Cal's Models: REBORN!!

Hey there! Welcome to “Cal’s Models”.  You’re probably thinkin’, "who is this S.O.B. and what can he possibly tell me that's gonna' help me in a brick fight in an alley in St. Louis"? And you’d be right, if you thought you'd actually be in that weird circumstance at some point in your life. However, if you're huntin' around the ol' Net lookin' for tips and tricks for building up figure model kits, then this just might be the place for you!  I still can’t believe I have found my way back to the hobby I loved as a kid, and that I have connected with so many good people who love the craft as much as I do. Much thanks to Amazing Figure Modeler Magazine, and The Clubhouse, and all the folks there who have helped me into the modern age of figure modeling.

Now, the obligatory bio…………I was born in 1955. Nuff said, right? Anyone born in and around the middle fifties knows exactly what I mean. I grew up in a time that, in my singular opinion, was the best time in history to be a kid. The stuff that was available to me, and the activities and the hobbies that were flourishing were the greatest. Not only that, but I could hop on my bike at 9 o’clock in the morning, say bye to my Mom, and ride off for the rest of the day and NOBODY CALLED THE COPS! Okay, enough of the good ol’ days editorializing. On with the gripping tale of why I’m here.

 I grew up in the heyday of Aurora Models. My older brother Clay and I were big monster movie fans, Chiller Theater, Shock Theater, Creature Feature, etc. We began collecting and building Aurora Monster Figures as soon as we saw them advertised on the backs of my comic books. (Yep, that’s right, comic book collector too! Big time Batman fan. More on that later). In fact I still have all the original models that we built back then in my model case today.

My brother Clay was born deaf and mute, but had an uncanny artistic sensibility for his age. He was meticulous about the building and painting of the kits, where I was just slapping the paint on, trying to get them done. In other words, I built like a kid, he built like an artist. As we progressed, I moved on to the Ed Roth Monsters, Weird-Oh’s and Lindberg Loonies. Clay stuck with the monsters and got scary good at building them. Now, we were only 8 to 12 years old at the time, but still, compared to what kids that age seem to be able to do today, I’d have to say we were pretty accomplished.

Along comes life and there goes kid stuff…..got older, got married, got a career (or two), had kids (3) and just got on with living. Then, through my first child, Cory (the designer and implementer of this site) I get a chance to “rediscover” my youth. Playing He-Man with action figures, watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on T.V., and introducing him to the wonderful world of comic books. It was at this time, in the 1980’s, that I got started back on the path to building models, and once again, through my older brother Clay. At the comic shops that I took my son Cory to, they always carried the coolest vinyl kits. I had never seen anything like them, new versions of the classic monsters done in painstaking detail by companies like Tsukuda, Screamin’and Horizon. It blew my mind. I knew that my brother would love to build these kits, so I started buying them for him for Christmas and his birthday and stuff. He loved them, and proved once again that he could be the best damn model builder.

Later on, in the early nineties, they began re-issuing the Aurora Weird-Oh line. My son and I began buying them up and I jumped back into building models. Now, I was strictly old school at the time, just trying to get Cory interested in the hobby. You know, Testor’s enamel, Straight brush work, primary colors, true to the 10 year old mentality. Problem was that I was in my thirties at the time. Check out what I mean But it was enough to hook me. Not totally at first, but I definitely had the bug again. Over the next several years, I managed to build re-issues of all the original Weird-Oh line and I was quite proud of the accomplishment. In 1994, my brother Clay died, too young. I got the only part of his estate that meant something to me, his models. He had kept all of our original Aurora models, in mint condition, and had built several top drawer vinyl kits. I have all of these models in my case today, and those models, as much or more than any other factor in my life, drive me to become better at the craft, enjoy the hobby to the fullest, and share it with anyone who wants to learn about it.

 So, at Christmas 1999, my son Cory bought me an expensive Horizon vinyl kit: Joker on a Throne. I loved it, and yet was totally intimidated by it. Never worked with vinyl, never used acrylic paints, didn’t know jack! That model sat unbuilt, in the box, on a shelf for 3 ½ years. Until one day I stumbled upon the Amazing Figure Modeler site (through some ads that were in one of the model boxes Clay had), and bravely set out to become a “real” figure modeler.

Sure, its kid stuff, but beyond that, it is an anchor that holds me closer to a time that was special for me, a period of life that is worth remembering, celebrating and sharing. And that’s what I hope to do with this site. Welcome, enjoy your stay, share your thoughts, and check out the kits I have built and am building. Along the way, I’ll share my learning curve with you, if you’re interested. Again, I am rediscovering the craft, and certainly I am a beginner when compared with the talent I see out here on the web. But hell, we all have to start somewhere. I use brushes only right now, no airbrush. I mix all my own colors from the basic three or four primary colors. I have started to experiment with pastels, and I like what I’m seeing. And that's where I am right now, so come on in, we’ll check out this stuff together. Help me if you can, and I’ll help you if I can. What more can we ask of one another…………….don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. 

Thanks for visiting,
Cal