# Models From Your Past??



## eradicator178 (Sep 3, 2008)

Just out of curiosity do you ever look at a model that you built 10 years ago and say man I could do much better on that now. With that realization do you

a. Strip it and rebuild it.

b. Think about doing it but never get around to it, or

c. Just leave it alone as a reminder of how much better you have gotten over the years.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Actually, I look at some older models and realize I've gotten lazier and sloppier!


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

I leave it as a reminder - once I finish a kit I move on with something else.


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

Unless an old model I want to build is impossible to find I won't rebuild an old kit I did back in the day. Old kits are a complete nostalgia trip and remind me of the builder I was then.

Did this X-wing back in the 80's and came across it a few years ago. Its far from perfect but I remember how much I loved building and weathering it with tips from "Famous ships of facts and fiction". The decals are peeling from age which gives it a even more weathered look. Besides giving it another clear coat to stop decal loss I would not touch it. If I wanted an X-wing 'fix' I'd build a new one. 

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showfull.php?photo=41896

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showfull.php?photo=41895

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showfull.php?photo=41893


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

Leave it alone and move on.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

eradicator178 said:


> Just out of curiosity do you ever look at a model that you built 10 years ago and say man I could do much better on that now. With that realization do you
> 
> a. Strip it and rebuild it.
> 
> ...


Once in a while, I might do (a). (b) is more likely. . On the other hand, there are times I look at some of my old work and think that I did a pretty good job on it and there's nothing - or very little - I would change...


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

You forgot an option.

d. Get another one and do a new build.

That way you can keep the old one for nostalgia, and do a new and improved one with all the skills you have acquired since then.


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

TAY666 said:


> d. Get another one and do a new build.
> 
> That way you can keep the old one for nostalgia, and do a new and improved one with all the skills you have acquired since then.


True 'dat!
I have a number of models, from when I first got back into building/painting again, that I wouldn't mind doing another version of….The Witch comes to mind.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Ten years ago is nothing...

I have a couple of kits I built 40 years ago. Mostly those are/were broken up or not worth fixing. There aren't too many vintage kits that you really can't get fairly easily any more.

One of my oldest though that I did refurbish was my Aurora Hunchback kit. He survived in reasonable condition over the decades and, although a couple parts had broken off, the only real work to be done on him was stripping off the old paint. He had been painted two or three times but some Purple Power took all of that off in 24 hours. A couple of the rope rings were broken and unsalvageable, so new ones were made from Evergreen plastic rod. The figure really only had to be partially disassembled for clean up. 

My new paint job, done with Vallejo paints, uses aspects of my original childhood color schemes and the kit box art. I still have the box for this kit too !


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## wjplenge (Apr 14, 2011)

I don't tend to keep my build ups, I enjoy the building once it's done I lose interest. That being said when I get struck with one of those "woulda, coulda, shoulda" inspirations that I just gotta try I wait for a reissue or hit the swap board here, LHS, evil bay or amazon to get another one to build. My arch nemesis, the Enterprise refit. I have had the 1:350 kit in the closet of the unbuilts awaiting the courage to tackle it, I've never been happy with my smaller builds of the ship.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Dr. Brad said:


> Once in a while, I might do (a). (b) is more likely.





BobbysMonsterModels said:


> Leave it alone and move on.





TAY666 said:


> ...Get another one and do a new build.


All of these gentlemen's answers have fit my thinking at one time or another. Sometimes it's the model, sometimes it's a circumstance, sometimes it's a whim.

An example of both models and circumstances would be when I was working on my "Aurora Presents the Universal Monsters" collection. I had to refurbish a built up Creature from the Black Lagoon I found at a toy show and my own Frightening Lightning edition of Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde. The models hadn't been reissued back then and rebuilding them was the only economically feasible option, given what dealers were charging for vintage boxed kits.

On the other hand, I have a tote filled with old buildups of mine that serves more as a large spare parts box than a waiting room for rebuilding. It has more spacecraft than figures, probably because Sci-Fi vehicles tend to get reissued more than monsters. That makes it more tempting to go with the do-over. But if the anniversary of a TV show is coming up or a special award at a model contest is being offered for a subject I have in there, I might pull a model out and redo it.


