Model airplanes and cars...I'm getting old!

[cheese1566]

Anyone remember putting together model airplanes and hanging them from fishing line in your bedroom while growing up as a kid?

I used to put together WW2 and Vietnam era jet fighters and hang them from the ceiling on fishing line in my bedroom when I was a young lad. Many a dogfights occurred in the twilight hours!!![smilie=6:

Or putting together plastic model cars?


Seems like a lost thing in the recent generations...I recall every department store toy section had Testers or MonoGram plastic models to build. Now I have to go to Hobby Lobby or an expensive hobby store to recount my youth!

I was able to re-visit my youth and helped the 11 year old stepson build and shoot off some Estes model rockets. At least in this age I was able to modernize and fasten a cheap digital key fob video camera on the side of one and record the lift off! When I grew up (and still have it!), Estes Rockets made the AstroCam Rocket that housed a plastic camera <<that one assembled like a model car>> that used 110 film camera and took one shot at it's peak. Can't even find any 110 film anymore...

Good Times!!

[plmitch]

I have good memories spending time building cars, trucks and planes. Think I may have even done a boat of two. Miss those days.......never could get my sons to like building them.

[John Allen]

I built many a model as a kid. It seems like this is slipping away. It is a shame.

[smokeywolf]

Revell made the best kits. I had Corsairs, P-38s, Lockheed Constellations, Republic Thunderbolts (the Jug), Corvettes, Chevelles, El Caminos.

smokeywolf

[CastingFool]

I still have some model cars I put together. They are somewhere in our storage closet in the basement.

[richhodg66]

One of the reasons kids don't do it much anymore is the kits and stuff to build them are so expensive now. Have you gone in a hobby shop lately? A lot of the same kits I built are still in production and are a lot more expensive now even allowing for inflation.

My brother and I shared a room and had many, many WWII airplanes hanging from the ceiling. When Iw as about to outgrow the hobby, I started high school and took Air Force JROTC where I got extra credit and won some competitions for building model planes.

My brother and I used to spend our spare time looking for returnable soda bottles along the sides or the roads and would turn them in at the grocery store for the nickel deposit. We could usually scrape enough change up in a week or two for at least one of us to get a model kit from the drug store in town after a couple of weeks.

[MaLar]

I built balsa model air planes and flew them, and hung them in my room.
Flying went along with crashing and rebuilding them. still have some 45 years later.

[cheese1566]

No matter how I tried, I always got glue on the windshields and made them blurry with the glue on my fingertips.

I learned a lot from my older brothers watching old war movies and copying how they did their planes...Where Eagles Dare... Guns of Navarone...Tora, Tora, Tora... Midway...and not to mention the favorite- Kelly's Heroes!

[starmac]

I built several model cars, and a balsa wood airplane that lasted about 2 seconds into it's first flight, built one more that might have lasted 6 seconds, and that was the extent of my flying career. lol

[gspgundog]

My father and I would sit for hours building WWII aircraft, tanks and trucks. We would take over the kitchen table as our workshop, him with his pot of coffee and cigarettes. Sometimes we would modify the kit to make it look like one or another was destroyed. As I got old enough to do a good job by myself my father moved on to the big sailing ships, "Old Ironsides" and such.

Thanks Cheese it has been years since I thought about those quality hours we spent together.

[Bad Water Bill]

I built a balsa plain while on board the USS Independence floating in Gitmo bay.

Never having flown one I let a 1st class with lots of practice fly it off of the flight deck and do many different stunts.

Now it was my turn to be a pilot.

15 seconds later I was now part of the fire and rescue team.:oops:

The remains are STILL sitting in my basement and still bring back memories.

[devinp]

Before I got into reloading I received a Traxxas Rally as a gift. That thing was fast and fun. I got it close to 70km/h on the highway. Absolutely every part was changeable, which I definitely needed as it seems that I spent more time fixing and upgrading it (spending lots and lots of money I mean) than I did driving it. I'm trying to sell it right now so that I can afford another rifle. It seems that I can only afford one hobby right now.

