I never mastered painting them. The most advanced I got was rattle-can style spray paints — maybe masking a bit for a camouflage or what-have-you. Only when I got older and got back into plastic model building did I make the leap to air-brushing and really finishing models correctly.
So many YouTubers (Aztec Dummy comes to mind) have since showed me that assembling the model is more or less nothing. Painting, lighting the model is everything.
I can't complain though. There was a joy putting together the models when I was young. The smell of the glue of course — the spatial reasoning it fostered... It was like sculpture to my young mind — forms, shapes in three-dimensions. I grew to love the lines of certain cars, planes, spacecraft…
I think too it fueled a kind of designer mindset in me. I would soon draw cars, spaceships, etc. of my own design.
What a great hobby.
I'm saddened that it kind of seems like another hobby, like R/C planes or model rocketry, that has fallen by the wayside. I mean I feel like most boys when I was growing up had a model or two hanging from their bedroom ceiling. Right?
There is always consternation amongst modelers about where the next generation will come from, but the Gundam/Gunpla scene is supposedly very large in Japan and growing in the West.
Adult-me recently took to designing a kit for a NASA "Space Tug" that never existed (only proposed "artist's renderings" from the 1970;s) [1]. It is so esoteric that no one made a kit for it — I had to learn to use Blender, ha ha.
I just wish more kids were into modeling.
[1] free to download: https://github.com/EngineersNeedArt/Space-Tug_3DModel
People are often too judgmental these days, and youth must make their own decisions about the world they want to live in.
If you know the history of how JPL started, than you can probably guess it is the "odd" ones that tend to change science for the better. =3
I'd argue that if someone wants to get started with building models, Gundam is the way to go. Painting optional, no glue needed, etc. Plus, giant robots are cool.
It was really hard to paint with these old oil based paints if you are as old as me or older. I struggled with that too. The water based one sold by e.g. Games Workshop I bought years later was way easier to work with.
Then you discover washes and other techniques and it goes on 8)
I still have a scar in the side of my thumb where I stuck an Xacto blade into it, 45 years ago.
I tried to put together a helicopter (probably an Apache) a few years ago, and got a couple of those classic Testor paint bottles to help finish it.
I had to put it all away. The fumes from the paint, my reaction to it was nothing like I remembered. I had no issues with them as a boy. But, today, yea they were making me loopy. I’m surprised the AQMD in California still allows these.
I’d like to try again with some modern acrylic, but the only place in my orbit is a Michaels, and they really don’t cater much to plastic kits. So opportunity has bumbled my way yet.
The other trick is to keep it me and not be intimidated by the YouTube experts. Easier said than done.
I got really good at weathering them using the watered down paint cleaner/thinner that runs into the folds and produced tiny cracks in the paint and then drybrushing lighter colors over areas.
I know I got it right because a shop in England selling those Tamiya models would give me a few of the kits for one painted and showcased them. good times
My theory is that we adults feel bad when we know we are going to feel bad soon. Be it cold or thinner fumes. But children don't feel cold before they are cold.
I often ponder if it was the main reason the 3D printing hobby gained popularity.
People that add more fun to the world are always needed in manufacturing. =3
Maybe there's just more hobbies available these days so fewer folks end up building the models.
I'd contact your local RC club and they'll help you get into it.
Anyway, my point is that if I didn't live just around the corner, I would never have known it existed. I'd imagine there are similar setups around the country. You do need quite a big space and a runway is presumably helpful, so it probably makes sense for them to be collectively run.
You will need insurance and CAA flyer/operator IDs. This can be arranged through club, or directly via the BMFA above.
Some of the clubs can be rather .... err ... clubby - older members whose hobby has become running the club the way see fit, vs. flying planes.
There are also some model rocketry clubs. However model rocketry is a relatively small scene in the UK, compared to RC planes.
I think physical hobbies like modelling find it hard to compete with the instant gratification of online dopamine fixes. However RC planes and model rocketry are still a thing. If you know any school age kids interested in engineering or rocketry and they are in the UK, point them at:
The US, France and Japan have equivalent competitions.
