Your modelimg choices, what spurs you on?

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

What, when, if, past, future, ease, complex... why do you do what you do?

I am fascinated. 

This post happened in your past. Thanks! 

[Winnie]

HA!

I build models of airplanes and helicopters I like, and would personally have loved to have flown. Aircraft that may have played part in books I have read. For me that spans an era from WW2 US/British to Modern, and mostly Single seat/Single Engine. I personally don't build axis aircraft but have been known to delve in Soviet subjets... Weird, I know.

Vietnam to present fetures prominently, but WW2 to Korea does also exist, 32nd, 48th, and 72nd are the go to scales. Mostly 72nd because I can throw the model out withou feeling guilty if I screw up, which I do frequently. Which is also why i mostly stay avay from LSM because I feel not worthy, as I see some of the projects completed on this and other 32nd sites...

Cheers

H

[1to1scale]

Whatever floats my boat at any given moment, i mostly stick to 1/32 and 1/35. I used to do WW2 only, but have since expanded to the modern age. I last completed a modern Russian helo, now working on a P-51 and a Mig-15. Next up is a F-105 and a F-15 aggressor. I have about 15 Models partially completed in progress.

[HubertB]

Aircrafts and ships.

Aircrafts : 1/32 scale. Civilians, Golden Age, Flying boats and seaplanes, racers, first and second generation jets up to the Century series, record holders. I also love yellow wings, and interwar silver wings of the RAF. I might be tempted by a helo, if it also fits the bills of the other criteria (like scale - a BIG NO to 1/35 - or livery). No-gos include any aircraft sporting a Nazi Swastika.

Ships : civilians, pre-dreadnoughts, sailing ships. 1/200 or bigger scale, depending on the subject. The choice includes paper models, for which there are some outstanding kits.

Hubert

 

 

[[CAT]CplSlade]

Cars: air-cooled Volkswagens, especially the Type 2 (the bus to non-VW people)

Aircraft: Almost anything used by any combative nation during WWII for military purposes.

Armor: All German WWII. Maybe when I've built one of everything I will expand.

Sci-Fi: Star Trek, Star Wars, Space: 1999, other classic ships

Ships: Don't really do ships although I have a German u-boat and torpedo boat, both in 1/35.

Not much else at the moment.

 

EDIT: Didn't really explain my reasons. I have only owned VWs. I like WWII aircraft as in many ways they set the stage for the new era of aviation. German armor as I have a crazy idea to replicate Doyle and Jentz's Encyclopedia of German Armor in physical form. Sci-Fi because I like classic Sci-Fi and Star Trek was my go-to show as a kid. Ships I just haven't been as into because I really feel 1/350 and larger is the way to go and price/room requirements put me off. Plus too much PE.

 

[FME erk]

Aviation related, history of and the fact that I live a couple of miles from an old Bomber Command airfield.

Aviation related includes RAF vehicles in numerous scales and my (very) long term project is to build the technical site of the Bomber station . . . . 

 

I used to model old British lorries from the British Road Services fleet. Two display cases later and I have moved on.

Time limits my choice to perhaps diverse into other areas. 

[crazypoet]

Wow... great question!

For me, it's about the story - what is a mission/moment/person/situation that made that particular [fill in the blank] interesting? 

The Picket Boat got my attention because it was a trifecta of historic inflection points:  Linear ancestor of the Torpedo Boat, commanded by the linear ancestor of the Navy SEAL, in the first mission where a large ironclad vessel was sunk by a much smaller surface combatant.

The P-47 build I'm doing now is based on the mission flown by "Shorty" Rankin on May 12, 1944 - he shot down 5 German fighters, air-to-air, on a single mission, on my birthday (May 12) - what's not to love?  Besides which, I've always had a soft spot for the razorback Jugs...

The B-17 build I'm planning is based on B-17 44-6573, N7-K in the 603rd Sqdn, 398th Bomber Group.  It was piloted by Donald Christensen, who was the Grandfather of a good friend of mine.  It was shot down on March 2, 1945, with the loss of 10 out of 11 crew (the Tail Gunner survived)

The B-25 build will go one of two ways - I'd been planning a Southwest Pacific suite of builds with the B-25 strafer as a centerpiece.  Then, I found out that one of my Great-uncles had flown the B-25 as a Canadian in the RAF...  If I can get sufficient detail on his assignment(s) and aircraft, I'll build *his* plane and gift it to his family

All good stories!  At least to me.

Perhaps not the most interesting topics in terms of design, color, camouflage, etc. - but certainly *good* stories - stories that resonate in this crowded, fevered brain of mine...! 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by crazypoet
added B-25 (how could I have missed THAT?!?!?)

