how many here started out building models ?

i was just wondering, how many got infuenced in this stuff, from building model cars as a kid ?
i for one did, and i still build model cars to this day. nothing i build is right out of the box...i modify everything that i build.
i build em and sell em on e-bay...which helps buy parts & stuff for my 55 pontiac.

 

yeah i did too, my ol man had rods so i was not only influenced by the models but the real things to

i still build now too very far and few between nowadays, always too busy and to broke from working on the full scales
cant wait til my three year old is old enuff to learn some of the 1/25th scale rodding tricks tho

 

Yes! exactly thats how it all started, my earliest rememberence of my love for cars was when i was a kid building modelcars, i used to buy them mostly at a store called Gemco. or at Earls Hobbies in belflower, ca. I still build them once in awhile.

 

I guess I'm lucky enough to be a third generation hot rodder, I started building models because at 5 I couldn't build the real thing. Still build models to this day.

 

yeah, my dad always had muscle cars & rods when was a kid too, so i've been around it since i was born.
model cars were my way of building hot rods, when i couldn't work on real cars. i got my first real car at 14 (a 73 chevelle) and stuck a small block 400 in it. my second real car was a 55 ford panel truck (wish i still had that one), followed that up with a 71 chevelle, then a 73 jeep cj-5 with a small block chevy in it. a 68 nova with a 396 and nitrous, then a 71 nova with a 454 and nitrous. i had all of these cars before i turned 19 years old. the novas were drag cars, so i did my time on the strip...both ran in the 11's, and were daily drivers. model cars were always there for me tho...seems like i've always built them. actually, right now, i have a whole closet full of un-built model cars, and a ton of spare parts.

 

I learned all the basics from model building! It gave me a foundation to guide me in later years. I built my 1st AMT kit was a 58 Impala convertible. I brush painted it in enamel. I thought it was beautiful at the time!

 

Count me in!
Built MANY old car models in my younger years, until the real things started taking up my time.
Now my only link to it, is painting models, for Vic Collins. He's a real pro, though!

 

My dad introduced me to model cars. He built a '65 plymouth "Richard Petty" racecar. After that I started building my own. Some were cars, but a lot of ships and airplanes. Most of the ships ended up in the creek as BB gun targets.

 

Yeah i built lots of cool ones I wish I still had. Probably have to go back to models when the artheritis gets too bad to play with the big ones.

 

You sure that wasn't a 64? Jo-Han did a 64 Plymouth Belvedere kit that was re-released a couple of years ago.
Doc.

 

Yup, back in 1975 Monograms 53 Chevy did the trick, and that's when the downhill began...

 

I built lots of models. Still have most of them although most of the parts have fallen off since the glue got old. One of my favorites was a Big Daddy Swamp Rat model I got when we visited the museum when I was like 12. It had the squishy rubber slicks and plug wires for the gigantic hemi.

 

Models were a great part of my life growing up, There seems to be little interest in them with the young boys today. I remembered buying them everywhere, and there was a huge selection of them. I think it is a great way to learn allot about cars. I know I picked up allot of part names, body style differences, and learnt to distinquish the year of a car, by what I was building as a kit.

 

I've had model cars since I was 5 or so, snap-***es, then I moved into the 1/25 scale, my first was a '71 Grand Prix, molded in brown(no paint), then the '72 Impala molded in blue. I want to build those two one more time but they go for crazy money on ebay.

I have about 100 or so right now, well on my way to having 1 Ford and 1 Chevy from each year from the 20's to the mid 70's when they stopped making the full size annuals. Kinda like the ID page in the old Chilton's manuals.

 

Used to do a lot of models myself, a long time ago. Somewhere I still have a big box of unused parts, or I guess that is "NOS" model parts. I have not done any in years, but I am pulled towards that isle everytime I'm in the store. Problem is like the others have said. With work, my daughter and the full model I don't have any time. Kind of surprised they still make them, with todays kids more impatient and worried about cell phones, video games and other electronic devices.

 

My first model car was a Revell '56 Buick kit. This was followed shortly after by a just-released AMT 1958 Chevrolet Convertible ($1.29). I built avidly during the early '60's but quit when I was drafted into the army in '65. Still dabble once in a while - I'm currently turning a '55 Dodge promo into a LaFemme for a friend. The ch***is is stamped Aluminum Model Toys, Birmingham, Mich.

