Becoming a better model builder

[Eastrock]

There's nothing wrong building braille scale kits... it had its advantage and disadvantage, but in fact you can practice your skill in braille... after all standard kits are better, but if you can give justice with 1/72 nothing could wrong.

 

[smusno]

Firstly, you should make more videos. Very few people have the self awareness to articulate what they want to, to convey an idea.............. not a fact.



Secondly, this video is 30% about plastic kits and paint, and 70% about personal maturity.




I doff my cap sir.

 

[Solander]

First, J, here I can subscribe under your every_single_word. Very well said,and I had a real pleasure watching this vid and, well, don't know how to express correctly.. Unifying with what You've been saying.
P.S: ah, and by the way, don't worry, bud, your a-wing is looking currently absolutely ok

Now, about what f2k is saying.
For me taking an easier task for practice was always very difficult. As you might have noticed, I'm mainly building starships. And where I'm living there is nothing to this theme in hobby shops except the revell star wars snap fits. Nowhere, and never. I'm not speaking about resin garage grail kits. No Round2. No AMT SW models luying for years and waiting for a buyer, no Moebius kits. So every kit in my stash is kinda unique. Something, that was not a peace of cake to find and get, and something that I'm most probable will be able to build only once, no second chance.

So at first I was always trying to build the most superb kits later, but now I'm going away from this method. And thats the reason: I've found that the more valuable the kit is for me, the more resources I gather and the better results I achieve.
So, guys, maybe sometimes it is better not to put the kit of your dream further in the to-do list, maybe its good sometimes to give your soul what it desires and enjoy the process itself?
What if you won't have a chance to work on this model-of-your dream under some circumstances?

I'm not a fatalist in nature, and please, don't be too serious with my following words. But my work is connected with astrophysics a bit. And what I've learned in this field is that we're absolutely trifling in the Universe. The smalest bug, my best model ever made, the biggest building humanity ever built - they all mean the same in a whole picture of the world. Absolutely nothing. And there are so many things that can happen destroying humanity in several hours, that all my worries about a wrong paint streak seem absolutely pointless.
What I'm trying to say, is that it is beter never to wait with things that might make you happy. It is applyable not only to scale modeling, but to everything else. Always to get maximum joy and excitement from your work, together with experience, and not to worry to much about the faults in the result if you've still encountered some. Just remember how it made you happy in process. If it did - then it was 100% worth that.
Well, thats my point.Not sure I've managed to express my thoughts as well as Jamaicanmodels69 did though.. Just. Well. Modeling is fun and is for fun.Never forget to take fun together with experience, it might be even more important!

 

[Grendels]

Well said!

 

[Jamaicanmodels69]

First, J, here I can subscribe under your every_single_word. Very well said,and I had a real pleasure watching this vid and, well, don't know how to express correctly.. Unifying with what You've been saying.
P.S: ah, and by the way, don't worry, bud, your a-wing is looking currently absolutely ok

Now, about what f2k is saying.
For me taking an easier task for practice was always very difficult. As you might have noticed, I'm mainly building starships. And where I'm living there is nothing to this theme in hobby shops except the revell star wars snap fits. Nowhere, and never. I'm not speaking about resin garage grail kits. No Round2. No AMT SW models luying for years and waiting for a buyer, no Moebius kits. So every kit in my stash is kinda unique. Something, that was not a peace of cake to find and get, and something that I'm most probable will be able to build only once, no second chance.

So at first I was always trying to build the most superb kits later, but now I'm going away from this method. And thats the reason: I've found that the more valuable the kit is for me, the more resources I gather and the better results I achieve.
So, guys, maybe sometimes it is better not to put the kit of your dream further in the to-do list, maybe its good sometimes to give your soul what it desires and enjoy the process itself?
What if you won't have a chance to work on this model-of-your dream under some circumstances?

I'm not a fatalist in nature, and please, don't be too serious with my following words. But my work is connected with astrophysics a bit. And what I've learned in this field is that we're absolutely trifling in the Universe. The smalest bug, my best model ever made, the biggest building humanity ever built - they all mean the same in a whole picture of the world. Absolutely nothing. And there are so many things that can happen destroying humanity in several hours, that all my worries about a wrong paint streak seem absolutely pointless.
What I'm trying to say, is that it is beter never to wait with things that might make you happy. It is applyable not only to scale modeling, but to everything else. Always to get maximum joy and excitement from your work, together with experience, and not to worry to much about the faults in the result if you've still encountered some. Just remember how it made you happy in process. If it did - then it was 100% worth that.
Well, thats my point.Not sure I've managed to express my thoughts as well as Jamaicanmodels69 did though.. Just. Well. Modeling is fun and is for fun.Never forget to take fun together with experience, it might be even more important!