[GusMac]

Similar to crazypoet for me, it's often the story. Examples on here include the Syrian Mig-23 and the Israeli F-15C which shot it down over the Bekaa valley during Operation Mole Cricket 19 back in 1982. That one stuck in my head as it was just after the end of the Falkland's conflict and I was in my mid-teens and airplane daft.

I'll also build stuff where I think the painting or weathering will challenge my skills and introduce new techniques and (hopefully) improve my abilities. Examples here include the Tamiya Spitfire MkXVIe and the current Greek A-7E as most of them look like they've been rescued from the scrap heap.

Haven't built much armour since I returned to the hobby, and none since I got an airbrush, so the M911 C-HET I just started is another 'challenge'.

[GusMac]

Meant to add that I wish someone would produce a decent 1/32 Sea Harrier and Etendard so I could do something from the Falklands. 

[Clunkmeister]

Did someone say Falklands campaign?

We really need one of these in 1/32  it’d be so bloody cool it’d reek of coolness

[Wumm]

I model only WW2 Axis subjects in aircraft... Because my Father told me not to.

My Father was a former Australian Army Sergeant. My Great Grandfather was in the Light Horse Militia before the Great War, and as an experienced Horseman of course was subsequently sent to climb the cliffs of Gallipoli at the whim of the then First Lord of the Admiralty. Somewhere inbetween was my Grandfather, who along with my Paternal Grandmother basically raised me in my early years. Having seen the effect of the ravages of War upon his returned Father, he was fortunate that he was working as a Miner at the outbreak of WW2 as it exempted him from having to make a choice that may have seen him sent white feathers in the Post.

So yes Dale, I am very much a product of my past. I was raised by a man who taught me to question everything, who in turn was sandwiched between two heavily indoctrinated authority figures who's attitude was very much 'do as I say, not do as I do'. So when my Father told me that the Nazi's were evil and not to model German subjects, I naturally went the other way. He is since gone from this World, but my fascination for the Axis side of the hobby remains, especially from the German perspective.

[BlrwestSiR]

For me, it's really whatever strikes my fancy.  Planes, cars, armour, sci-fi, giant robots. Doe-eyed teenagers piloting giant robots. Not really on the last one 

There's also the occasional "what the h€ll did I buy that for?!!!!" kit in the stash when I've been distracted/mesmerized by something something. Like a Shaun the Sheep Land Rover. 

Carl

[Wumm]

16 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Doe-eyed teenagers piloting giant robots...

[Vandy1 VX-4]

7 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Did someone say Falklands campaign?

We really need one of these in 1/32  it’d be so bloody cool it’d reek of coolness

I thought there was a 1/32 resin kit?  Or someone has said they were going to do it

Flying S models does it in 1/48 and is working on one is 1/32  according to their Facebook page

 

[GazzaS]

Interesting question, Dale.

And some interesting answers.

I was born in Germany but didn't live there very long.  My American father didn't want the kids of his German wife to be anything but Americans.  I don't feel it's rebellious, but I have been more interested in Germans and German history than any other peoples.  He hated it.

I model German subjects almost exclusively.  Anything USAAF/IJA/IJN that I can foil has some interest.  I recently built a MiG-25 and a T-34.  One is an interesting aircraft, and the other a was inspired by it's appearance in the movie Cross of Iron,. 

Planes, Ships, and vehicles with guns.  No gun, little interest. 

 

Gaz

[Spitfire]

To understand how I go about modelling we have to go back in time. Being born in 1952 my parents, uncles etc were all involved in WW2, I grew up next to an abandoned WW2 airfield and devoured comics with WW2 as their theme, like these

.

The first models that I ever saw were Airfix, in 1/72 scale and of a Lancaster and a Spitfire so my main interest naturally is WW2, and top of the list is RAF and FAA subjects, initially I built aircraft but soon spread my wings to AFV's and ships.

My modelling focus has slowly narrowed down, years ago I also built AFV's in 1/35 scale but basically only British and commonwealth subjects but the lack of kits of my chosen theme lead me to abandon this.

So now it is WW2 aircraft that floats my boat, in 1/32 scale, and predominately RAF/FAA, though I do get sidelined on to more exotic subjects such as French and Italian aircraft, currently the theme is Japanese for no particular reason. German subjects rarely interest me so I build them only as a distraction when the modelling mojo deserts me, I can then build a Luftwaffe subject as a quick build as I will not agonise over accuracy and can just get on with it.

