What are your favorite builds?

[tgabreu]

Since there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity here lately, I thought this might be a good time to ask this question.
If you're like me, you have a mental picture of what you want a model to come out like, but it doesn't always work out that way. Sure, there are the guys out there who tweak every part until it perfectly resembles it's 1/1 counterpart- they're not who I'm talking to. I'm a casual builder, I have no desire to enter contests, I just like to build models for relaxation and to have something to look at on the shelf. That being said, here are a few of the models I've built over the past 30 years that I looked at after and said "That's the look I was going for!".
There's nothing special about them, they just came out "right".

Up first, though originally tooled in the very early 60's, I built these in th past couple years - it's AMT's iconic 25 Model T double kit:

First as a hot rod



Then stock



Next, is a 63 Olds from JoHan, that I built about 25 years ago:



This is another near 30 year old build, Monogram's Hemi Cuda:





Finally, a 32 Ford tudor from Revell, I built this one a year or two ago:



As an aside, these kits represent about 50 years of model history, being bookended by the 25 and 32 Fords

Tom

[monaro]

Some nice builds there the T is one of my faves. I will have to finish mine.
I am not a bike man but yours looks great.

[harron6]

Tho I no longer have the passion for building, many kits seemed to go to completion pretty well for me. My faves from the early days were ones like the AMT '25 T double kit and the ones like the AMT double Dragster kit (rail and Fiat altered). Add superior Revell kits of the era like the Tony Nancy duo and the Revell Model A (Woody or Tudor sedan and they were and still are GREAT. I could go on about the line of then IMC Ford GTs and '46-48 Ford and Jags of the era (Revell?) and Aurora sports cars and many from later. Thanx for the idea and I'm sure glad some of these kits are still around generations later!

[BUCKY]

Oh boy....what a question! Got me to thinkin'! It seems here in the last few years, every build is my favorite build....until I finish the next build!!! One of my all-time favorites would have to be a Monogram '69 SuperBee I built for a friend of mine to replicate his 1:1 version, a VERY potent 383, automatic, red with black top and interior. I was moderately pleased with the way it turned out. I have other favorites, and as soon as I get my photo host straightened out, I'll put some pics up.

[Deleted]

Boy, that is a tough question.. WOW.....

I have to say that the following picture HAS TO BE my "FAVORITE" model, I EVER built!



Sure, its OLD. this pic? HAD to be taken prior to 1990 -The BIG Orange & Black Dodge Truck (Monster truck built from a Little Red Express truck) is my all time FAVORITE build! I plan to do that again, HOWEVER, that truck in the picture, was lost due to a house fire. I'm trying to get the parts to build it exactly how you see it, Only again, with a bit more added details (It only had plug wires in it way back when!) -Even back then? Turned out just as I had planned it too....

Then followed by:









This truck? Was built for a contest in '93 to '95 (it took that long too!) It has over 5,200 parts in it, YES 5 THOUSAND 2 hundred parts! (I entered it in a contest for 18 wheelers in Los Vegas, Nevada back in '99..... EVERY part HAD to be accounted for in that contest! I won! $1,500 for first place, and took Best of Show.... I then, was a truck driver, and had my Western Star outside in a REAL "Truck Show".... The guy who taught me to drive, talked me into not only entering my real truck, but entering a model (I've been good at it for a long time!)

This model too, was lost in a fire, and I'll probably NEVER replace it. (Altho, I'm not sure I would replace it....)

Then followed by:







This one? I found at a yard sale in '88 or '89..... Was a glue bomb, and I mean a REAL piece of junk when I got it. BUT, there was a trick to it. if you look? Its NOT a '69 Dodge Charger R/T!!!!! The back window indicates that it WAS a '69 Dodge Charger 500..... (Flush mounted rear window) AND the box? original MPC offering to promote "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV Series, manufactured by MPC for Warner Bros. Its also stamped in the frame and the bottom of the interior "tub" I paid 50 cents for it as-is (then) and took a year to virtually restore it to what you see here! This model, when my Wife & I first got together in '04, her son seen it and loved the thing, and I told him you hold it in your lap on the drive home, and keep it in your room, he was all of 8 years old then) and now? He's 22.... I've got the model back, in the collection and is thee only one to survive that house fire!!!! -Pushing 30 years later! Its been on that black base you see since it was completed, I've done absolutely nothing to it in that time either.....

Those are my "old" favorites..... NOW a NEW "recent" one....



