Hello all, I’m returning to model building after a 30+ year hiatus and wondered what scale is “better” to work with in trying to develop my fine detail skills. When last building, getting the project exterior paint done was about the level of detail I did. After viewing some of the forum members work, I’m amazed and overwhelmed at the same time. I prefer aircraft of the WWII era, looking for some advice, thanks.
Start with 72nd scale. Its a good mix of small (to get your eyes working) and detailed. Its a nice medium starting point.
You mean 1/32 vs. 1/48? [:P]
I mostly build 1/48, but I’m working on a 1/32 Bf 109E-7 at the moment.
If I were coming back from a long hiatus (which I did myself last summer), I’d start with 1/48. The kits are smaller, sure, but you get a lot more selection, they cost less, and depending on the kit you can have everything from dead simple to maddeningly complex. Just take, say, an Fw 190. You can get a Tamiya or Hasegawa 190 with 40 or so parts, or an Eduard with closer to 230.
1/32. Easier to work around in the cockpits and such, since the scale is 50% larger. But selection’s not as good. Kits are more expensive. And they take up a lot more room on a shelf.
Personally, yeah, I’d start with 1/48, get a few kits under my belt, then try a 1/32 and go from there.
After 30 years off, and coming back aboard, I would say go for larger scale kits. You can still get the old 1/32 kits you recall from Revell or Hasegawa for a reasonable price, and after you feel comfortable with those try your hand on one of the newer lots of parts uberkits now out there. Having taken 30 years off I presume you are at least in your mid 40s or so and the smaller parts on 1/72 and 1/144 are not too friendly to the fingers and eyes of folks our age [;)] At least not without assistance of tools and optical aids. You will be amazed and how kits have changed in 30 years.
Welcome back![snWcm]
Oops [:$] 1/48, it’s been a while and I have to get into the lingo swing. I can’t wait to see the 109, it was always my favorite bird of WWII. I could see the advantage to the 1/32 size but it would also amplify my errors! [:D] I picked up a magazine today from by FSM “Building and Detailing Model Aircraft” - Pat Hawkey, looks really good. Thanks for the advice.
Bingo! My $3 Wally-World cheaters may need a boost with a magnifying glass etc., thanks again
woops, i just saw 1/144, didnt even click that it didnt have the 1 lol.
same here… it is natural for the brain to insert stuff where it should be to cover errors like that.
1/48 is certainly the best of both worlds in aircraft kits. Bigger parts than 1/72 but more detailed. And pretty good sized, but not over sized in most cases (some 1/48 kits are monsters- bombers… transports…)
There are also more 1/48 Me-109 kits out there than are easily counted. Just about every variant has been done and multiple times on many of the more well known ones.
What he said, alot. Even before seeing Stiks post I’m remembering the Revell 262, Spitfire, 109 etc. and very much enjoyed them.
I would start out with 1/48 then work your way up to a 1/32 kit. Build some 48 ones, get your skills up, learn some new ones, then tackle the big 32 scale ones.
Just picked up the 1/48 Tamiya 109E-4/7 and have the Revell Spitfire MK II to work on. As a side note, what really got me going back to building was helping my 10yr old w/Christmas gift of Revell 1/48 SBD Dauntless. And boy does it look rough. [:(]
The Tamiya 109 and Revell Spit are two pretty good kits. Very good builds for finding your feet, for sure!
I like most of the Revellogram kits, but I have to say, I HATE their Dauntless.
when I returned to the hobby ,I bought… a half dozen “cheap” kits…not much worry on size or even if I liked the model that much. I spent no more forthose cheap kits what one good kit would cost me.! and a friend donated a couple more for free…lol
learning to work with less than ideal fits,actually helped me hone some skills, that proved handy later…and moving on to quality kits was a joy,I practiced,glueing,filling,sanding scribing,weathering…everything on those half a dozen cheap kits, alot of just experimenting …till I found the glues,fillers,paints that worked for me and if i botched one …no great loss.
some of those models came out really good considering how much trial and error i subjected them to…and I didn’t have to trial and error so much once I got some much better kits.
I had my basics already behind me
Look at the Tamiya 1/48 releases from the 2000-2005 range, including the F4U-1D Corsair, Fw-190A8 and A6M5 Zero, to name a few that I have. The kits are well engineered, look good, have a lower parts count, and most importantly they won’t drive you insane with instructions written for PhD degreed engineers.
I love 'em. Also love their 1/72 line of aircraft, as they fall together with fewer parts. The last thing you want after a 30 year break from the hobby is staring at 14 sprues of plastic, 2 bags of resin, and a fret or two of photo etch in a box.
