How many model kit builders progressed

[siberianhusky]

Mine didn't get much use, a buddy of mine won a BIG set of the large scale track and 4 cars. The local club had a demo day at the mall, they did timed laps and my buddy turned the fastest lap and won the entire track! Scalectric or something like that back in the 70's.
My dad was big into HO trains. I have boxes and boxes of track and rolling stock, all back in the packaging. He kept all the boxes the stuff came in. Some of the switches and stuff are unopened, guess there was some planned expansion he never got around to.
Never got into trains, probably some deep seeded trauma based on what would have happened to me if I touched his train set as a kid!

[electric]

Hmm...OK I will join in. I currently have Digital Slot Cars/Track AND a four lane AFX Slot Car Track. Then N Scale DCC Trains, and my 7 year old son has a full Blown Lego train set up with 4 trains and a whole lot of buildings, cars, trucks, people. Not to mention, rc cars, boats, small helicopters...thankfully, I have stayed away from planes so far.

I tell my Wife it could be much worse, my Dad had more hobbies and interests than you could imagine and so I come by it honestly. I suspect that is the story for many, and I am pretty sure my son will be the same way given his interest in all things mechanical.. Beats the heck out of watching TV all evening and a great stress reliever.

[Grimracer]

Terry,

yea.. TCR Total Control Racing..

Ya know I was president of the north central USRA for a time and placed 7th at the nats in Box 15. I got the attention of Ron Hershman and got a sponsorship out of that... and raced a few more years. (Slot cars i should say).. Its also how I got my nick name Grimracer.

About a year ago I sold the last of my HO racing slot stuff (my 24th was gone allong time ago).. 160 dollar controller and I think I got around 20 bucks for it..lol

I stopped racing RC cars around 5 years ago (eyesight) and do miss it. Both 1/8 onroad and 1/8 off road were my babys. Ya know.. I TQed at EVERY 1/8 scale on road race I was ever in but never won the A...lol.. Great stuff.

Grim

[rcboatmanwithkids2880]

There is some great Histrorys being revealed in this thread , good to read through personal experiences of members that obviously have good grounding in our hobby through similar hobbies , spanning many decades ....

So I appreciate you guys being so honest with your personal history ....
Brad
Oz

[Eodman]

AMT 32 Ford Victorian spray painted Competition Orange bought with snow shovelling money is how I started out . Progessed to tether dizzy 049 airplanes. Went to a 23 t bucket 327 2 speed automatic, early Jag independent rear end. Formula Super Vee w air cooled VW engine Ralt Chasiss, 70 Chevelle SS 396 - 425 horse. Then the Corps came calling - EOD training and 23 years later a Traxxas Villian fell in my lap! 2 MM, A SV 27, a Toysport Twin Jolly, an Intruder, A Fastech and now a Cheetah !!!!!! Don't know where it will end.

Oh yeah had a bike too but after the 2nd time I dropped it I figured if I was to stay alive I needed to get back on 4 wheels!

[NativePaul]

My modeling career started off Just looking at them, my dad made a mobile to go over my cot with beautifully finished 1/72nd scale WW2 warbirds on it, I wish I still had it now but I played with them too vigorously slightly later in life, a few years later I was putting together and painting the airfix type static plastic 1:72 kits myself under dads supervision, a few years after that I was making keil kraft rubber powered free flight models under his supervision, when I was about 10 I was deemed old enough to go RC and I built a Hornet car kit from tamiya, then a couple of years later I built a few fighter jet 1:72 kits and was amazed at how much bigger they were than the WW2 stuff I built with dad and a couple of static plastic tank kits too, then I started FE boating, my first boat was an own design mono that was barely FE, but swiftly followed by a few purchased FE hulls that were much better, at about 17 couldn't reach any lakes so I gave up boating and started flying. I built an own design trainer then used the wing tips of one of dads old gliders to build a fast midwing sportster, and built my next kit a balsacraft easy street, a 42" aerobatic semi-paternship, then I had a flying styros mini EDF, an own design EDF blackbird(if you can call a scale model that, the original design was done by a bunch of clever guys at lockheed), then a couple of ARTFs, a GWS formosa paternship and a GWS tiger moth 400 both around 30" span foamies, and an own design hotliner. I got back into FE a while back and built a bunch of own design cats, bought a couple of cat hulls, bought a stepped mono used and another RTR a tenshock mini eco, lately I built a JAE.21FE from the kit which got me into riggers and I bought a JAE.12 used and electrified it and built a JAE minisprint, again from a kit. Which brings me up to date.

