Plastic model cars.
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I don't fully remember where I learned what bits I
know about building plastic models. Probably
reading, as it's a hobby that's solitary to me. I
once had some friends who did this too, but we
never really talked about it back then. But
anyways, I can write down some thoughts and tips I
have, and maybe gradually more as they occur to
me.
Way back, I used to race in slot car clubs. It was
fun to hang out and the racing was exciting, but I
think I enjoyed tinkering with the little cars and
painting their bodies just as much. And so after I
quit all that, I started building stationary
plastic model car kits instead.
I built this wooden box with a lid, to keep safe
all my tools and paints and scraps and bits and
stuff. It's made of thin plywood pieces and has a
small baseboard molding around the lid edges so
that it fits nicely around sides. Sanded and
stained a clear golden sort of color.
Working on model cars was a thing I could do at
home, in the few free minutes I could find here
and there. I could go as slow as I felt like. That
was important when we had the baby.
The funny thing about going slow at a thing like
this, working in bits and pieces where you can, is
that it's still not slow enough. When you work in
bits here and there, you want to do something,
even just a bit, but planning doesn't feel like a
thing. And so somethings you do things in an order
that's harder, because you're working through
disconnected little packets of time and you forget
the bigger picture. Maybe that's just me, but it's
still something that's hard.
I did a kit of an 80's chevy, and a 50s chevy, and
an austin mini. I would finish one, keep it a few
months, and then I would throw it in the
garbage. Some people keep their work forever. Not
me. I don't want a shelf of dusty stuff what's all
done. It's the process that I enjoy.
I started in on a big rig. But then we had another
baby, and I put my box away and I stopped taking
it out. For some years, I always told myself it
was because there was no time. But now I'm not so
sure about that. There's going to be 15 minutes,
some days. But you get tired, or you find other
stuff to fill that. Pulling out that box of stuff
even to paint just one little part, that's a habit
I can make. I had it once, and I can have it
again.
To me, building a plastic model car is like a
coloring book, one of those paint-by-numbers
deals. But it's not on a page, it's 3-D. It's sure
a lot less pressure to color something that's
already figured out, than to sit in front of a
blank canvas or a chunk of wood.
Not too many things in life are like: follow these
here instructions carefully and you'll get a
decent result. But building a model kit is kind of
like that. Maybe that's why I like doing it. That
kind of narrowness, it's a nice change of pace.
Miniatures have always been fascinating to me for
whatever reason. It can't be that unusual.
Dioramas. Vehicles. Animals. Figurines. Snow
globes. Toys. One time in a big museum, I saw all
these little clay people someone made, hundreds or
thousands of years ago in south america. I guess
there's always been people who like this stuff.
I wish I could one day be one of those oldsters
with the whole-room train set. But that needs some
serious money. And time. And skills. And a
room. I lack most of these. But I can still do
what I do, and I like it just fine. I have space
for a box.
I like doing cars the best. I'm not a car buff,
not really, although I do enjoy a good looking car
or truck. Or even a bad looking one, maybe those
even more so.
You know, I don't even much like driving real
cars, and I'm not that good at it. I try to avoid
it, and I think that's made me even worse. But my
situation and my family's needs have always pushed
me into driving at least to some degree. And you
know people sure can get sore at those of us with
limited skills, in something they're so very
polished at themselves. It's like they don't
remember what it's like to be shaky and slow at a
thing, and there's just no grace.
I don't really do philosophy, and I don't know it.
But one time I heard of this idea of a simulacrum.
A model car must be a simulacrum in the sense that
it is an reproduction, a representation of
something real, and it becomes something of its
own. But then there is this idea of a simulacrum
as something "hyperreal". It makes my head hurt
when I try to read what that word means. Best I
can gather is that it means a representation of
something, but that something never existed in the
first place. And so maybe if I change a model a
whole lot, so that it does not look like a real
car that ever existed, that's a hyperreal
simulacrum? Like if I took huge truck wheels and
put them on a hatchback, chopped the roof, and
added a big blower to it. I'm building a model of
wild hot-rod, but only as a plastic model: the
never was such a hot rod made in the real
world. It would be a model of a thing that never
existed.
But I know for some people, model can stand in for
something important to them, something they feel
strongly about. You know, whether it's a good
thing or a bad thing, vehicles are about
everywhere in the places where I've ever lived.
Where there's people, there's cars. It's like
houses, or fences. In the most basic stories and
patterns of life, when you boil them down to their
bones, there's a beginning, a middle and an end.
And there's often a journey. You go someplace, a
thing happens, and then you go home changed. And
that going, and the coming home, unless the story
is quite old then that part's often got a vehicle
in it. Whatever happened, whoever that happened
with, however that made you feel, all that real
stuff is going on right up next to a vehicle, in
some sense. And maybe that's why people get
feelings from about cars. Because the car was
right there too, and maybe some of that emotion
gets tied up with it. It's sort of like a song
that you heard playing at that time when
everything changed for you, but even now so long
afterwards, it still makes you well up just a tick
when you hear it.
But me, I don't feel that strongly about any
particular vehicle. Not really. I do like the way
some look, and I'm bound hear a note of nostalgia
from certain kinds. Even as a kid, I noticed
cars. But it's not like that thing where someone
goes to war and serves in some kind of tank or
whatever for years, and had all kinds of
experiences in that rig. Or if they spent years
rebuilding their grandfather's truck with care and
dedication, and later when they build a plastic
model of it, every piece feels like a familiar
piece of themselves too. I don't think I have
that bond with any vehicle. I wonder what that's
like.
