What got you started? I grew up in a family of model builders. My father and my uncles built a variety of aircraft, my cousins built autos, and my grandfather was very fond of wooden aircraft kits. When I was around four or five years old, my family moved to Clarksville, TN (Dad had been posted to Ft. Campbell) and we had a neighbor who had an extensive collection of armor and dioramas. I have to admit that this was where I truly fell in love with the hobby, because it was here that the epiphany that scale models were more than just toys first took hold. I realized there, with my first close-up exposure to dioramas outside of museums, that a model could tell a story. I was hooked! So where did your addiction begin?
Being a military history buff as a lot of modelers are,modeling helps the history come alive.
My dad always built models armor, cars, ships. And when I was little I’d always sit at the kitchen table and watch him model. Plus he had a rather large reference and I’d go through looking at old FSM issues and Squadron books and making a mess and getting in trouble[H] Plus watching the history channel at night really got me interested in history. I finally took up modeling when I was nine years old and have stayed with it for sixteen years apart from a few years break.
I built a lot of models as a child, my first was the ancient Aurora “yellow” Zero. When I reached middle-school age it was mostly model cars that held my attention. I loved hot rods and racing cars of all kinds. I remember building Funny Car chassis from scratch using pickup sticks and creating working hinges for the lifting bodies. I was into detailing the engines and scratching together cockpit tubs. Then, something happened. Yep, I got my driver’s license at 14 and before too long, model cars had lost their luster and it was the real hot rods that I was interested in.
Around the late 80s, being a long-time history fan and someone fascinated by military aircraft, I began considering that I could compare different planes respective size and features by building scale model planes. I choose 1/48 because there seemed to be a lot of choices and I liked the physical size at that scale. The first build was Monogram’s A-10. I bought my Paasche Model H airbrush for that and it’s the only AB I’ve ever really used. I thought my A-10 looked pretty fair. Until I bought my first copy of FSM. It was the Jan. '89 issue I believe. At any rate, it featured the great Bob Steinbrun’s Monogram F-80 converted to YP-80 status. OMG, I couldn’t believe the quality of the work on that model and several others as well. At that point, my A-10 didn’t seem so impressive anymore and I took up the gauntlet so to speak. I took a five year hiatus along the way and I’m still the slowest builder around, but I still do love the hobby and I do have a fair sized stash to “mock” me, lol. Hey, I can retire in three years and maybe I can work that stash down to a reasonable size then!
Gary
My Dad.
My dad. I got an Aurora model called “The Wurst” as a gift (birthday or Christmas, I don’t recall). This kit was a red hotdog vendor truck that included a pair of figures in hippy beachwear. It was a retooled 1932 truck (fire truck) in 1/32 scale. I bought one on eBay about 10 years ago.
My dad also built the old Monogram M48A2 Patton tank for me and I was hooked on tank models. I built just about every tank model Aurora made. Even after all the American tanks were built and I moved to other nations in their line, I remember hand painting white stars on the unpainted models to make them American tanks.
This should be an interesting thread, great idea!
Growing up in Detroit during the 80’s with my dad working for GM, we always attended the air shows at Willow Run. This sparked my interest big time in aircraft. Then in the fourth grade my teacher, Ms. Curtis, bought me a Revell F-100 for winning a spelling bee by correctly spelling ‘boa constrictor’, lol. It was on ever since then.
Funny, I remember an incident later on in middle school where one of our class projects was for everyone to build a model. I build a Monogram F-16 and I remember arguing back and forth with the many of the other students that the drop tanks were NOT bombs even though they insisted they were.
My aunt went to a hobby shop, after asking me what I wanted for my 8th birthday,I had answered that I want “An F-4 like my uncle was working on”,he had just switched from Artillery to VMFA-314 via Memphis,so, I wanted a Phantom
She gave me a 1/72 F4U Revell Corsair, lol,I was only 8, so I didn’t realize I had to specify which F4 I meant.
So, since that day in 1965 I have been building 1/72 aircraft, with a decade or so building HO/OO AFVs and another decade building 1/700 ships.
I kept the model airplane hobby all through high school, cars, girls, the Marines and never took the break from the hobby that so many others took.
And I still have that 1/72 Corsair,all restored in the style of one of our online modeler friends from over on HS that has passed away,and ready to give back to my Aunt in a clear display case as a “thanks for the hobby” gift/momento
Rex
i built as a kid through college and into germany when i was there in the '70s. remember buying a tamiya TIGER I on the economy for $25 which was a lot but 40 hours and a pcs later it took second in a contest at ft. knox, got into drafting and later 3d graphics plus serious computer wargames until 2006 when i felt the need to start working with my hands again.
I suppose in my youth, my father. It wasn’t until my son received the old Revellogram SBD for a Christmas gift a couple of years ago that I got hooked on it again.
my dad had built model planes for a long time then one year for Christmas when i was about 6 or 7 he got me the Revell B-17 for me and him to do together its still in his collection since then I have built the same B-17 kit and have two more in the stash I keep thinking that I will build it for him for Christmas one day.
