How Did You Become Attached To Your Favorite Scale?

[Scott Smith]

9 hours ago, RKic said:

To you guys who build in 1/32. How do you display the really big stuff, like 32nd Jets?

 

I built a really big display case as well.  It got me started in the wood working Hobby as well. 

I will have to build another one day for the big bombers now.  Gotta wait until my oldest gets a bigger home so he can get all of his car stuff out of my way first. 

[RKic]

2 hours ago, Scott Smith said:

 

I built a really big display case as well.  It got me started in the wood working Hobby as well. 

I will have to build another one day for the big bombers now.  Gotta wait until my oldest gets a bigger home so he can get all of his car stuff out of my way first. 

Pics?

[caudleryan]

I got started around 18 years ago. Mine was kind of simple back then. I wanted all of the big models. The bigger, the better. I wanted to impress my brothers and my friends. So, I bought just about all of the big bombers from Monogram and Revell. It just so happened, most of them were in 1/48, with the exception of the B-36 and B-52D which were in 1/72, but still huge. The look on my brother's face when I got not one, but two 1/48 B-1's for Christmas was priceless! So, I started out in 1/48 and kinda just stuck to it. These days, you have a lot more choices to pick from and more coming out every year. I find it is a nice scale to work with. Not too small, and not too big that you don't have any space to display them.(says the guy with six AMT 1/72 kc-135's, four B-52's, a 1/72 B-36, a 1/48 B-24, a 1/48 B-29, two B-58's, and a 1/72 Victor!)

Edited August 13, 2018 by caudleryan
Spelling

[kaz]

I do 1/72 and 1/144, most versatile scales IMO, but I used to be indifferent to both. I started building mostly 1/48 WWII and cold war subjects when kits were still cheaper. 1/72 was pretty crap back then; if I wanted any decent detail out of the box, it had to be larger. I was excited for the revival of 1/48 armour but didn't turn out as I had hoped and I thought about how much better served 1/72 was in terms of genre: tanks, figures, sci-fi, practically everything minus ships can be bought in 1/72 at a lower price. 1/72 also allows for more space when building ever larger modern fighters. It's become one of my favourite scales since then.

Edited August 13, 2018 by kaz

[TheWaggishAmerican]

I started off in 1/72 scale, simply because the kits were available, easy to build, fit well on my shelves, and almost all of them fit within the budget of a preteen without a job. Lately, I've started getting into 48th scale as my skills improve, I've got more cash, and I've really come to enjoy the extra detail and presence on the shelf. I'd really like to step up and make 32nd scale my primary, but both the cost and the size of the finished kits are a pretty big limiting factor for me- plus, I've got to think about future storage, and there is a pretty good chance that in the next year or two I'll be moving into a van, so I've got to pick my projects a bit more carefully. 

[Rex]

I think it might have actually been an accident. In 1965, when my aunt gave me an "F4" model, she gave me a Revell 1/72 F4U. (I thought I was asking for an F-4, lol)

 

Then, after enjoying that build, I went to the same store and bought another Revell kit. (there were many, many more 1/72 kits on the shelves than 1/48 or Box Scale)

 

I kept going back, to build the collection of finished models, and discovered Lindberg and Airfix kits. A few years later, Monogram came out with the Bearcat, Tigercat, and the Bi-planes.

 

Then, I finally got old enough to have a job with a timecard in the summer,,,,,,so I started buying the more expensive Jet models. I started building the Esci tanks and vehicles after years of Airfix and Roco Minitanks. I liked  the idea that a Jeep, a Man, a prop plane, and a jet could all sit together on the same shelf, and my audience could see how big or small something is, compared to each other.

 

Now, after decades of building (without what many call the "normal break" ) I can set really nice quality Jeep models next to a WW II experimental aircraft, and an almost full set of Carrier or NAS equipment next to a Phantom. I can do every USN and USMC squadron that deployed on a carrier from decals, except for a few that I have to do myself. ( 1/48 didn't even come close to covering VF-1 to VA-305 at all)

[southwestforests]

1 hour ago, Rex said:

I liked  the idea that a Jeep, a Man, a prop plane, and a jet could all sit together on the same shelf, and my audience could see how big or small something is, compared to each other.

There is great appeal to that.

[janman]

5 hours ago, Rex said:

I liked  the idea that a Jeep, a Man, a prop plane, and a jet could all sit together on the same shelf, and my audience could see how big or small something is, compared to each other.

 

Now, after decades of building (without what many call the "normal break" ) I can set really nice quality Jeep models next to a WW II experimental aircraft, and an almost full set of Carrier or NAS equipment next to a Phantom. 

My exact thinking. 

 

The only exception on my shelf is a 1/144 Millennium Falcon, but since it's more or less a fictitious bird from outer space, I think I can live with that (the reason also being that the 1/72 is so big and expensive).

 

1/24 rally cars and one Le Mans racer live happily with my aircraft models, but again are in the same scale themselves. 

 

[Scott Smith]

On 8/12/2018 at 10:12 AM, RKic said:

Pics?

 

This is it during construction.  Just before stain went on it and all the mirrors in the back and all the glass. 

 

 

If you want current pics, I've gotta clean up the shop first or you will see my disaster in the mirrors! 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Scott Smith

[Mstor]

Started building kits in the late 50s, Aurora kits mostly. All the kids on the block were into them and they were sold at the local pharmacy/soda shop/ 5 and dime store. Bought whatever struck my fancy. Bi-planes, tanks, WW II fighters, ships, Knights in shining armor. As the years went by I continued to build, mostly cars. When my early teen years arrived I got more serious. Spent hours at the hobby shop browsing and trying to make up my mind what to buy. By the 70s I had an airbrush (Binks single action) and started using flat finish paints like Floquil and Pactra's International colors (God I miss those two brand paints). I built mostly Monogram 1/48, but also spent some time into Tamiya 1/35 and 1/24 scale tanks. I bought every issue of FSM.

There were numerous hiatuses from the hobby as my interests turned to other things (girls and girls) but I always came back. I stuck mostly with 1/48 aircraft, modern jets and some WW II. Then 1/32 scale started to make a real showing. I liked the 1/32 scale kits. Big was better.

As I said, I set aside the hobby a number of times. Seems each time I left the hobby I would start back with 1/350 scale ships. At one time I had close to a dozen very expensive resin 1/350 scale battleship kits. I never finished one. By the late 90s I was pretty much just doing 1/32 modern jet or WW II aircraft. I originally moved back to 1/32 scale jets thinking that, as I was getting older, the larger details would make it easier to build. Boy was I wrong. 1/32 scale doesn't make the details larger, it gives the manufacturers and aftermarket guys the opportunity to make the details out of MORE small parts.

Now I am back to 1/48 scale. One, the cost is generally cheaper than 1/32. Two, there is greater selection of subjects and three, I don't have any room for 1/32 scale aircraft anymore. If I had room, I might still do some 1/32 scale. At one time I had a fairly large stash of them. Then, due to health, gave up the hobby, thinking I'd never be able to build again. I gave away almost all my kits, most with tons of aftermarket. Fortunately, things improved and I was able to return to the hobby. So, I have been having fun spending too much money restoring a stash of kits (in my book, you're not a true modelist if you don't have at least a few thousand dollars in kits and supplies taking up all available space).

Just read what I wrote. What a rambling mess. Oh well, hopefully you'll get the idea.

Cheers!