Plastic Models - It's Not About Sniffing Glue

[brian]

I have many hobbies, too many if you ask my wife, but the one hobby that I have stuck with the longest overall is building plastic models. Actually, it is now referred to as building a military miniature or painting a scale figure but regardless, it's still plastic models. **NOTE: there are a bunch of photos at the end of this post if you want to skip the following dribble ;)

I got started at around 6 years old, with snap-together (no glue) dinosaurs and somewhere around 8 years old, built my first glue kit, King Kong. What a mess.....I remember quite clearly the globs of glue oozing out from everywhere, fingerprints left on every square inch of plastic thanks to my fingers being covered in glue but I was hooked (not on the glue.....but building).

I progressed through different types of models: cars, boats, tanks, more monsters, and eventually settled primarily on airplanes. I love building everything and anything but seem to do more planes than anything else. Sometime in my early teens I discovered white metal figures thanks to playing very early versions of Dungeons and Dragons. I had more fun painting the figures than playing the games. I was not very good at painting or building at this point but was always trying to find ways to improve. There was very little information available at the time (very early 1980's) and practically no one I knew was building models. Sometime around the age of 16 -17, dating, working part time and hanging with friends replaced the time I spent model building and it slowly tapered off to nothing.

Over the years there were a few brief moments when I thought I might get back into it but that never amounted to much until about 7 or 8 years ago. I was working with computers (still at that same job now) and the internet was really taking off so I was online virtually 24/7. Somehow I stumbled across a site that was dedicated to model building and it reignited an interest that had been dormant for a very long time.

The hobby had changed a lot, as if it had grown up and was no longer a kids hobby. I used to only need a tube of glue, a hobby knife and a few bottles of paint. Now people were using airbrushes, photo etched brass, resin, specialty tools, it had evolved beyond anything I could have imagined. I was hooked again and things just haven't been the same since......

So, fast forward to the present.....I now have a workshop in my basement, including a paint booth for airbrushing, specialty tools from virtually all over the world (thank you internet!!), a reference library of books and magazines that puts any local library to shame and a stock pile of unbuilt kits that will last for a couple lifetimes.

I love this hobby!! I not only love the artistic outlet it provides but it also helps me with problem solving, finding solutions to issues I hadn't anticipated, sticking with something until finished no matter how frustrated I become and discovering that there are times when I surpass even my own expectations and all of those things have benefited me in my home and work environment as well.

Ok, enough with the chatter....here are some pics:

This is my workshop just recently renovated and reorganized:

These are a sampling of my finished models:

This is one of the white metal figures I've had since about 1985, only last year did I finally paint it!! This is what it looks like when I start out:

And here it is painted:

I then glued it to a base and made a little scene for it:

And this photo give you an idea of the true size:

This is the latest figure I finished painting:

And here I am hiding out in my workshop (prior to the reorganizing):

Thanks for taking the time to read this posting :)

brian

[DANA]

Brian,
I think that this type of "creative outlet" is very helpful in building our self-esteem, finishing something that we began and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment! I sincerely believe that individuals who have creativity are much more satisfied than individuals who simply choose to pass their time by lounging on the couch watching TV.

Keep up your cool projects of building new models!