Art & Inspiration Has it REALLY been that long since I bought a model car?

Thanks, I didn't know if I should post some of my silly stories or not. I realize they are usually funnier to ourselves then to others. My grandson asked how that I made some of the cars look like they were wrecked. So I showed him. This is a mustang he did, and his cranky the crane, I got him for Christmas. He loves Hot Rods, building models, slot cars, But mostly he loves getting lost on a road trip. We all talk about the price of things now days. But some things are just priceless. Ron...

 

Been building since the early '70s and have somewhere around 100 to build yet, I have 2 closets that look a lot like Ron's building area. I buy everything from swap meets and random scores on ebay. I can pick them up cheap, but end up sticking a bunch into them with paints, foil and detail accessories.

 

I'll chime in here.Since the price of models went up with the price of oil went up, I started building.. wait for it................ Hot wheels. yeah they are smaller. And i cant see em like i could 10 years ago, but at 98 cents ea.if i screw some of them up,oh well. J.B. weld to make body changes. automotive paint in spray can. Give it a try. Check wally world, you can buy car, another car to get wheels off of and can of paint for under 10 bucks.
BUT you may need one of those magnifying lights to help see....lol.

 

talk about prices--i still have an unbuilt '64 cutlass kit from amt that was a "clearance item" that i bought for 69 cents!

 

Last I bought was in early/mid 60's...$1.49/2.00..Needed the money for gas for my field Crosley and mini bike.....

 

and you can't even buy these ^^^^^ in some states as they classify them as a CLASS A Explosive !!! and you will have DHS on your door step , and the new ones suck ! we used to do the Tonka dump truck test , 1 m-80 got it about 15 feet , the new ones will barely lift the newer lighter plastic ones that high..

 

Just pop over the border to Mexico with some models in your suitcase and you can blast to your heart's content. A few years ago, my brothers and I tried blowing up a tin can with one of those...set it up so the lid would blow off, and waited expectantly. Of course the bottom of the can blew off too, and narrowly missed us!

At today's prices, I can't imagine blowing up model cars!

 

I have about 60 built models and maybe 300 new in the boxes. Maybe $1000 worth of aftermarket model parts too. Paint, easily $400 worth. I got into contest building in 1998, slowed down with my 2011 car accident and stopped when my wife was sick with cancer.

One day I'm going to gather a bunch together for a big eBay auction and make a mortgage payment or two.

 

If all of you guys think that the cost of a model car kit is expensive you should check out the prices of model rail roading!

Almost two years ago now I decided to pull my childhood N-Scale 3x5 layout out of its 20 year storage and get it functioning again. It never got past the finished benchwork so I figured I would proceed with doing the landscape, scenery and detailing. I also decided to sell off my two locomotives and 20 cars so that I could upgrade to higher quality pieces.

Imagine my surprise to find out that a 3.5" long locomotive is $120 and train cars are $20 on average. I then get onto an N-Scale forum and see these massive room filling layouts guys are building and all I see are thousands and thousands of dollars. I ended up putting my layout and trains on EBay and got an extra $500 to work on my '32 Pickup.

All that being said, I'm an avid model car builder. Yeah, the prices are kinda high but I love the hobby enough that I'm willing to pay.

As I tell my wife, it's cheaper than drinking or doing drugs and it keeps me home on the weekends.

 

I haven't been actively building in the last 6 or seven years. I was working in a model making shop. We'd do consumer products all day and then stay late on a Friday once in a while and build our own shit. I'd build hotrods and my buddy mark would build kitbashed spaceships and space mining equipment. You can have fun when you've got a 3 axis CNC, a good lathe, and a paint booth...

It always bugged me to pay $25 (a few years ago) for a re issue of an old AMT kit. The tooling has existed for 40 years, it doesn't seem like there would be much development cost. I like original issue glue bombs off of ebay. You have to hunt them, then fix them. Buy a couple to get a complete set of hubcaps, etc.

 

Dennis-- did a spit take once when I visited a hobby shop that catered more to the train crowd. They had a bunch of HO-scale trains in a locked glass cabinet against one wall. I wandered over, peered at a price tag, and realized that every single tiny train on that wall was apparently worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars. No wonder they were locked up.
"This is a stick up! Put the trains in the bag, and no funny business!"
Makes model cars look super cheap in comparison.

 

1990's; Blown 426 Hemi Chrysler/ 2 speed Lenco AMT '55 'verted to '56

 

Bought these at a church bazaar a couple of years ago- 2 bucks each!! 100% intact!! Holy Cow!!

The Lincoln had an option to make it into a station wagon, and all three came with a display base/ pen holder that was pretty cool.

I built a million of these 3 way option kits when I was a kid ( stock, drag, or custom). Well, maybe not a million, but a lot of '32 coupes and '40 Fords!!

 

This topic is regularly hashed out on model car and model railroad forums. Typically, it boils down to 1) yes, it can be very expensive, and 2) no, it doesn't have to be if you buy smartly. Even so, say you pay $50 for a kit, paint, etc. and spend 50 hours building. That's $1 an hour. It's pretty hard to entertain yourself for that amount and also have something to show for it. Want to spend only 50 cents an hour? Build it twice as "good" by taking twice as long.
Here's one of mine. Yes, it has many shortcomings but it was certainly a challenge to chop a sedan roof. It works for me.

 

Hardly, ... I have friends that have 2000+ unbuilt kits.

Sent from my SM-N910V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I was paying $2 each at goodwill last year for them. Stepped in a goodwill for the first time since last fall yesterday and their prices are $7.00 each now.