How I Fell in Love With Model Kits: Part 2

Read: Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Over the years, I always retained my childhood love of creating small models, but I hated plastic kits. I moved away from the prefabricated kits with step-by-step instructions, and I decided to go my own route.

In the late 1990s, I started designing and building my own buildings. Each was scratch-built from found cardboard, card stock, paper, wood, foam, and plastic. The household recycle bin was a great source of cardboard (shoe boxes and cereal boxes make great shingles) and plastic.

Every building began with a very vague idea or theme, and I let the developing structure dictate the final form. There was a book store with a country cottage theme that made its own wine, a restaurant that had a Swiss Family Treehouse vibe, and a pet cemetery heavily influenced by Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” It was liberating to let my imagination flow without being dictated by instructions or being told what the end result should be.

The buildings started a new family tradition of putting up a town around the Christmas tree featuring my buildings. Every year, one or two new buildings were added, and their quality was an improvement from earlier works. Sadly, they would get damaged every year by cats and children. Despite my fixes, they continued to deteriorate, and I was forced to retire them after many years of enjoyment. It wasn’t a waste, though.

By freeing my imagination, I wanted to do more; I wanted to continually add and improve on existing buildings. That took time, and I was willing to wait for glue to cure, and for paint to dry. I had started to teach myself patience while developing construction skills at the same time. I could now troubleshoot most problems, and I acquired more tools of the trade. An X-Acto knife became my best friend.

My family still puts up a town, and I now buy clunky ceramic buildings (let’s see a cat try to eat that!). But, every once in a while, I create a structure that is more animal proof and child proof.

Read: Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5