What Do We Build ...and Why?

[mostrich]

Our beloved member speedgraflex a.k.a. Bruce came up the other day with the following, interesting question:

(...) When I read your review of "Dunkirk," particularly about your desire to build a Spitfire, I wondered if you were going to pick up a kit for the future or make the Spitfire the subject of your next build. How do you choose your subjects? What causes the chemical reaction or fixes the subject in your frontal lobes? I am curious, and look forward to your reply. I thought about setting up a thread to capture the thoughts of all SPA Modelers willing to "dish" on the subject as this is of great interest to me personally, and not often addressed within build logs or research threads.

If you don't mind, Bruce, I pick up your idea and start this thread.

How do I come to the conclusion for what will be my next build? To my own surprise I have to admit that the circumstances that led to my past builds were always quite different. The build that caused my comeback to the hobby was Revell's box scale Bismarck. It was a birthday gift by a good friend and more meant as a joke than a real challenge to build it. But after a few months of it laying around in my room I swallowed the bait and the rest is history.
The second kit was a purchase from an old LHS in my town. I bought it just for the cool box art and because I never heard or read about that esoteric flying thing (and I thought until that very moment that I knew EVERYTHING the Germans had flown in WW2).


Then there are those pictures in my head of certain planes in a very special finish I'd love to see on my shelf. Most of them end in my archive of project ideas, along with all the links to reference sites and whatnot. But I don't see those as failures, I really enjoy the time I spend in research and I learn so much along the way. I also love my still growing library in good ol' paper!
My now running Star Wars-Diorama is of course inspired by the new movies and all that hype around it. It also offers me most welcome flashbacks into my childhood and early youth.
To find a summary for all those confusing thoughts: Modeling touches a lot of aspects of my life along with my inerests in science, history, engineering and design. I find so much inspiration in so many different ways, I could start another build every second day. And yes, there will be a Spitfire landing on the top of my stash very soon. Waiting eagerly for Eduard's September offerings.

Hello, my name is Torben and I'm addicted. What's your story?

[Scruffy]

I have always been interested in aircraft, and when I was very young I had an uncle that bought me models all the time for some reason, so it kind of stuck. Back them the local drug store also carried Scale Modeler magazine and my parents had no problem with me wanting to read, so every Sunday before church we would stop and I would get either Scale Modeler, Wings, Airpower, or Air Combat.
Over time my interests expanded to armor, ships etc. but never really cars, for some reason I just could not do well with them. As for what I pick to build, well growing up near a SAC base during the Cold War had an influence, so anything from the Cold War on both sides, plus I think almost every aircraft is unique and cool in its own way; so it does not take much for me to want to build a model of something. As Torbin said, I could find inspiration to build something new every other day.
I try to prioritize anything that I have seen, or is related to aviation in New England first and then go from there.
I am kind of odd in that I have a history degree but have always worked with my hands so I enjoy the challenge of researching builds as much as the mechanics of building them, and tracking down the elusive or hard to find kit for a project. I like to accurate to with my builds, but don't consider myself a rivet counter, if I can't see it, I don't worry about it. Some people say the ZM 1/48 Phantoms have shape issues at the rear fuselage and nose, I can't pick it out, I think the kit is great, the Hobby Toss A-7's fuselage being to wide and squished......I can see that on my own.....it bothers me.
So, basically I guess I just plod along building what I want how I want, and try to have fun doing it.

[Jeeves]

This came up on another forum as well-- so my answer is pretty much the same I guess what really keeps me going is I try not to settle on just one thing...I concentrated for years on just 1/48 WWII aircraft...then shifted to 1/48 armor, cars, and the occasional figure. Currently I am on a modern armor kick that started with a Main Battle Tank build and grew from there. More importantly, I enjoy when a good GB idea comes up where I can build along with others as I am kind of isolated from other modelers where I live...

[BorgR3mc0]

What do I build and why.

What: most often aircraft. My fascination with aircraft started as a way to connect with my dad. He is a great guy but not much of a talker. But after finding out the aircraft books in the bookcase where his I showed interest in that. We had (and have) a lot of trips to airshows and museums. And always had a great time doing so.
So that is how the aircraft virus got me. Within that, I often like obscure and forgotten aircraft, great ideas that didn't work, where ahead of there time, just did not get in to production because of "reasons", etc. Things like the rocket powered aircraft, forward swept wings, small airforces. Just look at my last few builds: P-51H, better then the D but the D had a longer service life primarily just because it was available in large numbers. Mu-2J, great performance but mediocre safety and commercial performance due to very specific ways of controlling (with spoilers). Avia B.35.3, small airforce prototype, good performance but not a success due to geo-political reasons. Komet, Natter, Bat, need I say more?

Now how do I pick my next build? It depends, primarily on external factors. If I have a busy priod at the office or at home then I want to have a "low stakes" easy build. I need to be in the right state of mind (at ease, not stressed) for more involved and difficult projects. Example, this week, it is vacation period in the Neterherlands, so very little work at the office. My wife and kid are away for a week vistiting her dad in Spain. So I have the house for myself, can leave all my tools, in progress builds and the spraybooth on the desk. Time to experiment. As a result I reached the upper limit of what I can do with my airbrysh (no 1/72 smoke rings). But that is okay, I just touch up and try again.
When I am in a more busy period I cannot find that frame of mind to I keep my builds more safe.

[Stuart]

Interesting question that – why the hell do we do what we do!??!?

