Do you remember the first plastic model you assembled?

[gary1101]

Ahhh..... I love the smell of Testors in the morning. All of my models ended their lives with the help of a strategically placed M80.

Just completed a 1/10 scale RC grandfather/grandson project. My 9 yo grandson assembled the transmission, differentials, axels and even did most of the painting. Over $700 invested and worth every penny. We now go out together and terrorize the hiking trails.

[wdfifteen]

^^
Amazing grandfather. Great project. I hope the two of you find many hours of fun and bonding with it.

[DonDavis]

I started at prob 6, no idea what the first was. Then I built cars, trucks, planes, trains, ships, etc till about 16.
Also built some whacky custom “cars” as well. I had some of the planes hanging from the ceiling by fishing line. Most notable was a Corsair attacking a Zero.

Also played with balsa planes.

[Heel n Toe]

We did a version of this thread a few years ago. I couldn't remember then (for certain) what my first build was, but I'm pretty sure it was one of these two Aurora kits. I think it was the B-52. Relatively small scale... wingspan was about 8" on each.




I still have these two, plus a larger scale Corsair that I think was the last one I built before I left for college. I just can't get to them right now because they are halfway across my "studio" (catchall room). If I get industrious and work my way to them in the next week or two I'll revive this thread and post pics so you can see my 8-10 year old skills. Nothing great, but not bad.

One thing I always did with model planes was build them with the landing gear down and displayed most of them on those plastic stands they came with:



Some got hung from the ceiling.

[Racerbvd]

Pretty sure it was one of these .
.

[NY65912]

I've got a brand new Monogram B-58 Hustler model from the 60's in my closet. I'm waiting for my grandson to get old enough to build it with me. Love that plane

[HobieMarty]

The first models I ever built were a series of snap-tite funny cars by Monogram. There was something like 6 or so cars if I recall correctly and I built them all.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Rapewta]

I don't remember the first but I remember when it ended. Puberty.
When I was 13, 14 & 15 I would ride my bike to the Fremont Drag Strip on weekends.1963, 64 & 65.
That charged my interest in building model cars.
I took a 1940 ford and heated it, shape shifted it into a Willys Gasser. Ala Stone, Woods & Cook.
I had a paper route so I had money to buy models.

As a teenager now at 16, it was cool to be going steady.
That's what I did and one day I looked at my modest model car collection on display in my bedroom and thought model cars are juvenile. I am a man now that I have a girlfriend and the models got to go. Took the collection down to the edge of the river and they became victims
of my 22 rifle.

As a Father and raising two sons ages 9 and 11 I got the idea of building model cars with the boys between our trips snake, lizard and frog hunting. Going fishing and plinking the 22 with them is not an indoor thing.

I took them to the local toy store and they had a selection of models there. Told them to
pick out a model and we will build them.
An AC Cobra and a Countach.
I got to relive my younger days teaching them the proper use of the X-acto knife, files, cement and of course.... how to install windows without f@!King it up.

Model building as a youngster was a lot of recognition looking at the finished product.

[petrolhead611]

My first was an Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hurricane and the I built a load more 1/72 Airfix WW2 planes. The Axis ones ended up hanging from a rope stretched across the back garden being dragged across by my sister( hidden by a tree trunk) whilst I shot them to bits with my .177 air rifle. I stopped making models at about 11 when my friend and I started building for sale what were called trollies in our area (plank frame with old pram wheels and axles and rope steering). By 13 I was assembling karts from kits imported from the US

[Otter74]

First one I built was an AMT 1/25 Sunbeam Alpine. My dad helped me (who knows how much I actually did). I was probably 8, or maybe 6, as it was one of the last times we spent Christmas or another long visit at my grandparents' house in Colombia. Molded in white and we built it unpainted.

Last kit I built was a Monogram 1/24 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, in red. Finished that some time when I was in engineering school. I've got a couple of dozen unbuilt kits I'd like to get to one day, but no idea when I will prioritize it.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by NY65912

I've got a brand new Monogram B-58 Hustler model from the 60's in my closet. I'm waiting for my grandson to get old enough to build it with me. Love that plane

I had a model of one I used to play with in the 60's. To this day, one of my favorite planes. Some say it was discontinued far too early.

[stevej37]

balsa wood and cardboard

[Evans, Marv]

I think it was a gray, plastic model of the battleship Missouri in the rearly fifties.

[Skytrooper]

I was 9, and got a Willy’s pickup model. I was all thumbs, but got it together pretty well. I got very good at aircraft models. So good that the local hobby shop gave me models to make for their displays.

[Brown747]

Here I am in about ‘68 gluing together the Hawk F9F Panther. A hobby that has stayed with me for a lifetime.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Not my first model but my 1st Tamiya model



Seeing the same model 33yrs later in the Tamiya Factory Shop window in Tokyo, while out there working for the Honda F1 team, immediately after finishing working at the Alpine F1 team made me realise I hadn't squandered my childhood and used my free time wisely

[Bob Kontak]

First one I think was a Rat Fink job constructed in concert with my neighbor pal or some orange futeristic type car with a bubble top. Goerge Barris maybe? Late 60's.

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

Don't remember the first one I made, but I remember the first one I broke (I was two years old)

Dad's Porsche 904 model.

I bought the "Factory" Minichamps 904 at Stoddards Porsche in Willoughby, OH. Mid 2000's. I mean, it is beautiful. I had to take it out and roll it around but it was strapped to it's base. I released it.

That cut the value in half.




Also I have this Datsun 2000 from my pal that passed. Still in the wrapper. i would eff it up if I tried.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Not my first model but my 1st Tamiya model

Rambling here. Apologies. At the end is on topic, loosely.

Went to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, New Forest. 2006-ish.

What an awesome day trip for a car nut on a free weekend staying in London on BP's dime.

Saw, probably touched, Donald Campbell's Bluebird super high speed car.



I saw Art Arfons' little model of the Green Monster in a kind-of diorama in a glassed in showcase showing who took the record when, on the wall right next to the Bluebird. Arfons' shop is 3 miles away from where I am typing. He is gone but his kids do the jet engine tractors.

An F50 was there and loads and loads of cool stuff but aside from the Bluebird there is (was) a little Bugatti roadster in there that was just awesome. Plaque said the tax authorities took it from the last owner for unpaid taxes.

It was close to this one.



All of that said there was a Ferrari model in the main lobby that was 1/8th scale. It was $3000-ish. It was jaw dropping. 70% of a meter long maybe. I rationalized by saying I can't get that home easily.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Brown747

Here I am in about ‘68 gluing together the Hawk F9F Panther. A hobby that has stayed with me for a lifetime.

You look focused. Nice post! (looking closely below may be a photo from a computer game?)

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Not my first model but my 1st Tamiya model



Seeing the same model 33yrs later in the Tamiya Factory Shop window in Tokyo, while out there working for the Honda F1 team, immediately after finishing working at the Alpine F1 team made me realise I hadn't squandered my childhood and used my free time wisely

I built one of those decades ago! I had it stored in a box for a long time due a negative waf. Unfortunately, it did not make the move to my current residence. When I retire I would like to start building models again, that one particularly.