What influences your model kit collection/selection?

[Guy H]

Airfix spit to Vacuform and a potential 25 kit stash in lockdown. A cautionary tale.

So having returned via a replica of my car in 1/24 I have got the bug and done a 172 Airfix Spit. Now on a Tamiya 109 and waiting in the stash is an Arma hobby hurricane expert. So maybe I will develop Western europe single seats,

 

Fw190, later spit either 9 or clipped wing, then Tempest, 262 and P51.

 

BEWARE it gets away from you.

 

I now have a Revell Hunter mk 9, fathers day gift, waiting for FR10 conversion as my dad flew them. So cold war and training jets he flew gives me a wish list.

 

Piston provost (matchbox old kit required)

Meteor, vampire, sabre, vampire t11, T33 (attached to PAF), sea vampire, hunter, jet provost, hawk

(These are actual postings, in a nato role was hands on f4, f104 etc....) could throw in East german mig21 who would 'formate' and watch parallel border flights !

 

BUT WORSE I have just bought a 1969 Phoenix, vacuform Slingsby T38 grasshopper.. so my own air cadet hands on would give me,

Grasshopper, chipmunk, whirlwind, JP, Hawk, Cessna 150.

 

So now I need to learn, vacuform, dope finish, scratchbuild and rigging just for the T38 and then loads more for the rest..

 

 

So 25 and counting and the potential stash is growing faster than the building.

 

Let's not get started on money. The kits are cheap compared to paints tools airbrush compressor booth oils varnishes .............

 

But hey I'm happy, having fun and NOT going to hang them from the ceiling.

[Truro Model Builder]

Guy, your post reminds me of that anti-drug campaign slogan from many years ago:

 

He thought he could handle it.

 

[Head in the clouds.]

Well, I build kits as a nipper with my mate, purchased Saturday morning, built by tea and on the attrition list by bedtime, we did sometimes get a whole weekend of play but only when the weather forced flying to cease.

 

Picked up the hobby again six years ago in my 49th year and continued to play build but with a more focused endeavour. I went for anything at first but could not build up the wow factor, then, for some unknown reason something clicked and I decided on mainly British prototypes and experimental aircraft and helicopters.  When I thought about it these planes are often only fleeting, doing initial work and then because they have been altered too much or not at all, are then scrapped. Their story is often just like the life of Mayfly, it waits to fly and when it does it is for but a short time; then fades away.

 

Experimental type scan be similar, modification in March and de modified by December, although some stay a good while and carry many bits of kit through their life. The bonus here is I can use mainstream kits....sometimes.

 

Never making things easy for myself this subject matter is sometimes not catered for by mainstream manufactures and the kits never fall together, most of my kits are cottage industry kits from dedicated producers who make kits to varying degrees of quality, from very good to very bad. Then there are the decals, many have to be home printed or mixed and matched.

Research material too can be thin on the ground.

 

But this brings us to the 'rub' of the subject. I have to put in a lot of effort to turn a sours ear into silk with much chopping, scratchbuilding and researching so the final result is most pleasurable to behold. I think if I built any of those lovely kits that are available the hobby probably would not be so satisfying for me. What could be better than taking an old kit or a poor cottage kit and making it into something original.

 

Mind you, the build rate is non too quick and my hair loss only accelerates with each build but who cares, it will only turn grey and wire like.

 

However, to have a broad range of skills you do need to do other things so I do have/done a few Terra firma vehicles for the club, built the Bluebird K7 and have the Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Hood kit with lots of shiny brass. This will be built in remembrance of my great uncle whom went down with his ship and companions on that fateful day in the Denmark Straights.

 

Right....back to mangling kits.

[Truro Model Builder]

What influences my model selection? Me in the model shop:

 

 

[Tiger331]

Interesting thread that I have only just discovered in spite of the fact that I often ask myself this very question !.

 

I guess for me, it was my late father's initial influence combined with regularly moving from one exotic location to another. My earliest memories were of 'out of reach' (in terms of price) Lindberg airliners in Libya in the mid-1960s. IIRC my first model was an Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk.IXc, when I was around 7 years old and by then living in Singapore. Airfix and Frog 1:72 kits were in abundance then and at reasonable prices, with the 'Battle of Britain' film influencing much of my early work. I stuck with 1:72 for most of the next 25 years although my interests at migrated from WWII to Post War subjects and British Commonwealth material in particular. Seeing all those RAAF Mirage IIIs, RNZAF A-4Ks and Singaporean Strikemasters and Hunters, together with RAF types subsequently operating out of Akrotiri, Gan, Gibraltar, Muharraq, and Luqa piqued my interest well into the 1980s. At some point in the 1990s, I started to migrate to 1:48 scale while maintaining a primary interest in the same genre/era.

