No, not of the human kind.

I'm curious as to how many people here made model kits, like of planes or ships or tanks? Also what kind of manufacturers do you remember? Over here Airfix has been king, but am curious as to what is big around the world.

It was the engineering of these kits which got me into engineering, and then specificly electronic engineering - was this for you?

Pics if you have any!

Sparky

 

When I was a teen I made a number of models and painted them, etc.. I believe most cheaper ones I was able to afford with my own $$ were made by Revell if I recall.. I think the paint/glue was made by a company called "Testors" or something like that.. Do I have any of the models I made?? No... I've got no idea what happened to them!

 

Did you make planes? Or tanks?

 

I built a few models; a 1955 chevy pickup, a corvette stingray, and the Star Trek USS Enterprise. I didn't like it as much as building things outside out of scrap wood, nails, and broken bricks. It was too ...hmmm.... I can't think of a better word than "prefab" but that doesn't convey my point clearly. I didn't like having to go by the directions and having no room to create something out of my own mind.

 

Did you make planes? Or tanks?

I did planes and cars.. I don't recall doing any tanks off the top of my head..

Most of my projects turned out similarly.. too much glue leading to messy results.. Not so great at painting.. It was still fun though..

 

I used to be big on Airfix when I was little. I enjoyed building WWII aircraft the most.

Then there was 'Warhammer' which didn't appeal to me very much. The 'Space Marines' were fun to paint, I didn't enjoy playing the 'Warhammer' game, though.

It was 'LEGO System' and 'Meccano' which gave me the most customer satisfaction for a toy.

@ Sparky

Have you watched any of the 'James May's Toy Stories' before?

James May's Toy Stories - Airfix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zID8rnZcshs

James May's Toy Stories - Meccano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj4gTDGVJp4&feature=relmfu

James May's Toy Stories - Lego

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR2YqMrS_pM&feature=relmfu

 

Good videos.

I came across some amazing picture of guys who make models today:

And look at this for scratch built!

 

this guy makes models out of Aluminum cans. Very awesome. This would have been more up my alley, but I would never have the patience to do it; at least not more than once.

EDIT: I'm having trouble viewing the images on the page I linked to. If you are as well, let me know, and I can forward you an email with all the images.

 

When I was still a puppy,I saved all summer for a SR71 Blackbird advanced builder model.

Took me a days to sand,file,assemble,paint and decal..

Took my older brother 30 seconds to turn it into a pile of jagged pieces over me wearing one of his favorite T shirts..

Haven't built one since.

 

Those are awesome!

Check out this guy, he makes scale aircraft by hand out of aluminium!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rUa-XZJjWA&list=UUXsr8uOVGuZ2l32ssJrwbkg&index=8&feature=plcp

Then look at his other videos! the b17 is amazing!

 

that's amazing. The level of patience and aptitude for incredibly tedious ventures that some people possess really baffles me sometimes. Very impressive, but better them than me. I have the attention span of a toddler.

 

If I'm being honest, I'd find it the coolest thing ever and I'd get 100% into it.

For an hour or two.

And then it will get pushed to one side and forgotten about!!!

 

Shortly after WW II I had a plastic model of a Mustang airplane. It would fall apart when I crashed it and then fit back together so I could crash it again

Hey...whaddaya want from an 8 year old?

 

Shortly after WW II I had a plastic model of a Mustang airplane. It would fall apart when I crashed it and then fit back together so I could crash it again

Hey...whaddaya want from an 8 year old?

That reminds me I wanna continue building a 1/5 scale mustang RC plane,, or a cowboy.

 

Lets see, what didn't I do.

Model airplanes (both balsa and plastic), flying or show

Model rockets (flying), both display models, and other.

Model cars (plastic)

Model ships (plastic)

Anything scifi, I'm older than many of you, so this was the Enterprise (old version) for the most part.

When Apollo 11 made its trip I disassembled my plastic model to reflect where the mission was. I was 13 at the time.

 

My dad builds and flys (flies?) R/C planes. He buys kits though, with most of the work already done. He only has one arm, so building them from scratch would be a hell of an ordeal. He's got this little platform that he made that fits over his shoulders and holds his radio controller flat, a little below the nipple line. He uses his nub to control one joystick and the hand to control the other. He's pretty good at. It's fun to go and watch.

 

My dad builds and flys (flies?) R/C planes. He buys kits though, with most of the work already done. He only has one arm, so building them from scratch would be a hell of an ordeal. He's got this little platform that he made that fits over his shoulders and holds his radio controller flat, a little below the nipple line. He uses his nub to control one joystick and the hand to control the other. He's pretty good at. It's fun to go and watch.

Thats the best way to go otherwise you can buy cnc files of the cut outs. Back in the day you just bought blueprints and built it that way, then kits became big with most of the wood cut.. Some of these have become very collectable. Finally you have the newer stuff thats got a lot of plastic, electric, etc... I'd like 1 nice petrol plane and a nice electric.

 

Thats the best way to go otherwise you can buy cnc files of the cut outs. Back in the day you just bought blueprints and built it that way, then kits became big with most of the wood cut.. Some of these have become very collectable. Finally you have the newer stuff thats got a lot of plastic, electric, etc... I'd like 1 nice petrol plane and a nice electric.

Yeah my dad's brother was one of the old school R/C guys. He died a few years ago and my dad inherited all his planes. That's what got my dad into the hobby. My uncle built a few of his planes from blueprints, but as I understand it, he built most of them from his own mind, from scratch.

 

Self taught, incredible manual dexterity and lot of patience accompanied by an excruciating search of details prior drawing the plans using his own scale (shown somewhere in the pictures).

Paper, thin cardboard, vinyl glue and very seldom light wood plus his most sophisticated tool, a cutter.

Mauricio, my brother, never ceased to amaze me.

The Prinz Eugen was sold to a collector in USA while the green-hull barge was stollen by one of the members of his Club.

 

I constructed/painted plastic model birds (life size) back in the late 60's of an oriole, blue jay, robin, cardinal, canary finch, and red-shouldered blackbird. I still had several of them up until a few years ago. I helped my older brother with some of his model cars, but he never gave me any credit for my work!
I gave my 7 year old grandson a book on making cool paper airplanes. He got in trouble for making/flying planes during church (he goes to a Luthern school) and so his parents put the blame on me!!