The biggest advancements I've seen are around batteries and electronics (LiPo and cheaper/better radios that don't need a crystal), more access to parts (3D printing and cheap overseas CNC'd stuff), and some minor improvement in other accessories/electronics.
POV cameras seem to be much more popular in R/C aircraft - but the drifters and crawlers really seem to be embracing it.
Many of the brands still exist but a lot of them have been bought-up and are now competing with no-name bottom of the market stuff.
Kids still seem interested but I've noticed a big resurgence in adults that can afford to buy the stuff they couldn't get when they were younger. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough - but there's not a ton of open-source support controlling R/C vehicles or "vehicle platforms" that you can hack and build yourself. I think a lot of people want a reliable chassis and parts so they can focus on customizing the body/appearance.
When I was a kid I was quite interested and I could have reeled off the manufacturer names easily (um... Airfix, Revell, Heller, Frog, Tamiya, I want to say Haya-something-or-other, others). I will still look at the displays in hobby stores on occasion and many of them survive, so they've been doing this for 50+ years at this point.
I have no particular point, I just find it cool. I wonder if there are rock-star like artisan mold makers known to everyone in the industry. "Ah, this 1-50 scale Messerschmidt BF-109 vertical stabiliser is unmistakably the work of Pierre McFloogle ... chef's kiss!"
Hasegawa?
With railway models, there's a selection bias because people tend to model a coherent scene. If you've decided to model Quebec in 1952, you probably can't find a way to fit in a British Rail class 66. But most other model hobbies don't have that restraint going on.
I don’t know anything about Japanese tax law but if an American did this I’d assume they were just trying to get a sweet tax deduction on a new Porsche. “Oh sure, that was 100% a business expense”.
RIP Mr. Tamiya
I remember attaching three battery packs (instead of the standard one)—to make it drive at roughly 8 billion miles per hour, in the process ripping the tyres to shreds and pretty much ruining the car—because it couldn’t turn without flipping several thousand times.
Still, for those initial few seconds, it was glorious.
RIP Grasshopper and RIP Shunsaku Tamiya
[1] https://cdn.thingiverse.com/assets/8b/e7/0c/d6/a0/IMG_6201.j...
I have to often explain to customers after a certain price point (for me ~$200+ AUD) you have to turn the speed trim pot down for it to be enjoyable at all
Similar to what Gran Turismo 7 players have realised with EV “Vision” Cars - car enjoyment greatly diminishes with speed after a certain point - instead of plateauing
No-name Chinese build quality is actually a lot higher than I’d’ve anticipated though - brushed thick aluminium and even steel chassis are pretty common now
I remember the awesome picture instructions of Tamiya models. They were and are better than IKEA instructions.
I fondly remember working on a Tamiya model on my grandfather's garage workbench (around the San Jose / Los Gatos border) with the garage door up while snipping, gluing, and sanding each bit according to the meticulous instructions.
It's a shame it's not as popular -- it worries me a bit that we're so... online. I was more into Legos, but I wandered into the kids section for the first time in ages the other day at the local big box retailer and it feels like the kits are simpler now, and they're often branded to tie in with movies rather than being a generic thing like space, or pirates, or... space pirates.
Anyway RIP dude -- true hacker, had a passion and pursued it.
Tip: You can often buy random loads of Lego for cheap from Ebay or similar. Put it in a string bag and wash it in the dish washer on low heat. Good as new.
Much respect.
>July 24, 2025 at 5:39 pm
>My first Tamiya model…nothing to do with cars or aircraft. Apollo Lunar Lander with base and astronauts. Super impressive back in early 1970s. Need to find one again
My grandmother got me one of these before the first moon landing. I carefully put it together and she proudly displayed it for all her visitors.
There was always that thing that kids would do where you'd get the OK from your friend and then pick up their car to about 5cm and drop it to test the suspension. Then you'd all nod sagely as if something important had been decerned.
Silly but happy memories. RIP Mr Tamiya.
toomuchtodo•13h ago
Tamiya chairman Shunsaku Tamiya dies at 90 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44655946 - July 2025