In my kit building box, there's a few tools and
things that are essential, to me. And I'll write
those here in case it ever helps someone else get
started. Probably I do some stuff badly, or
there's better ways and tools to be had. But I
feel comfortable with the bits I have now and the
results I get from them, however limited that may
be. I'm not looking for the next thing, I just
want to do more of the thing I know.
There's my exacto knife and extra blades. For
cutting parts off the frames, and slicing off
rough edges. And I also stick it inside the small
holes and turn it around, to scrape paint off the
insides before cementing parts together.
I have a few files. The one I use the most is this
little metal flat file, about 1 mm wide. That's
good for scraping things I need to glue together,
because glue won't stuck so well to paint or
chrome plating.
For glue, I use testors model cement. I use the
kids kind in a blue tube, the non-toxic kind, not
the usual orange tube. The real stuff is strong
as hell, but smells nasty and the fumes are really
bad for you, even it says so. The kid stuff isn't
nearly as strong, but I that never bothered
me. And like I say, I throw my finished stuff away
after a few months anyways. The non-toxic stuff
even smells good, like grapefruit juice or
something. My whole box smells of this by now. I
think because the glue uses citric acid instead of
whatever solvent is in the stronger stuff.
I got my cans of toothpicks. The round kind with
points on both ends. I always squeeze a tiny bit
of glue out onto a piece of scrap cardboard or
paper, and then spread it on the plastic piece
with one of those toothpicks. And they say you
ought to clean your plastic pieces with some dish
detergent before you even start a model, to help
the glue and paint bind better.
I got various paintbrushes. Tiny ones, and bigger
ones. I try to get good ones, and I try to look
after them. I only use water-based acrylics, and
that sure makes the clean-up easier. Oil enamels
go on smooth, but them and the thinners sure
stink.
And there's a few pairs of tweezers. I bought a
pack of various kinds somewhere years ago.
Sometimes these are helpful for laying on the
water-slide decals, or picking up and assembling
the really small bits.
I keep this empty tin can in my box, one of those
little tomato paste ones. I put a drop of dish
detergent in there with some warm water and that's
how I wash my brushes, swish them all around in
there and then rinse with plenty of clear water.
For paints, Vallejo acrylics are my favorites.
They go on so nicely with a brush. Although I
think I might try switching to much cheaper
dollar-store acrylic tubes. They might be good
enough. I am not that picky, and I'm not into the
real-world-accurate colors thing. And I sure
don't want to bother with an airbrush, even though
that's the way you get the super-nice results.
Vallejo has matte/satin/gloss varnish or finish
coats too. I brush that on over top of the paint
when it dries.
The Vallejo paints come in these round eyedropper
bottles. I can shake them up to stir them before
using, but I can also roll them fast between my
two palms. I even used to hold the end of the cap
in the chuck of an electric drill, and spin them
that way. But that might have been a little much.
I use this little plastic paint mixing palette.
It's like a dish with small round indentations
around it for putting paint into. Squeeze a few
drops in there and start painting.
I received as a gift, these tubs of paint. They
are a bit thick, so a bit of Vallejo thinner
helps. But just like the Vallejo paint they are
full of pigment and they self-level after putting
them on, and I am happy with them.
I also got this scraper thing. Can't remember
where I got it from. It's like a little flat-blade
screwdriver with a bent end. I like it for
scraping paint off flat surfaces when that's
needed. Although the files and even the knife are
often better for this.
You got to have some rags. I keep pieces of ripped
t-shirt in my box.
I used to paint everything on the frames, then cut
and assemble. But now I'm trying to cut & glue
some parts together, then paint. What's better
probably depends on the situation. It takes some
planning.
Model car kits for sure don't make good toys for
kids when done, as most of them aren't even on
rolling wheels, and there's way too many fragile
bits. Although I guess you could modify one to be
a toy, if you put on some toy car axles and
wheels, strip off the all the tiny pieces, and
glue the doors and hood shut. I remember one time
in my slot car racing days, I found a 1/32 plastic
kit in some store. I Cut the bottom out to put in
a guide in the front and built a sort of rough
chassis out of square brass tube and hot glue.
Somehow got a motor and gear set to sit on that,
and it actually ran.
But you know, I think toy cars in general are
quite good toys for kids, regardless of how I feel
about real cars. They're one piece. They roll on
the floor, and they fit under your hand. Pretty
durable. And cars are a thing most kids see every
day in their world. It's funny how even now
there's so much farm imagery in their books and
shows like it's still 1924 and three quarters of
them live on farms. But most kids nowadays for
sure see more cars than cows day in and out. And
then there's the whole story-telling piece in
kids' play, the beginning-middle-end thing again.
Do you know that kind of play is a developmental
indicator that experts look for in little kids?
And you can put your doll in a car, and they can
go wherever you imagine. Go someplace far in the
car. There's so much possibility for play in
there.
I remember there was some www bulletin board about
model cars that I used to read on. And for sure
it's cool to see others' work. And I think I
picked up a magazine or two from some newsstand or
other. The sense I got, is that having the colors
correct for the year and make is very important to
some people. Maybe especially for the military
vehicle fans. There's certainly that
attention-to-detail aspect which I admire, but I
just can't get too excited about that. Part of me
wants to even color things strangely just to be
different. I'm like, anti-correct. If I had the
time and money, I'd do two builds of the same kit,
one straight, and one wacky. There's my hyperreal
simulacrum urge again. Or maybe I should just
focus on buying the same model kit again and again
and again, building it differently every time. But
that feels a bit narrow, even for me.
