I’m interested in how everybody started and wound up where they are now. What’s your modeling history?
I started model building at the age of 5 in 1968. I built the Monogram 1\48 planes. My grandfather encouraged my hobby and bought me kits as I completed them. I eventually built the entire Monogram 1\48 line. Then sticking with 1\48, I built all of the Bandai armor kits with interiors, and all the Aurora 1\48 armor series. By that time I was 13 and old enough to mow lawns and wash cars, so I had my own money. I moved up to the big time - Tamiya 1\35 kits. Once a month I’d ride my bike to the LHS to pick up a new kit. I built a lot of those, and stopped building when I joined the Army in 1982 at 18. I picked it back up again in 1990 and have been building ever since. I’m really enjoying all of the Tamiya, Meng, RFM, and Takom kits, with a little Trumpeter thrown in. I travel all over the East Coast for contests, and am an AMPS Advanced Gold Medal modeler. I really love all aspects of the hobby, especially socializing with everyone on Armorama. I wish I still had that Aurora 1\48 MBT-70 kit!
Good idea Matt,
Well, I started in about 1972/3 when I was about 7 or 8 I suppose, and it was an Airfix 1/24 Harrier of all things, built with my dad (very very badly). From there I stayed with Airfix aircraft Matchbox armour and 1/76/72 scale. When I was a bit older my mate introduced me to Tamiya 1/35 Armour through his older brother and I gingerly started on those…. I did that really until I joined the Army in 83 and then had spells when I would pick up a random kit and do it, but only once in a while.
During my last few years in the army up to 2005 and before my first 22 year stint, I did take it up a bit more on a regular basis and started on aftermarket and some very minor attempts at scratch building.
When I rejoined the Army, it eased off a bit, but took it up again as a real hobby in about 2008/9 and really got into it. Mainly 1/35 Armour is my thing, but will do the occasional flying thingy or floaty thing or Sci Fi creation if the mood takes me. I am always very critical of everything I do, so only ever show stuff in here to you fellow glue sniffers. My go to kits are usually Tamiya , RFM and TAKOM, but will try any if its a subject I want to try.
Started when I was 8 in 1964. Built the usual stuff, all those Monogram planes with the working features, cars, ships. Testors tube glue and and 1/4oz paints and later Patrica paints. Some time in junior high I stumbled onto Shep Paine and it’s been pretty much armor ever since. I rode my bike to the local Monkey Wards to look for a kit and lo and behold they had those Monogram kits with the Shep Paine inserts. Bought the Panzer IV and tried to duplicate what Shep had done. From then till I finished high school I built mostly dioramas. And oh yeah, my first paying job was the LHS where I spent my paycheck. Not much building during college except for Christmas break and summers. By this time I had read numerous books on military history and while in college began playing board war games. The games and scenarios further peaked my interest in military history. In a real sense my modeling hobby led me to my career. After I got my BS I earned a masters in European History, after which I went on to get a PhD. in history focusing on the modern period then defined as starting with the wars of Napoleon to the at the time post Vietnam. After I was married and we bought our first house I have been modeling ever since 41 straight years worth. Now that I’ve been retired I spend much of my time building, going to shows along the east cost, and traveling to both IPMS and AMPS nationals around the country. Your mileage may vary.
I threw mine out when I got hold of a 1/35 one(!)
I grew up in socialist Poland where model kits (and about everything else maybe with exception of vinegar) were very hard to get. I got my first kit - a 1:72 glider - from an uncle who showed me how to build it - it was about 1986 when I was about 6 years old. Since then I’m hooked. At first I built everything I could lay my hands on. About 1995 I have built the Italeri OH-6 and that is what started my interest in the Vietnam War - that is my main subject since. From time to time I build something outside of that, but my speciality are 1:72 helicopters, aircraft and armor and 1:35 armor and figures.
I can’t recall my exact age, but it was probably around 11 or 12 (‘75-’76). I built a lot of random tanks and planes for a while from different manufacturers but when I discovered the Bandai 1/48 kits at Kmart that became my focus other than the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes. Eventually I moved into the Monogram 1/48 kits but building ended when I went to college in 1984. From 1984 to about 2008 I built a couple of small kits; a 1994 Pathfinder (which was the limo for my wedding reception) and some snap-together for a younger relative, but at that point I had become a collectible card game player and was involved with tournament play.
