Looking for something FUN to do while quarantined? I'm a lifelong scale model builder, and it has

[BamaRefugee]

saved my sanity since being shut in the house for over 4 months.
But it takes a long time to acquire all the tools you need, the skillsets, and the kits to build. I get all that. (I have a kit stash that would take me 10 years to build them all!).
GOOD NEWS. Now you can build models digitally, and photograph your finished model.
This could be a great way to pass some time, and also great for kids, they can learn lots of skills, such as "following instructions", something that us experienced modelers have long forgotten how to do!
https://monzoapp.com/about/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/monzo-digital-model-builder/id906362026

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.madfingergames.monzo&hl=en_US

[soothsayer]

1. Neat! Very clever and without the glue to sniff

[BamaRefugee]

2. Yes, unfortunately, that's the downside ;-)

[soothsayer]

3. Ha I wanted to add that!

[Liberal In Texas]

4. Digitally? Not for me!

Just not the same. Might be fun for other folks, but not me. I like something that's real and not something that exists in the virtual world. Something you have to have a monitor to see. I'm not putting it down, just different likes for different people.

Am attempting to finish a 1/350 model of the Titanic I started back in the early 80s. It does take time to acquire all the tools and to learn how to use them. And it's very time consuming. But I've always liked building scale models starting as a kid. I suppose it's that I really like working with my hands making things. It's rewarding when you do a good job and put it into the display case.

[BamaRefugee]

5. I've been building models since (gulp) 1956. Never stopped. But a lot of people are intimidated by

it, and, if they're currently unemployed or something similar, there's no way they can afford to jump into the hobby right now.
So hopefully this app can light a fire for them, and they move into the world of actually building by hand, I love it and I'm lucky to be a member of the great Los Angeles Miniaturist Society. Which, unfortunately, hasn't been able to hold a monthly meeting since March!

Here's what I'm working on right now, an ANCIENT Glencoe kit from 1957 of a Pfalz D.III. Trying to bring it up close to modern standards.

[Liberal In Texas]

6. Yes, good point. If it gets new interest in scale modeling it's all good!

Very nice modeling there (from what I can see.)

My interest has been civilian ships, airships and helicopters. I have a cabinet full of old kits that haven't been built. I would see them and buy them thinking I'd get to them one day. I guess this is that is that one day LOL. I'm finding that my Titanic kit was first produced in the '70s and has a lot of mistakes and I'm having to rebuild or scratch build. Of course seeing online how other guys have built what is essentially the same kit raises the bar.


At least in this day and age there is easy access to after-market photo etched and 3D printed parts that cut down some on the scratch building.

Happy modeling!

[BamaRefugee]

7. OUR STASH is the equivalent of another man's wine cellar!

[Stuart G]

8. I am a model train buff...HO Gage mostly..Lionel too.

..My HO Gage stuff is all put away. I had a table to put it on, but I cut the table up..and used if for something..(???don't remember why? but I did.) I got the whole town with main street and cars, houses, stores, put away in old shopping bags. The Lionel Train then took my fancy, & in the 90s I started that one..I can put it down in a couple of hours, but I have not done that in a long time.

.Perhaps, that is what I will do kill the time......Put down all the Lionel stuff on the floor and get it running again. Got passenger cars, freight cars, steam engines, diesels, this and that..Yes, I got switches too. Well, I see about that one & put it on the list. Got great pictures of the HO train, but haven't got that account that you can photo the pictures and put them on the internet...That is also on my list..


........................YES, I GOT A LONG LIST..!!!!

[BamaRefugee]

12. Model railroading is the greatest hobby of them all.

[Liberal In Texas]

22. I think I would have loved to get into model RR but I've never lived

anywhere where I'd have the space. Here in Texas no basements and the house we're probably going to never leave is cramped as it is. I know they make these tiny N or Z or what have you, but I think the cool rolling stock and scenery they make for HO are the only way to go.

[Stuart G]

23. If you can get a 4ft by 6ft wooden board, you could put the HO tracks down permently,

and then put the board away when not in use. I did that with a 6 ft by 10 ft board. hard to manage that one a smaller board would probably work better. Now HO Gage is the way to go. Why? There is a whole lot of stuff that goes with HO. (at least there was when I was putting the stuff together) The scenery is incredible. I had a town with streets, houses, stores, people walking, stop signs, lights..etc. All that is wrapped up in paper bags..I still got it.
...But the best and most wonderful aspect of that hobby is that I made the streets, houses, stores, etc.
...They all came in kits that you put together and glue. So you buy a kit, and then put the store together, and place it on the board, on the business street, and there you have it. Your store on the street where you watch the trains go by. The computer craze came after I stopped with the HOGage, & I don't know if the stuff is available any more. There are model RR Clubs where people put the scenery together and make the stores, houses, & towns, and then the club has weekend meetings where everyone is invited to see the layout.
...I really loved my HO Gage RR. I spent a lot of time putting the stores, houses, streets, (and of course I had a church,) together. The single most wonderful aspect of the HO Gage RR for me, was NOT having people over and showing it off, but putting the stores, houses, streets and church together, and then putting them on the layout. The time spent putting the church together, piece by piece, with glue, and then seeing the finished product on the layout was simply wonderful...........
....Why?..It took my mind off of my job, my economic problems, my friends, politics, TV, news, etc...I was focused on putting that church together and getting it correct so I could put it on the RR layout. It was time off for the HO Gage RR. and it helped to keep me sane...(what ever that means.???) Took my mind off of President Nixon, Ronald Regan, Bush Sr. etc, etc, etc, etc,...

