another pointless "i don't understand" question. long read.

[tubbs]

kits. what is our fascination with kits.. what drives us to buy a beat to shit glue bomb and say "i can fix it". what drives us to build a $200 dollar kit, or the drive to keep it in the box, untouched. what drives us to buy a $300 68 coronet R/T original kit rather than a $40 resin. what drives us to build kits in 6 days. what drives up to cut up interiors to improve on what's already there? what drives us to start 5 more builds instead of finishing the one on our bench just to have all of them sit while you start 3 more a week later and see you project pile grow to over 100. yes, i have over 100 kits started in some way, shape or form.

here is my disclaimer so nobody thinks i am picking on anyone. this is not to get anyone mad, i am fishing your inner self to find out what and why you do and build and buy what you do.

i know, i am going to get the typical reply "it's our money, time, kit, i can do what i want with it." exactly what i am talking about. i will say that out of all of us, i am the sore thumb in the group. seriously, before you all start throwing your rubber daggers (i said rubber cause i know you all just like to poke fun at me just to poke fun at me). i am sure you will get excided when i post up an actual finished kit. but a finished kit does not excite me like the thrill of scratch building up a chassis, or cutting up a body to stretch the wheel wells, or to chop a top, or to totally destroy a chassis just to make a different engine fit. so to answer my own questions in part, i think in my mind when i successfully finish up a chassis, i think, man that's cool, lets do it again to this kit. i will test fit a chassis to a body a 100 times, cut and grind on it before i even think about the finished product.

when someone shows a finished build on my Facebook pages, i am dying to see the "in progress shots" a hell of a lot more than the finished build pictures. Mike in another thread said something about research, hell, i have twice as many "in progress" shots on real as well as model cars than i do finished pictures. i have been to over 20 Mopar nats and i will spend all my time in the pits at the race track, looking at cars half tore apart rather than the area where all the beautifully restored cars are.

another area where i am far behind you guys is purchasing kits. to this day, i can honestly say that i have never paid over $20 for a kit, well, i did once. when the altered 65 Plymouth cars came out, i bought 1. i think it was $30. i swear i lost sleep over it too. Marty and i go back and forth on this. Marty has dropped more money on kits in the past year than i have in my whole stash. he, as well as others say, i have to have that kit, and with some restrain, will buy it. my thought is that for the price of that kit, i better have 10 kits. price of a kit stops me more than spending the money. i am always thinking that i can have 2 kits over over at that table rather than this one kit at this table. so, really, i have no holy grail kit. i can do without any kit because i feel building is building. maybe this ties into the actual finishing of a kit. don't matter what it is sitting on my shelf or in my stash. no holy grail kits for me.

i just realized how much i just typed. this thread reminds me of one of those circles you sit around and and say " Hi, i'm Al and i am a modeler". don't feel like you have to contribute to this at all folks. just really curious about our drive and motivation to this great hobby.

[Jcon]

For the most part I build for pleasure although moments of aggravation hit at times in the process. I find it takes my mind off life issues. Part of my motivation is my hobby room that I call the Eagle's Nest is upstairs between my wife's studio and quilting room so I will go up when she is up there working so we can talk and visit more while we both play with our hobbies. She retired the end of Dec. so she is up there a lot more... that's why my building picked up. I'm a people person and don't enjoy being alone as well. I know that's weird but that's how I roll. $100 is the highest I've ever spent on a model, cars $30 max... armor is almost always around $50 these days...

[topside]

Hmmmm, I just like to build things, to test & develop my humble abilities; my models so far have been cars that always meant something special to me, or something I've always wanted. When I'm working on stuff over at Jim's (gluenandsprue), it's fun and we bat ideas back & forth, and I learn a lot.
Right now I'm doing some home remodeling here, so the toys are on the back burner; haven't got around to posting the R6 car I finished, and the GY3 Duster is awaiting details & assembly.
Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work !

[mopar]

It’s been 18 years now that I’ve been back building models after a 30 year gap and I only have one of those models from when I was a kid building. So when I started back building I started picking up old kits that I had built as a kid and picking up old 60’s and 70’s Mopars. I had decided that I would build up a stash of kits that would give me something to do when I retired. Some of the old JoHan kits that I was able to pick up were expensive but it was fun getting them and I knew that I would get them build some time in the future so it was like a retirement investment when I was buying them. I also picked up a Lot of trucks to. I have plans for most of the kits on how I’m going to build them but lately some of those have changed. With being semi retired as of last year I’ve been working on my retirement investment and it’s paying off.

