Sitting, not looking at the sky, as I often do and ponder where we are in the scheme of things. I am sitting at my desk thinking as I do all day long, about my current project. Another 1:48 german fighter. The question is, Why? Why do we do this? I know I love learning about the planes, the history. I also love the final product, especially the cool paint schemes. I love getting better and better at it. But why are we so fascinated with fighter planes? I never flew one and know I could not have done what those guys did. Maybe in an earlier life. I have often thought about that. Just curious what drives everybody.
I think the main reason I model Warplanes and armor is due to my military background. I am familiar with alot of the planes, so it just seemed natural to do so. For many, I think it’s the fascination with something that is beyond reach. I know that I’ll probably never get t ofly a Tomcat, or a Corsair, or any of the popular planes out there today. It just gets me a little closer to something I love.
demono69
personally, i am fascinated by the machines and the men who flew them. i enjoy trying to (re)create miniature 3 dimensional representations of some of the machines that served the forces in the most important conflict in recent history.
(i am a WWII prop-nut. and of course the ME-262).
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it is fun to run through my apartment making ‘airplane noises’ when they are done. [:D]
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it gives me an excuse to buy tools and use them? [:)]
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we are all a little ‘off’ ? luckily we are mostly harmless.
ed.
I believe people are born with a natural inclaination for a certain thing, some are lucky enough to be able to expand on this. It could be mechanics, mathmatics, chemistry, music or even just curiosity . Most of us modelers have a combination of natural talents that pushes us in this direction (I am good with my hands and have a curiosity for history). I could learn to play the guitar, but I could never play at Joe Satriani’s level, I could be an aeronautical engineer but it’s not likely I would have the vision of Kelly Johnson. So I listen to Joe and build replicas of Kelly’s work. Hopefully, when a model is finished, I have made a replica that is worthy of the brave men of all nations the flew, drove, sailed or otherwise operated the real thing.
I’ve always had a fascination with guns and airplanes. Combine the two and you get fighters. Since I’m not a great artist, I like to try to duplicate the paint schemes someone else has already developed. Then there are the days I believe in reincarnation.
My Dad was in Naval aviation maintenance. When I was a kid we spent several years living on N.A.S. Dallas.
Looking out my bedroom windows on one side I could see across the runway to the LTV plant and see brand new A7 Corsairs being rolled out into the hot Texas sunlight.
Out the other side I could see rows of KC-97 tankers of the Texas Air National Guard and beyond that the flightline of two Navy F-8 squadrons.
This was during the height of the Vietnam war and there were all sorts of fabulous aircraft coming and going all the time.
Needless to say it was a great place for a kid who was already a “plane nut” to live.
I’ll never be able to look up and watch a flight of returning Crusaders roar into the break for landing again. Not from my own front yard or from anywhere else for that matter.
But somehow modelling helps to keep those unforgettable days alive for me.
Those were “The Wonder Years” for this kid.
My family is steeped in military tradition when it came time all the men in my family have served or are serving in the military. So it was logical that from a young age I had a fascination with military weapons. I enjoy the modern fighters but for some reason there is nothing better then the warbirds of WW2. The men that flew these machines were brave pilots and they seemed to have a comraderie that was second to none. So as long as they keep producing kits of the old warbirds I will keep building them.
My family also has a long and colorful military tradition. My dad was a navigator on B-24’s and an Intel officer with the 20th AF with LeMay. I had a late uncle who was a flight test engineer for Glenn L. Martin-Nebraksa and he crewed on B-26 Marauders and B-29’s. I watched all types of a/c fly overhead in Virginia, Germany, Okinawa, Fort Bragg: wherever my dad was assigned. Got to see them up close and personal when my turn came. I build what I know, and I build what my family members flew for a living. It makes me feel just a bit closer to them and reminds me of what a good many of us gave.
Fighter Planes: Their fast, sexy, and have big guns 
Sort of like a the subconsious female fantasy many of us have 
OK come back to Earth: I am both an artist and an engineer. I feel that fighter planes are the end result of the expertise and excelence in each of those fields. My hobbies and professions feul and inspire each other in this way.