Prior to 2008 I had started collecting 21st Century Toys pre-built vehicles but upon their imminent demise after Walmart dropped the line I began switching over to actual kits, starting with the ancient Tamiya Panzer II Ausf. F I bought with Hobby Lobby’s 40% off coupon.
I now dabble in German WWII armor and have the bulk of those listed in the Encyclopedia of German WWII Vehicles by Doyle, Chamberlain, and Jentz. I build WWII combat aircraft from all nations. I also build automobiles; mostly early muscle and air-cooled VW buses. I also do Science Fiction such as Star Trek and Wars plus Space: 1999 and whatever else comes along. I have a couple of sea vessels but only the Hobby Boss Type XXIII coastal sub and the Italeri S100 Schnellboot, both 1/35.
Of the 500 and a handful of kits in my stash I have completed 200 as of December.
I got into scale modeling around 2004, I would have been 7-8 then, when my older brother started modeling cars. I mostly did cars then too, even brought a Porsche 911 to a local modeling club meetup/competition. I remember my first Christmas after I started the hobby my wish list was maybe 20 different scale models, my parents were smart and got me 2 haha.
When I went to high school in 2012 I left all my hobby gear at home for some reason, wasn’t cool as a teenager to do scale modeling or something stupid like that probably. I got a little bit back into it in 2015 and did half a firetruck but got interrupted by military service.
Around 2020 (during the you-know-what) I got properly back into it and I’ve been having lots of fun ever since. Like all my other hobbies scale modeling waxes and wanes through the years, going through phases of intense focus and giving way to something else. I think it’s good in the end so I don’t burn out on any one thing, and learning 3d modeling, painting, and 3d printing for scale modeling have been incredibly beneficial skills for other hobbies too.
Pfuh… Lemme see….
Very first kit was Revell’s Calypso, which was a total disaster. I was… 6 or 7? After that I focused on 1/72 soldiers with which we played out entire battlefields. I had 1000’s. Friends had some 1/72 kits instead of the Matchbox tanks I had. Age 10 or 11 54mm plastic soldiers became a thing, upscaling the game, digging trenches in the garden and “doing battle”.
I found some 1/76 matchbox and 1/72 Revell kits, which I bought with my first self earned summerjob cash at age 16. A year later, that would’ve been 1988, I upscaled again to 1/35, buying my first Revell StuG IV and Tamiya’s ancient Panther. Soon after I started making diorama’s with built tanks and figures in a wet sand box. I made Tamiya’s 251, Italeri’s Sherman, Hetzer and a few others, before losing interest.
In my early and mid 20’s I switched to building motorcycles, mainly Tamiya’s 1/12 scale, but many others too. A few years the 1/35-bug bit me for real again, when coming across the first (to me) Military Modelling magazine. That was in the late 90’s. And ever since then I built in focused phases, armor for a year or so, then switch to figurepainting, switch back, switch again, all with periods without any building in between. (hyperfocus and paralysis, a pattern started to emerge).
And since around 2010 I build more consistent; 1/35, occassional figure, but I now switch between subjects; focus on German halftracks, lose interest, focus on diorama’s, lose interest, focus on tanks, focus on Shermans, focus on M113’s… and now I seem to have picked up a focus on military trucks for some reason…
Oh and in between I also focused a lot on certain military subjects and history, but that has been superceded, but not replaced (!) by a strong interest in first psychology and new age, followed by geopolitics and societal subjects/western culture, to have landed in religion with focus on Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
My first kit was a 1/43 Heller Porsche 962 gifted by my great-grand-mother when I was a pre-teen in the 1990s. I may have done one or two planes before getting into the 1/35 scale right away. I don’t remember it all, but I mostly built modern kits (Leclerc, Abrams, T72, Merkava, M60 Blazer, Leopard 1, etc…). My first and only vignette was an SDKFZ 251 in the mud. I had reached ~30 models by the end of the early 2000s and thought I was ready for a resin kit. My parents gifted me the ERC90 Sagaie by Azimut Productions, and it was a nightmare that pushed me away from the hobby.