[mnkyracer]

I built many models, but don't think I ever finished detailing any of them. A couple decals here and there, then it was off to be used for .22 practice. The same with my sisters' dolls, stuffed animals, etc. do that today, and someone would probably send me for a psyc eval.

[Springfield]

Now the kids put together LEGO stuff. It is all based on some dumb movie or cartoon, and you can't even play with them because they don't hold together. Most of my son's legos end up in a big bucket. I bought a Big Boy train model and we are gong to put it together this summer, teach him what REAL model building is about.

[abunaitoo]

I remember the kits used to be $2.00.
Used to ride my bike to the "Model shop" to buy a kit when I saved enough.
Started out with planes, went to tanks, then cars. Even did some monsters at one time.
Those were great times.
I went to a hobby store a little while ago to buy some bress tubing.
Same kit I paid $2.00 for is now $22.00!!!!!!!
Kind of feel sorry for kid these days.
Friends son is in the 7th grade. Has no idea how to use a electric screwdriver.
Kids don't know how to make anything these days.
All they know is TV, computers, and cell phones.
Lots of kids I talk to have never even been camping.
Sad

[dsbock]

Tamya and Italieri had the most accurate WW II armor kits. My dad and I would spend hours at the dining room table building and painting airplanes, tanks, and ships.

Francois Verlinden put out a series of books on accurately painting and weathering plastic models as well as planning and building dioramas.

Great memories.

David

[BruceB]

.... and then some of us never really lose the love of modeling.

We advance (if that's the term) to model railroading, or radio-control, or even (Heaven save me!) to the post-graduate level.

THAT is the building of scale historic sailing ships, beginning with building the hull from bulkheads and then sheathing both the hull and the decks with individual planks, and continuing right up to the incredible complexity of the rigging.

On some of these sailing ship models, the rigging actually works after a fashion.... pulling a certain line will trim one of the yards around.

It's not at all difficult to spend many hundreds of dollars for such a kit, and construction time can run to months (if not years).

"The difference between men and boys....."

When my folks were building-on a family room with fireplace and complete basement, the mason approached me one day (I was in my mid-teens) and asked why the fireplace drawings called for a 4"-wide by 6"-high hole right through the width of the foundation, a good fifteen feet long.

Answer: it was a TUNNEL for the model railroad!

By that time, Dad and I were laying track using individual ties and miniature railroad spikes to hold the rails in place. Using a track gauge, the spikes were "driven" with needle-nose pliers. The stretch of track through the fireplace tunnel was the most rigorously-inspected track we ever laid, because a derailment in there would be a dreadful problem.

We never had any difficulty with it.

[Ramar]

The AMT 3in1 car model kits were my favorite in the 50's; they led to my street rodding in the 60's. My sons worked on the "Visible V8" for their combustion engine knowledge. I still get out in my '32 sedan on Sundays.... Ever take apart a "Mr. Machine"?
Ramar

[theperfessor]

Used to love building model kits as a kid, everything from cars and planes to the "visible dog" and famous movie monsters. Maybe that's why I love to build things today. I have a couple of airplane kits stockpiled right now (a P47 Thunderbolt and an A10 Warthog), might get them out and work on them in the near future.

Fun stuff, good thread.

[Charley]

Was an IPMS/USA (International Plastic Modeling Society/USA branch) for many, many years. Local chapter is still going strong, and has many junior members. I built aircraft. my favorites being WWI, 20's, 30's and Battle of Britain aircraft. Also did a fair number of "movie aircraft" Produced masters for a small company in Dallas for a few years, we did short run epoxy based molds, good for about 1500 shots, but a LOT cheaper than steel molds. Still injection molding, more popular than vacuform kits. Last release we did was a Caproni CA-3, using the aircraft in the USAF museum as the primary reference. A friend of mine scratchbuilt one and won first place in the IPMS nationals that year for best WWI aircraft. I really don't build any more, too many other irons in the fire.

here's an example or two of my work, first is a Curtiss P-1, in the alleged colors of the IGAS, for the movie Wings.107156