"It is better to never wait with things that might make you happy"

That's so simple so true.......and so awesome!

 

[f2k]

Solander, I both agree and disagree with you...

Yes, sometimes you should probably just “do it”. And sometimes it might feel very rewarding to do so...

On the other hand...

My Jagdpanzer E 100 was just such a build. I got the idea, bought the donor-kit the very same day (had to wait two weeks for it to arrive from the UK though), and got down to business. And now I hate it...
I really, really, really wish that I had waited a bit. Thought things through. Made some plans. Not rushed myself (though that’s probably more of an example of why I shouldn’t do such builds for competitions – I hate being rushed...).

I could start building some of those big expensive sets that I’ve got stashed in a corner. But then again. Considering that, starting 1. January and continuing for 15 years, I have to put aside $350 every month for the repayment of my student loan, I’m NOT going to just “do it” with these kits. No, they won’t come out of their nice and cosy corner until I’m absolutely sure that I can do them justice. Why? Because I don’t know when (or even if) I’ll ever be able to buy such kits again. And, knowing that, I want to get the best out of them. And that includes lots of training for me on easier kits.

Will I be denying myself some really fun and challenging builds? Yes, I most certainly will. But, considering how I feel about the Jagdpanzer, I don’t dare think about how I would feel if I screwed up my most expensive kits...

And thus I’ve allowed myself to simply relax with some cheap 1:72 scale kits – just for fun. No pressure. No need to perform to my very best. I’ll just keep going at it and, hopefully, slowly gain in skill and confidence until I feel ready to tackle some of those big projects.

No need to rush. No need to force myself forward. No pressure. I’ll do them when I feel up to it and not a moment earlier...

 

[Solander]

I see your point, bud, and can't help agreeing with it. I think its better to correct my previous post in the way that its better not to meet the situation when you are working on the models which are not really interesting to you only in order to prepare for your shelf queen. In other ways its alright - I too have a couple of kits I've bought in order only to make them mine, but which I'm not currently taking on 'cause I don't want to spoil them (which at the moment I think I'll do =)) want thus make the money I've spent on them thrown into trash.
On the other hand, when you're working on the subjects you do like (which seems the only logical way) it is always the fear of making it not completely the way you want them to look in the start of the build. And as for me it is always true. But always making your job better and better, always growing over yourself, and always trying to make as close to ideal as it is possible (without falling to fanatism of coarce) is the exact way of getting close to the level when the model of your dream can get on your workbench, and achieve what it seems to me Jamaicanmodels69 was expressing in this vid -constant development on the road to perfection (never reachable I thing though) Its just important sometimes to step over yourself and say "ok, I've done the best I could here, its time now to turn on a new project, and, knowing what mistakes are behind it now - correct them and do even better"
To find a golden place between trying to make the model absolutely perfect and puting hands down thinking its nothing left possible to do here - thats the way to growing skills and not loosing all the fun of our hobby imho.

 

[f2k]

Oh yes, I certainly know of the fear of not getting the model to look like I envisioned it when I bought it...

And I agree with you on the interest part. For example, my interest for 1:72 scale kits have certainly been heightened by getting my hands on the Kampfgruppe Normandy rules for 20mm. wargaming. Are those small models actually sturdy enough for wargamning? How do I weather vehicles at that scale? How do I distinguish individual squad while retaining an overall uniform look for the army? Lots of questions that have had me scouring the internet to get a rough idea about what kinds of kits are available...

And then there are the rules for the 653. Schwere Panzerjägerabteilung for Flames of War which promises to contain so many interesting vehicles which will require lot’s of loving conversion-work...

Yes. Having an interest in the model is important. That’s what really drives me to research history, unit markings, camouflage patterns, all sorts of things...

Incidentally, I just got hold of the 1:35 scale Flakpanzer T-34 used by the 653. Abteilung. Very interesting kit but another one that’s going to have to wait for a while. Man, was that kit expensive! I’ll be munching on pasta for the entirety of December I think – oh, my poor bank account...

 

[Jdog71]

My model building credo is as follows:

1. Have fun
2. Spend the time to learn a new technique (or multiple techniques) with each model. It'll pay off down the road.
3. Experiment freely...you can always repaint.
4. Know when to call a kit finished...I'm very guilty of going back to make improvements all the time.
5. Know your own limits, but try to improve all the time.
6. Respect the history of whatever it is you are building, but don't feel like you need to be completely restricted by it. I was almost crippled by this at one time...so worried that everything wasn't exactly to spec that I gave up on a kit. I learned that it isn't the end of the world if the mud color you used on that tank is for the Pacific Theatre, not Europe, for example. It matters to some people, but if it doesn't matter much to you, it shouldn't ruin you enjoyment of the hobby.
7. Have fun