During my first few years of university and professional life, I tried again without great motivation. I have come to realize that I was trying too hard! During my undergrad, I bought a Bradley kit with as many aftermarket parts as I could find, only to realize it was much more work that I was willing to invest into (student life in France is not the most conducive to serious endeavors! lol). In my mid-20s, I decided to sell everything I had kept over the years: models, tools, books.
Despite giving up, the hobby never left my mind and I kept following news and techniques, dreaming about a day when I could start anew with fresh motivation. I gave it a try again 10-ish years ago, but marriage, baby, PhD, and a try at the 1/72 scale (Revell GTK Boxer) were not conducive to my success.
My life in Canada is still busy, but sometime at the end of 2024, I felt it was the moment to try again. I wanted to stick to the 1/35 scale, but moving away from military (or armed) vehicles for personal reasons. So, I bought the bare minimum equipment and a Tamiya M151 to check if it was just a spark or if the modeling fire had come to rekindle. And it looks like the latter!
I’m working hard to keep things rather small (happy wife, happy life!) and hence mostly work with 1/35 and 1/32 cars on small vignettes that fit easily on a shelf. I also want to build slow and work on reaching top-notch weathering and detailing skills; I’m not interested in building for the sake of building.
I work in forestry and would love to see more of those beautiful machines as kits and not diecasts. One day perhaps…
That’s it! Thank you all for sharing.
My very first kit was Academy’s 1/35 M1A1 abrams. I dont remember exactly, 10 years old? (2005 or 2006). back then, I don’t know how to build properly, my dad built it for me.
And building the Academy 1/35 Tiger tank back in middle school was the beginning of my modeling hobby. Since I couldn’t afford painting equipment or new kits, I ended up giving up the hobby for a while.
In 2013 winter, towards the end of my high school life, I purchased basic tools and bought the Trumpeter’s 1/35 PT-76. After that I kept on with model building, but there was a stretch when I dropped it for a few years because I got busy with other stuff and different hobbies.
And now, here we are.
First kit was a 1/32 (?) Revell 190-something taxi cab, in 1956 - I was 6 yrs old. The kit was a mess, but I was hooked! Next was a long line of Lindberg, and Renwall ships, Airfix aircraft and 1/76 armor (fun blowing up the tanks with firecrackers!), lots of Revell 1/40 military kits in the '60’s, then on to 1/25 cars. Back to 1/35 military kits (Tamiya, Italeri, and Dragon) in the '70’s - 2010’s. Then some 1/350, but mostly 1/700, ships (Trumpeter, then Flyhawk), Still involved with Flyhawk ships, and 1/72 armor, and lots of 50 mm fantasy figures. Pretty well getting on now, and have a stash for another 30 years - hope I live that long! 
Started out around 6-7 in the mid 70’s with toy soldiers mainly the Airfix ones and then tried painting them, moved onto the white metal 20mm historic soldiers and tiny 1/300 tanks which I painted and put into tiny dioramas. Then around 10 found Matchbox and airfix tanks also built a Monogram 1/32 T34. Spent some time building but not really painting as even then I had a problem with enamel paint fumes which even with very good ventilation gave me splitting headaches, (still have the same problem) finally solved when I discovered acrylic paints. At some point I built some Tamiya F1 cars and Italeri trucks plus the Airfix MTB, ‘S’ boat and RAF rescue launch plus a load of 1/72 aircraft with dog fights happening on my bedroom ceiling while modern jets thundered down the hallway in the house hanging from the ceiling. When I got board with a model or to make room for a new one, it would go down the end of the garden for target practise with my air rifle.
Then came the break as I started work, technical college and girls, returning to the hobby sort of in my 30’s, sort of is by way of wargaming, still have to build and paint so still modelling, now I dip in and out of modelling and wargaming miniatures but no long play just enjoy painting them. I find it can clear the mind sometimes and reinvigorate the mojo.
What do I build? Basically anything that takes my interest, 1/20 + 1/24 cars, 1/72, 1/48 + 1/35 armour, 1/700 + 1/350 ships, 1/144, 1/72 + 1/48 aircraft, sci-fi, figures (not very well) and even the odd real space. Warhammer 40K, Kings of War, Flames of War, Team Yankee.