 

yeah, as a kid i built tons of model cars. i never thought it would lead to a profession, but in the early 80's i had a gig building amt (3 in 1) model cars for amt. the company would send me cases of model kits. for every kit they made i would build 3 to 6 models of each. one stock version, one drag and one custom version in ***embly line fashion. the models i built were used for photography on the boxes that you guys probably bought. the top cover and all the side panels were photos with detail close-ups of cars models i built. it lasted for about 3 years then styles changed and amt went to illustrations of their car models instead of photography. it was fun while it lasted but i haven't picked up a tube of plastic cement since, though i do miss the buzz that glue gave me.

 

Was playin with them before they made kits. If we were lucky we could get a dealer promo and cut them up!! If you can find a 50 Ford promo, it had a perfect grill and bumper, chromed metal...........OLDBEET

 

I got into building model cars because...that's what my big brother did.
Only....his were kinda boring. They were missing something.
I remember building a Laurel and Hardy Model T at about 8yrs old.
Then, taking it apart and scavenging through my brothers leftovers for parts to make it look cool. Next thing you know I had a fenderless Tub with a Flattie V8.
My Dad and Brothers just kind of looked at it and went....Hmmmm!
My next oldest brother asked me once when we were teens "How come you don't use the instructions"?
I pulled out two corvette kits and handed him one.
He ended up with a pace car replica with the nose in the air.
I ended up with a candy coated beauty with a full IMSA body kit with the rubber tucked neatly inside those huge fenders.
He didn't bug me after that.
Now, I like to build in plastic now before committing to steel on most of my projects.

 

I did. That's how I learned what all the parts were called. Drag link, tie rod etc.

 

They Have Instructions??

 

Oh Yeah, Lots of hours spent building the 1/25 scale fleet...
The only thing that could take me away was that 57 Chevy 4dr hardtop I bought when I was 14. But not for long - I built a few more models in my last years of college when I was dirt poor to keep my spirits up. Heck, I still build models at 45 yrs old - good way to concept new ideas. The models improve with my age - house of color candy paint now and other tricks... Lots of fun and relaxation - wish I could spend more time building models

 

I did build models, but not cars. Aircraft is my first love.

 

Hell yea. When I was a wee youngin' (pre-6ish), mom and dad would drop me off at grandma & grandpa's for the weekend, and they'd head to the dragstrip for the races. Grandap'd take me to the 'dime-store' on Friday night for a model to build, and keep me occupied (if we didn't get to go fishin'). And haven't stopped building them yet. I have a dozen models on display in the garage, and my 'barn-office'. I still have a big box of unfinished models. My '33 project is nothing more than a 'life-size' model.
Except I usually painted my models...............

 

I started with models too. A 32 ford 5 window coupe, was my first influence, in the early 60's. My dad and I built it like the box top. Channeled, painted blue with scallops from the kit. I still have it. Built many others since, modified most of them to my liking. Learned alot of terms,etc. When I got older went looking for a real 32 coupe to build, found out how expensive they were even in the late 60's, and found Model A's were more in my price range. My son and I built models together when he was younger, now he and I are building real cars.
Red

 

Me too lifer for sure. Now I've got my son building it's become more of a priority than before. Now it's family time for us, my wife and daughter knit and sew, my son and I hot rod in scale. I'm working on getting the full scale family hot rod so we can work on that also. However the house is a bigger priority and project at the moment.

 

I built hotrods but also built a lot of model planes too, but I always took a soldering iron to them and add "combat scars" , bullet holes, strafing marks. man I havent thought about that in years....

 

Yep. My Dad gave me all his car models from when he was a kid, and I learned alot. Eventually, I took a B-29 and then a B-25 to the State Fair in 4-H, and got blue ribbons for each.

I still have all mine and all of my Dad's.

 

Sure did! Burned the midnight oil may nights working or models and entered them in a couple shows. That was in the mid sixties. I would save up my allowance (.50 a week) and by a model for $2.00! There now about $15.00. You could buy all the spray paint and glue you could afford and it wasn't a problem like now. Nobody would have even thought about sniffing the stuff. I'm over 50 now and the other day I bought some rattle can primer from Ace Hardware and I had to sign a form with my name address, DOB, and phone number. My how times have changed.

 

i spent alot of time building models, first one was a tank, then it was mostly cars and trucks, model-a`s, hurst olds with 2 engines, thunderbirds, my dad was/is a trucker so i built a few big rigs, my fav was a black 57 chevy that i tubed, but in the running gear out of a rail and cut up the skeleton man fron lil coffen and put him in the drivers seat, one hand on the wheel and his arm on the window sill. me and my friens were always trading parts of old models i`m sure i had like 3 boxes, on slow days we would stuff them with firecrackers or shoot them up with pellet guns, those were the days.