The model kit that
started it all out was a 1967 Mustang. I am pretty sure I will never get to own
the real thing, so a model is the best thing I can ever hope for. At the time, die cast kits weren't as popular
as they are now, so I had to build my own
.
I believe it was the Revell kit, but it could have been
AMT. You have to understand, the 1960's
mustangs are part of my top five cars ever (I lump them into one group because if I didn't most of my top five would
only be one car.) To this day, I have
built the kit more than once. I still
haven't built it to my satisfaction, and I expect to build a few more of them
before I shed this mortal coil. Back to
that first kit. The art on the kit box
depicted it in white with blue stripes.
I bought a can of white spray paint, some black and blue Testor's paint
and I was off.
I'd love to tell you that I produced an award winning model
right from the get go. sadly, that was
not the case. I did a pretty good job on
the muffler. The engine came out fairly
well, and the seats were acceptable. The
rest of it was pretty bad. I think the
wheels stuck out too far, and fell off more than once. As for the paintjob....I wouldn't recommend
spray paint for anyone's first time out.
The reason I decided to take up building plastic models can
be traced to a friend I have had since junior high school. If he weren't still a friend, I would
probably use the word blame rather than reason.
I visited his house and upon entering his room discovered,
on his desk, his work in progress. He
was probably 60 percent done painting and building a plastic model kit of the
DeLorean from Back To The Future. I was
fascinated. When it was finished, it was
truly a work of art.
My friend is a fantastic model builder. This is probably because he has incredible
patience and an eye for detail. These
qualities no doubt help in his job as a creator of computer animation and
effects as well as that of father. He
told me that he painted the tiny exposed cables of the DeLorean using a
pinhead. I tried to replicate his
technique, but became too frustrated to continue beyond a few minutes.
I watched him build many other models and was always in awe
of his skills. His landspeeder from
Return of the Jedi was fantastic. And
amazingly, although he has never used an airbrush, his finished are always
streak free. If only I had paid him to
build my mustang, I probably wouldn't have started this hobby.
My contribution to his development as a modeller is that I
often forced him to rebuild his models.
I knocked his Star Wars Imperial Shuttle from it's hanging space in the
ceiling not once, but twice. I can't
really go into details, but I can say it was the result of aggressive air
guitar to Led Zepplin's Whole Lotta Love, or air drumming to the same group's
When the Levee Breaks. Teenage
exuberance is a remarkable thing.
It would be several years until I started building models
myself but I never forgot his work, and sought out his advice. He gave me lots of useful advice, but he was
most insistent on two points. Never hang
my models from the ceiling and never put a stereo in the hobby room.