Longest completed build, probably the 1/350 USS Hoel DD-533 using the Trumpeter Sullivans with the L’Arsenal resin, PE and turned brass upgrade set, took around 8 months but I was proud of it, unfortunately it took a hit while being moved about a year ago.
I don’t recall how old I was when I first built models. But I do remember my dad building a few, & me watching him. I distinctly remember the Monogram 1/48 F-5E he did & gave to me, & is still one of my favorite aircraft because of this. He also did an F8F Bearcat, probably Monogram as well.
I recall one Christmas getting a bunch of Snap-Tite kits, like the AH-1, B-25, F-18, etc. I moved on later to Matchbox 1/76 kits (still great kits with a lot of nostalgia for me), Hasegawa 1/72 tank kits, & a Revell Sherman that made me feel very overwhelmed when I built it.
At some point I graduated to Tamiya…one of my first was the OLD StuG-IIIG, which I brush painted (in accurate colors!). I painted the Fallschirmjaegers in Pactra acrylic paints, though. I have been active ever since.
As an aside, or ancillary, I got into D&D around this time, & since I loved models, I loved buying the metal gaming figures. This led me to my other BIG hobby: tabletop wargaming, which I still do. I see the two hobbies as deeply related.
I sold off around 90% of my stash when I moved to Ecuador. I started building up my stash there, then moved back to the US for work. So I don’t know if I am unique, but I have a kit stash on two continents…
\Damon.
I built my first model kit (1/72 HAWK Dauntless Dive Bomber) for my 6th birthday in 1966. From then until about 1972, I built all genres and all scales. Around then, I got the first of the Monogram armor kits with the Shep Paine “Tips on Building Dioramas” pamphlets. From then on, I tried to copy and build every one of the Monogram “diorama kits” (with improving results…). I got my first airbrush in the summer of 1974 and also joined the local IMPS chapter. I continued to build mostly armor until I left home for the Army in 1978. Only built a couple of kits until around 1982 when I got back into the hobby in a serious way again. I always joined the local model club nearest my duty station (if there was one) until I retired in 2004. (This included over the years holding local club officer positions and working and judging contests.) I did some masters for resin kits (MB Models) in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s along with the odd commission build now and then. Along the way, I did all the contest circuits, from local shows to regionals and the IPMS Nats. I was one of the early members of AMPS which was resurrected from the ashes of the defunct AMM, and I was awarded AMPS Master status after the first national show. I stopped competing in contests about 10-15 years ago and only now publicly exhibit if there are “display only” opportunities at particular shows.
I started building when I was seven years old. Back then, it was all about building and destroying—filling the planes with Testors cement and launching them out the upstairs window in flames. The last kit I finished before joining the military was a Tamiya 1/24 Tiger I.
Life and the service took over for a while, though I still managed to squeeze in the occasional build, mostly armor kits I could use for vehicle recognition. After I retired, I picked the hobby back up, but at a slow pace—maybe one or two kits a year.
That changed after my wife passed. Modeling became my sanity check and my escape while raising two kids on my own. I’ve only belonged to one club, briefly, and I rarely attend shows; they just don’t appeal to me.
These days, I average about ten builds a year.
I inherited the hobby from my dad. He used to build models of airplanes and when I was seven years old or so, he sometimes gave me simple kits to paint (badly). Not much later I started building kits as well. When I was 11 I saw the movie Kelly’s Heroes for the first time and that got me hooked on armor. When I had my 12th birthday, my parents gave me Tamiya’s M4A3 Sherman and ever since then, 1/35 armor has been my sweet spot. I do make occasional excursions to other things, like ships and aircraft, but I’d say 75% of my bench time is 1/35 related.
Sadly my father only lived to be 56 years old and in a few years I’ll surpass him in age.
