In this post I’d like to start off writing about one of my favorite hobbies, model cars. For the sake of not being misunderstood, I’m talking about the plastic model cars made by companies such as Revell that you have to assemble yourself and paint. There are various other types of model cars such as die-cast and remote-control cars that I may cover in a later blog, but for this one it’s just the plain old-fashioned plastic model car kits that you can find at your local hobby shops, Hobby Lobby™, Wal-Mart™, K-Mart and Walgreens™. Or you can also find them online on certain websites and on e-bay.™
I grew up in the 1970’s and when I was a kid I loved seeing the muscle cars on the road. Unfortunately our family of five usually transported in either a geeky blue with wood-panells station wagon or a 747 airplane sized puke-green Buick, but when one of my older sister’s boyfriends showed up driving a smokin’ hot red Mustang or Camaro with a hood scoop, I would usually annoy the hell out of the guy until he would give me a ride. They were truly some of the best cars ever made in the 60’s and 70’s in my opinion.
I have to admit that it has been a while since I’ve been able to make time to sit down and work on a good model car, but I try to endulge when I can make time. Now that I have been thinking about it I think I will go down to Wal-Mart tonight and check out their selection. When I was a kid I would spend hours on various models, mostly muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s. I can’t say they all turned out looking like the package, but after a while I got pretty good at it. If you’ve never tried assembling a model car, I highly recommend you take a rainy weekend afternoon and try it out. It’s great for dad’s and their sons. It’s a really great project for Dad to do with his son, or daughter if she happens to be into cars like mine is. I have built several cars with my two sons and my daughter over the years. It’s very educational, relaxing and just good quality time with your kid or kids.
If cars aren’t your thing there are other types of models such as military airplanes, ships and tanks and there are also various other things like helicopters and police vehicles or pickup trucks. I have tried some of the World War II aircraft, but the cars are my favorite. They also look great in the basement on shelves by my hobby area. I also enjoy the navy ships, but cars are by far my favorites.
If you’ve never worked with model cars there are various different brands of models and different skill levels. Certain manufacturers have made deals with the auto makers to produce the model of their car. There are also some supplies needed that are not included in the model car kit. You can usually find out more about what’s needed by taking a look at the box cover. At the very least you will need glue and some basic paints. I will go over more about that later.
The major manufacturers of model car kits when I started building them were AMT, Revell, Monogram and Tamiya. Now, ERTL owns AMT and MPC. Monogram and Revell merged and Okey Spaulding purchased Jo-Han which was responsible for some classic models like the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car.
The model car hobby began to take off in post World War II America with wooden model cars made by Ace and Berkeley. Revell began the first plastic model kits with a design based on a toy called Maxwell. Another popular model at this time was a 1932 Ford Roadster by Revell. The hobby really began to take-off in the 50’s and 60’s when model car kits started coming out to introduce the new models of cars every year. At this time the “3 in 1″ kits became popular as well which meant the models could be built in stock, custom or racing versions. This is one of the things I loved about building models as a kid. You have a variety to choose from so it makes it even more interesting. I usually chose the custom models or racing.
As model car kits became more and more popular, over the years, several features were introduced that made them a great hobby. They started to come with more and more intricate details like intricate dashboard details that were really realistic and looked just like the real thing. Several models even included engine parts that when fully assembled would never be seen, but they are just like the actual car. I think the neat thing about this is that it almost feels as if you’re assembling a real car from start to finish like a mechanic. It’s also a great way to learn about engines and various car parts.
Modelling was almost extinct in the mid 1970’s with the invention of video games and other hobbies, but then was revamped in the late 80’s by people like me who had been involved in the hobby in the past and now decided to revisit it. I think it’s also a great way to own the many various cars you wish you could afford unless you’re Jay Leno! Not only that – it’s just plain, old-fashioned fun. It also helped when magazines such as Scale Auto, Plastic Fanatic and Car Modeler came out to bring modellers together.
Today, a lot of the model car kits that are popular are the muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s that I grew up with. I think it’s because these are just great cars. You can even see that the auto industry going back to this retro-type of car look again with the new mustangs, camaros and chargers. There are also quite a few NASCAR™ models out that simulate the new and old racing cars from Monogram and AMT. Some of my favorite models are the 1955 Chevy Convertible, the 1939 Chevy Coupe, the 1966 Fairlane and the 1968 Chevelle.
I mentioned earlier that you will need some supplies to go along with the model car kits you buy. Most of these are fairly low costing and you can get by with the basics at first, but if you plan on doing a lot of model cars I would invest in more supplies. For example; each model uses a few different colors of paints. If you like you can just buy the ones needed for that model only, or you can buy a set. I recommend buying the set because that way you can have all you need to do the next model if you like. You will also need some paint brushes. Just a few should do the trick. Look at the cover of the box to see what color paints you need.
When it comes to paint, you should buy both the spray paint and the small glass containers for detail work. There are different brands of hobby paints and the hobby store is your best bet if you have questions about which brand to get. They will be able to show you what is needed for your model. I go to Hobby Lobby for my supplies, but you may not have that in your area. Most towns usually have a small hobby store somewhere. Google hobby shops in your area and you should be able to find at least one.
I also recommend that you invest in a couple of tubes of super-glue, an exacto-knife, a cutting board and tweezers. These are all very important items. If you don’t have tweezers you will find it hard to separate the decals for the body from their backing in water. The exacto knife is needed to separate parts. You also want to have some old newspapers around to put down on the table you’re working on because the process can get somewhat messy. It might also help to have some sand paper handy as well for rubbing off unneeded plastic. There are different kinds of glue you can use as well because some plastics respond better than others to various types of glue. There are some great articles on this on Scale Model’s website, the link is in my blogroll. You also want to buy a small box of toothpics for working with glue. If you dab a small amount of glue on the end of a toothpick you can work with small parts and not worry about smearing the glue all over. You’ll also want to try and keep your fingers very clean to avoid smearing because if you smear glue on the plastic that needs to be painted it will be very hard to paint later.
Scale model cars are a really great hobby to get into. You’d be surprised how many people are into this hobby. There are several clubs for people who build models, monthly contests, conventions and swap meets. If you check out some of the websites for for example, you can find some great tips on how to build better models. They have downloadable articles and a gallery of photos that subscribers have sent in with pictures of cars they have built. I especially like the photos of the cars that have been made to look weathered and old. There are some really talented builders on this site.
Well, that’s it for this post. I hope you have learned a few things about model cars. If you want to learn more I have put several links in the blogroll to various model car sites. I want to know what you think, so please leave some comments about model cars and what kind of hobby you’d like to discuss next.
Thanks,
Hobby Dude
