Howdy, folks![:)]
Scanning ancient pix of what I like to consider some of my more decent earlier works for posting led me to an interesting idea: how about posting some pix of our earliest works, no matter how bad we might think they may be? Actually, that would kind of be the point: to see how far we’ve come since those early days.
Having said that, I’ve seen some first efforts posted here that put my latest efforts to shame!
I suppose what I’m thinking of is our childhood efforts, for those of us (most of us, I’d reckon!) who began building models as wee youngsters (but definitely not limited to that!).
To get it going and give ya’ll an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s a pic of a 1/48 Bandai Tiger II that I built when I was about 8 years old, then repainted (well, actually painted for the first time!) and modified with “battle damage” when I was around 10 years old. As far as I can remember, this is the first piece of armor I ever built by myself. No idea where the decals came from. Might be from the Bandai kit, or maybe from some of the Aurora armor kits Pop had built for me years earlier. Their yellowing attests to the age of the model.
Here’s the slightly fuzzy pic:
As you can see, I loved gray at a very early age. If it was German, I painted it gray. I even have a 1/35 Tamiya Henschel Tiger II I built as a teen painted German Gray! Influenced by the film The Battle of the Bulge? Who knows!
Maybe it was because it came molded in gray plastic.
This pic was taken about a year ago while I was home visiting the folks back in the States. Went over to the storage facility to check on the collection. All was intact!
Sooo…if anybody else has pix of their first models or anything from their early days and thinks this would be a fun and interesting topic, post 'em here and tell us your story!
If it catches on, maybe we could even ask for a sticky!
you wouldn’t want to see my first one, besides its partly disassembled in the spares box. it was hasegawas m3 grant. i just did a replacement though 2 weeks ago, when I did hasegawa’s m3 lee. be glad to show you that one once I get access to a digicam and can take some pictures
Interesting topic, Brian, but I don’t have anything to post. The closest I have to an ancient, first piece of armor is my Tamiya Tiger II that’s still in pieces. I think I started on a Tamiya Centurion about 30 or so years ago, but who knows where that is. I don’t remember if I finished it or not. Oldest finished kit I still have lieing around is probably a Klingon Battle Cruiser from the first Start Trek movie. I guess that could be considered “flying” armor!! lol
I look forward to seeing other posts here. It’s nice to know you super modelers didn’t just come about over night!
For 10 that is pretty darned good! Mine are all in a landfill somewhere. Some that are currently on the shelf should go there as well. I think the oldest that still exists is about 15 years old and is in my son’s room. It’s by now a very damaged SU100. Neat topic Brian.
No fair having such a good build-up among your first!
I myself started modeling when I was nine, in 1972. As I got a little older I bought some of the Tamiya armour kits, the ones I could afford anyway, as I had a thing for tanks at that early age. I also really liked Japanese WWII ships.
Anyways, on the rare occasion that I did paint these things at all, I painted them whatever color I felt like. I had this King Tiger that I painted a kind of guacamole green because that was the color of some house paint my mom had in an old can stored on the back stairs of the house. I painted that stuff on so thick that it completely obscured all details. It eventaully peeled off and you could actually see the thickness of the paint in the peels – it looked more like an orange peel than an avocado peel. [(-D]
I had the Monogram stuff too – the Brumbar, the Sherman Scraming Mimi, the Panzer IV, others I forget, plus all the American stuff. I think they made an M48 too, but don’t quote me.
I wish I’d kept all of those kits, but I fell out of model making when I was around 17 and didn’t get back into it until I was almost 30. I threw all of the kits away as I associated them with my childhood – the military kits, the Prehistoric Scenes kits worth a fortune today, everything.
In the interim I was a hardcore miniature wargamer, and painted tens of thousands of miniature soldiers of all periods and kinds, including the vehicles for an entire late-pattern panzer division using 1/285th GHQ scale models, with a supporting heavy panzer battalion (Tiger II’s – not painted avocado).
