New Hobby: Models?

unpurposed

So this summer I finally have the lucky fortune of having pretty much nothing to do and some genuine entertainment cash to blow. Thankfully, work at the shop has been picking up significantly in the past couple weeks and I am no longer dirt poor.


Anyways, I'm stuck here with this old crappy Dell with no possibility of running any games I'd like to play so I've decided to turn to model kits. Always been interested but never really had the time to buy and assemble one.


In particular, I'm interested in mech model kits. Anything Gundam or Armored Core related would be pretty cool, with an emphasis on how cool the model should look. I'm not very well versed in this hobby so I'm looking for suggestions and answers to:

1. Overall time consumption of an average model
2. Average Price
3. Best place to buy online (or even in Houston if anyone has that detailed of information)
4. Painting/Detailing (i.e. whether or not some models will look good without this. I'm not averse to this at all. Been looking to get into it and this might be the best place to start)


So yeah, that's pretty much it. Basically, if you think there's an insanely cool model that you personally like, I'd really appreciate if you posted it, and maybe even pictures you took yourself to help me make some choices. Thanks guys/gals in advance!

MetroidZoid

You know what I was into in high school? Zoids models. Basically they're from a anime / manga series that's giant robot animals that kick the shit outta each other. But the models themselves are relatively simple, snap-together no-glue, and are all motorized. Wind up on the smaller ones, battery powered on the others. So for me it was cool to basically build a model that didn't just sit there, it was more like building your own toy. Unfortunately, they're pretty much gone in all the major stores now (the anime's lost it's US following apparently, I blame the Fuzurs saga for that), but you can still pick 'em up on eBay and Amazon.

unpurposed

MetroidZoid wrote: »

You know what I was into in high school? Zoids models. Basically they're from a anime / manga series that's giant robot animals that kick the shit outta each other. But the models themselves are relatively simple, snap-together no-glue, and are all motorized. Wind up on the smaller ones, battery powered on the others. So for me it was cool to basically build a model that didn't just sit there, it was more like building your own toy. Unfortunately, they're pretty much gone in all the major stores now (the anime's lost it's US following apparently, I blame the Fuzurs saga for that), but you can still pick 'em up on eBay and Amazon.

Yeah, I think I remember those actually. My little brother got a ton of them for Christmas one year.

japan

I don't do mechs, but I do enjoy doing civil aircraft models, so I can help you on a couple of points.

The time a model takes and how good it's going to look without detailing varies wildly depending on the model. From the stuff I buy, for example, Airfix and Revell kits are designed to go together quite quickly, and look good with a couple of paint colours and the decals applied. Hasegawa or similar will take a lot longer, be considerably more detailed, and have been designed on the basis that the person building the kit is going to paint and detail as they go.

If you're just getting into it, look for simpler, cheaper kits and see how you get on. Better to start out with something you can finish than to get some massive multi-media kit that's light on instructions and has tons of detail to be intricately DIYed.