This one isn't a model... YET (But, you'll see in a bit) But, FIRST, a little explanation is needed! This picture? Was the inspiration for what your about to see! It said when I first seen that picture "Even Santa LOVES a Hemi"..... That had me at "Loves" seeing the picture! LOL







A funny sense of humor seen here!!!! LOL



Now a little reasoning on this crazy build..... a Friend of mine talked me into building this part of another forum (thats fallen apart recently) and told me I could do it... WELL, yeah, maybe.... So in 2014 from November 1st till November 30th 2014, I built this model. its NOT a "kit" I completely scratchbuilt that Sleigh! There are very FEW parts that I used from an actual "kit".... The seat, the tank in the front, and the exhaust "Zoomie" headers, & windshield frame..... Everything else? I literally made! EVEN the engines! The blower "Hats"? Were Ear Rings!!!! The white frame? is built one stick at a time! (I made a jig, so I could make 2 of them, identical..... The Transmission is from a Tank model that I molded some time ago and no longer make, that part in this model was my master copy! AND to add to this? There ARE several different "scales" involved all in-one-build! 1/25th (standard), 1/24th, 1.35th, and 1/18th..... The body of the sleigh? 100% scratchbuild AROUND the seat!

It turned out EXACTLY how I planed from the very beginning! -Even tho there were a few parts that were sort of hairy incidents to make them even possible (I did A LOT of head scratching building this one!) AND I'm cookin' up another, but not a sleigh! 

[Gothic]

LMBO, they have to bee finished??? hahahahahaha, ummmmm, I would have to say every kit I ever touched, tho most are on the shelves, lack of $$$$$$$ to get the stuff I need to finish them, I dunno why I never posted them here yet, prolly because it would drive ALLL of ya  CRAZY, to see so many kustomz going at once, only to stall, yea I kno NO excuses,

[JCON]

Santa's sleigh was a nice surprise!!!

[JED]

Jan 19, 2014 7:20:39 GMT -6 tgabreu said:

Since there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity here lately, I thought this might be a good time to ask this question.
If you're like me, you have a mental picture of what you want a model to come out like, but it doesn't always work out that way. Sure, there are the guys out there who tweak every part until it perfectly resembles it's 1/1 counterpart- they're not who I'm talking to. I'm a casual builder, I have no desire to enter contests, I just like to build models for relaxation and to have something to look at on the shelf. That being said, here are a few of the models I've built over the past 30 years that I looked at after and said "That's the look I was going for!".
There's nothing special about them, they just came out "right".

Up first, though originally tooled in the very early 60's, I built these in th past couple years - it's AMT's iconic 25 Model T double kit:

First as a hot rod



Then stock



Next, is a 63 Olds from JoHan, that I built about 25 years ago:



This is another near 30 year old build, Monogram's Hemi Cuda:





Finally, a 32 Ford tudor from Revell, I built this one a year or two ago:



As an aside, these kits represent about 50 years of model history, being bookended by the 25 and 32 Fords

Tom

For me they are all quality,but the Cuda and T Hot rod do it for me 👍👍 

[JED]

Nov 11, 2016 15:33:10 GMT -6 @hemi said:

Boy, that is a tough question.. WOW.....

I have to say that the following picture HAS TO BE my "FAVORITE" model, I EVER built!



Sure, its OLD. this pic? HAD to be taken prior to 1990 -The BIG Orange & Black Dodge Truck (Monster truck built from a Little Red Express truck) is my all time FAVORITE build! I plan to do that again, HOWEVER, that truck in the picture, was lost due to a house fire. I'm trying to get the parts to build it exactly how you see it, Only again, with a bit more added details (It only had plug wires in it way back when!) -Even back then? Turned out just as I had planned it too....

Then followed by:









This truck? Was built for a contest in '93 to '95 (it took that long too!) It has over 5,200 parts in it, YES 5 THOUSAND 2 hundred parts! (I entered it in a contest for 18 wheelers in Los Vegas, Nevada back in '99..... EVERY part HAD to be accounted for in that contest! I won! $1,500 for first place, and took Best of Show.... I then, was a truck driver, and had my Western Star outside in a REAL "Truck Show".... The guy who taught me to drive, talked me into not only entering my real truck, but entering a model (I've been good at it for a long time!)

This model too, was lost in a fire, and I'll probably NEVER replace it. (Altho, I'm not sure I would replace it....)

Then followed by:







This one? I found at a yard sale in '88 or '89..... Was a glue bomb, and I mean a REAL piece of junk when I got it. BUT, there was a trick to it. if you look? Its NOT a '69 Dodge Charger R/T!!!!! The back window indicates that it WAS a '69 Dodge Charger 500..... (Flush mounted rear window) AND the box? original MPC offering to promote "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV Series, manufactured by MPC for Warner Bros. Its also stamped in the frame and the bottom of the interior "tub" I paid 50 cents for it as-is (then) and took a year to virtually restore it to what you see here! This model, when my Wife & I first got together in '04, her son seen it and loved the thing, and I told him you hold it in your lap on the drive home, and keep it in your room, he was all of 8 years old then) and now? He's 22.... I've got the model back, in the collection and is thee only one to survive that house fire!!!! -Pushing 30 years later! Its been on that black base you see since it was completed, I've done absolutely nothing to it in that time either.....

Those are my "old" favorites..... NOW a NEW "recent" one....



