Building and collecting model cars can be more than a hobby for many people. For a High River collector, it's a way to learn, to share knowledge and to connect with history.
Trevor Ursulescu began building model cars when he was eight. From his first model, his collection is now approaching 1,000 individual vehicles. Besides standards like ‘41 Plymouths, ‘53 Fords or ‘63 Impalas, his collection includes rare camper vans and First World War tanks.
“My dad and I built lots of things, model cars were one of them,” Ursulescu says. “We’d go to car shows and all that sort of stuff.”
Father and son also shared an interest in balsa wood airplanes and the Star Wars franchise.
Beyond vehicles, the expert model builder collects movie monsters, Halloween collectibles and other memorabilia, but model cars make up the bulk of his impressive collection.
He remembers an early model he built of a Maserati that had working doors, a trunk and steering wheel. His dad wanted him to wait so they could build it together, but the younger decided to take it on himself.
“I built it, and it was a big mess,” he says with a laugh.
Ursulescu stuck with it. His background in autobody repair, mechanics and drafting dovetails nicely with the intricacies of building models, where details matter and the process is often painstaking.
Patience is required. Not only can there be dozens of tiny pieces, but some painting processes involve as many as six steps.
After 42 years, Ursulescu is an expert builder, with an encyclopedic knowledge of different model kits.
Contests help learning process
He built his skills over time, entering contests and learning all he could. Perhaps as important as winning, he learned a great deal when he didn’t come in first.
"That’s where I started honing my skills,” he says. “If something of mine didn't win, I'd go and ask the judges why not and they would tell me.”
One year, his 1957 Chrysler 300 went head-to-head with another entry. Except for the colour, the cars were almost identical, and Ursulescu says it looked as though one person had built both.
First place was a close call between the two. In the end, the other guy won, because he painted the tiniest details on his car’s emblem.
“(The judges) had to sit there and go through a huge checklist,” Ursulescu says. “After that, I made sure to get all these little emblems painted, even if it kills me.”
His dad was a serious modeller, too, and built things from scratch by forming the pieces himself.
One model his dad built, of a 1911 Maxwell car, presents a bit of a mystery to the seasoned collector.
He was told it was the first model kit made by a company called Revell, except that one was a plastic pull toy.
The one Ursulescu has is wood, and he’s been unable to find information to shed light on the car's origins.
Although his dad saved many of the boxes the models came in, this one is missing.
“I can’t find this thing anywhere online, so now I’m having some doubts,” he says. “I can’t confirm what it is.”
His interest in different eras was fuelled by visits to his grandparents as he was growing up. Ursulescu says it was like stepping back into the 1920s.
He learned about the First World War from old magazines that his grandmother kept. One of the things he saw were the dazzle paint jobs used on ships during the war.
The knowledge came in handy when it came to building and painting tanks.
“To try to confuse the enemy, the shipyards would paint this dazzle paint job,” he says. “The tanks were done with the same idea; they would paint them up to look like the fields behind.”
Accuracy is everything
To make sure his models are correct, Ursulescu regularly consults automobile reference guides and maintenance manuals. He can spot the smallest difference between different editions of models or identify what’s not accurate.
Kits were designed differently depending on the era in which they were made. Some have issues, like a model of a camper van that was made in 1971.
Side windows on the body caused it to warp, and the troublesome windows were removed from later versions of the kit, he says.
Another model, a Barbie Corvette, was released to get young girls interested in building model cars. Whether or not it was successful, the car has a unique engine design.
“Any of the model kits that use the dual carburator are rare,” Ursulescu says.
“All this stuff you learn from doing the history and reading this, that or the other thing,” he says.
Along with reading all he could, he learned from building, going to shows and, more recently, through the internet.
His collection includes certain cars that family members, or he himself, owned over the years.
At last count, a decade ago, he had 300 models and thinks it’s closer to 800 now, plus what has been inherited over the years.
The basement of his two-storey home is full of model cars and other collectibles. Many of the models are not built and are still in their boxes. Ursulescu seems to have less time to devote to model building these days.
Like other avid collectors, he would like to one day open a museum, with dioramas organized by era or historical period.
With much of his collection passed down to him from his dad, an uncle and others, Urselescu would love to see it all displayed together.
“It’s sort of a legacy to pass on,” he says. “The next logical step really is to put it into something where everything can be shown at once.
“I’m trying to change my thinking from building individual models, like I did in the past, to building this thing for the future museum.”
He’s got all kinds of ideas for themes. He has a series of firetrucks that fit the 1920s to 1930s, that his dad built by converting other model kits.
They could be front and centre in a diorama about fighting a building fire, he explains.
“And the ’20s cars, and what not, would be down in this neighbourhood,” Ursulescu says.
He even has period-correct firefighters, and would have bystanders and people peering out of windows.
He has a number of period-correct figures from different eras, ranging from firefighters to mechanics to Henry Ford and the Fonz from Happy Days.
Ursulescu owns Monster Hobbies, an online business that sells models, games and other collectibles. The store’s physical location in High River closed during the pandemic, but there are plans in the works to reopen in 2025.
He also hosts a YouTube channel called the Monster Hobbies Model Garage, with over 3,100 subscribers, where he has model-building tutorials, tips and tricks, and reviews of various kits.
