Off-Topic: Plastic Modells

[Sean McEntee]

While some of us are sequestered to our homes (a few of us happily  ), and we get to projects that have been shelved for awhile, who out there builds plastic models on the side?

I know Matt Neumann, Stephen Fitton, and a couple from the Moon clan build plastic models from what I’ve seen posted on facebook.  I built a lot of Monogram 1/48 scale warbirds as a kid, and like many things, that fell to the wayside once adulthood came.  I attempted to build the dreaded 1/32 scale Phantom Mustang a few years ago, got it together and got everything working (landing gear, bomb drop, and propeller), but the clear parts were so ill-fitting that the model eventually fell apart on the shelf.

Recently, while on my ongoing non-chargeable leave, I thought I’d revisit those days.  I got an Accurate Miniatures B-25 from eBay, and since hobby shops in town are closed, I ordered what I need for glue, paint, and supplies from Amazon.  While, I’ve been waiting for everything to come in, and staring at this $50 kit, it reminded me that I havent really built a plastic model in at least 20 years, so I got back on eBay and scored a good, old fashioned Monogram F4F kit.  It’ll get me back in the swing of building and painting again before I go tearing into the B-25.

So who else in Stuntville enjoys a good plastic model build from time to time?  Sound off, and post your projects! 

Cheers,
Sean

[James Holford]

I gave up plastics for balsa

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[Dane Martin]

I gave up plastics for balsa

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I remember that!

[wwwarbird]

 Many years ago I used to be heavily into plastic modeling, primarily 1/48th scale U.S. WWII Aircraft. During this time I was also a member of the Twin City Aero Historians, a Minneapolis/St Paul, MN based IPMS Chapter. I met many other great modelers in that group, some of them world class builders. Those guys were a great inspiration and a big part of my eventually graduating into all the additional heavy super-detailing and weathering and all that goes along with it. Building at that level it wasn't unusual to spend an entire winter of school nights working to complete just two or three models. Though they were a far cry from my best efforts I did have two feature articles published in Scale Modeler magazine back in the day too. Since those days years ago I have dabbled a few times off and on building a few Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars, but even those were at least 15 years ago now.

[James Holford]

Also Tamiya and Eduard have some of the finest WW2 warbirds out there.

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[James Holford]

I remember that!

Yep. I still have a select few that I kept.

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[Tony Drago]

Always. A good change of pace.

[Dave Holtsclaw]

I build plastic models and model rockets Its a nice break from airplanes

[Bruce Shipp]

Dan, with your vast collection of magazines, you may be the one to verify this.  When I was in my early teens, I was visiting a family friend and fellow modeler, Kent Pyle.  He also had a vast collection if old magazines, and I would spend hours paging through them.

While I have no idea which magazine this would have been in, I distinctly remember an article about converting plastic display models to control line. It talked about modifying the plastic models for 1/2 A engine mounts (baby bees were the engines of choice, if i remember correctly.  Maybe it was .020s?), bell crank installation and hinging the elevators. 

This would have been in the late 50s or 60s timeframe I think.  I would have read the article in the early to mid 70s and it was and older magazine then. 

Does anyone else remember this?  It could be the best of both worlds.

[Bruce Shipp]

Wow.  Google does know everything.  A quick google search and the top hit was the article from November 1962 American Modeler.

http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/magazines/adding-power-to-plastic-scale-planes-nov-1962-am.htm

[Tony Drago]

On You Tube you can do a search on history of plastic model kits. Some really good videos on the history of the popular companys.  .

[Dan McEntee]

  As a kid; I would attempt plastic models when I could afford them, and the glue. Sometimes they never saw paint if I couldn't sneak into some of my older brother's stash. What frustrated me the most, was getting glue on the canopies or windshields. So I gave those up to focus on flying models of any kind. I had more fun with a 25 cent Sleek Streek than I would with a dollar plastic kit!. Fast forward to the late 70's and early 80's and while at the hobby shop, I was thumbing through a book o how to build plastic model airplanes. The one thing in there that started me on the way to building them again and collecting kits for future building was that book showed how to glue clear canopies and windshields in with Elmer's glue! How brilliant!! I picked up the Monogram Spitfire kit they used in the book and all of the other items mentioned and set to work. The result was something that looked like the photos in the book! The Spitfire was soon followed by a Mosquito Bomber with the same satisfactory results and then the collecting started. I have a pretty large collection of all the classic favorites in both airplane and car kits. A few boat kits here and there, one or two being Navy LST cargo ships like My Dad served on in WW-2, and some Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space models. I'll get to those after I build the 3 or 4 hundred other flying models of all kinds I have been wanting to build, for sure! I just keep finding little surprisesd that a certain little blonde haired boy left for me in some of the kits that he just couldn't keep his cotton picking hands off of!