Second is a Morane-Saulnier 230, done as the mysterious "High Speed Monoplane" from the movie The Blue Max
107158

[Bad Water Bill]

Darned attachments are still not working for me.[smilie=b:

[DanWalker]

My sister sent me my dads old O scale lionel train a couple years ago. This winter I will be installing a shelf all the way around the game room in my basement, about 8" from the ceiling, for the train to run on. I have been into model rockets since I was a kid. Built one a couple years ago and installed a GoPro camera in it. Took it to Moab and got some pretty cool video footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwgM7NIZxG0

[gwpercle]

Planes, cars, The Creature from The Black Lagoon and my most prized build a model of the H.M.S Victory , Lord Nelson's flagship, complete with cannon, rigging and sails. Spent a long time on that bad boy and was really proud of it. This stuff is just way to low-tech for kids today and you have to be 21 to buy airplane glue and model paint. I'm over 60 and had to show the sales clerk my driver's license, she said kids use the stuff to get high so they passed a LAW, have to card everyone ....yeah that will solve the drug problem.
Gary

[Bent Ramrod]

I always liked the WWI biplanes. They're still around, but it looks like all the kits are made in Eastern Europe. I buy one once in a while and put it together when I have a cold.

When I was a kid I couldn't wait to slap the things together. I'd do too much at once, smear the glue, the wheels and wings would slump sideways before the glue set and then I'd really make the disaster complete when I painted the thing as the last step.

Now when I get a cold or the flu, I carefully debur and paint the parts, affix the decals, and slowly over days build the thing up. I pore over the pictures and instructions (in Czechoslovakian, last one) until I figure out the correct assembly method. It's better than antihistamines or cold pills for making the symptoms go away. I guess I've learned some patience in the intervening 50 years, which is good.

[popper]

Local hobby shop had contests.
107163
107161
Best one I did was a 50's dirt track midget. Mom didn't get a pic of that one.
Then when you get older you do this - 31 sedan channel'd 12".
107162

[Don Purcell]

Still build them and an I.P.M.S. member. Was around 4 years old when I built my first one. Dad and I also flew control line. Won my first contest just short of 6 years old. 59 years old now and have a pretty decent stash built up now.

[44Vaquero]

Built plenty of model air planes and helicopters, by "77" It was X-Wings and Tie Fighters, Vipers and Cylon Raiders! And Yes they were all hung from the ceiling with fishing line! Good times!

107185

[Remmy4477]

Back in the late 70's I was building the old balsa wood airplanes. I loved the duel power kits, either a rubber band or a small engine with a tether cord. The spitfire was my favorite. Sadly I have not seen one of those kits in years!

[Garyshome]

Did that quite a bit when I was a couple of years younger!

[Bad Water Bill]

Did that quite a bit when I was a couple of years younger!

Yeah sure.

A couple centuries ago.:kidding:

[shaper]

I still have the blue prints for a scale B-17. All metal with about 6 foot wing span. I doubt I'll ever build it.

[AZ-JIM]

107212

Been into R/C cars for about 25 years or so. This is the current one, lots of upgrades, measured the speed with a friends pitot tube from one of his planes, had it up to a legitimate 50mph on a 2 cell lipo battery. Although its worthless at that speed, as it wont corner, it is fun. It was a bone stock, base model with no upgrades when I got it. When I put the brushless motor in it, I toasted the stock tires in 3 days. That is my only complaint about it now, I am on my 3rd set of rear tires since Christmas....yikes!!

Had lots of models as a kid, IMHO Revell made the best ones, I was mostly into muscle cars. I think most of them are around somewhere, if I can find them I will post some photos. I had a few that turned out really nice. They got to be more fun when I got an airbrush for Christmas one year, the paint jobs came out so much better with it.


az-jim

[Fyodor]

That hobby is still around, but it's the same guys doing it as it were 30 years ago. Young kids have different interests... if they got time at all, here in Germany schools are mostly full time now, so that quite some kids get to "work" for longer hours than their parents! When I was a kid, I came back home at around 3pm, so a lot of the day left for sports, building model cars and other fun stuff. Todays kids arrive back home as late as 6pm or later in average! They just don't have time for hobbys anymore. Sports clubs suffer from that, too.

