What are you working on right now?

[Littlemarten]

Does anyone remember paying a dollar or two for a really nice kit you couldn't wait to get home

I remember that in the 50s and early 60s.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

After growing up with Revell and those early car kits?? I'm constantly AMAZED at the incredible level of detail and tight tolerances of today's models.

 

[Jakko]

Why not save up another week or two until you can buy an $80 kit that will take you months to build not just days.

Good point, IMHO. But a lot of people (not just in modelling*) don't look at money over time, only at price right now, and like you say, then think that they're better off because they're not buying something expensive.

I've seen similar behaviour when it comes to modelling tools: people using tools that really weren't adequate for the job (worst example was someone using a small kitchen knife and nail clippers to build Warhammer figures) but refusing to spend money on good tools for … who knows why? My suggestion then is buy better tools instead of another model that you won't build any time soon.

Does anyone remember paying a dollar or two for a really nice kit you couldn't wait to get home

When I started modelling in the early/mid-1980s, I bought Matchbox kits from my pocket money, that usually cost 4.95 guilders for a 1:72 plane or a 1:76 tank, or (IIRC) 8.95 for the larger planes or vehicle kits in those scales. In US dollars of the time, that would be something like $1.50 and $2.75, says some quick research. (In modern money, without inflation correction, those prices are about €2.25 and €4; with correction it's more like €5.50 and €9.75.)

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* I have an iPad Pro. My last iPad was also a Pro, even though they cost two or three times what a non-Pro iPad costs. But because of their higher specs, they last me two or three times as long as a regular iPad would, which to me is a net gain: I have a high-end machine when it's new, and even by the time it no longer gets OS updates, it's still powerful enough to be a capable of running new software.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Good point, IMHO. But a lot of people (not just in modelling*) don't look at money over time, only at price right now, and like you say, then think that they're better off because they're not buying something expensive.

I've seen similar behaviour when it comes to modelling tools: people using tools that really weren't adequate for the job (worst example was someone using a small kitchen knife and nail clippers to build Warhammer figures) but refusing to spend money on good tools for … who knows why? My suggestion then is buy better tools instead of another model that you won't build any time soon.


When I started modelling in the early/mid-1980s, I bought Matchbox kits from my pocket money, that usually cost 4.95 guilders for a 1:72 plane or a 1:76 tank, or (IIRC) 8.95 for the larger planes or vehicle kits in those scales. In US dollars of the time, that would be something like $1.50 and $2.75, says some quick research. (In modern money, without inflation correction, those prices are about €2.25 and €4; with correction it's more like €5.50 and €9.75.)

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* I have an iPad Pro. My last iPad was also a Pro, even though they cost two or three times what a non-Pro iPad costs. But because of their higher specs, they last me two or three times as long as a regular iPad would, which to me is a net gain: I have a high-end machine when it's new, and even by the time it no longer gets OS updates, it's still powerful enough to be a capable of running new software.

I hear you. At this specific point in time? I can't seem to buy enough tools. And brass. This morning I went to Ace Hardware and bought about eight packs of rods and tubes

 

[BarleyBop]

rods and tubes

Haha, if styrene is considered an addiction, brass is the hard stuff!
Just wait until you fabricate your first MG post and pintle! I giggled just looking at it!

 

[Littlemarten]

Haha, if styrene is considered an addiction, brass is the hard stuff!

If you want to get really good with PE, try a few Metal Earth™ or similar kits.