For my entire adult life the only thing I’ve done is maintain and repair aircraft. Most likely because of my love of aircraft that started early on with plastic models. I guess it’s one of those chicken or the egg situations. I do know that aviation has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. So naturally I build what I know and love.
Darren
my interest started with the battle of britain (i grew up in s.e. england over which it was fought), so i guess it’s just grown from there…
nick
london
I was hooked when I found out that the models’ decals were ACTUAL squadrons!I was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, AZ and built a Monogram A-4E with VMAT-102 markings. I made mine low-viz including painting a “chicken” on the nose with the number on it to represent the actual paint job of the aircraft I worked on. Aviation has since become a hobby and building planes has become a past time. It’s also a creative outlet, one of a few; I don’t draw like I used to or play my guitar as much but I can always glue, sand or paint!
Why? because it’s fun and gosh darn it, I like it.
I’ve always enjoyed military avaiation - specifically jets and helicopters from the Vietnam era. This has since grown into a desire to create my own history of flight - american types and eras.
I also enjoy military history.
Why?;
Well first off my dad is to blame he got me hooked on airplanes (he was in the USAF) and he was hooked too, so he got me so hooked that I took it futher and followed in his footsteps and went beyond that ( I’ve served 19 years in the AF & AF Reserves so far) and I love duplicate the equipment I worked and even to older stuff too, I got it so bad I’m trying to get all the military aircraft from 1930 to present in my collection, in my history I’ve worked about everything that transportation has to offer except ships & trains, I’ve worked Civil A/C, Military A/C, Cars, Heavy Equipment, Semi’s, Missiles, Satellites, but I get the most thrill from working on models, and my restoration project of a 72 Cuda,
to think of it Wildwill & Claymore sums it all up and this hobby is addicting too, I’ve passed it onto my nephew and he’s now hooked
Why?
To remember and never forget.
When I was a kid, the sold me the idea about the heroic of war and the good and bad guys, I was ten years old when I put together my first kit.
Now, I can tell you that there is no heroes or romance in war, in killing a human being. War is about politicians and ignorance and while other is dying politician are safe and comfortable in home. So please be open to other cultures and ideas, do not criticize wht you don’t know or understand and never fortget.
I was inundated with WWII movies when I was a kid so did I have a choice but to have some exposure to aircraft. There was a hobby store within walking distance of my house when I was young. I would go and stare at the planes hanging in the window and one day the owner came out and gave me a kit. I was hooked on and off since then and the few times I left modeling it was for other hobbies that were hands on: playing an instrument(2 insturments) or building a drag race car(3 cars).
My uncle flew P-40’s and P-38’s in the Pacific in WW ll, as well as P-51’s in Europe. After the war he flew P-47’s and P-80’s. During the Korean war he flew the F-51’s and F-86’s. After the war he flew F-86’s, F-89’s and F-100’s. He got me interested in model building and after I joined the USAF I continued to build.
Just to listen to some of the stories he would tell was fascinating. It wasn’t about combat, but about flying. In my later years as an aircraft mechanic, I was able to get my hands on the wonderful flying machines. I loved being a mechanic and the best part of my military time was as a crew chief. In later years as I got more rank, I had to spend less time working on the aircraft and more time supervising. It finally reached a point where I very seldom got my hands dirty on them. You might say it is my way of getting my hands back on the aircraft, to be able to build them.
Well fighters. I always wanted to be a fighter pilot. Planes are wonderfull machines but a fighter is… ‘the elite of all elites’. I´ve heard all those histories about great Aces and heros (USAF, RAF, LUFTWAFFE) and somethimes I feel that those guys are not real. Maybe they are from another planet. Air combat, the real ‘dogfight’ is amazing. And remeber the earlier days when fly fighter was Kngits and Gentelmans bussines.
Maybe that is my reason.
For me, its the allure of the exotic shape that I can hold in my hand and call my own.
Why?- I build helicopters for a living. I am a veteran. I am the son of a veteran. It’s better than drinking and drugs. And the number one reason, (just for me), I don’t have a wife or girlfriend! 