[snuffy]

My sister sent me my dads old O scale lionel train a couple years ago. This winter I will be installing a shelf all the way around the game room in my basement, about 8" from the ceiling, for the train to run on. I have been into model rockets since I was a kid. Built one a couple years ago and installed a GoPro camera in it. Took it to Moab and got some pretty cool video footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwgM7NIZxG0

Models- oh my! I started with plastic cars and airplanes. Mom & dad got me a visible V-8 for my 14th B-day. My brother made balsa U-control gas engine airplanes. I got interested in them, built a couple of solid body planes, and flew them.

After the Air Force, I got into model rocketry. Estes all the way. First was everybody's beginner the big Bertha. Then came 3 stage C engines and rocket launched gliders. Most expensive was the cineroc. A D engine 2 stage with a nose cone that was a miniature high speed--slow motion camera. The camera shot through a mirror back past the side of the main stage, at the launch pad and the rapidly receding ground. Film/battery pack for one launch was $35.00 back in the 70's, not including the 2 engines. But that included processing. Film duration was 30 seconds,,IIRC. Somebody had to be right by the rocket to turn on the switch to activate the camera. It would reach about 5-600 feet in the air. A failure-to-ignite-the main stage resulted in destruction of the camera on the forth flight.:-(

My brother built a monster rocket, a 3 engine D rocket with a 3" main tube and specially made nose cone. It stood 6 feet tall. What a sound when that thing lit. Special battery pack to get all 3 engines fired at the same time! The back end blew apart when Estes was having trouble with the D engines, the propellent became fractured and powdered, causing an explosion. The propellent is simply cake black powder. Powdered it became a bomb!

I hadn't thought about the possibility of launching today's miniature video cameras on a model rocket. Very cool!

[rondog]

Yeah, I was into the plastic model planes. Spent countless hours in my room at my card table "workshop" building those things. Did it for years, wasn't much else to do. I think it helped to hone my mechanical skills too.

[DanWalker]

Models- oh my! I started with plastic cars and airplanes. Mom & dad got me a visible V-8 for my 14th B-day. My brother made balsa U-control gas engine airplanes. I got interested in them, built a couple of solid body planes, and flew them.

After the Air Force, I got into model rocketry. Estes all the way. First was everybody's beginner the big Bertha. Then came 3 stage C engines and rocket launched gliders. Most expensive was the cineroc. A D engine 2 stage with a nose cone that was a miniature high speed--slow motion camera. The camera shot through a mirror back past the side of the main stage, at the launch pad and the rapidly receding ground. Film/battery pack for one launch was $35.00 back in the 70's, not including the 2 engines. But that included processing. Film duration was 30 seconds,,IIRC. Somebody had to be right by the rocket to turn on the switch to activate the camera. It would reach about 5-600 feet in the air. A failure-to-ignite-the main stage resulted in destruction of the camera on the forth flight.:-(

My brother built a monster rocket, a 3 engine D rocket with a 3" main tube and specially made nose cone. It stood 6 feet tall. What a sound when that thing lit. Special battery pack to get all 3 engines fired at the same time! The back end blew apart when Estes was having trouble with the D engines, the propellent became fractured and powdered, causing an explosion. The propellent is simply cake black powder. Powdered it became a bomb!

