Introducing The Model Citizens Blog
Not So Different
“You should try building models,” they said. “It’ll be fun,” they said!
Well, they were mostly right. My name is Liam. I’ve worked at BC Hobbies and run my own hobby YouTube channel for the last 6 years. In that time I’ve spoken with many fellow hobbyists. I like to hear about what aspects of their hobby they love and what aspects are giving them grief.
Occasionally it is a hyper specific issue about paint or tool usage. However, about eight times out of ten, they are facing hurdles applicable to all hobbyists—hurdles I’m sometimes facing myself. Through all these conversations, I’ve realized a few important things:
- I’ve overwritten cherished childhood memories with hobby supply trivia.
- My brain chemistry may have been irrevocably altered by paint fumes.
- I’ve chatted with and learned from hundreds of hobbyists over the years.
- Even if our interests differ, we face similar challenges and barriers in the hobby.
The Model Citizens
While we might have different interests (model aircraft, model cars, tabletop gaming, gunpla, whatever), the philosophy behind this hobby is the same. It’s an activity we do for fun, relaxation, sometimes education, but always for the sheer passion of it. However, in my experience, we all meet similar roadblocks as we go.
This is where Kevin and Liam (that’s me!) enter the picture. Every month we're going to come up with a topic and each write our own article based on it. That way you're getting two takes that may be very different from one another in approach, but the philosophy will remain the same: all that matters is that you're enjoying your hobby. These are just the two different ways we enjoy ours!
The purpose of this blog is to discuss the hobby lifestyle, as well as common struggles and how we can overcome them. It’s also my intention to open the floor to the community in comments and emails. To that end, please do reach out to the email at the bottom of this blog or leave a comment if you’d like to weigh in and share your thoughts so we can keep the discussion going and get back to the thing we all love: the hobby!
Perhaps the best way to start off this blog is to talk about just that, starting. So coming up next in the first official posts of The Model Citizen’s hobby blog, Kevin and I will be talking about "The Hobby Space!"
About the Author
Liam is a hobbyist who grew up watching Mobile Suit Gundam. He hosts a YouTube channel unimaginatively called Liam’s Hobby Room where he builds, modifies and paints Gunpla.
2 comments
Nice to see things improving considerably from the old shop on Fort Street. I like the title of the blog, years ago I worked for a hobby shop in Sidney, and the owner had the idea to make some t-shirts for us. I designed the graphics and the lettering “ I’m a Model Citizen”. So when I got the email and looked at the blog, I was suitably impressed. Alvis also worked there, but the shop closed down, a sad day but not uncommon in the era.
Years later I worked at the Shaver Shop on Fort for about 9 years, and did the graphic design work for the signage, bags, cards, gift certificates etc. I had a lot of fun coming up with the mini floats for the parades, with the help of Mark and the other Jeff.
Something I became interested in because of a customer and club member named Sam, was Gundam. The Gundam selection at the time was ho hum and many would have been better off on eBay. I binge watched all of the Mobile Suit movies and series, thanks to Jeff J and started to improve the Gundam selection as well as building some for display in the shop, Mark and Jeff also contributed and soon the Gundam section had grown by quite a bit to include everything from HG to PG, RG hadn’t come into being by the time I left in 2008.
Now the Shop has evolved into what it should have been 20 years ago. Brendan and the A team have done a fantastic job with the selection, displays and the online aspect, and how BC Hobbies has supported and interacts with the community.
My grandkids and son-in-law are regular customers and have been building Gunpla, 3D printing and now Warhammer. I recently set them up with an airbrush system and they are having a great time. I’m still a customer and member of IPMS Victoria and love to pop in to the shop.
I’m overjoyed to see all the progress and interactivity now. Congratulations on the highest order!
Big Jeff
Cool, I’ve been doing F1 models (1/12 and 1/20 scales) mainly Tamiya. Thanks to your shopping on line, I get my Tamiya paints and other goodies on demand within a day for pick up. Keep up the great work!