I want to get started with modeling...

[Red October1984]

Any helpful hints or advice is welcome.

I'm thinking I want to start with an Airplane and then move on to ships/subs.

I like the R/C stuff that nikimcbee is doing too. Problem is....I have no experience ( or money )

I'm open to suggestions, recommendations, guidance, etc. This looks like some cool stuff.... A bit of a step up from the legos of my childhood.

( I think I want my first one to either be a Bf-109 or an A-10 Warthog )

[Sailor Steve]

I could give so much advice all at once you'd feel overwhelmed. Probably so could more than a few others. So I'll start simple.

1. What do you want to do? Throw some plastic together and slap some paint on it? Try to make a work of art? Somewhere in between?

My first recommendation would be to go online and see what's there. There are several popular scales, and you can make some pretty small models with just a few parts, or you can build a big plane with more than 100 parts just for the engine. Of course you want to start easy. I'm just telling you what the possibilities are. There are books available that give you good instructions on what to do and how to do it.

2. Supplies: There are actually several different kinds of glue to choose from. Not just different brands, but actual different types for different jobs. For a simple plastic model plain old Testor's plastic cement is a good place to start. Not the kind in a tube, but in a glass bottle with a brush. There are several kinds of paint to choose from. It takes great practice and skill to get good with a paint brush, and no matter how good you are it's never going to equal the results obtained with an airbrush. On the other hand airbrushes and compressors are expensive and also require a lot of patience and practice.

I'm not trying to scare you off, just make you aware of what the future can hold if you decide you really like building models. Really you should just ignore me. Find a model that looks good to you, buy some cement and an X-Acto Knife (a #11 X-Acto is the most valuable tool you'll use, and they're cheap), do a little research into paints and then have fun.

I, and several others, will be glad to answer any questions along the way, and to give specific help for problems that arise.

[TLAM Strike]

Not sure what scale and such you want to work with but I make mostly 1/72 scale tanks and aircraft, 1/700 scale ships, and have built a few 1/144 scale U-Boats and aircraft.

Trumpeter and Dragon make great models. Hasegawa is also a great manufacturer although I think a lot of their stuff was made more in the 1990s. Revell of Germany also tends to be good (although I don't like a lot of their models have individual link tank tracks at 1/72 scale).

Academy and Italeri also make good kits (I have a 109 and Spit kit from those companies but never got around to building them, but the parts look good).

Stay away from companies like ERTL (in older boxes you find a lot around), UM, Airfix (sometimes), anything Korean or Eastern European.

Tools, your going to need some. I recommend an extendable ex-acto knife. Tweezers are a must. A "Third Hand" holder with a maganify glass is nice and can be gotten cheap at places like Harbor Freight (in the US), A very fine paint bush like a 00 or 0 sized one, plus some others, toothpicks, Micro Cristal Klear (for bonding transparent parts to normal ones, since normal model glue ruins the transparency), super glue, fast drying white putty (for filling gaps, this stuff is made by companies like Squadron), a set of small files and or a cheap dremel like tool (I have an engraver that runs on 2xAA batts I got for a $1 and it works great for model making). Boxes for paints and tools are a must, you mentioned Legos, use some to build a holder with six or so slots for holding your tools you use a lot.

Oh and get a quart of enamel paint thinner from the home store, you will waste a lot of money on the little jars of the stuff from the hobby store, just to clean your bushes.

[Cybermat47]

You can look here for some good models: http://www.airfix.com/

Personally, I'd recommend starting with 1/72 aircraft, then going on to 1/350 submarines, then perhaps some capital ships in 1/570 scale.

[nikimcbee]

You could start here:
http://www.wilhelmina.com/

oh wait....

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

You could start here:
http://www.wilhelmina.com/

Good one!

Reminds me if something Alexei Sayle said in his show:

Originally Posted by Alexei Sayle

I've got a girlfriend, yeah. She's a model, yeah. She's an Airfix Stuka dive bomber.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

You can look here for some good models: http://www.airfix.com/

^just make sure it's something they released in the past few years. There are some of their older stuff is of poor quality.

Example: Their 1/72 Beaufighter and Gladiator come in boxes that look alike, the Beaufighter is great recently made mold but the Gladiator looks like it came from a mold made in the 70's.

[nikimcbee]

I'd say, start with an easy kit to learn skills and build your confidence.

Pretty much what Steve and TLAM said. What do you like?

If you are a beginner, stay the hell away from photo-etched kits; First they are waaaaaay more expensive and they are not for beginners. I personally find them very frustrating to work with, but they do look cool though.


Note: the r/c kits are a totally different beast.

[nikimcbee]

1/48 scale



My pride and joy. 1/35 scale. I had a lot of fun building this diorama.




1/32 scale. I scratch built the wall and the moss is real!