"citizennick" (citizennick)
10/20/2015 at 16:33 • Filed to: None
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"citizennick" (citizennick)
10/20/2015 at 16:33 • Filed to: None | 8
| 16 |
I never quite knew where my car enthusiasm came from. A lot are sort of bred into it because their father rolled around in a 1972 Chevelle, or maybe ran his own shop. I didn’t have either of those. My father rolled around in a Pinto at a young age.
No, it was model car kits. I remember at a young age going to the local grocery store and making a beeline to their hobby department downstairs. There I would look at a row of little 1:25 scale kit cars, processing in my 12-year mind which one my tuner fingers could modify.
Yeah, I never built these cars to spec. I had a junkyard of older kit cars I would use as parts for my new ones. This 1993 Mustang Cobra was not going to stay stock for long.
I took the interior and roll cage out of one of my NASCAR model kits and fitted it inside the Mustang’s cabin. Safety is key for this beast, especially when...
...you hand carve a nitrous bottle giving this car all the horsepowers. But how in the world is this car even going to stay straight with my masterful 500 shot?
Fitting on some fat tires and wheels that came off my junker Lamborghini Diablo of course. The car obviously handled well, as you can see it was a regular at Time Trial events. Did I even know what TT meant when I was 12? Probably not.
Oh, and don’t worry, I eventually converted my junk yard cars into demolition derby beasts. Though, if I did this car today at the age of 31 I probably would have chose something different on the side.
Wilsonic
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 16:45 |
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Are you aware of a little blog called Live and Let Diecast? You would probably like it there.
http://liveandletdiecast.kinja.com/
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citizennick
> Wilsonic
10/20/2015 at 16:47 |
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I'll check it out. The reason I went into the basement to look at the old model cars because of my recent interest in doing them again.
Takuro Spirit
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 16:52 |
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I wish I had kept pictures or the actual kits that I call had as a kid/adult. So much kit bashing was done, older cars built stock, modified, broken down as parts donaters to newer kits....
All started when my mom took me to my dad’s for the weekend (divorced when I was 4) and I noticed he had a small collection of these little boxes with cars on and IN them.
Trying to placate me, I guess, she bought me my first kit when I was 5 or 6.... It was this:
Not exactly a great choice at a young age (have you heard of Snap-Tite, mom?) especially with the paint/glue(sniiiffff)/hobby knife combo. Took me but a day or two to lop off the top of my thumb while trimming the hood scoop for that massive blower. Yes, I remember it vividly.
I blame that style of kit though, for my tendency to blow apart the completed cars every once and awhile to build something new, or to add to an existing kit.
My favorite was the ZR1 powered ‘60 Chevy truck. Full drivetrain and suspension swap, bright red paint job, Chrome ZR1 wheels, seats out of some show car kit I had, custom built center console...
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citizennick
> Takuro Spirit
10/20/2015 at 16:54 |
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Ahhh snap-tite, the perfect kit for when we were young! I came acrossed one while in my parents basement looking at my old kits. At a young age I thought my models were done very well, and after just looking at them I was not impressed at my shoddy job.
Nick
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 17:01 |
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I was the same way. my parents both drove Chevy Astro vans, so it certainly didn’t come from them driving cool cars.
I built models of everything though. battleships, airplanes, cars, you name it. the kits were about $10 at the local drugstore, i could usualy convince my parents to get me one every couple of trips.
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citizennick
> Nick
10/20/2015 at 17:04 |
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Hah, you would think parents love model kits. It keeps their children occupied and quiet for long periods of time!
vicali
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 17:05 |
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I started with a Revell kit or two when I was a kid.. haha, I remember the first one I got was a C4 Corvette - I thought I’d get a head start by clipping all the parts off the sprue.. had to finish that one with a few discrete sheet metal screws..
Then came HobbyLinkJapan in College -and the credit card companies rejoiced..
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Nick
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 17:05 |
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i can still smell the little bottles of paint and glue. i had a folding table that was dedicated to building models. that way if anything spilled, no biggie.
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Takuro Spirit
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 17:06 |
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I have a few kits still I stashed away, and a tool box full of paint and brushes and sandpaper and glue... just no ambition or time to do anything with them.
One is a Mustang fastback that was actually modeled after my friend’s (and former landlord) ‘68 390 Mustang. He told me how they took his car and laser scanned it. He even got a little thank you letter from Revell.
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citizennick
> vicali
10/20/2015 at 17:09 |
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Hah! I would use the long pieces of the spruce to make roll cages. Used a little piece as the nozzle on my nitrous system.
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citizennick
> Takuro Spirit
10/20/2015 at 17:11 |
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I really want to get a 60-70’s 1:12 Formula One model. Those look so badass but so difficult at the same time, but would be an amazing thing to have in my man cave.
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Takuro Spirit
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 17:18 |
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I was given a Testarossa kit that was half finished and missing a ton of parts that was about that scale. Also had a ‘87(?) Trans Am GTA kit that size. Pretty bad assed. The midlife crisis in me wants to find them again.
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citizennick
> Takuro Spirit
10/20/2015 at 17:21 |
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Yeah, I'm on eBay right now, lol.
Fairlame
> citizennick
10/20/2015 at 23:19 |
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My dad used to own a fairlane and bought me a model kit when i was a kid and over 10 years later i still have it in the box displayed in my garage beside my own fairlane i feel like i should now actually put it together.
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citizennick
> Fairlame
10/21/2015 at 01:24 |
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That gives me an idea. I’d like to build a model kit for every car that I've own.
Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
> citizennick
10/21/2015 at 10:50 |
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I just added you as author on 1:25 to life . I have so far been the only contributor in a while but I created it specifically for posts like this.