So I've been learning how to make models recently, mostly for Half Life but I have made stuff for Max Payne before. Process is the same. The first thing I tried to make was my own head which took several tries and eventually turned out looking .. rather shit, but it was still a fully modelled head and I was happy enough with it.
Now I'm just making random props that would be too difficult to build with brushes. First of which is my computer monitor, one that I had repaired recently.
(Thumbnails, click for full versions)
Compiled as a GoldSrc (Half Life 1 engine) prop (Works in Half Life 2 as well with some simple edits to the .qc compile code). I had to manually create the hitbox by typing out co-ordinates, that was pretty whack but it worked. Made me feel like a hacker or something. :D
So yeah, modelling things is fun. It's pretty awesome seeing something you created in game, and in Half Life it's easy to make sequences, for example I could make it so the monitor has a sequence where it's turned off with a blank screen, being controlled using a trigger in Hammer. Piece of piss.