I’ve always loved Aircraft and Military History, so I guess it’s partly to do with that, but I think it’s also partly to that I enjoy doing something creative, if it wasn’t this then it’d probably be drawing and painting. I’ve also always loved models – sometimes at museums etc. the models displays are often the most interesting.

I do find modelling quite relaxing, which is partly the reason why I still brush pint rather than airbrush as I find it a rather enjoyable process (sometimes!).

As to what I build, I normally just go with the flow and build whatever takes my fancy at the time, that’s partly the reason why I have a stash – I buy something but then by the time I get to it I fancy building something else. Although I do have an interest in aviation & history, I often find I’m more interested in the actual kit itself, rather than the subject – A case in point is the Hurricane I’ve started building, I wanted to build the old tool kit itself. If it was the Subject I would have built the probably more accurate new tooling.

And that’s another thing – I much prefer build old ‘classic’ kits than new toolings. I’m not sure why, perhaps it; because I always go for the underdog and besides I love the nostalgia.

My favourite subjects are probably the RAF, WWII Allied aircraft or anything post war to modern day – mainly US or European. I also enjoy building USN aircraft from the Vietnam (high-viz) period and IAF. You’re unlikely to find me building anything Luftwaffe, Japanese, postwar Russian or Argentinian.

Cheers

Stuart

[Stikpusher]

Hello, my name is Carlos, and I'm a plastiholic...
Where to begin on this subject area? Why do I choose what I build? Well like many of the rest here I have a fondness for military history and subjects- aircraft, vehicles, ships... and of course the sci fi stuff seen on TV and in the movies, my first love of the time and the first model that was bought for me, a dinosaur... and last but not least for me, real space subjects. Growing up when and where I did, the space program was nearby with local plants and many neighbors who worked in that field. There was my fathers influence of military and civil aviation background. And of course my growing passion for military history, as well as eventually enlisting and serving for 24 years. What makes me choose a particular subject? Well it is often something that I have read about or seen on a bit of film or TV show. That will plant the seed for research and start another minor obsession to create that build. Or sometimes it is the theme of a club meeting contest or group build that will start the wheels moving to come up with that next build. Lately I have been inspired to come up with some builds to honor my recently deceased father, or my recently enlisted son and their service units and times. Or I still have an ongoing list of subjects from my service time to build. There is no real, one solid answer for me.

[BorgR3mc0]

Nice to see all these different and some times common routes that brings us to the same hobby!

[RexCag]

Hi, I am Rex, and I suffer from the same syndrome as Carlos.

Many that hear about my collection for the first time think that I only build in a "narrow niche." This is very much not true,,,,,I get to build everything from an F4B biplane to an F-18 Super Hornet. My niche is only narrow because it didn't used to be.

1/72 Navair is my niche,,,,,,,and that obviously includes a lot of USN/USMC aircraft. Skyhawks and Phantoms are a real passion for me.

But, I build Navair from VF-1 to VA-305, some of the "detachment aircraft", one aircraft from each aircraft carrier,,,,,,,,,and the ground equipment and trucks. Sub-themes along the way are one of each Phantom operator, one of each US Skyhawk type,,,and as many ground support models as I can find, anything from Fuel trucks to engine dollys and loading equipment.

From my old days of building just about every single engine prop I can find,,,,,,,I cut that down to all of the "really tiny" aircraft, such as Piper Cub, Stinson OY, Culver drones and Pitts biplanes. I also have a sub-theme of trainer aircraft. And a fondness for Drone conversions and control aircraft.

I like the idea of a Culver drone or Pitts sitting next to a P-2 or A-3, with a tow tractor and a man for perspective.

With this large a list, even though it is smaller than it used to be,,,,,I have either "structured next model choices", or a "random choice based on mood." I have all of the models, and all of the decals, every reference book for the types I will build, etc. So, for me, "random" means something out of my stash already.

And I save a TON of money doing it this way, compared to my old "oh, a new kit, I got to get one" days.

[wjkunert]

I have several interests in modeling. My 10 years in the USAF covered the Century series aircraft. I worked on the F 102 and F 101B. While in Europe I encountered the rest of them. To me they are the neatest aircraft ever built. There is nothing like the scream a F 104 makes when it spools up during taxi. The F 4 was originally to have been designated the F 110 so I include it in the century series. I've built f 100, F 101B, F 102A, and F-110(F 4). I built a Tamiya 1/48 F 14 because of Top Gun and several documentaries on it. I built a Corsair because of Ba Ba Black Sheep. I've built a couple P 51's because I like the aircraft. I built a F 15 in Soesterberg colors beause I was stationed there. I built Tamiya's 1/32 Mosquito because it was one of the really great planes from WWII. I built 4 1/35 scale tanks and a couple of tank rescue vehicles just because. I follow Formula 1 racing and have built 3 of Tamiya's 1/12 scale Formula 1 cars and I built ZM's 1/32 Horton Ho 229 because of the complexity of the kit.
I have a 1/72 Meng F 106A coming and I want to do a F 104 and a F 105 to complete the century series. I'm also getting ready to start a Meng F 35A. Keeps me out of trouble and off the streets.

[BorgR3mc0]

You where stationed at Soesterberg !? Then we where practically neighbours. I lived in nearby Bosch en Duin/Den Dolder from 1989 to 2002. I would often go to the entry gates of the base with my cousins just to watch all the imported USA cars, a rare sight.
A special memory for me is when a US soldier gave me a US combat cap. I was just standing there with my bike and he held it out his car window and said "do you want to have it?" And of course I sure did. It was like a trophy for me for years.