    Hey Bruce;  I'm glad that you figured that one out early. I had just that page in mind but I would have pulled up a chair in front of the filing cabinets and went through them one at a time! I was thinking American Modeler and early 60's, but each year is 12 months long and that would have taken a while unless I started at the beginning in January 1960!

    Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[John Park]

Thanks - you may have sparked an idea that could save my sanity over the COVID-19 lockdown period!  I had a spell of assembling plastics (chiefly our British 'Airfix' 1/72 scale range), having failed to achieve decent results with the balsa 'solids' the kit manufacturers used to put out - we're talking about 1955 to 1960 or so - and it occurs to me that I've got plenty of 1/48 scale three-views of early jet fighters etc.  I may therefore have another crack at a wooden 'solid', using any old softwood this time so as not to waste the balsa.  It'll be good to have a paint job I can apply without worrying about the weight!  I think the prototype Hawker Hunter, WB188, in that gorgeous blood-red I saw at Farnborough in 1953.  Better get started on sharpening the chisels and spokeshave...

Regards
John

[Dan McEntee]

   Great idea John! Before plastic came along, Hawk, Strombecker, Monogram, Comet and others put out solid wood kits for display models. Monogram even had a few free flight rubber power kits! All the magazines had plans and templates for at least one airplane in them each month. I have collected the plans, books and information for doing solid identification models that school age kids did at the start of WW-2. Those are on my to do list also! You can use the balsa from some of those assortment packs that SIG and Guillows  sell as most of it is pretty hard anyway. I've got tons of balsa blocks.
   Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[John Watson]

I was an IPMS member and built competitively for many shows. At my age now and with slight tremors I do good to put together a C/L model. The level of expertise in scale modeling is mind-blowing.

[Dave_Trible]

I can't say I was ever too much into plastics-they can't do anything but sit on the shelf-but they are neat to look at.  Matt has sent me many photos of his (literally HUNDREDS) as he was trying to document his for insurance after his house burnt.  Amazing.  I did recently get a couple kits and put together sans paint of the F4B4/P-12.   I am going to try a flying scale ship and it is very helpful to see everything and all the tiny details on the plastic model in three dimensions and scale proportions.  I've done the same with a couple semi-scale stunt ships in the past.  The work that goes into the original mold plugs to make the injection molds is amazing if not intimidating-an art in itself.

Dave

[Norm Faith Jr.]

I'm currently doing (volunteered) an "academy" B-17F Memphis Belle,  for a small, local museum.

[Avaiojet]

I'm currently doing (volunteered) an "academy" B-17F Memphis Belle,  for a small, local museum.

Norm,

When the Belle was popular some years ago, the Movie and all, I did about a dozen Belle aviation jackets.

This one was the most popular.

[john e. holliday]

I did a lot of plastic kits when I was a teenager on the farm  Did not do too much detail work.  Now I have picked up a rubber powered kit that I was the sole bidder on, off the bay.  But, I need to finish the planes I have been working on.

[Tony Drago]

Norm,

When the Belle was popular some years ago, the Movie and all, I did about a dozen Belle aviation jackets.

This one was the most popular.

Back in the 90's one of my customers was a  B-17 pilot. He didn't talk much abut the war. But he did say he had to hit the silk twice. I could see in his eyes that was even hard for him it say. One day he brought in his flight jacket to show me. He asked me if i would like to try in on. O yes i did try it on.  He said the name of the plane was. Howling Jane if i remember correctly. Was named after the youngest crew members wife.

[Wayne Collier]

I did a lot of plastic kits when I was a teenager on the farm  Did not do too much detail work.  Now I have picked up a rubber powered kit that I was the sole bidder on, off the bay.  But, I need to finish the planes I have been working on.

I got on a kick a while back of trying to build small guillows models so that they would actually fly with rubber power. Leaving out extra wood. No landing gear. Minimal clear dope.  Worst so far was the 16.5” wingspan P40. I picked up another one. Gonna try it again. Best was a Cessna 180. It didn’t have a lot of plastic parts. It needed a little nose weight and a paper trim tab on one wing. Working on an L-19 now and I’ve got a T28 and a P51 in the que. I know I could get models much more suited to rubber powered free flight but this is more of a “challenge accepted” thing. Can I make the claims in the adds be true.

Plastic models. Those things kept me busy for hours when I was a teen. My favorite was 1/72 scale. I think keeping to the same scale across several models helped me realize a lot about how those planes were proportioned. Reading the fact sheets in the instructions was fun and informative. Had a ceiling full of them at one point.

[Avaiojet]

I have a couple of plastic kits, NIB. I should list them and let someone else enjoy them, Stuka and a Corsair.

Keep an eye on the Classifieds.

[Randy Powell]

I was a model car guy as a kid. I built at ton of them. Haven't touched on in 40 years.

[Ed Carlaw]

Some of the builds over the years. Started at a very early age with my brothers. Hung the airplanes from the ceiling which made my dad very unhappy. Still build one once in a while from the stash pack ratted away. Ed.