This one isn't a model... YET (But, you'll see in a bit) But, FIRST, a little explanation is needed! This picture? Was the inspiration for what your about to see! It said when I first seen that picture "Even Santa LOVES a Hemi"..... That had me at "Loves" seeing the picture! LOL







A funny sense of humor seen here!!!! LOL



Now a little reasoning on this crazy build..... a Friend of mine talked me into building this part of another forum (thats fallen apart recently) and told me I could do it... WELL, yeah, maybe.... So in 2014 from November 1st till November 30th 2014, I built this model. its NOT a "kit" I completely scratchbuilt that Sleigh! There are very FEW parts that I used from an actual "kit".... The seat, the tank in the front, and the exhaust "Zoomie" headers, & windshield frame..... Everything else? I literally made! EVEN the engines! The blower "Hats"? Were Ear Rings!!!! The white frame? is built one stick at a time! (I made a jig, so I could make 2 of them, identical..... The Transmission is from a Tank model that I molded some time ago and no longer make, that part in this model was my master copy! AND to add to this? There ARE several different "scales" involved all in-one-build! 1/25th (standard), 1/24th, 1.35th, and 1/18th..... The body of the sleigh? 100% scratchbuild AROUND the seat!

It turned out EXACTLY how I planed from the very beginning! -Even tho there were a few parts that were sort of hairy incidents to make them even possible (I did A LOT of head scratching building this one!) AND I'm cookin' up another, but not a sleigh! 

General Lee is cool, but that rig is awesome 

[Dukemaddog]

 Some awesome work there guys. That Santa sleigh is a stroke of genius!

Now for something completely different to represent those of us who also build military.


Here are some of my favorite builds. I'll start with my Magnum Opus:

This is my Hobby Boss 1/72 scale 80cm Schwere Kanone "Dora" rail gun. This took me a year and nine months to build and was the only model to frighten me every time I opened the box to work on it. It measures 42" from end to end and when the barrel is raised all the way it is almost three feet high:



The troops and the bus next to it are the same scale and show the relative size of this monster in real life.

Another fun picture is this huge rail gun next to Atomic Annie that I took for fun:





In aircraft, my favorite was a B-2 Stealth Bomber that I had built some time back; soon after I'd watched it fly over the Rose parade route for the first time. This was also in 1/72 scale:



This one was stolen in 2008 along with three of my other models from a USAF ROTC display case at UCLA that was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the USAF. Everything was lost when they broke that display case and stole everything inside. Time to build a replacement.

My current favorite aircraft is this one, also in 1/72 scale:



This one is partly because of how well that metallic finish turned out, and partly because of the memory I had building this.


In ships, I have one I built for my mother-in-law who was Chinese. I built this is a gift to her:



She loved it. Her sons, my wife's brothers; still have this on display at the house. The one ship that is my most favorite that I still have is this one: the 1/500 scale USS John C Stennis that I completed a few years back:






In Sci-Fi and real space, it is hard to decide which is my favorite model. Two of them are pretty well tied for first.

This one for Real Space: my 5-ft, 2-inch tall 1/72 scale Saturn V rocket:



For Sci-Fi, I'd have to say this Babylon 5 space station since it is from one of my favorite Sci-Fi shows:





I only have the one "figure" so it has to be my favorite. I am quite pleased with this one:



That's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" figure that I did. It isn't that shiny in real life; the light was off that day.


And finally, I do build cars occasionally too. This is probably my favorite one out of all the cars I built. It is not a car, but it is a most impressive model that I'd always wanted since I was a kid. This is the old AMT 1/12th scale 1911 Christie Fire Truck:




Okay, those are my favorites, let's see all yours guys.....

[JCON]

Fantastic builds Mark!!! Beautiful and diverse...

[BUCKY]

WOW, Mark!!! It's hard for me to pick my favorite out of your lot! The rail gun is most impressive! Can you imagine that in 1/25 scale??? I really like the Chinese ship, too! And the Christie looks awesome!!

[Dukemaddog]

Thanks Joe.

Thanks Bucky. The rail gun in 1/25th scale would probably exceed ten feet. The 1/35th scale one exceeds six feet by a couple inches. I had seen somewhere online where a guy in England had scratch-built one of these in 1/6 scale. He kept it in his garage and would roll it out on rails in his driveway from time to time. Some time back I had the Christie Fire Truck on display at a local library as part of an exhibit our model club put on. The local paper shot a picture of it and one guy came down thinking it was a full-sized one. He was blown away when he saw it was only a small model. Mom-in-law loved the ship too. She told how as a kid, she used to travel on that same type of ship every weekend to Shanghai for market day to sell their wares. I asked her how she enjoyed the trip. She replied that she hated every one: she got seasick each time. LOL! That didn't stop her from staring at that ship every day for hours after that.

[JCON]

Ultimate complement when they keep staring at your work!!!

[BUCKY]

That's the best, Mark!!!

[Deleted]

I think the latest kit I finish is always the latest fav that is until the next one!

[BUCKY]

That's a fantastic answer, Pete!! That always leaves room for improvement, too!

[JCON]

I don't know sometimes there is that dud in the middle where you wonder what the heck happened...

[BUCKY]

Around here, it's the middle, and both ends!!

[JCON]

This should help you with that Bucky...