I hadn't thought about the possibility of launching today's miniature video cameras on a model rocket. Very cool!
I buy a lot of stuff from these guys that my local hobby shop doesn't carry.
http://www.apogeerockets.com/

These motors eliminate the detonation problems associated with the larger blackpowder motors.
http://www.apogeerockets.com/Rocket_Motors/AeroTech_Motors/18mm_Motors_Single_Use

[Huskerguy]

Wow, this thread brought back some sweet memories. I built about everything and anything including cars, planes, munster mobiles, creatures, lions, you name it. I grew up without a father around and we didn't have much for means. Grew up in two towns that had model/hobby shops. Kids flooded those places on weekends. We built them together as young kids and every one of my friends had them all over their rooms. I was always a bit jealous of the kids with means, they always had the big ships and complicated models. I was on pop bottle collectors budget. There were always contests at area stores that really caught my attention. I built a balsa plane with paper covering but could never afford the engine and stuff to fly it. This thread makes me feel old and sad at the same time. My son built some models and won several state fairs with rockets. Thanks for bringing back a childhood memory.

[Gunslinger1911]

Cool thread !
Yup, model cars and planes, memories !! Took a long time to learn to keep the glue off the fingers. All fell to firecrackers eventually.
Then Estes model rockets - mowed many a lawn to pay for the engines. Got any idea how LOUD an M-80 is when it goes off at 200 feet in the air ? LOUD !
On to electric, then gas cars and trucks - damn, now I gotta dig out that gas 4wd monster truck from the back of the garage.

[facetious]

Not a model but as a kid the thing with my friend Marty and me was taking things apart and putting them back together. In the winter we were chomping at the bit to get our bikes out so for some thing to do at night we would take our bikes a part down to the last part to clean polish and lube every thing and put it back to gether to be ready for spring.
I wonder if kids still do stuff like that any more? As kids we were all ways making some thing or doing some thing.

[rbertalotto]

LOVED building models...still do. Wish the grandsons were into it....but if it isn't something on a "hand held device" they show faint interest.....But they do like shooting THANK GOD!

I built a Bazooka out of ESTES stuff when I was a kid. Many abandoned mill building were the target! Man, what fun we had as kids!

[10x]

Tamya and Italieri had the most accurate WW II armor kits. My dad and I would spend hours at the dining room table building and painting airplanes, tanks, and ships.
Snip

David

The nintendo generation seldom has parents willing to get their posteriors handed to them playing video games.
There was a time when parents did things with their children - video games, smart phones, and social media seem to have replaced that....

I did farm chores with my dad, not because I had to, but because I wanted to.
Rather than models we poured babbit bearings, forge welded broken parts, forge sharpened cultivator shovels, and kept the worn out farm machinery running for another year.
I now understand universal joints, clutches, seized exhaust valves, belt tension, magnetos, points ignition, carpentry ( I watched and helped my dad build a couple of houses from footings to shingles) and all of the things folks should know to live.
For a man with a grade VIII education who was born in a granary, and saw his first automobile when he was 8 years old he did well...

[Lance Boyle]

I spent a lot of time as a kid making models. Mostly airplanes. My favorite kits were Monogram and Testors. Revell always seemed to have their rivets and lines too heavy for the scale. Monogram had a few like that too though.

I got pretty good at painting them and even won a blue ribbon at our Civil Air Patrol dinner for a F14 Tomcat I made and did the grey ghost camo with my air brush. I used to subscribe to scale modeler magazine and I'd search for books in the library on models and get them sent in via interlibrary loans. I made a lot of my own tooling from what I saw in the books; modified clothespins as clamps, coat hanger frames to hold planes while I sprayed them. Early on I'd simply use the box the models came in to hold the plane by the wings to paint them. That liquid glue would smoke and ruin any windscreen. Toothpics and the regular glue was better, or even elmers as it didn't mess up the clear plastic like the solvent types.

Good times. The normal 1:48 models I generally built were normally $4-6 bucks then. The 1:72's were cheaper unless you were getting a 4 engine plane sized. I was downright shocked a few Christmases ago looking at them in the toy aisle. Over $20 for a 1:48 Mustang. I think I built the same exact model with different decals for $5 in the 1980's.

ETA- damn driving around today I was thinking about a friend I knew from CAP who also was into building model airplanes and tanks. Todd J. Clark, Lt. Col., US Army. June 8th, 2013 he was KIA in Afghanistan. RIP Todd. You're not forgotten.