I had all the Bandai stuff too, which I thought incredibly cool because of the interiors.
J- Hulk …I couldn’t find any old armor pics …but still had this on hand.
Here’s an old ambulance jeep that I did in the early 80s. I was in high school and started building again after a break from building for a few years. Ugh!
When I was a kid, I had almost the full collection of Weird-Oh’s models. They were in my Mother’s basement for a long time, but I guess she got tired of them because they disappeard. I don’t remember if they had a tank type model, though. I remember a plane, surfers, hot rods, and the like.
You guys are sure putting up some nice stuff, though, for “first timers”!!
I have to correct my posting…this jeep wasn’t my first. I had at least a dozen kits under my belt when I did this ( You’d never know it ). I started doing 1/72 scale
armor kits from Airfix in the early 70’s. I didn’t have any pictures though,
and if I did, you’d only see a blob of plastic with dabs of paint on it.
And Cassibil, thanks for the compliment but you are being much too kind! Look at that rope I put on it…yowsa.
You’re kidding J-Hulk. My first attempts have long been consigned to the bin!!! When I was 13 my parents moved us 1500 km’s north, and due to space and costs I had to leave the built kits behind. At 42 yrs old, like a few guys here, they would have to be considered antiques now.
Dad started me modelling with an Airfix Wellington Bomber when I was about 8, but it was a disater unlike your effort j-Hulk.
From memory my first tank was either a Braille scale Matchbox Firefly or Hasegawa Panther; I had both.
My first 1/35th scale was a Tamiya Cheiftan - the one with the battery pack wire controls. Many a ‘Tan’ soldier was run over by that one.
I don’t have any pics of my early stuff. The first one’s were never painted, just played with till they became targets for the BB gun or fireworks. My high school efforts weren’t bad, but not great either. They were painted with a cheap a/b fed from a spare tire I pumped up with a bicyle pump, so not a lot were done. I’ve since given those to my nephews over the years to play with so…nothing to show.
Well I have no armor that I did when I was a kid cause I did no armor when I was a kid. i did’nt even know there were armor kits till about 7 months ago. Here’s a pic of my first attempt though. It was a Lee kit, never even seen another one of thier kits since then, and I built it just before I found the forum. Therefore I knew nothing about weathering,washes and just a little about drybrushing that the guy at the shop sort of explained to me. I did figure I would try to give it a dirty look though. Since I knew nothing about pastels either, I took a paper towel, burned it and rubbed the ashes over it. I have since then went back and did a little more work to it but thought I would let it sit as is so I can see how far i have come since that one with every build I do. I’m sure you guys can see how much you have helped me with my builds in a few months.
Good looking Bradley, LQ2!
Dan, that jeep looks great, too. Even with the hawser tied to it!
I’m a serious packrat, ya’ll. I’ve still got tons and tons of stuff from my childhood! Just never threw anything away.
Blew a lot of stuff up, though. But I still have even those unfortunate models on 8mm film!
My 31-year-old Tiger II looks good? Well, thanks, but…not bad for a 10-year-old, kid, I guess. Particularly since it was unpainted for the first two years of its existence. The slap-slap drybrush weathering technique is killing me! Actually, I think I was inspired to redo the old boy after having seen Bandai’s 1/24 Tiger II done up in Military Modelling magazine.
Maybe that’s where I got the gray idea from…
My son found it on a shelf in my parents house - sparked some interest in modeling for him.
Did this twenty years ago when I was little younger - no laughing now ! [(-D][(-D]
Let me just say this was before I knew anything about historical references etc… Back then I thought a well done model was one you had only small globs of glue and you cut off the excess on the sprue. Any weathering is from sitting on a shelf for twenty years.
…and yes I know there probably aren’t many Jagdpanthers in this color scheme
That Bradley looks good, as well as the Jagdpanther…and J-Hulk, your King Tiger is excellent…at 10, I wasn’t even paying attention to the instructions! (well…um I still don’t)
