How long have you been building models guide....

[ghodges]

I'm a 29 out of 30!

I’VE BEEN MODELING LONG ENOUGH TOO….

 

 

1) Remember when 3D part printing was invented

 

2) Remember when Eduard Models was a limited run kit company

 

3) Remember when Korea and China weren’t the major model manufacturing countries

 

4) Remember when Tamiya wasn’t the best fitting model manufacturer

 

5) Remember when there were more brick and mortar hobby shops than mail order outlets

 

6) Remember when “4-6 weeks for delivery” was completely acceptable

 

7) Remember when there were no modeling web sites

 

8- Remember when it took 5 hours to download a reference pic from the internet on dial up

 

9) Remember when someone called Verlinden introduced cast resin parts for models

 

10) Remember when models were actually manufactured in the USA

 

11) Remember when Monogram Models was their own company

 

12) Remember when Hasagawa 1/48 Phantoms were first released at the ungodly price of $20

 

13) Remember when photo-etched parts were first available

 

14) Remember Scale Modeler magazine

 

15) Remember when you first found out Krazy Glue (superglue) was good for modeling

 

16) Remember when model instructions were only in the language of the kit’s country of origin

 

17) Remember when Squadron shop had 5 actual hobby shops you could visit

 

18) Remember when Liquiplate was introduced as the first scale model NMF paint

 

19) Remember ordering from Archer and/or Brookhurst hobbies

 

20) Remember when Microscale decals were just about the only aftermarket decals

 

21) Remember when there was no “reference book industry” (no Profiles, no “In Action” books)

 

22) Remember when Testors and Pactra paints were 10 or 15 cents a bottle

 

23) Remember when you could afford to buy a model with your allowance money

 

24) Remember when Monogram instructions included photos showing basic kit

construction techniques

 

25) Remember “Aeroskin” kits

 

26) Remember model kits released with battle damaged parts

 

27) Remember when tube glue was the only generally available modeling glue

 

28) Remember when if there was a cockpit instead of just a pilot to glue to a bulkhead it was a “detailed” model

 

29) Remember when the markings were molded on the model surfaces so you could paint them instead of using the decals

 

30) Remember when plastic parts were offered as alternatives to make a kit a “speedy-built”

 

How about you?

 

Gil 

Edited September 29, 2023 by ghodges

[steev]

I don't remember #30. As far as the rest, there are 3 or 4 I don't specifically remember but I'm sure I was building at the time so I guess that makes me a 29. Until a few years ago when I did a major clean-up I still had a couple of fancy pactra bottles with the MSRP of 15 cents printed on the caps. It just now dawned on me that there's no "cent" symbol on my keyboard. LOL

Steven

[Nick Filippone]

How about when you bought most of you kits at the hardware store or drugstore? Or, in order to make flat paint, you had to decant the solvent off a bottle of Pactra flat brown, then decant the solvent off the top of some other gloss colour, and replace it with the Pactra flat solvent? (Yes, it actually worked! ) Or worse, to make paint flat, just add Talcum Powder. Yuck. Nick

[ghodges]

Yeah... there's several more "milestones" in the history of model building I could have added, but decided 30 was a good number to stop at!

 

Gil 

[Ron Bell]

How 'bout the appearance of Japanese kits in the US market? Or when you could get Hawk, Renwal or Adams kits without paying stupid collectors' prices? Or when Strombecker made some interesting kits? Or you bought your kits at the local hardware/pet store/Five and Dime and hobby stores per se didn't even exist as far as plastic models went? Or when half the kit was "pre carved" balsa wood parts with plastic "detail" parts? God, I'm old!

[Stikpusher]

26 for 30 on those questions... LOL!

Archer Hobbies... now thats a place I hadn't thought of in ages. 

[CaptainAhab]

29 of 30, also remember when you could buy models, glue and paint at 7/11, at least in my town. If the last one is talking about balsa models then I remember that too.

[steev]

Wow, I don't remember 7-11 around here ever having models. I got most of mine at Woolworths as a kid and they used to have a model contest there. 