[perotter]

The nintendo generation seldom has parents willing to get their posteriors handed to them playing video games.
There was a time when parents did things with their children - video games, smart phones, and social media seem to have replaced that....

I did farm chores with my dad, not because I had to, but because I wanted to.
Rather than models we poured babbit bearings, forge welded broken parts, forge sharpened cultivator shovels, and kept the worn out farm machinery running for another year.
I now understand universal joints, clutches, seized exhaust valves, belt tension, magnetos, points ignition, carpentry ( I watched and helped my dad build a couple of houses from footings to shingles) and all of the things folks should know to live.
For a man with a grade VIII education who was born in a granary, and saw his first automobile when he was 8 years old he did well...

I was at a nephew's HS graduation party yesterday. One friend of his I meet is just finishing up building a cedar strip canoe. The car he has was something he was given and he turned it into a fine running one. He had been doing home remodeling projects since he was 11 or 12 years old. All without having a dad in the picture nor grandpa, etc to teach/show him. And his mother is very busy with her job.

My brother is a dairy farmer so of course my nephew learned machines and building from my brother.

I think all to often we think to much about the 'bad' ones and to seldom get to meet the good kids. There were other there that I've somewhat known since they were young and are now in their 20's who are doing fine in all areas of life.

[Bullshop Junior]

I still have the blue prints for a scale B-17. All metal with about 6 foot wing span. I doubt I'll ever build it.

I would love to have copy's of those...

[Wayne Smith]

I built WWI airplane models. Just facinated with all those wings. My kids built spaceships with Legos, and yes, they stay together when properly engineered.

[Charley]

Mostly airplanes. My favorite kits were Monogram and Testors. Revell always seemed to have their rivets and lines too heavy for the scale. Monogram had a few like that too though.
That's what 400 and 600 grit sandpaper was for, and a flexible straight edge and scriber! Removed and rescribed lots of panel lines, when it was needed.

[richhodg66]

At some point, Monogram and Revel merged and were one company, not sre if that's still the case but I was in Hobby Lobby and there were kits with both names on them.

I kind of favored the Monogram kits, especially the big bombers. I built a couple of the B-17s and one B-29. A 1/48 scale B-29 is a BIG model. I built that one for a JROTC contest (which I won the category first place, BTW) and the instructors presented it to the high school guidance counselor as an appreciation present. Don't know how she displayed it in her office. I wonder whatever became of it? Somewhere I still have a clipping from the school newspaper with a picture of it being presented.

[mtnman31]

I still build plastic models. Although, now days I might only make time to do it a few times a year. I have too many other hobbies to dedicate the same amount of time to modeling I did when I was younger. I build aircraft, armour and a few cars. I've only ever done a couple ships. When I was younger, I entered a lot of local contests and did fairly well. Now, I start them and never seem to finish any of my projects.

[Geraldo]

I would build models in the long winters. In the summer I was too busy fishing.

My dad got me started and I built quite a few cars and WWII planes. Then I found Tamiya WWII tanks and vehicles.

I never had a Visible V8, but did have other learning 'toys'. Chemistry and geology kits, and my favorite, an electronics set which I would set up as a radio and then practice sending morse code to my AM transistor radio.

[pmer]

I had to find some good super glue for a job at work and stopped at a Hub Hobby. They have isle after isle of model cars, planes and boats. The cars were around 25 dollars. I should go back for a A-10 Warthog and see if my son and I can build it. At 9, he is a Lego man so maybe I can use the Transformer movie as a start because there was an A-10 in it. I was always amazed at how sneaky those planes are in the field.

I did get a RC air plane, a Super Cub with a DX6i controler. That poor Cub has had a ruff life getting crashed. Its been completly broke 4 times but keeps going with glue and clear box tape.

[fortysomething]

Great memories building models. Cars and WWII stuff mostly, also had a Saturn V rocket. The planes were hanging from the ceiling and built dioramas for the tanks and land vehicles. Built model rockets, as well (the flying kind). Always enjoyed building more than launching them. I still enjoy building stuff.