The best fun I have had building was sitting down and building a 16" span rubber powered free flight model with my dad when I was about 11, after he died last year I fond the broken bits of it in his garage and was astonished that he had kept it all these years even after I broke it with my first experiment into electric flight (180 motor and 2x AA cells), I was young, nieve and didn't realise what tripling its all up weight would do, looking back its surprising that it flew at all but obvious that the extra speed and weight would rip it apart on landing. I'm sitting here crying as I type this because while I'm sure he was pissed off that I was silly enough to have wrecked it at the time, for him to have kept it for all these years the build must have been a highlight for him too, and I know he was glad that it sparked my interest in physics and fluid dynamics and proud of some of the stuff that it lead to later on.

[rcboatmanwithkids2880]

Nice revealing story Nativepaul , regarding your time spent with your Dad . My two sons are 7 & 3 & will be taught to be pro active with building & learning from hobby interests . Magic occurs when Fathers spend time with their boys teaching them to think logically about mechanical knowledge . My father passed over in July 2005 , & some of my greatest times with him was spent when we use to work on my Sanger Drag Boat at the age of 22 , it was very bonding ....

[properchopper]

Tony,

Remember eating popcorn Xmas morning and running your train.. The smell of the motor and smoke oil...

How about your first slot cars.. great times.. over oiling the motor.. asking grandma for a dollar so you could buy a new car..

Grimracer

Jeez, how could I forget slot cars There I was in 1965, an undergraduate at the New School For Social Research in NYC. Drove in to the city, took my classes with all the other budding geniuses trying to make Mommy & Daddy proud as students in such a prestigeous school. On the way home, stopped at the slot track in Hempstead, peeled off the necktie & went roundy round 'till my eyes crossed. Got home & had to explain to Mom why my hands always smelled so funny (secret traction goo for the tires, remember that? )

[IndyHobbies]

I was definitely a plastic modeler. Its a great place to start, and a great place to stay for that matter. Its all good! I did this Tamiya Miata a few years ago. Matches the one my wife and I bought in 1993. No, that's not my wife in the photo. She's a little larger!

[IndyHobbies]

I was able to turn my hobby into my job for a while too. I worked for almost three years at an architectural model shop building buildings. It was a great job as you might expect. The only problem with it was that when I got home, the last thing I wanted to do was to pick up an X-acto knife and build models!







More if you are interested: http://www.indyhobbies.com/Architectural.html

[brooks93]

I was definitely a plastic modeler. Its a great place to start, and a great place to stay for that matter. Its all good! I did this Tamiya Miata a few years ago. Matches the one my wife and I bought in 1993. No, that's not my wife in the photo. She's a little larger!

You mean taller right? For your safety if she saw it please say yes. LOL

[osprey21]

(secret traction goo for the tires, remember that? )

You kidding me, man!?

Mura "Bite Rite" and Tiger's Milk!

[rcboatmanwithkids2880]

Nice architectural modeling Indy , would be a great occupation. .....

Brad
Oz

[IndyHobbies]

Yes, Brooks, I do mean "TALLER"! LOL Fortunately, she DOESN'T read the forums. ...I hope!

There aren't as many architectural model shops anymore as you might imagine due to computer generated 3D rendering programs. But there are some. If you want to check them out, look in your local yellow pages or google them. Most are always looking for good modelers.

If you want to spend some time looking at some amazing models, check these guys out when you have time. The photos on their website are outstanding: Midwest Model Makers. (click name) They are located here in Indianapolis, but do work worldwide.