Welcome to Kiwi Kit Builder

The title says it all. 

Hello, and welcome to Kiwi Kit Builder - my blog about a middle-aged man (that would be me) rediscovering his boyhood interest in scale modelling.

This first post will be an 'About me' style post, just to say 'hi' and give a little context around what is to come. From there it will follow my new journey back into the hobby of scale modelling - from very much a newbie's point of view. Learn along with me if you're new as well, or correct me when I'm wrong if your a seasoned veteran of the hobby! All are welcome 😀

About Me...

So first off, a little about me.

My name is Wayne, and I'm a 55 year old who lives with his wife (Joanna) and dog (Millie, a one year old Shih Tzu) in a small town on the West Coast of New Zealand. We have two adult children. Our daughter Emily (23) is married to Connor and they have two children - Noah (4) and Bella (1); and our son Joshua (21) is about to start third year Engineering at Canterbury University (in 2023).

I am a graphic designer/photographer, and have been for my entire career - apart from a stint at university where I studied art history, art theory and classics (finishing with a B.A Hons 1st class).

I've also had a life-long passion for photography, and have a blog dedicated to my photography experiences here: nzdigital.blogspot.com

Ok, that's the standard stuff. But what about this scale modelling thing?

I guess like many who are 'rediscovering' the hobby later in life, I started out as a young lad - probably with Airfix planes - creating plastic monstrosities with far too much glue and minimum (if any) paint. And to be fair, I never really progressed beyond that. This was, after all, the late 70s and early 80s. When if you wanted to learn how to do anything, you either got a book out of the library, or you learnt from someone you actually knew!

I did the later. My uncle (hi Uncle Alan) made model cars, so he 'helped' me put together a few kits and taught me how to apply the glue without getting a stringy mess over the whole thing. At least he tried to teach me. And to be fair, I probably did get better. The last kit I remember making was a tank of some description (I'm in to military vehicles mostly) during my university days, in my mid 20s. Don't recall finishing it though? And I certainly didn't paint it. Painting was always my nemesis.

That was 30 years ago. 

Fast forward to today(ish), to a middle-aged man flicking through Youtube, who comes across a video in his feed that looks vaguely interesting. Something to do with  'weathering' and 'chipping' by some Night Shift dude? What the hang is that all about?

OMG! Mind blown! Step-by-step instruction from a master model builder. How did I not realise this content existed? But of course now that I do, I binge-watch every episode, and then look for more content elsewhere. I discover Panzermeister36, Rick Lawler, PLASMO, LPJ Models, Champion Scale Modelling, Hammerhead Model Making - and a whole host of others. I'm hooked, I'm excited, and best of all, I'm inspired!

Thus, in late 2022, I began my 'rediscovery' of  the scale model-making hobby. And I've been obsessed ever since.

Currently, I'm in the acquisition phase, since I'm starting from nothing. I also have to work through a few practical issues around the hobby. For instance, my wife is very chemically sensitive, so I'm going to have to be very careful about what paints, glues and solvents I use. I'm also going to have to be careful about where I work (no kitchen-table option for me). Fortunately, my wife is very supportive of me taking up the hobby again, so we are working on a dedicated hobby room option for me (more on that in future posts).

I've already started my first kit (more on that soon as well), and am slowly working on creating my 'stash'. Christmas and my birthday (in late December) also saw a boost in modelling tools, paints and kits, as well as my biggest purchase to date - an airbrush! All of this, and more, will be revealed in future posts...

For now - welcome - and I hope you will say 'hi'. Join me over the next weeks, months and years as I learn all about this amazing hobby. 

Until next time - happy modelling.

Wayne - the Kiwi Kit Builder