[DusterEd]

As I can see everyone builds what they like. I don’t build too many modified cars because my thinking is there’s always going to be somebody with a faster car. Oh I love looking them but it’s not for me. For me it’s about that feeling I wish I could have had (i was just a kid) if I could have walked in to a Plymouth or Dodge dealership in the 60’s or 70’s and ordered my car. From a Superstock Dodge to that FC7 Duster 340. Many of you have experienced this but I never will. So I can have my many dream cars. If only in scale. Don’t get me wrong I’m very happy with my real Duster 340. But it’s not exactly what I would have ordered. And I restored it exactly like it came from the factory because it’s worth more if my wife wants to sell it if and when I pass on. We band of model building brothers are artists and I see our scale models also as works of art. Each one of us has or own style and likes with one thing in common. The most over the top in your face bright colored cars ever made. Mopar’s!

[tubbs]

Feb 15, 2022 11:21:03 GMT -5 topside said:

Hmmmm, I just like to build things, to test & develop my humble abilities; my models so far have been cars that always meant something special to me, or something I've always wanted. When I'm working on stuff over at Jim's (gluenandsprue), it's fun and we bat ideas back & forth, and I learn a lot.
Right now I'm doing some home remodeling here, so the toys are on the back burner; haven't got around to posting the R6 car I finished, and the GY3 Duster is awaiting details & assembly.
Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work !

good luck with the home remodeling. i have that coming up in a few weeks. see, i have never built any of my cars. never even really think of it until i am talking to someone and they ask about it. if i build them exactly like i would own them, all my builds would be black. even as a youngster, i never built stock. i have changed that though, i like building supercars, factory race cars and special order stuff. have a long list of those.

[tubbs]

Feb 15, 2022 10:45:18 GMT -5 Jcon said:

For the most part I build for pleasure although moments of aggravation hit at times in the process. I find it takes my mind off life issues. Part of my motivation is my hobby room that I call the Eagle's Nest is upstairs between my wife's studio and quilting room so I will go up when she is up there working so we can talk and visit more while we both play with our hobbies. She retired the end of Dec. so she is up there a lot more... that's why my building picked up. I'm a people person and don't enjoy being alone as well. I know that's weird but that's how I roll. $100 is the highest I've ever spent on a model, cars $30 max... armor is almost always around $50 these days...

i am a people person also. i love my model club, chit-chatting on what else, when am i going to bring a finished build. yea, you guys are not the only ones who rag on me. but i do like going down, turn on the ball game in the summer, some music in the winter, or sports talk. no politics, no TV, no negative stuff, just me and my crap. now that Willy is gone, i do have more time to model, he would come down all the time and we would play for an hour or so. man i miss him.... anyways, did more sanding and mudding on the willys. so much time in this body. friends say why dont i just buy a resin body.... what fun is that?!?!

[tubbs]

Feb 16, 2022 20:49:12 GMT -5 mopar said:

It’s been 18 years now that I’ve been back building models after a 30 year gap and I only have one of those models from when I was a kid building. So when I started back building I started picking up old kits that I had built as a kid and picking up old 60’s and 70’s Mopars. I had decided that I would build up a stash of kits that would give me something to do when I retired. Some of the old JoHan kits that I was able to pick up were expensive but it was fun getting them and I knew that I would get them build some time in the future so it was like a retirement investment when I was buying them. I also picked up a Lot of trucks to. I have plans for most of the kits on how I’m going to build them but lately some of those have changed. With being semi retired as of last year I’ve been working on my retirement investment and it’s paying off.

retirement? yea, at 62, thats about 20 years away. seriously, i don't know what i will do when i retire. hopefully me and the wife will get to a warm place, we will be drag racing our golf carts, head to the beach and watch the sunset. i am not sure if i will be building or not.

[tubbs]

Feb 16, 2022 22:57:52 GMT -5 DusterEd said:

As I can see everyone builds what they like. I don’t build too many modified cars because my thinking is there’s always going to be somebody with a faster car. Oh I love looking them but it’s not for me. For me it’s about that feeling I wish I could have had (i was just a kid) if I could have walked in to a Plymouth or Dodge dealership in the 60’s or 70’s and ordered my car. From a Superstock Dodge to that FC7 Duster 340. Many of you have experienced this but I never will. So I can have my many dream cars. If only in scale. Don’t get me wrong I’m very happy with my real Duster 340. But it’s not exactly what I would have ordered. And I restored it exactly like it came from the factory because it’s worth more if my wife wants to sell it if and when I pass on. We band of model building brothers are artists and I see our scale models also as works of art. Each one of us has or own style and likes with one thing in common. The most over the top in your face bright colored cars ever made. Mopar’s!

ha, cars are like girlfriends, the hunt for what you want, what you like, the searching, doing some talking and then you finally land her, and here comes a nice 440+6 challenger with a big ol "FOR SALE" sign in it. although i think i do have my dream car, i just have to get the blower for it and that will be that. of the colors!! i have never seen a pallet of colors like Mopars!! make mine black!! just think if my builds were my real garage, hell, i wouldn't be able do drive any, they all wouldn't be running and i be in the house sleeping instead of in the garage working!!

[goofy62]

Well, I'm obviously guilty of a great number of Tubbs' "what drives us" items.

I suppose I can start by addressing those individually to start.