I’ve always prefered the 1/48th aircraft over 1/32, but I still build a fair number of 1/32 kits, since I build a lot of diormas that mix 1/35th armor and 1/32aircraft… The differences in the scale isn’t enough to bother me, and as long as one doesn’t mix the scales of the figures, it’s not really noticable…
Monogram and Revell 1/48th scale kits will give you the most bang for the buck, because it’s going to be up to you exactly how much detail you want to add, if any, whether or not you just want to concentrate on the exterior, as in doing a good finish and not dealing with the cockpit greeblies, and at 12-16.00, you’ll be able to build many more models for the same amount of money than you would with the 25-50.00 1/48th scale kits… The whole “accuracy” and “engineering” issue that some folks harp about don’t matter when all you want to do is develop your basic modeling skills level… The Air Force doesn’t teach cadets how to fly an airplane using B-2s and F-22s, and that’s why one shouldn’t begin, or jump back into modeling after a long absence, with the high-end, high-dollar kits…
If someone has been out of the game for as many years as you, it pretty much means starting from scratch, IMHO, as in no skills, or very few… Heck, I took only a 10-year break after 30+ straight years, and still had problems when I picked up the knife and glue tube again, lol… Luckily, I still kept up my model mag subs and still bought a few kits (just didn’t build any) now & then… Still, I didn’t buy enough to not be freaked out at the prices from 1995 vs the prices for the same kits in 2005… Wow… What a difference a decade makes…
As for 1/32 scale kits, the old Revell 1/32 kits are still around, especially on Ebay, and can be had for about the right prices… Depends on the kit though… The rarer it is, the higher the price is gonna be… That said, I like the 1/32 scale birds, since they go a long way in preventing mistakes in the first place, simply because the parts are bigger, and there’s more room to work… Making detail parts is easier, being a “Blacksmith” with 1/48th- 1/32 detail parts is better than being a “Jeweler” in 1/72 scale, knowhutImean?
A lot of guys complain about space, but even though the big-scale aircraft have a bigger foot-print, they still don’t really need anything wider than a 14-inch shelf in most cases… Several guys here also display their big planes by hanging them vertically on the wall, suspended by a wire around the tail… Anyway, working in 1/72 is not my thing, unless I’m making a forced-perspective shadow-box diorama… Having to handle an instrument panel or seat with a tweezers, rather than my fingers, is something I don’t care for… In fact, the more I do with my fingers vs a tool, the better… 1/32 allows for that a LOT… 1/48th, a little less, 1/72-1/144, fuggedaboudit…
So, my bottom line would be, the bigger the scale, the easier it is develop fine skills… Doesn’t make sense, but it works… You just take what you learn, and scale it down a bit… Instead of using a needle-nose pliers to bend a wire, you use a tweezers, instead of a “0” brush, you use a “000” brush… Painting the gauges on a 1/32 instrument panel is a breeze, not so much on 1/48th, even though I can do both quite well, it’s easier on 1/32… Same with adding stuff like brake lines, oleo struts, prop governors, fuel lines, igntion wire harnesses, seat straps and hardware, gunsights, etc…
Ultimately it’s your decision, but IMHO, the smaller you get, the more difficult it becomes… Otherwise there would be more cabinet-makers than carpenters…
Thanks again all for the excellent advice. I will have to review the forum section on AB recommendations, my SBD paint job was pretty… novice. [:$]
For an SBD with only two color,s I’d have used rattle-cans rather than an airbrush…
I’ll tell you what, “rattle-cans” would have looked much better than my sad attempt at brushing it! [:S] I was looking at investing in a good beginners AB, any thoughts? The LHS has a Paasche VL for $79.
Paasche H would get my vote. Dead simple, easy to get the hang of, and when you’re ready to move on to something for fine detail work, the Paasche H still kills as a workhorse for the big coats (clear coats especially). Think they’re about $50 at Hobby Lobby if I’m not mistaken.
Just like you want your kits to be a bit easier to handle on your return, same goes with your tools. An external mix, single action AB (like the Paasche H Doogs was talking about) is what you want. It’s a good starter brush, just like any of the Badger single action, external mix brushes as well. I have the Paasche H and it’s a flat out bomb for large areas, clear coats and the like. You can get three different size tips which equate to finer lines, but for your scale (1/48 or 1/32) and some simple two or three tone camo patterns, it will work out great for you. Once you get your feet under you with it and want to move on, it will still serve a purpose as a general primer coat airbrush or clear coat afterwards, so you’re not going to just throw it out. I have four airbrushes, and the Paasche H is still my high volume workhorse.