Building models saved my sanity

Hobbies are the answer to extreme boredom

Many folks have gone nuts due to boredom during the long months of the pandemic. Many were working from home for the first time with the kids, the pets, the interruptions or slow internet. I’ve been working from home for many years and so adapted pretty quickly to being “locked down”. But in the end building models saved my sanity anyhow.

A lot of folks don’t have hobbies to pass the time. Binge-watching Netflix is not a verified hobby.

With a stack of my unopened 1/43 kits waiting for me, I built a few of those “one of these days” models. A client with a passion for Indy models had many of his kits to build as well. Paint was hard to acquire at first as many model builders went to work on their collections as well. Paint stocks ran out because supply chains were cut here and abroad. Luckily I was blessed with a decent supply of paint so I could get started at least.

Art cars, Indy cars, IMSA and Can-Am

During the first period of the pandemic, I acquired some great Can-Am, BMW art car, IMSA and F5000 kits for myself. Many folks were selling off parts of their collections while hobby vendors were happy to make unusual accommodations to keep funds flowing.

A few of the many I built

I was able to finally build two of the BMW art cars I had long wanted to build (above). The A.R. Penck Z1 and Jenny Holzer V12 LMR models were added to my collection. You can read more about them here.

From the IMSA series, a Renaissance Rain-X Riley was finished. The very artful kit was a pleasure to build with lots of detail, although the rear suspension defined the word “fiddly”.

Starter brand kits were built of the Chevrolet Intrepid, Castrol Jaguar XJR10 and AAR Toyota Celica (top). All the IMSA models were happily added to my 80 or so IMSA model collection. IMSA is the greatest thing to hit sports car racing since the Can-Am ruled the ground shaking earth.

Thank you, John Simons

I also got 3 Can-Am models built during this time. Two are from the house of Marsh Models. Marsh came out with the Gilles Villeneuve-driven Dallara. It was a quick and easy build. Marsh creator John Simons responded to my inquiry and provided me the last UOP Shadow MKII kit that he had of the two-tone black/white cars. I was “forced” to accept a factory painted example. Many thanks to Mr. Simons for that. Needless to say, the kit build took a whole lot less time!

A much older Meri kit of the Jacques Villeneuve Frisbee sponsored by Canadian Tire made a nice pairing with the Gilles Dallara build. Compared to the many resin kits now out there, this is all metal and weighs a ton. You can read more about the Villeneuve Dallara and Frisbee here.

Indy Cars too!

Two of the several Indy kits I built are shown here.

This Tameo Quaker State March-Porsche 88C was pretty easy and quick to build. It’s all-metal and nicely weighted. If you purchase the kit for yourself, get a spare decal sheet for extra green decal to fill in any voids. The color is super-hard to duplicate with paint.

Also built was this gorgeous SMTS/Dogleg Interscope March 85C that Danny Ongais drove. I picked it up on Ebay, but you can probably get one from Grand Prix Models. Keith Williams from SMTS tells me that many of their Indy car kits are out of stock but they will make more if the demand is there. Demand some by emailing smts.models@btconnect.com, and tell Mr. Williams that Racerhead sent you.

What’s on tap?

I’m currently building more Indy cars. Included will be some of the Brickyard aeroscreen Dallaras (already sold out). The only version that was available was the Sato Indy winner. I’m going to utilize some Indycals decals to create a few more versions and I may draw and print some decals as well. I love the AJ Foyt Racing ROKIT car that Sebastien Bourdais will race in 2021. It would look great on any shelf.

Also building now is a Marsh McKee Can-Am, a UOP Shadow F5000 car and a Jim Hall Boraxo Lola T332 F5000.