I like also to build to a yearly theme, the last one I completed was US operated Spitfires, for this I built three kits.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

[DocRob]

Like many of you, I build lots of Airfix and Matchbox kits when I was a kid, brush painted them and was never satisfied with the result. Getting older, I abandoned modelling completely, but being an engineer I never lost interest in planes and other subjects. In my twenties I was very interested in product design and photography and started with airbrushing illustrations only on paper.
About ten years ago, I found myself in a very difficult phase in my life and lost my focus of the future. To relax my ever working sensors and my unsteady mind, I turned to modelling again, using it as a mind relaxing kind of 'lava lamp'. Fully concentrating on a model eased my mind and helped me to get my live arranged newly. What is left of that time, is that I love to build paint and weather, but after finishing a kit, I loose interest in it, the deed is done.

Finding you lot here was and is my only modelling connection to the outer world, as my wife is not interested in modelling and most of my friends are not as well.

Now my life is perfectly in sync since some years, I'm happy where I am and this reflects well into the hobby too. For one thing there is limited bench time due to lots of other hobbies and slowly but surely my interests in subjects shifts.
I still build kits, mostly planes and some Armor preferable in LS, but my mindset starts to change. I consider building wooden ships in LS and have already started one. Other projects involve Steam Punk resin kits in LS which will be displayed in illuminated dios and casted in clear resin blocks. There will be a copper submarine towed to a jetty above a colourful coral reef with some people diving around. These are only a few future projects, which show, that my focus changes to a more; let's call it 'freestyle' way of modelling. This involves to permanently learn new techniques, which I really love to do.

What is a permanent guideline in my modelling approach is, that a subject has to fascinate me, be it design-, engineering- or otherwise. There is no fixation on a political or historical background, because if I would do, I would tend to be in the footsteps of Hubert here and don't build WWII birds or armor and specially not Axis ones. Being a little schizophrenic here is part of the deal and yes, sometimes it feels false to build weapons with a high grade of accuracy, which I am very happy not to have seen in action, but hey who is perfect.

Cheers Rob  

[HubertB]

35 minutes ago, DocRob said:

...

What is left of that time, is that I love to build paint and weather, but after finishing a kit, I loose interest in it, the deed is done.

....

Cheers Rob  

 I am the same. You know that, until my current wife encouraged me to keep my latest builds, I was "vertically filing" a finished kit after about 3 months shelf life ?

What I have now on the shelves is a meager 3 finished kits, and a WiP stalled for 8 years (a scratch built Aichi Hansa)

Hubert

[DocRob]

58 minutes ago, HubertB said:

 I am the same. You know that, until my current wife encouraged me to keep my latest builds, I was "vertically filing" a finished kit after about 3 months shelf life ?

You are a lucky man, with your wife showing interest in your builds. My better half is an engineering consultant who has a deep connection to ships engines, the bigger, the better, automotive parts and other sophisticated stuff, but excludes my modelling in her praises, but I love her nevertheless.
My finished kits go into boxes, until there is no more space and then wherever. With you guys here, I started to take photos of my builds, that mean I have some reminders of old builds left now. 

On my tiny island, there is a neighbor, born in Angola, but Madeira rooted, who was a member of the Légion étrangère with a quite bizarre story of his live to tell, who is very interested in my modelling. I gave him some of my builds as a present. He, a farmer now pays back with lots of fresh vegetables, black potatoes and even some Vinho verde, which is all much appreciated.

Cheers Rob

[Jeff]

Black Potatoes, and Vinho verde?????????  Man I really HAVE to get out more........ I better go to Google, and look this up........

[Jeff]

HA !! I'm on it NOW...

https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-vinho-verde

[HubertB]

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

You are a lucky man, with your wife showing interest in your builds...

Cheers Rob

This is case of « second time a charm » 

Hubert

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Black Potatoes, and Vinho verde?????????  Man I really HAVE to get out more........ I better go to Google, and look this up........

Yeah Jeff, I have to tell you, there is a world out there to discover, behind these man cave doors and Google is not the only way to do it. Sometimes it's just great to go out and look for yourself . I call that empirically approach.

Cheers Rob

[Jeff]

22 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Yeah Jeff, I have to tell you, there is a world out there to discover, behind these man cave doors and Google is not the only way to do it. Sometimes it's just great to go out and look for yourself . I call that empirically approach.

Cheers Rob

I hear you on that Rob...................  at the moment we are a bit handcuffed looking after ageing parents, but one day I WILL get out there and discover some of the finer things in life.......  been out there some, but still MUCH more to discover... I have a 'list'......  New foods and wines and beers to find.... and new friends too....

[GusMac]

22 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Did someone say Falklands campaign?

We really need one of these in 1/32  it’d be so bloody cool it’d reek of coolness

I'd jump for that as well Ernie, such cool lines. 

It'd be interesting to see how you'd get enough weight in that 'itsy bitsy' nose to keep the tail up. Nice big resin cockpit would help especially with that nice big greenhouse.