The first contact with kits I remember was “helping” my Dad build the Airfix Walrus and B17. I would be about 5, so this was 1962. By the time I was 7, I was buying and making myself, usually 1/72 Airfix planes. My pocket money allowed me to buy a Series 1 kit a week. An Airfix Sunderland was bought using 10/6 won on the slot machine at my Dad’s golf club. While away at school I continued to make and paint Airfix planes and figures. It was there that I was first introduced to Tamiya kits, the Honda race car brought in by another kid, followed by the Leopard tank. I knew this was the direction to go and sold my train set to buy the Sdkfz7 and 88mm Flak 36. This led to an interest in German subjects generally. About this time I was also painting larger scale figures from Series 77, Men O’ War and Realmodel (one was sold to a friend of my Dad who was persistant in wanting one, but I preferred to hang on to my work). After a very short stint in the army, I started work with Stadden Studios/Buckingham Pewter in Twickenham, making the moulds for their 90mm figures and sundry other projects, including a large scale elephant. To some extent, this satisfied the modelling itch and although I did paint some Stadden figures for my Dad, which following his passing, I still own, working all day on these figures spoiled the hobby. I’d also gravitated to motorcycles and other “adult pursuits”. Ten years later I joined the police working in IT. This involved shift work and seeking for something to do on long nights, my wife suggested going back to modelling. She didn’t know what she was (re-) starting. Even while not actually building, I had been building a library on German WW2 subjects and the Waffen SS especially and we now have numerous cases filled with 1/35th German vehicles. I do have occasional lapses and do the odd Allied subject and one shelf is full of Protar motorcycles (they are the only firm making British bikes in plastic). I’m not tied to any manufacturer, I’ll make anything different that fits the theme, Tamiya, Dragon, Esci, Italaeri, IBG, ICM, MiniArt, Masterbox, Meng, RFM, Revell, Trumpeter, Airfix, AFV Club, Roden and even Zvevda are all represented (I’ve made one Gecko kit and I won’t be making any more!).
Family friend’s, teenage son encouraged my interest in model cars when back in ~1969. He helped me finish my first model car when I was six years old when I got stuck. I didn’t understand optional parts choices for the motor what went with what. The car kit was a 1/25 AMT 1966 Ford Fairlane.
And thus began my mom’s dislike of the model hobby, that morphed into hatred of the hobby.
Model cars, then to ships for several years, with a brief interest in planes. At age 11, the old Avalon Hill wargames fueled an interest in armor models which has been my model build of choice ever since.
Did the contest thing etc, won a ton of trophies etc including ones at IPMS Nationals, Gold medal at AMPS in Advanced etc. Focus now is build the models i wanted back on the 1990’s & 2000’s from Tamiya& Dragon plus spiffy new school kits from Ryefield Model’s, Meng, Takom etc.
Well, as short as I could make it!
I seem to vaguely recall that the first joint effort with my father – probably around 1959 - was on a tiny Fouga Magister, with Luftwaffe markings, which means it probably wasn’t the ancient Heller 1/100 kit, but I’m pushed to find out what other manufacturer it could have been. I think that was followed by the Airfix SR 53. Then for some inexplicable reason one Christmas a 1/32 Renwall M42 Duster appeared; I say inexplicable as there was no way I could tackle that, so my father built the thing. It had working suspension, ostensibly running tracks (they didn’t), and elevating guns; too complex a build for me, and not robust enough as a toy. What followed was the usual – for Brit kids – foray into all-things Airfix, then Revell, Aurora on occasion, Frog and even Lindberg, the latter appearing on the shelves of our local village shop.
At some juvenile juncture I recall a Lyon’s Maid (Brit ice cream manufacturer) producing or sanctioning a great 1/144 kit of Fireball XL5 from the Gerry Anderson TV series). One had to save up ice lolly wrappers then send away for it. It was a great kit; God knows what I did with it. I then veered off into Napoleonic figures in small scale, was sorely tempted as 1/35 hit the streets, but then had to put the hobby on hold for something like 25 years while I joined the Army at age 15. The Army was just no place for such a fragile hobby, especially when as an individual tradesman I was on the move every couple of years. I still monitored the hobby, purchased a Tamiya Tiger 1, and their Standardpanzer Leopard when serving in Germany; tinkered with both and that was that. Real life and postings just got in the way.
Upon leaving and purchasing my own house, and with kiddies, it was time to resurrect the hobby, and to build a few with my young son. I think first off the blocks for me was the Skif T-64A – long since expired.
Since then, sadly, the stash has risen to StABLE proportions – “Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy.”