Great thread Knight!
As with so many…my dad. We were going through some of his old stuff and there was a model of Vickers Viscount, and one of an old B-57 in a box. Thought they were cool. So one Saturday, after mowing the lawn, dad said let’s go for a ride. We wen to the LHS in Brandon, Fl where I grew up. We walked in and I was mesmerized! Dad said to pick out one model, glue, and some paints. I had the hardest time figuring out what I wanted, so I told dad to pick one for me. It was an old Revell 1/72 P-38. It was the sorriest looking plane you had ever seen in your life. Slapped together no other 8 year old could! But dad just keep saying what a good job I had done. Then he read some books on the P-38 and we watch an old war movie together (no idea what it was). Couple of weeks later, after mowing the lawn, I stood there in front of my dad and waited for him to say, “let’s go for a ride”…and he did! That was it, I was hooked. I did mostly planes. Both sides of the family were Army Air Corp/Air Force so I naturally was drawn to aircraft. One of my uncles bought me a General Lee many years later, and that was my first car…din’t turn out much better than the first aircraft! Now I’m still heavy into aircraft, but I have expanded my horizons to Sci-Fi, real space, and armor. I do have 2 cars in my stash, but there they sit for now. I’d like to get into ships too. I have a Titanic (for the wife), Robert E. Lee (again, for the wife), and 2 small carriers (size wish that is). Anyway, all that to say…it was my dad!
Eagle90
I’m not really sure. I started when I was about 10. I believe I asked for the Monogram F-104 Starfighter for a birthday gift, not knowing that it was a real plane. At the time, I was into Sci-Fi, so when the model came, I was puzzled. From there I remember building an A-4, F-16, and an F-86; all Monogram. I think I built one ship, too. I took a long break, and am back. At least I’ve learned what the planes are now…
Though I never stop learning.
Well another “My Dad” answer. He was the quintessential hobbyists and I admired everything. I started my own snap tite model build at the age of 4 and it went from there at 31 I’m still going strong with a child of my own now to introduce to the hobby.
I got into model railroading first thanks to my dad and grandfather and while I was a youth this became a natural progression while spending time and money in hobby shops.
It all got put on hold when high school, girls, the army etc took up most of my time.
Then as my son became interested in trains I dusted off that stuff, and the model kits came back out at the same time.
I was a grade school kid during WW2, and every boy built model airplanes- usually stick and tissue flying models. Fighter pilots were the heros of the war, so boys my age were all airplane-crazy!
I and friends did occasionally build “solid models” too, which were exhibition (shelf) scale models. First models I ever built were the famous paper flying models of a P-40 and a Zero, that were premiums from Kix cereal! They used a penny for nose weights. Took me a lot longer to get one of the balsa and tissue models to fly as good as those paper models!
Flew flying models for a long time before, as a middle aged adult I got tired of too many windy days when I could not fly a model well, and realized that I didn’t have to worry about weather to display exhibition scale models. I do make a flying model every few years, but mostly build non-flying scale now.
I don’t remember what got me started back in the 60’s, but most likely my dad.
But I do know what sparked my recent return. Last year I retrieved my HO train stuff from storage and started fiddling a little. My significant other’s son bought me a 1/48th TBM kit this past Christmas, so I can only guess his mom must have told him I like ‘playing with models’ or something.
I must admit, my first two thoughts upon opening his gift Christmas past were “How thoughtful” and “Oh crap, now I’m going to have to build this thing”, in order. (just being honest).
Turns out it was perhaps the best Christmas gift ever. I had no idea what I’ve been missing. I guess decades of playing with my laptop as my primary time killer made me forget how much fun and how therapeutic working with my hands is to me.
Yesterday, I found myself flying the TBM around the bench a bit. I had to stop and laugh at myself. 
Next time some clown dismisses the impact fathers can have on their sons, just have them read this thread.
Another “my dad” answer. He wasn’t actually a modeler, but did his best building me various kits using a stinky yellow colored contact cement. He had a bunch of books on WW II aircraft, so naturally I was exposed to stuff like the Flying Tigers P-40 and P-38, which were my favorites. He would always tell me neat stories about the different aircraft, which I suspect seeded my interest in research later on in life.
However, I think my mom provided me with the final push to build my own models when one afternoon, she bought me a battleship kit and a couple of bottles of paint to keep me out of her hair. I was so proud that I (sorta) finished a model (kinda) following the instructions. The Revell USS Pittsburgh looked mighty fine in flat black and chrome silver! I was five years old.
Like most kids growing up in the 60s and 70s, building model kits was just part of our childhood. Nobody cared about using the right colors or even if the kit was accurate in detail. A friend in elementary school started buying Scale Modeler, so we saw that some people took the hobby seriously. But we didn’t! I think it wasn’t until high school that I started using putty and an airbrush. Ah the good old days…
My love for aircraft is what got me started. And I defintely got supported by my parents (who bought me loads of kits) and my grandfather (who tought me the basics). I still have two kits that my grandfather and I build when I was five or six.