The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Ok Folks,

My inner Mr Nosey is telling me it's about time I kicked out another one of my pointless discussion threads.

So then, The questions is are. Why do you build models, and what do you most enjoy about this wondifourus hobby lunacy of ours?

Cheers

Stuart

For me it's my chill time. I find it relaxing and theraputic. It helps me de-stress. Also I have an interest in how mechanical things work and also history. It is also my outlet for my creative side.

All the best.

Greg

Love of the subject matter is by far and away my greatest incentive to build a model.

All the other aspects are important too - but interest in the topic is my number 1.

I'm tempted to say " Because I can" it's not for the glory, because apart from on here, I don't publish, show or enter any competitions.

I enjoy the constructive feed back and help I get from using this forum and over the last few years of using this forum, my build quality has improved immensely.

But as Greg said its a great way to relax and wind down.

Regards Splash

Stress relief, and relaxation....and pride too when one turns out ok.
And if I'm totally honest, a vain attempt to recapture my childhood when building an Airfix kit was one bright spot in an otherwise traumatic time for me back then.

For me, building is a bit of time out, be it models or my other hobby of electronics it all involves immersion in a subject to 'get away from it all'. Also to add to Sir T's starter question, what do you have on in the background, radio /TV / etc? I do prefer a bit of silence when I build as it helps to disconnect from everything else.

I started because my father built models and I wanted to be like him,I stopped in my late teens when girls,beer,sport and work got in the way.Marriage and kids came along and I built models for a bit of me time.Now kids long moved out,I build for fun,its better than golf As for Sir Ts other question I like to build in silence,with just the noise of the birds drifting through my model room window.

Stuart

I ask myself that question pretty often - whenever things go wrong. I don't really find modelling helps me de-stress and often it's the cause of stress. Sometimes I just can't bring myself to touch them for weeks but I always go back. I think it's two things for me - a love of aeroplanes and their history and a nostalgia thing because I know I used to have such happy times building them as a kid.

David

Don't know, really, it's not like it's useful in any practical sense. I guess it's a combination of fascination with the subject matter, and an innate urge to putter about with bits and pieces, that sort of converged into plastic modelling.

It certainly isn't stress relief. Stress really eats into my fine motor control, and emotional tolerance for minor setbacks. If I try working on a model when pre-stressed, I'll do hard to correct damage and work myself into a screaming fit of rage in the process. I do not handle plastic models or any kind of weapons when stressed; the potential for accidents is just too big.

It's what I like to do. I've always liked airplanes, so whats what I model. I like to be able to see the relative size differences, so I only do one one scale...1/72. Sometimes I wish I were a musician, but I'm know that I'm not a musician because I don't enjoy playing music the way I enjoy making models. I just have to accept it: I'm not a musician, I'm not a painter, nor a CPA nor a physicist nor a golfer...I'm a modeler. It's what I like to do.

I do like doing other things besides making models. I AM an accountant (for a start) and I quite enjoy it (in a perverted kind of way).

I love performing music, mainly as a singer but I can also strum (very badly) a guitar. I'm a member of a musical theatre group and we put on musicals and (sometimes) operas.

http://www.codymusical.co.uk/



I'm the treasurer of this group so am involved in its management as well as performing.

I've recently got involved with an education group for retired and semi-retired people and have given a few talks on various aspects of spaceflight history. I've even used some of my real space models as visual aids.

So, modelling gets squeezed in between all these other activities and sometimes there is a bit of cross over between them as well.

I am a CPA too (a new designation in Canada) and I also enjoy it and building models. Like many I started building Airfix kits in the sixties when they were 2 shillings and you could still buy bangers in November (which inevitably led to the purchase of more Airfix kits). I build now for the relaxation and probably because I've always had a keen interest in history. Completing a kit gives me something tangible to look at that's not too intrusive on space (my wife has put her foot down on putting an aircraft carrier in the park behind us or a full size Spitfire in the rec room)

Howard

This is somewhat of a chicken-egg question.

Mostly it's always been about history, even when I was a youngster. Most of my modeling is driven by history I am interested in and in turn, a model can lead me further into that history.

OTOH, I can be distracted by shiny baubles, so sometimes a model kit/subject outside my normal range can lead me into history I might not have explored. Then again, I have historical interests that will never lead to models and I have models that have no associated historical interest.

The first 'In progress' build that I did on here was a Triumph Herald that I had bought as a wee celebration for passing a landmark number of my transport paintings prints that I had sold. It was a kit that I had made as a lad and that got me thinking, 'What if I incorporated this into a diorama of me at the age when first made models, including the shop where I bought them?' And that was me hooked again! For me a lot of it is nostalgia, for a wee while I'm transported back to the days of decent bands (if not presenters! ) on Top of the pops, Gipsy Cream biscuits and Spangles and the only brown envelopes I had to think about (apart from the SR71 kit from Frosties tokens and my Warlord Agent papers and badges ) were the ones with my report card in.....and that usually earned me extra pocket money .
I think I actually find modelling more enjoyable now as I can apply more techniques and concepts to the models like making models of other sources of nostalgia - TV shows, movies, books and bands.
A nice happy miniature world.

Gawd knows, you tell me! it's more stressful than work used to be