Check out the internet for stores that send the stuff by mail...There is a magazine that specializes in this hobby called "Model Railroader"where you can learn all about the hobby...(at least there was one when I was putting together these models..)
...I strongly recommend the hobby because it really does take your mind off of worrying.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All you want to do is finish putting the church together for the layout. Also, if you find a Model RR Club, you will meet some of the nicest and most interesting people around. (there are scenery experts, rolling stock experts, electrical experts who help keep the trains running, and all kinds of other experts)..Good Luck, and May the MODEL RR be with you..Yes, there are even videos of model trains that you will enjoy...(if they are still available)...Check it out on the ...............INTERNET..........!!!!

[MagickMuffin]

25. Neil Young owns 20% of Lionel Trains

According to Reuters, Young will sell over 230 of his Lionel trains at an auction on December 9. ... Young started collecting the trains in the 1990s, as a way to bond with his son Ben who has cerebral palsy. Along the way, he developed a remote control system that allows for multiple trains to run at once.

[BamaRefugee]

26. There's a great great online model railroad magazine, totally free, that comes out every month

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com

[Stuart G]

27. Thank You for the link..

[Binkie The Clown]

9. I built models when I was younger. Now I just assemble jigsaw puzzles. nt

[BamaRefugee]

14. It's quite similar, but you don't have to paint the puzzle when you're done.

[Stuart G]

16. My girl friend and I spent years putting together jibsaw puzzels..

After the train hobby stopped, Darlene, that was her name, (she passed away in 2012) and I put together a jigsaw puzzle..( I think it was 2008) well, we got into doing that, and she found some stuff, (I call it jigsaw stuff) and sprayed it so it stays solid and firm, like a picture, and these jigsaw puzzles that look like pictures, are posted all over my townhouse. I would say we put together 20 or 30, as we put them together, we listened to all kinds of music or just talked. One of us would take the border, and another would take the "sky pieces" or whatever there seemed to be a lot of..
...2nd floor, First Floor & basement..As I look at the computer, and I move my head a little up, there on the wall, is one of the jigsaw puzzles that we put together. Sometimes we just listened to music, or we talked....but we worked together to put them together.

[Binkie The Clown]

17. My late wife and I did jigsaw together when we were dating back in the 60s.

Good memories.

[Raine]

10. Nice! nt

[sanatanadharma]

11. Revelling in the Heller good, Imex thinking Adam good idea; raise a loud Aurora for a DU scale group

Prior to packing my life into 3 suitcases and fleeing to another country that has exactly one hobby shop, I was building scale model rockets. It is great fun trying to get cardboard and balsa to look like unpainted metal; I must have been good, I sold one for $500 on eBay.

Now, from my balcony in an international port city I look out over the waters watching the container and cargo ships coming and going from the world around. So I switched to modeling barcos.
I have six plastic model cargo ships in various states of construction and am challenged by the airbrush and photo-etch skills I lack.

The reacquired tools that I have, like the models, are all imported, acquired via the internet.

[BamaRefugee]

13. Buying models and tools is an international pursuit nowadays

I buy lots of stuff from Japan and Hong Kong, Spain, England, Canada, depends on who has what I want at the best price.
Airbrush skills only come from practice practice practice, you can buy large toys really cheap at the Dollar Store and spray away, far better than “learning from your mistakes” on a model that cost 50 bucks and 20 hours of work!

[Liberal In Texas]

18. So true. Like playing music or writing the only way to get better is to do it....a lot.

I certainly learn from my mistakes. I always feel like the old cliche I'm taking two steps forward and then one and a half back.

I was floored to discover recently that there is a FB group for modeling the RMS Titanic and it has 3k members. It's a great place to get tips or ask someone if you're stuck on something. And it's fascinating seeing posts from modelers from all over the world.

[Stuart G]

24. ...So When I put the model railroad together with the glue, and blueprints of models, and

and wires and everything else.I learned about some thing l never thought I would learn about....Electricity.
Why? HOw?..

....When I put the trains on the board, and the engine didn't work, I took it apart, and looked at
the wires, this and that, and that and this. As I was trying to find out the the this and that for the engine
that wouldn't go...I learned about connections, wires, small electrical motors, and the whole idea of keeping the trains rolling along with this and that.
....Since the HO Gage runs on very little electricity, and it is easy to work with, and there are warnings about this thing and that thing, it is relatively safe, and if an engine doesn't work, and is busted, the HO Gage stuff was very cheap. Back in the day, you could get an HO Gage engine for as little as $10.00...
....Oh, You could spend $200.00 but that was as exceptionally built engine. The cheap ones were indeed pretty cheap, and if you broke it, you could easily get another..

[BamaRefugee]

15. I see what you did in your header by the way. 👀

[Codeine]

19. I've been assembling and painting plastic scale models

of Napoleonic-era soldiery. It’s been a long-running hobby but I’ve stepped it up lately even though I’m still working; the increased hobby enthusiasm in the community the lockdown has created has help fuel my own interest.

[Tarc]

20. Interesting. Did quite a few models back in the day

Little bottle of Testors paint kept in an old cigar box. My problem, growing up rather poor, was being bummed at night having the exact color the directions would call for.

"Hmm, gunmetal grey? Guess I'll just mix the black and white."

Was still fun, my crowning achievement was a giant B29 flying fortress model.

[BamaRefugee]

21. I know the feeling. I got $1.25 a week allowance. A kit cost $1.49. So I had to wait 3 weeks to be

Able to buy a new kit and some tiny bottles of paint.