I built my first aeroplane at theage of 6, and then went on for some years to build almost anything, but for some period mostly ships.
This shifted to 1/35h tanksin my early teens, of which I also painted the figures that came with the kits.
In my mid teens, I discovered the publications of François Verlinden, which opened a whole new world for me, and his work (and Phil Stutcinskas, Lewis Pruneau, Bob Letterman, and others...) made me want to build dioramas. It took some years to figure out the weathering techniques in those magazines and get going, but by the end of highschool I build my first couple of dios.
In the beginning of university, I finally found the modelling-club I am still in (KMK), which added a whole new dimension to my hobby: besides the added social life (I was modelling in complete isolation before that) and learning a lot from fellow members, it also became possible to travel to hows and competitions, even international!
I also never let my girlfriends get in between me and my modelling, so I never took "a break". If they weren't too hot on it: pity, but there's more fish in the sea... Luckilly, most were very understanding and my wife now is even more than supportive!

So, even though I am only 28, I have been modelling continuously for 22 years!
I shifted from AFV-dioramas to figures during the last year or so, but I feel that essentially I am still doing the same thing: making dioramas, even if they are sometimes one-figure-dioramas. I have always treated the figures in my dios as equally important as the tanks, also taking a year of from tanks in 2002 to do some single figure projects. In did my first sculpts during that year, which gave me suddenly unlimited creative freedom. I never looked back...
Cheers!
Marijn