looking through the instructions and figuring out the ‘why’ of them.
He has also figured out that there are ways of fixing a mistake, even though it’s better not to make that mistake in the first place. On the ‘Hunchback’, there was a rope that was to go in place around his waist before the legs and torso were glued together. He put the legs and torso together first, so we had to cut the rope, slip it over the legs and then re-glue it.
My sixteen year old son was offered extra credit in history class if he built a model. We picked up a WW II airplane, blue, paint. Wow, what a project. He was going to tackle it alone, but after seeing the instructions he called me for help. We wound up doing it together, and I found it challenging!
I used to love modeling as a kid. More recently, I was an avid model railroader for a number of years, but I just didn’t have the space in my home to devote to a layout. I still have some buildings I made from kits and from scratch though.
I was all about modelling until I had to leave home for college. I switched to figurines after that to save space. But I often assemble and paint my friends’ Warhammer models. In some ways, it’s not as much fun putting together fictional tanks. But the upside is that you have a LOT more freedom to be creative and no one can say you did it wrong.
I have been planning on getting back into modelling myself. I didn’t do it a lot as a kid, but my dad did when I was a teenager, and I always liked it.
Well, there’s modeling and then there’s what **Rocketeer **does. Phew - I always check out your threads when you’ve done a new one…
My 12-year-old just decided to get into modeling after some cajoling on my parts - now he loves them. He’s build a couple of glue-model airplanes (complete with painting and decals) and is also trying some wooden fit-together ones that this particular store close by is carrying.
For a science project, we are looking at a from-scratch catapult (actually a trebuchet) - oy. Talk about stretching my skills.
As a kid, I loved building plastic models – usually of cars, though I made a few planes, and some sci-fi spaceship models, too.
I haven’t gone back to that hobby as an adult, though I did get back into model rocketry recently – it’s still model-building, though with very different materials (usually balsa wood and cardboard, rather than styrene plastic).
Enjoy it – it’s great to have a hobby which you can enjoy with your son!
I used to build lots of models. I had a couple dozen cars, some airplanes, a couple battle ships, two C-3POs and a Superman, three handguns and a machine gun, and of course a few starships as well. Most of my collection didn’t survive the many moves over the years, but I still build something new every now and then. Most recently, I built an AVRO Arrow not too long ago, which is hanging from the ceiling near our back door, Enterprises B, C, and E in a small scale collection, and I have a Ferrari Testarossa still patiently waiting for me to assemble in my room.
When I was in college, I was taking an Honors class on Medieval history, and my final project was a little model of a torsion-sprung (Roman) catapult. I actually made two arms for it: one was the classic spoon-shape, and the other had a sling. The sling improved the range dramatically (like doubled it); very surprising to me. :eek: So: Put a sling on your trebuchet.
Of course, that was long ago, and I was able to interview veterans of the Roman legions and get my data firsthand…
Yeah, a big part of modeling is recovering from screw-ups. ;):D:D Most of my models are an escalating series of errors and problems, until finally I fix the last one and the model’s finished and I can quit.
I always do lots of test fitting as I build. It helps ensure that there are no foulups during final assembly, after everything’s painted, and also serves to build enthusiasm (there’s nothing like fitting the bits together, looking at it from desktop level, and muttering “zoom, zoom” for building enthusiasm ).
I made a ton of model airplanes when I was a kid. When I got my allowance I would make a beeline to the Hobby Shop. I was always on the lookout for new offerings from Airfix, Monogram, and Revell. I didn’t have a lot of dexterity or patience, I didn’t do much more than paint the parts and slap them together. I lost interest when I discovered rock ‘n’ roll and ended up selling all of my models at the Flea Market.
I did quite a bit of scale modeling as a kid, with my Dad (even had a little dogfight set up hanging from the ceiling of my room…'had a Sidewinder suspended on a length of fishing line between two fighters, with a string of cotton balls for the smoke trail, and the target fighter pitching down, with a trail of cotton smoke billowing from it’s engines. ), and I’ve been doing a bit of action figure customizing, lately. (Writing up the filecards for GI Joes actually the most fun, I think)
You know what’s the worst thing about female action figures (when you can even find them)? The scrawny little toothpick arms.
Cardstock modeling’s fun, too. I built the Aerial Steam Carriage for my uncle for Christmas a coupla years back, but scaled up the printout to give a three foot wingspan.
I used to build HO scale models of business and small industrial buildings for a model railroad that never got built. My eyesight is now at the point where my model building days are over, sad to say.
One industry I designed and never got around to building was a small ice house, where ice blocks could be deilivered to waiting refrigerator cars. I was going to call it the Frazier-Bunzoff Ice Company. If any modeler is interested in the elevations, IM me and I will send them to you.
Different kind of models- model horses. I buy old, beat up Breyer horse models, cut them up and reassemble them, sometimes using parts off several horses, resculpting muscle, manes & tails with epoxy to make a totally different beast. They actually hold horse shows for model horses, both photo shows and live that you travel to, where they are judged on workmanship and adherance to their breed type. Photo shows are judged on realism- you want it to look as close to real as possible.
Yahoo! I felt sure there would be Dopers into miniatures and models.
I’m having a great time. My kids are really just an excuse for me to relive my teenage geekiness. I feel like by encouraging their passions for Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, D & D, Pink Floyd, Model kits, Tall ships, Star Trek, Animation, etc., I’m passing on my nerd heritage.
Rocketeer - Those are worthy of a stop-action film shoot.
PapSett - Of course it counts! I did a Black Beauty, Alexander and Bucephalus and a Pegasus when I was a kid.
TriPolar - What kind of targets were they if you’d sunk them? Were you learning to shoot things underwater? I’m confused.
It’ll take a while, but I’m going to start a gallery of our hobby work sometime soon. Both kids are starting to take a real pride in what they do, and that can only be good.
I’m actually going to look for a Mosquito once we finish our current round of horror/science fiction models. I think it’d be cool to build the plane that Grandpa Mac flew in World War II.