Steven

[Ralph Nardone]

I grew up in South Florida.  You could get models and supplies in hobby shops (our main locals were Universal Hobbies, Warrick Custom Hobbies--my home away from home--and Orange Blossom Hobbies, along with about a dozen and a half smaller shops), toy stores (Lionel Playworld had a huge model kit section), discount stores (K-Mart and The Treasury--other than the hobby shops, The Treasury was the only place that had the individual Testors square-bottle flat enamels), department stores (Woolco, Zayre), convenience stores (7-11, Mr. Grocer, and U-Tot-Em--saw my first Monogram Do-335 at the local Mr. Grocer), drug stores (SuperX, Eckerd Drugs), five-and-dime stores (Walgreens, Ben Franklin, and McCrory), hardware stores--they were everywhere.  When Skaggs-Albertson's came to the area, it added another outlet for the hobby.  For those not in the know, the typical Albertson's of the day would remind you of a Walmart today--half the store was a grocery store/pharmacy, the other half was a discount/department store. 

My first kits came from Playworld (Revell 1/32nd scale Wildcat, dad and I put it together) and K-Mart (Monogram Snap-Tite "L'il Red Baron"--my first "I built it myself" model).  I discovered Scale Modeler magazine at Albertson's, and later, FineScale Modeler at Warrick Custom Hobbies.  At the same time I found FSM, I discovered the Pactra Authentic International Colors, Otaki kits, Solvaset, Squadron Green Putty (the original), Plastruct Plastic Weld liquid cement, and Microscale Decals...those were the days when I made the step from just knocking kits together in a few hours to becoming a "serious modeler" (whatever that means)...  🙂

[Narampa]

On 9/29/2023 at 11:30 AM, ghodges said:

I'm a 29 out of 30!

I’VE BEEN MODELING LONG ENOUGH TOO….

 

 

1) Remember when 3D part printing was invented

 

2) Remember when Eduard Models was a limited run kit company

 

3) Remember when Korea and China weren’t the major model manufacturing countries

 

4) Remember when Tamiya wasn’t the best fitting model manufacturer

 

5) Remember when there were more brick and mortar hobby shops than mail order outlets

 

6) Remember when “4-6 weeks for delivery” was completely acceptable

 

7) Remember when there were no modeling web sites

 

8- Remember when it took 5 hours to download a reference pic from the internet on dial up

 

9) Remember when someone called Verlinden introduced cast resin parts for models

 

10) Remember when models were actually manufactured in the USA

 

11) Remember when Monogram Models was their own company

 

12) Remember when Hasagawa 1/48 Phantoms were first released at the ungodly price of $20

 

13) Remember when photo-etched parts were first available

 

14) Remember Scale Modeler magazine

 

15) Remember when you first found out Krazy Glue (superglue) was good for modeling

 

16) Remember when model instructions were only in the language of the kit’s country of origin

 

17) Remember when Squadron shop had 5 actual hobby shops you could visit

 

18) Remember when Liquiplate was introduced as the first scale model NMF paint

 

19) Remember ordering from Archer and/or Brookhurst hobbies

 

20) Remember when Microscale decals were just about the only aftermarket decals

 

21) Remember when there was no “reference book industry” (no Profiles, no “In Action” books)

 

22) Remember when Testors and Pactra paints were 10 or 15 cents a bottle

 

23) Remember when you could afford to buy a model with your allowance money

 

24) Remember when Monogram instructions included photos showing basic kit

construction techniques

 

25) Remember “Aeroskin” kits

 

26) Remember model kits released with battle damaged parts

 

27) Remember when tube glue was the only generally available modeling glue

 

28) Remember when if there was a cockpit instead of just a pilot to glue to a bulkhead it was a “detailed” model

 

29) Remember when the markings were molded on the model surfaces so you could paint them instead of using the decals

 

30) Remember when plastic parts were offered as alternatives to make a kit a “speedy-built”

 

How about you?

 

Gil 

Well I'm 72 and thought I had  a good memory but you reminded me of all the things I forgot!

I do remember getting 50 cents a week for my allowance and could buy a model for 49 cents. 

