I know the majority of you guys are still in your prime but what about the older modellers. I am finding it harder to see 1/72 figures and though I wear reading glasses of strength 2,for modelling I resort to a pair of strength 3 now and good lighting. I tried one of those over the head magnifiers but the good lady would not stop laughing and I had to keep flipping it up to see the paint bottle!
Getting older is a definite pain but luckily I am concentrating on 54mm Napoleonic figures for a while.
I think FSM covered this subject a while ago with an article on magnification gear to use.[8D]
lolok ,
Don’t feel to bad , I’m only 30 and I have a light with a magnifier on it , I’m also getting dentures so again don’t feel to bad .
Same here, I’m only 30 but with MS I feel about 80 sometimes. The eyes are still great but the hands sure get to hurtin sometimes. Just have to put it down and come back later. I do have a magnification light but I mainly use it for painting very small details like the eyes of a tank driver for 1/35.
for me i am mid-30’s and fight to keep my eyes from crossing when i detail anything on a 1/48 scale kit.
joe
I am well into my 66th year and have to admit my modeling skills aren’t what they were a few years back. I build mostly 1/48 scale aircraft these days as the 1/72 scale begins to ecxeed my eyesight capability, even with glasses and an Optivisor. But I still enjoy building models as a hobby, especially during our long Michigan winters. Just don’t tackle as many conversions as I used to, build mostly OOTB these days.
That’s why I prefer 1/32 and 1/48 scale A/C. I finf 1/35 armour has too many wee peices for my fingers to handle let a lone see when I drop them. I’m currently doing a Bird Cage Corsair and my first attempt a major PE bits and it’ll probably be my last. I’ll use some PE but some bits ar just too small and fiddly.
I’m just hitting 20 and cold weather or a storm remind me I’ve been through the ringer once or twice. I (well the dog and cardoor actually) shattered my right arm from the side of the hand to nearly the elbow along the pinky side. My hand locks, goes numb, or swells with intensive use. I take a lot of breaks and never do the same thing long.
I’m 27 and have plenty of aches and pains from getting down and dirty working on Aircraft…nothing worse than trying to work underneath the unstrument panel on a cold rainy day…the whole back feels like a sumo wrestler’s been jumping up and down on it!!! As for the eyes, I have to use the lighted magnifier, or my eyes cross also!!! And I have to have LOTS of LIGHT!!!
I’m in my 50’s and still build in 1/72, although my fingers aren’t as nimble as they were when I first began to build kits.
I’m 35, and I’m able to anything I need to do in model building. But I find that I take more breaks than I did when I was 15.
DJ
I will be 20 in May and I find my self squinting and grabbing my reading glasses evry now and then. Although it has nothing to do with age, I do have slight nerve damage in the left arm, that makes it difficult to build for long periods of time.
Wow , Whats wrong with us ? I’m taking Ostiobiflex now for arthritis ( too many broken bones over the years ) I feel like I’m 180 instead of 30 , My Father back when he started working for the railroad used to shovel a ton of coal a day , when he was 60 he could barely move , I hope I don’t end up like that .
Hmmmm, I guess old modellers never die they just keep goin’ up a scale!
[:D][:D]
joe
Well, i’m 24 and my eyesight is going too from years of sneaking books and a flashlight under the covers when mom thought i was asleep. I find that i need Magnifiers when i work on detailing a cockpit…
Boy, imagine what could possibly be wrong with you the day you start scratchbuilding upsized scales like 24:1! Hehehe… [;)]
Courtney: Ow. No wonder you wear boots: safety. [:p]
That’s one of the reason I won’t do 1/72 aircraft, I’ll do 1/48, but prefer 1/32. And is the reason I’ll do only 1/350 or larger ships. 1/700 is just to much small detail. I’m 41 (ok, I turn 42 next week), nearsighted (but I need to take my glasses OFF to model), and use a lighted magnifier to do small work.
That is SOOOOO true!
I’m 35 and feel much older when working on smaller stuff (Especially the PE parts)
So, I suppose the gist is for me to start builiding as much 1/72 now as I can, and then when I hit 30 switch to 1/48!!!
Nice to see that I am not alone!!! Sorry about all your aches and pains though. Makes me think that we should all go to our model collections and sort them out by scale and hang a sign saying … To be completed by my 30th…40th…50th…60th…Birthday[:D][:D] I agree about 1/700, only in the daytime and in front of a big window with the sun blazing in.Maybe thats why Trumpeter are coming out with all the big scales? To catch all the late modellers who started out on Tamiya 1/72…1/48 LOL.
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[/Hmmmm, I guess old modellers never die they just keep goin’ up a scale!
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I sure had to move up. I’m 45 and haven’t been able to do 1/700 scale ships for at least ten years. Now I’m strictly 1/350. What’s after that, 1:1??[;)]