 

In more recent times, and as a keen aviation historian, I have taken to modelling/collecting types that have operated or can be associated with, the countries where I have been living and working over the last 15 years so anything from the Italian/Norwegian and N.E. European (Baltic Sea Region) campaigns during WWII, together with the Balkans. Since I now live and work quite close to the Russian border and have regular access to a host of Former Soviet Cold War era hardware, my interest in Mikoyan and Sukhoi products has also significantly increased so I am very fortunate that so many manufacturers are focusing on these subjects in 1:48 right now. This also allows me to combine this interest with Post-WWII regional conflicts.

 

One of my sub-themes is 'aircraft I have flown or flown in' so I often have to stray into other scales, including 1:144 and 1:32. 

 

Suffice to say, it's quite difficult keeping track with so many great kits/subjects out there !              

[BlueNosers352nd]

As a kid/teen I don't think their was any influence.  It was just building to build.  When I started back in as an adult it was heavily influenced by a frequent Blue Noser (Moonbeam McSwine) showing routinely at the local air museum that made me want to build Mustangs. 

 

NOW it's usually what catches my eye.  Either by another builder, or seeing an old B/W photo on Facebook or Instagram.   I've been using the group builds as a way to force me to build.  Then once I decide to join a GB I'll go find a subject.  Usually I try to find a scheme that you don't see often.  Something that is unique or different.  Like the Hawker Typhoon Mk Ib I am working on.  It wasn't for a GB, but something to tinker with while other things were drying.  Color scheme wise it is nothing outta the ordinary, but the kill marks make it different......2 Italian, 2 Japanese and 2 German kills.  For the Mustang GB, well I had to do a Blue Noser..........so off to my books I went.  Found a pic that didn't have full D-Day stripes.......that'll be unique.

 

If you look at my stash, other than a couple ships and one tank, it's all WWII Allied.

[Kes]

As a measure against massive stash accumulation I would usually only build British types with a penchant for research and prototypes, I had a stint on Swedish air force for a while, but now, just very recently I have a 'thing' for Japan, not just the model manufacturing giants like Tamiya Hasegawa Fujimi etc but all things from the 'land of the rising sun' their JASDF being an ever increasing source of modelling inspiration

 

(I have a rather expensive Platz Mitsubishi T2 import in my online shopping cart I'm struggling to ignore! I keep trying to convince myself it's too much but i know it's just a matter of time before AMS wears me down and I click 'buy it now'!)

 

 . . . 99% aircraft, 99% 1/72, haven't built anything with stars'n bars or swastikas for over thirty years! or anything French, or Italian or anywhere else come to think of it? . . ooh, no, hang on, I built a couple of MiGs a few years ago!

 

Kes (getting back into the swing of things)

[Harry Callahan]

A interesting question. Well, i started modelling in age of 8. My stepfather brought any afternoon a kit of a F-106, i think from Monogram in 1/72. And i got the virus of modelling, so my stepfather brought later more and more kits. Spitfire, Westland Lysander( Matchbox), Lancaster ( Tamiya ).

In age of 13,14 i have read my first military book, a gift of my brother. The title was  Holt Hartmann vom Himmel. I think english title was  The blond knight. Then i change my mind and built more and more german aircrafts in 1/48 and 1/72 ,ME 109, JU 87 Stuka, HE 111, DO 17. But i start also modelling in armor in 1/35 ,Panzer IV, Panther, Tiger and so on.

Since few years i build more cold war aircrafts. The 50th to 70th is my range. The F-86 Sabre, F-104 and especially the F-4F Phantom are my favourites. But also german submarines in 1/144 or 1/72. Cant wait for a type XXI in 1/72 hmmmmm. But i like also to build houses and buildings in H0, i built already some railroad stations in H0, coz i like to paint and weathering them.

My mainly inspiration i get from personally experiences at model shows ,air shows or other modellers.

But i would never build sailing ships, passenger planes ( Boeing, Airbus ) and so on, coz just to boring..