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

Pretty much "B" because I realize what I once thought was a top notch near professional build is really a piece of crap!!! I then look at more recent builds and have to admit that I haven't improved much so why bother!!!


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## Night-Owl (Mar 17, 2000)

A bit of A & C mostly. If I was happy with the paint job at the time I built the kit I'll leave it as is even if I've improved since then, unless the kit needs repair work that the paint job won't survive. A badly warped Horizon CFTBL is on that list. If I didn't like the the paint job at the time it's likely I'll strip it down at some point especially if the kit is no longer easy to find.


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## Desert_Modeler (Jun 2, 2010)

I've gone back and redid kits..

The farthest back was my very FIRST kit. 1963 - Monogram's TWA Constellation ( box scale). It was reissued a few years back..

Looking at the kit, all the raised rivets would be 6 in tall if in scale.. so I sanded them all off...
When done, I'll present it as "The Glory Days of Passenger Travel," i.e. no lines, 1st class service, cute stewardesses, actual in-flight meals that were not rubberized chicked and NO TSA 


The other "re-do" was also a childhood memory.

Revell put out a kit of a Navy A-1 Skyraider. Copyright on the instructions said "1959."

This kit had the works: folding wings; movable control surfaces and flaps; sliding canopy; retracting landing gear operated by sliding the ventral bomb rack; and operating 3 panel dive brakes controlled from the elevators...

Lots of fun stuff. Built it originally in 1971. Loved playing with it.. until my dopey cousin smothered it in glue..... I was heartbroken ( as was his nose..) 
Never thought I'd see it again... 

Found it a few years ago in a dusty old hobby store specializing in out of print kits.....
I've got everything working again... the decals were shot... so I think I'll do it up as an USAF "Sandy" CAS plane.....


what memories!!!!


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## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

I have been building car models since 1962.
and the few I still have are as "Was"

but in 69 I bought a real 65 Impala SS 409 car..
and built a model to match it.
in 70 I killed the 409 and installed a 396.
in 72 the car was stolen.. never recovered.
in 75 I build a model to look like my 65 as I had changed the real car.

in 2000 I build another one with all changes I did to the real one including suspension mods and correct wheel changes. made headers and exhaust like I had on real car.

all are next to each other .. in a glass case. and its "OFF LIMITS" to everyone.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

TAY666 said:


> You forgot an option.
> 
> d. Get another one and do a new build.
> 
> That way you can keep the old one for nostalgia, and do a new and improved one with all the skills you have acquired since then.


I've done a. only a few times, since Trevor's d. option is what I like doing when I can find the kit again reasonably priced, though I've also just touched up and improved (hopefully) a lot of kits without stripping them and starting again.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Spockr said:


> Unless an old model I want to build is impossible to find I won't rebuild an old kit I did back in the day. Old kits are a complete nostalgia trip and remind me of the builder I was then...


This sums it up for me pretty well. I can think of one model that I built in the 70s that I'd like to refurbish, but that's only because it was only released once and it's almost impossible to find these days. Otherwise, except for one or two kits that I had way-back-when that have also never been reissued, I've been able to obtain a new/newer kit that I can build again with the meager skills that I hope have improved since then.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Nowdays I buy 2 or 3 of a new kit too... one for now, one for later and one for later later


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

chuck_thehammer said:


> I have been building car models since 1962.
> and the few I still have are as "Was"
> 
> but in 69 I bought a real 65 Impala SS 409 car..
> ...


I have a VW Karmann Ghia kit the same year as my first car for that purpose!
I need to hand craft things like the header exhaust, custom dashboard and wheels, but I want it to match my first ride inside and out...


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

eradicator178 said:


> Just out of curiosity do you ever look at a model that you built 10 years ago and say man I could do much better on that now.


I certainly hope so!

Carl-


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## eradicator178 (Sep 3, 2008)

John P said:


> Actually, I look at some older models and realize I've gotten lazier and sloppier!


John you really do need a vacation!!!!


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## markcan (Jan 28, 2013)

I've thought of leaving the old model as it is and building a new one to display beside it, just to show how my skills have improved. I'll probably do that with an old Bandit rocket I have.


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