[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.