Many years ago, when
I was six years old, my grandfather talked me into building some models. I
call him "POP." You know him as Rodney Williams, who has several
models on ARC.
I was around 6 years
old when I built my first model, which was "Batman." I don't
recall the scale, nor the kit mfg; but my Batman is 12" tall. I was
too young to use pop's knives, so my pop did the cutting. He showed me how
to use the sandpaper with some water, so I can rid the model of any flashing,
etc. I used his super glue to put the parts together. Pop set up his
paint sprayer, then showed me how to use the airbrush. I got a lot of
paint everywhere. I hand painted the face and eyes, then used some gold
paint for Batman's "bat logo," belt, and arm spikes.
Pop made a base for Batman, using some sheet styrene. I painted the base
with some white glue, then dumped on a whole bunch of fake green plastic grass.
After the glue dried, I turned the base on its' side and brushed off the excess
grass. I attached the cape on Batman's back with super glue, and I
attached him to the base with super glue. That's it, he's done, a neat
little model.
My next model was my
little "Cobra" car, which I built right "out of the box" as
you guys call it. Again, I do not remember who made the car, nor what
scale it is, The car is about 5" long. I used my pop's Tamiya
paints, and the kit decals. I won a few awards with the car at local
contest, and an award on it at the 1998 IPMS/USA contest held here in Santa
Clara, California.
Here are my two
"DINO'S" as I call them. I forgot what their official name is,
including the scale and the manufacture. They measure about 8" long,
and stand about 5" high. Pop did all the knife cutting, and I did the
rest. My "dino's went together really neat, and I don't recall having
any fit problems.
I airbrushed on the pink color in
the mouth, then hand brushed on the white for the teeth. I hand painted
the eyes, then cut some decal film for the pupils. The outside painting
was the fun part, WOW!! I know that no two animals that live today have
the exact same markings, (EG: Zebras, Cheetahs). I airbrushed on the light
color first, using the medium needle on the Badger 200. I used the fine
needle to spray on the darker color. It was back and forth from the dark
color to the lighter color a few times to refine the pattern. The kit came
with a plastic base. I brushed on some white glue, then sprinkled on some
sand. It turned out to my liking, then I added some fake plants from pop's
spare parts box.
I hit the jackpot with this model
at the 1998 Nationals winning a first place in my "Junior" category,
then receiving a special award from the Testors Corporation. Here's me
with my two awards. I was 10 years old in 1998.
This is my
"WAR" model, which is made out of some type of plaste r.
All I had to do was paint it, then attach the gun, chain and sword. I
finished this model around later 1998, then somehow I lost interest in model
building.
Maybe someday I'll build again.
Happy Modeling,
Jonathan
|
|