As I am the only modeler in my family, I am looked upon as the guy who plays with the kids “toys.”
With the holidays over I no longer have to stand quietly and nod as the “men” talk about the: new fly rod, gun, tool, car part, shop etc. I can breathe again as my wife will not be telling me to go talk to the guys about guy things. I have more in common with a sister in law that spray tans! She has a really sweet set up with an Iwatta double action brush and compressor that is soooo quiet. . .
Anyway, Let’s not get into the better modeler/best medium. I would be in heaven to have a conversation with any modeler at any time! (FSM let’s me do this, in a way, but I can do without the looks as the "real men " in the family see FSM on the coffee table).
Granted I have other hobbies, but those pale,(in some eyes) next to the “rod and gun club” meetings every family get together.
I enjoy both shooting sports and woodworking but I never really thought of them as “real men” past times. I know how you feel though. I hate Thanksgiving because the TV is taken over by the football crowd like it’s their right even if it’s not their home. Hang in there, “real men” do their own thing and could careless what narrow minded folk think.[;)][:D]
i look at it this way. all who know me know that when they talk to me sooner or later i will talk of modeling. i love it when they excuse themselves quick. makes my day.
Last meeting, I mean family dinner, we all went on about getting up early.
Some to go fishing, I, on the other hand, got up early to work on models. Those individual track links for the Panzer I are a bear. As I was fumbling with another run I was thinking of the brother in laws freezing on the lake.
To each his own.
I also am amongst the guys who could care less for hunting and fishing, etc. I never have felt I had much in common with most men. Now that I have my forums, I fit right in! Thanks guys!
Lee
Sounds like you guys need to find/set up a model club in your area.
Is there a local hobby shop nearby? If so, ask if there’s a club around. If not, consider putiing up a poster to elicit interest. The shop might even be willing to offer some space to meet. (Hey, what shop keeper wouldn’t want more customers spending time in his store?) Alternately, you could arrange it to meet at a different home each time, as one long standing club does out this way. Don’t forget to go to http://www.ipmsusa.org and check their local listings. (I just found four listings for Michigan.)
Good Ideas All,
I am in a local model club, but the once a month meetings are not enough to get me my plastic “fix.” That’s why I am here ranting away! The problem is my inherited family i.e. in laws, not the guys who model.
There is an EXCELLENT model shop here, and he gives very generous discounts to club members and special orders, (Which take about a week). He also advertises in FSM wink wink.
IPMS is in Michigan, but I am located about 31/2 hours from one and 51/2 from another. There is absolutely no interest in starting an IPMS chapter here, I tried, the reason are too many to go into.
I resemble that remark.[:O] I enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, flying, as well as model building. When I am at the Aero Club, I talk flying. When out with hunters we talk hunting. When camping, I don’t get much of a chance to talk as the wife is usually with me.[:)]
Most of my friends are not into building models so we talk about other things. I was a member of a model club in town, but it was dominated by armor and figure modelers. As I like aircraft ,I didn’t fit in.
The only time I get to talk about building is when someone comes over and I am busy working on one. There is also this forum.
Woodworking, camping, fishing, karate, RC aircraft, working on old cars and last but not least, modeling… I do 'em all. No problems with family gatherings. There’s little in the way of discussion on any of the afore-mentioned topics. I’m just lucky, I guess!
I do have quite a few hobbies myself, and amongst them are a couple I guess would be considered as typical “guy stuff”, such as working out and martial arts (I’ve been doing that since I was about two feet tall), but modelling is a passion. So, if any of those “real men” would care to step up, instead of slyly and sheepishly ‘voicing’ their opinions through frowns and looks, I’d be more than happy to demonstrate my ‘manliness’.
Plus, if these so-called-guys are so intersted in guy stuff, i’m not sure of anything more guyish than models of military hardware and sleek cars and bikes…
Modeling for most of us here has gone way past the “kids toys” stereotype, when i get accused of playing with kids toys i simply remark that this isn’t playing with toys it’s art in plastic, when you consider all of the tools and techniques we use in our hobby plus the amount of patience required getting it right you come to the realisation that we modelers are a very creative bunch of people[tup] Modeling is art in plasticthats my opinion which i know is shared by many people who visit this forum[tup]
Cheers jules…
Spray on tans huh? I remember my wife telling me that I should get a hobby that I can make money at, since her friends husband sells bow hunting equipment, and another sells his artwork… When I showed her how I could use my airbrush investment by bodypainting tans, she never brought the subject up again.[swg]
Beating the daylights out of your brother in laws might not be the way to family harmony zokis, but I’ll keep it in mind.
I too have many interests other than models but these are my hobbies, and my passion is to get the latest project “right.”
As for plastic art. . .our local club was told in no uncertain terms that what we did wasn’t “art”, by the local artists who had a display at the library. So we didn’t enter any in their “showing.” And yes, it showed bad taste to walk amoungst the works and make gagging noises and giggle, but we did it anyway. (talk about bad taste!)
Guess I am lucky. Most guys I know are amazed at what can be done with a model kit and ask lots of questions on how I did this and that. They also want to know about my other hobby of firefighting too so I don’t have to feel left out.
Amen brother. I guess after all these years, home is the prefered place to be. I’ve never been a real outdoorsie kind of guy. I’d rather be in the forums than say the local bar with no life.