When i saw the outstanding work by Andy Moore how he built and paint science fiction kits. ....well. ....i think i would like to do it too in near future.....

Edited August 29, 2020 by Harry Callahan

[Jon Bryon]

I have a very rigidly defined collection that was started by reading Jonathan Mock's article in SMI on the then-new Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer in 1994 when I was 16. Until then I'd built 1/72 aircraft and 1/35 armour on an ad hoc basis, but the Bucc became the first in a collection that endures to this day. The rules are:

 

1. 1/48 only

2. Aircraft only (fixed wing or rotary)

3. Must be manned (i.e. no drones)

4. Must be in military markings

5. Must have been operational (no prototypes, experimental, etc.)

6. Must have been operational after WWII (i.e. 1946 onwards)

7. Do not build the same designation of aircraft more than once (e.g. I've built an A-4L so I will not build another, although I have made the A-4B/C/E/F/H/K/M)

8. The USCG is excluded (a completely arbitrary decision)

 

This has led to a current collection of 142 completed models (displayed here) and a stash of 170, which is quite reasonable, I think, as at current build rates I can finish them all by the time I'm 67. It also leads to a surprisingly limited selection of kits to buy from. I pretty much have everything out there that I would want - the only item on my wishlist is an Italeri Wessex - although there are about 20 kits that have been announced that I'll buy once they're released. I've also put a stop to buying very large 1/48 models (one C-130 is enough for me; I don't need more) but if I came into significant money I would get the HPH B-52 or B-36.

 

Jon

[TonyOD]

Just FAA, just 1/72, though I recently acquired a 1/48 Sea Harrier in spite of myself. When I started modelling about 11 years ago I just did Spitfires for a while, then decided I needed a theme that offered more variety, which British Naval Aviation does, in spades. When I came back to it this year the stash was still there waiting. I'm not sure I'm physically able to do anything else. I know, I need to lighten up a bit.

Edited September 6, 2020 by TonyOD

[Aardvark]

On 2/15/2020 at 11:14 AM, TonkaGuy said:

What influences your model collection?

List of jet fighters around the world, 😉😁😎published in various reference books.  It's very simple, open the list and look - He-280, Meteor, P-59, MiG-9 and so on ... up to Su-57, F-35, BAe Tempest II - me need to buy!

Why fighters?  Because the fighter was originally designed to protect its country from their own kind, as well as bombers bringing chaos and destruction, there is something medieval from the knightly novels in fighters, when there were one-on-one knightly fights ...of course, now, when one multipurpose fighter such as F-16 or MiG-35 can throw on the head of civilians as many bombs (more destructive power and destructive effect) as the B-29, it looks somewhat naive,  but my collection began to form in the late 80s when there was a rather naive time ...

On 2/15/2020 at 11:14 AM, TonkaGuy said:

Do you just want to build almost every different type of aircraft available or do you randomly pick up different model kits? or perhaps you have a specific reason why you have built the kits you have?

Of course, if there are significant differences within one model of a fighter, such as between the MiG-21F and the MiG-21bis or the YF-16CCV, F-16 and the F-16XL, they will be on my list, but when choosing between the F-16A and the F-16C, only one will survive .... and most likely it will be F-16C.😁

Because the main my selection criterion is clearly visible evolution type!

For example, there is no very significant difference between the MiG-15 bis and the MiG-15 .... but there is a difference between the La-168 and La-176, e.t.c.

On 2/15/2020 at 11:14 AM, TonkaGuy said:

Also what influences your selection on the kit manufacturer. Do you like to stick to one manufacturer or do you research and go with peoples opinions of the best manufacturer for the type of kit you are after? 

Sometimes there is no alternative and there is no need to choose a manufacturer, sometimes me need to choose, in which case the main criterion is accuracy.

 

Of course markings only air force country manufacture, an exception is only for the IAI F-21 Lion, simply because in a slender number of US fighters, the number 21 for some reason is missing.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

On 2/15/2020 at 7:13 PM, dnl42 said:

Grumman. Worked there in the '80s and my my lovely wife (32nd anniversary this April), The most numerous type with 36 in the stash and 7 in the display cabinet. Among fighters, I'm only missing the FF-1. 

So that's who will advise (and about Douglas jet fighter, too!) me on the Grumman XF-10F Jaguar when I finally decide to build it !!!

😁