I get that a lot from people I know too. They think I’m a grown up still playing with toys. I ask them “if that is the case, isn’t video game for kids? why are you still playing with video games at your age?”
This is realy a good one !!!
I think I have just always said “I build models.” I have never really received much in the way of comment or questions about why I do it, but when I have, I just go into a long explanation about how it is almost zen-like for me, and that I can focus on it to the exclusion of all of my other stresses, until I see their eyes glaze over. I have used the “I have to grow old, I refuse to grow up” line a couple of times too.
That’s pretty much my motto. " I will become a responsible member of adult society and take care of my responsibilities, but I will never grow up."
The simple answer is the next time someone makes a sarcastic comment to you about model making or thinks you are wasting your time tell him or her to make one.
And yes they will have to mask off every piece and spray every part and detail the model with Photo etched parts.
That should shut them up.
Regards,
Beau
I work at a railroad roundhouse as a machinist. Everybody there works on cars in their spare time. I do too. (1973 Dodge Challenger). They found out that my friend and I also buold scale models. Of course, they all had a good laugh at that, and we let them. Then someone suggested we bring some in so they could see them. We did, and that shut them up. They really liked them, and started asking where they could get them too. Now they build too. Sometimes ribbing takes a turn for the better. they like the progress of the Challenger also. Let people laugh, it sometimes means that they wish they had something better to do, and are scared to let others know of their particular hobby.
I get asked what I do for a living…try explaining that you make a special niche paint for models…they start thinking body paints. So no matter if I say I make hobby paints or I’m a modeler I get a stupid look.
But in reality I am a model…check the video on this site:
That’s funny - I have the exact opposite when talking bikes. Lots of folks around here mountain bike up in the sierras. I ride a Harley. So sometimes there will be something like “Man, I got cold over Mt Rose summit” They’d say “How could you get cold after all that up hill pedalling??” So I’ve learned to establish early on just what sort of “bike” we’re talking about…
As far as derision for modelling, I don’t get too much of that. “What do you do in your spare time” doesn’t seem to come up as a conversation topic, so most of the time people find out about my hobby when they’re at my house and see the completed work… a couple times they’ll say “I used to do that” but in more of an appreciative tone and sometimes accompanied with the comment “…but I could never get them that good.”
| Steel is the Challenger a 340 painted Sub-lime or plum Crazy? |
|---|
With the exception of engineers, I would have to say that doing models is…I am sorry, modeling, is more accepted in the blue collar community than the white collar. I would love to be able to do an official study on this and produce a paper, but I doubt if anyone would pay for it and it wouldn’t really tie into my field. I mean it does tie in perfectly until the buzz wears off. But I remember I had a job interview and the lady asked about my hobbies and instead of the "wow, so you are excellent at attention to detail, or you must excel at research (which I do not) I got “You still do that at your age?” Thank goodness she didn’t see that I rode to the interview on my vintage big wheel.
Sorry, I couldn’t help but laugh at that one [swg]
Though seriously, you may have a point. It might just be coincidental - folks drawn to careers where they work with their hands may also be drawn to hobbies where they work with their hands. I’m not sure if I’m an exception or not - I’m only “white collar” when it’s a summertime change of command, the rest of the time my collar is green or tan!!
But aside from modeling I like tinkering on my truck and motorcycle, and am rather enjoying building a deck on my house. So it’s safe to say I like making/putting things together, creating something from smaller parts. Something tangible that I can look at (or show off) and say “I put that front end on my truck” or “I put those pipes on my bike” or “I built that Prowler.”
Or, I might be full of it. Come to think of it, the two possibilites are NOT mutually exclusive!
One time at work the subject of me painting miniatures came up, and one of my co-workers, who’s into real “guy stuff”, responded “you mean you paint little people?”
My response was “No, they’re not people. At least that’s what my psychiatrist tells me to remind myself.”
[:P]
Funny thing is, back in college I actually did a very small amount of real-world runway modeling for a local clothes retailer. A girl I was interested in told me about it and since I figured that I would get to spend time with her, then it was for me. All told, it was an interesting experience… the store manager was more interested in me than the girl I had in mind. Two weekends, several sets of the latest in men’s fall fashions and a pocket full of beer money to boot…
Now, when I say that I model I get the usual stuff already mentioned in this thread. The kids jokes, the ‘when will you grow up’ and whatnot. A coworker was giving me some grief one day for searching color schemes on the internet and mentioned that his kids build “little cars and stuff”. So the next day I brought in a TigerII that I had just finished and that ended the jokes. I told him that with practice and patience, then one day his kids would be able to build and finish kits better than I. The best part? All day long I had a steady stream of people coming back to the darkroom to see my little tank! Nothing like having a finished kit to do your talking for you.
Mowing the lawn-
That’s a waste of time.
The best responses come from the 15-17 year olds I teach. My school selects by academic ability, so it’s fair to say that it is something of a geek colony. Even the geeks think its a geeky thing to do.
Uber-Geek for the win!
Properly, that should be: "Der Übergiek/Die Übergiekin für den sieg!
[:-,]
[zzz] Must need to be a geek to get that [(-D]
Careful, Drew! Remarks like that could result in a revokation of your geek license—you could even get unfrocked!
[(-D]
I, uh, er…eh! [:-^] How’s it going Triarius[:D]