 

[AP40rocktruck]

30 out of 30

The first scale modeling magazine I had via the post office was International Modeler, edited by Brick Price.  Still have all my issues in my file cabinet.   

Edited June 8, 2024 by AP40rocktruck

[Firemodeler1]

Old enough to remember Strombecker hard pine airplane kits and paper and stick models.  As for car kits the first I remember were Historic Miniatures that were 3 or 4 pieces and had a Mortimer Snerd type character as a driver.  Wheels were heat suaged onto the axles.

[Mark Deliduka]

28 out of 30.

 

-> I had never heard of Brookhurst or Archer Hobbies before coming to SoCal.

-> I hadn't heard of Aeroskin kits until I got one in a box of models donated to St. Crispin's Irregulars.

[ghodges]

Duke: you must have never read Scale Modeler or Military Modeler back in the 70s.... as Archers and Brookhurst had H-U-G-E ads in every issue!  🙂

 

Gil 

[Neo]

27 out of 30.  Aeoskin and Speedy Built products were gone by the time I came along.  And Squadron books were on the shelves by the time I started riding my bike to the hobby shops.  “…And Kill MiGs” was a title I  remember well.

Archer Hobbies!  They were the first mail order company I bought stuff from!  The other kids were ordering from Squadron, but Archer had the stuff I wanted.  4-6 weeks for delivery?  It was more like 6-8 weeks to Hawaii.  But I didn’t mind in the pre-internet, instant gratification era.

I also ordered a lot of kits from APC Hobbies up until the 1980s.

[Ron Bell]

I was lucky enough to get to visit three of Squadron's brick and mortar shops, D.C, Detroit and Chicago. I spent quite a while marveling at the completed models on display and then drooling over the seemingly endless selection of kits and 'stuff'. My first models were purchased in one of three places. In my home town, there was a pet store the owner of which must have been a modeler because amongst the bird feeders and pet supplies were several shelves of plastic models. Then there was a Kresge's 5 & Dime (Remember those? You could get anything in a 5 & Dime from hardware to fabric for a dress to a hamburger at the lunch counter.) in the next town that had a few models and best of all was a toy store in Westfield, N.J. named Tiny Tots. They had a large selection of kits and several display cases full of completed models to examine. I was also introduced to ROCO Minitanks there and they supported my Avalon Hill war game habit as well. Spent a bit of change in that store. 

[Mark Deliduka]

On 11/28/2024 at 9:35 AM, ghodges said:

Duke: you must have never read Scale Modeler or Military Modeler back in the 70s.... as Archers and Brookhurst had H-U-G-E ads in every issue!  🙂

 

Gil 

Yeah, I never even knew those magazines existed. I never had a 'local hobby shop' to visit when I was a kid. We moved a lot as my father was in the Air Force, so the majority of my models were bought from the Base Exchange or gotten as gifts. I did have a local 7-11 in my childhood town in Florida where I could mow someone's lawn for three dollars; ride my bike down to it and buy an Airfix bagged kit, some glue and paint and some candy and go home with change in my pocket.  I never ordered anything through mail order until the 1990's when I had moved out; and all those orders were from Squadron as that was the only mail order firm I knew of at the time. I never even knew about Brookhurst until I moved here to California and found the store itself. I had even tried applying to work there ages ago, but wasn't hired. I still shopped there; and between Brookhurst, Pegasus Hobbies, Prestige Hobbies, R Hobbies, Tony's Hobbies and Toys, Military Hobbies and a couple other shops that I found here in SoCal, my collection of models exploded in the the massive collection it is today.

 

Funny side story; when I was working at Prestige Hobbies in the mid 1990's, someone came in and told me about IPMS and my reaction was "There are clubs for model builders?" That's when he told me of the local IPMS Orange County chapter which I joined and the rest is history.....

[tomqvaxy]

seems right on the heels of the "comic book scare" of the late '50s was the "glue-sniffer" scare of the early '60s.

telling your friends that you built models had their parents' eyebrows lifted and the warning "you can't go over to his house and play anymore."