@agincajun, Mopar’s, 69 Charger, & AAR 70 Cuda all very cool stuff! Really sad that guy was a jerk when you were building a model for him. You have great taste in cars:)
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It could be better perhaps to withdraw from the A…h.les and be proud of your modelling skills. MAny great people out there who show a genuine interest leading to quite exciting converszations on politics, history …
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You need to find some fellow modelers in your area and start socializing with them.
I see from your bio that you live in South Carolina. There are a number of scale modeling clubs across the whole state, IPMS, AMPS and SCMA, from Myrtle Beach and Charleston, to Sumter, through the mid-lands and into the up-state - Greenville and Spartanburg. If you live in the Rockhill area, across the state line in Charlotte are a couple of IPMS clubs, and if you live vicinity of Aiken, there’s an IPMS club across the river in Augusta, GA.
I belong to two different clubs in the midlands, AMPS Central SC and IPMS Mid-Carolina. Both clubs have members who drive from across the state to attend meetings. Heck, in our AMPS chapter we have guys who drive down from Hickory and Charlotte and up from Florence and several up from Sumter. Our IPMS chapter has two guys who drive over from Aiken-Augusta and another from Saluda.
Model building doesn’t have to be a lone activity that you can only share with others here in the virtual world. If you want some leads and contacts to get with other modelers in SC, drop me a PM. I know folks into modeling who live all over the state and would be happy to make some introductions.
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All is good. I race slotcars. We too are a secretive society. Wait till you tell someone you play with toy cars. Zoom zoom.
As the old saying goes, “the difference between men and boys is the difference in the price of their toys”
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@agincajun Terry, depending on where your located in South Carolina if Gastonia, NC is convenient there’s IPMS/Gastonia County Model Builders aka GCMB.
Friends and I started GCMB back in 1989. The key focus founding the club was a friendly environment for all types of modeling. Due to work, I moved away many years ago but made a meeting in early 2020. The club still has a lot of modeling diversity and remains a friendly environment. I’m sure they’d be delighted to see you!
Lots of good IPMS clubs in Region 12.
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This topic came up recently because of a training class I had a work. The instructor wanted us to introduce ourselves to each other, and he had some specific things he wanted us to include, and one of those was to tell something about ourselves that no one (or very few) know about us. So, I said that I do scale modeling. I was watching, specifically, for the reaction that that ‘admission’ was going to get from the group, but frankly, I’m not sure how to describe it. A few smiles, maybe, a head nod or two, but that’s about all. Probably the kind of reaction one would get to any somewhat unusual activity description. But thinking back to my first post in this thread, and the OP’s first post and his implication that this is not so much a ‘grown’up’ interest/activity, there remains that perception in the minds of many folks that perhaps this is more a kid’s pastime, despite the obvious (to us) knowledge that this hobby is very far beyond the capability of most, if not all ‘kids’, depending upon what age you use as a ‘cutoff’. Especially if you consider the relatively new aspects of this hobby that didn’t exist when the of us in our 60s did this in our own childhoods, such as photo etch. Plus the even more detailed capabilities of the tools we use, such as airbrushes, and similar advances in the hardware. And the fact that it seems VERY few kids today, are involved or interested in this hobby.
So, maybe scale modeling is not treated so oddly by our fellow adults, any more than any other hobby or activity that is just a bit unusual and less common than is ‘typical’. In addition, I think I’m often looked upon as a bit odd, by my fellow adult males in particular, when I admit my complete and utter lack of interest in sports of any kind.
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I’m a bit surprised by the reaction this post has generated, at first I felt a little guilty for going on a rant but as more and more modelers have shared their thoughts and experiences I’m somewhat gratified to discover how many of us share the same feelings. There are a lot more of us out there than one might think and that’s a little discouraging for the hobby itself, I wish there was a way to popularize this activity and remove the stigmatism it silently suffers. Well anyway the hobby has been a lifetime companion for me in lieu of snowboarding, skydiving, snorkeling, flag football and such. On the other hand I can hear a chopper coming from a distance and tell whether it’s a Huey (UH1) or a CH47 or a Blackhawk, funny little things like that. watching a war movie with me can be a drag for some because I want to see a King Tiger if it’s supposed to be a King Tiger. Anyway thanks to all that have shared . . keep 'em coming 
Cajun
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One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic is the adoption of video conferencing by the general public. This technology works extremely well for bringing modelers together. In addition to it’s monthly membership meetings, IPMS Seattle also had a “Thursday Night Irregulars” build session hosted at members homes. There were usually 6-12 folks that would attend. I think our record was 16 attendees. With the pandemic, we switched this from in-person to Zoom. Attendance is up considerably. We now have up to 26 folks on for a Zoom build. People join and leave as their real-world schedule allows.
The technology works great for this. We sit at our benches, work on a model, and discuss models. Most folks have a laptop with the camera pointed at them, others have the camera mounted overhead to give a view of the work-bench. Mine is positioned to allow a view of both. In addition to a laptop or PC, some folks join from their smart phone or tablet. A couple just dial-in voice only on a flip phone. One of the big benefits of the technology is that location is immaterial. Our in-person meetings were really only feasible if you lived within about a 30 minute drive of the meeting place. We now have folks joining from as far away as New Zealand, Taiwan, and Russia. The virtual build sessions have been so popular, that we added a Monday Afternoon Irregulars session and a Wednesday Afternoon Modelers session. I also join a group of modelers from Oregon on Tuesday evenings.
The bottom line is that we don’t have to model alone, and we aren’t limited by geography anymore.
Rick
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There were usually 6-12 folks that would attend. I think our record was 16 attendees. With the pandemic, we switched this from in-person to Zoom. Attendance is up considerably. We now have up to 26 folks on for a Zoom build. People join and leave as their real-world schedule allows.
That would be a cool idea for everyone on Kitmaker… is anyone else interested in doing something like this?
I join your surprise but maybe not in the same way.
Really guys, you are reluctant, scared, shy, … whatever to talk about your hobby???
What is that good for? And how do you want others to be interested by the hobby if yourselves, a modeller, acts all shy and guilty about it.If there is a stigma, maybe we are creating it ourselves?
Like everyone, I know people who model, and others who don’t… I have conversations with a link to modelling with most of them, if not only because I know about many things (history, technology, practical skills … ) because I make plastic models. In some cases I am the goto person for small repairs because “I am seen as being very handy, I have a heap of tools for all kinds of jobs”.
Sometimes I get teased of course… just like I tease other friends about their hobbies… As long as it stays friendly, why not.
And if people really feel the need to talk the hobby down, they can go to… In most cases they are not the most interesting people to be around anyway.
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