First, I only have interest in a glue bomb, if a glue bomb is all that I can find.

I have never had any interest in fixing other people's messes just for the sake of doing it, but if it's a rare subject that interests me, and it's all that I can scrounge up, count me in.

I have bought $200.00 kits, and again, that all comes down to subject matter.

I don't have a problem spending a large sum on something that I'm really interested in, and that dovetails into the next question, why not buy the resin kit instead?

That's an easy one.  I don't like working with resin.

I don't have an issue with an obsession to finish a build in a week, nor a desire to work on multiple projects at the same time.

One is confusing enough for me.

On the other hand, cutting up interiors, as well as other parts, has become one of my obsessions!

I guess what you're really getting at here is asking, "what is your overall philosophy on the hobby"?

For me, the answer to that question is not always crystal clear, but in the end, I suppose that I prefer it that way.

I really don't want to paint myself into a box.

But I've learned enough about myself over the years to have a basic grasp on what drives me.

First of all, selection of a project for me is all about subject matter and uniqueness.

I hate building what everyone else is building, and I love more unusual subjects.

But on the same hand, I don't have much interest in a pretty large majority of automotive genres.

I'm not into customs, or drag cars, or NASCAR.

I have no interest whatsoever in Indy cars or foreign exotics.....foreign cars at all for that matter, so in order for me to maintain interest in building, in my narrow scope of pretty much nothing other than factory stock American iron, obsolete annual kits have become my medium of choice.

Something different and unusual that not everybody else is doing.

I have to be honest as well and say that attending shows and contests periodically has influenced my build style as well.

I know, I know, it appears to contradict the whole, "I build for myself" philosophy.

But does it really?

Attending shows, in my opinion, has helped immensely in broadening my horizons, and it hasn't forced me to do anything that I wouldn't normally do.

It does however, help me focus on putting my best foot forward with any given project, and encourages me to put forth the extra effort to do the best that I can.

I often hear the kind of opinion that the "I build for me" mindset as a "righteous" attitude, and building for any other reason is dishonorable in some fashion, but my perspective is that they are not mutually exclusive.

There are many reasons and motivations for doing things as we do, and there are very few incorrect ones in our hobby.

The funny part is, as participation in a few model shows began to motivate me to go a little farther with the detailing of my projects, I found that I was enjoying what I was doing more and more!

More than I ever had before!

The best thing that ever happened to me in this hobby was losing the fear of cutting things up!

Earlier in my modeling career, I had this fear that I was going to irreparably destroy a part, or model, by doing any cutting on it.

With a modern kit, that fear might not be too daunting, but with a rare annual kit, it can be horrifying!

But, as time went on, and thanks to my desire to improve, (and yes, some of the credit is attributable to my desire to compete, and display at shows) I realized that it's all just plastic.

Once I had that epiphany, all bets were off, and the modeling world was opened up for me.

Now I'm not afraid to do almost anything!

At this point, the only thought that I have in the back of my mind when contemplating a modification, is not whether or not it's possible, but how long is it going to take?!

Anyway, I've been long winded enough in this post, but I wanted to convey a few of my thoughts on the subject anyway, no matter how disjointed they may have been.

Steve

            

[mopar]

Steve I really appreciate your work and your write up I agree with you. I would like to be able to build to the level of detail you do but I don’t think that I ever will. I do try to push my capabilities on all my builds.

[tubbs]

Feb 20, 2022 13:25:52 GMT -5 goofy62 said:

Well, I'm obviously guilty of a great number of Tubbs' "what drives us" items.

I often hear the kind of opinion that the "I build for me" mindset as a "righteous" attitude, and building for any other reason is dishonorable in some fashion, but my perspective is that they are not mutually exclusive.

Steve
[

haha, yea, your were the subject on some of my questions, but defiantly not a target. i have become way better in cutting things up myself. i have to trust myself. it's funny how i can take really my first love, bowling. i have no fear of throwing the ball anywhere on the lanes, i trust the ball and my ability. not so much in the modeling world. i don't trust that my ability can make it look like my mind wants it to look. therefore, it goes back in the box for a later date. the statement i hate with a passion, for my own builds is "it's good enough". you just dropped the bar when you say that. in my mind i want to get better every build, unfortunately, time, laziness are my enemies.

i don't understand the "i build for me" statement cause who else are you building for. as far as detail goes, yea, you may throw a few more dollars in a build for a show, but your technique and ability you put into the build should be the same. hence the "i build for me" and "its good enough" go hand in hand.

i would crap my pants, literally, if i dropped $200 on a kit. agreed also, i have no interest in Foriegn, military, stock or Nascar builds on my bench. i have no problem looking at them and enjoying the time and effort put into them. i really enjoy all models, just limit to what lands on my bench.

now 1:1 cars... poo-poo on the stock stuff, give me the pavement shaker, steam roller tired, cant see past the blower, watch out for that speed bump cars every time!!

[Jcon]

Well said Al!!!