[Mike Griffin]

What company/companies make the best plastic model plane and car kits today that you can buy?

Mike

[James Holford]

Eduard, tamiya, hasagawa, Copper State Models

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[Mike Griffin]

Eduard, tamiya, hasagawa, Copper State Models

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Thanks Jamie.

Mike

[Sean McEntee]

What company/companies make the best plastic model plane and car kits today that you can buy?

Mike

Be ready to shell out some money for some of those.

Built a lot of Monogram 1/48 scale P-38 kits in my time.  Like most monogram kits though, they aren’t very detailed, and if detail is what you’re looking for, you can spend 10 times the price of the kit in aftermarket parts.

While perusing YouTube, which has ALOT of good videos on weathering and other finishing techniques, I found a build video of Tamiya’s 1/48 scale P-38 kit.  Really well-engineered kit—the parts fit almost seemlessly, very detailed and even included 3 ball bearings to put in the nose and each engine nacelle to keep it on its nose gear.  The end of the video, however, the guy building it mentioned the EIGHTY FIVE DOLLER price tag for the kit!  Worth the price, I’m sure, for a more serious modeler to build a competition piece, but definitely doesnt belong in the house of a curious 6 year-old!

[Ed Carlaw]

You might want to try MODELINGMADNESS.COM. Plenty of kit and build reviews. Makes for some interesting reading. Ed.

[Ara Dedekian]

     Hanging out with a local IPMS group was a huge influence on my model building. The weathered look is what I found appealing and from then on, tried to get my flying models looking like a plastic model.

     Pretty much all my new builds are rubber scale where I can apply weathering and shading techniques I learned from building plastic (all my C/L and RC plane builds are hand me down rebuilds).

     I have a Tom Dixon Black Tiger kit I'm hoping to get to which would come out as a non-front row, weathered, war weary North African Campaign, 325th Checkertail Sq. plastic-model-looking stunter to compliment the rubber scale 325th Sq. P-51B below. (Ron Burns, where are you?)

    Ara

[SteveMoon]

Perfect timing! I just started building a Tamiya 1/24 kit of the
1999 Toyota GT-One TS020. This car finished second at the
1999 LeMans 24hr race. My son Jake gave me this kit as a
Christmas present and this seemed like a great time to get
rolling on it.

Later, Steve

[FLOYD CARTER]

The Eugene (OR) airport museum has an amazing display of small scale models --(I don't like to call them PLASTIC).

Scale details are usually extensive, with nothing left out.

I imagine building one of those to be equally difficult as a modern stunter!

I haven't tried one.  Too hard!

[Steve Fitton]

Perfect timing! I just started building a Tamiya 1/24 kit of the
1999 Toyota GT-One TS020. This car finished second at the
1999 LeMans 24hr race. My son Jake gave me this kit as a
Christmas present and this seemed like a great time to get
rolling on it.

Later, Steve

You should build the 1999 Mercedes CLR and do a diorama of Dumbreck's car(!)

[Steve Fitton]

Between sanding clear on my new Super Staris I have been tinkering with this one...

[Andre Ming]

I was a plastic model junkie! Built any and all I got a whim for: Tanks and military equipment, cars (racing, custom/etc), trucks, WW1/WW2/Jet era fighters/bombers, commercial airplanes (like the Viscount), construction equipment, sailing ships, monsters, structures (for my HO trains)...  who knows what else??

As a kid I had so much fun assembling such. They probably looked awful by grown-up standards, but I thought they were great. None survived, when younger they were played to death, once a bit older, I give them away or trashed them.

Good memories!

Andre

[wwwarbird]

Between sanding clear on my new Super Staris I have been tinkering with this one...

 Nice! 

[TigreST]

I’ve been building plastic models on and off (more off of late) since kindergarten i think. As a 19 something year old I got an airbrush for Xmas and built most of the Monogram 1/48 scale war birds to learn the ways of the airbrush.   Along with the c/l models I’ve always had a soft spot for plastic 1/48, 1/32, 1/24 scale model aircraft.
When steady employment hit I began collecting everything I built as a kid and then some.  The models, built or not, are a link to history which tends to prompt there purchase.   The current stash is shamefully large after 25 years of procurement.  Currently a Revell 1/32 scale F4-F slated as a Norm-81 scheme Luftwaffee bird, sits in wait on the bench... it been there a very long time.  But that’s ok... it’s a hobby not work.

[Fredvon4]

Ed Roth

As Rat Fink grew in popularity in the 60's, a company called Revell came along and offered to make Rat Fink Model Cars. They offered Big Daddy 1 cent for every one of the Rat Fink model cars sold.

He made $32,000 from the sales of these Revell Rat Fink model cars in 1963. That is over 3 million Rat Fink model cars sold in that year alone, and the number only went up from there!

I have two here yet to build...found on e-bay

link to current Rat Fink

https://www.ratfink.com/rat-fink-model-cars.php