Was ondering what you all thought? Out of planes, tanks, artillery, half tracks, and ships, which is the toughest and easiest? Thanks
Toughest, ships.
Easiest, planes.
I think armor is the toughest to do really well, especially halftracks and battle taxis with all the gear they should be carrying on, around and inside. Although, I have never been able to do an aircraft carrier any justice. That might actually be the toughest.
Aircraft can be the easiest, depending on the particular aircraft, the scale and how you wish to present it.
Oh boy… This’ll be fun…
I build about an equal number of both aircraft & armor and consider myself a Military Modeler, rather than an aircraft modeler or armor modeler… I build only dioramas, so I mix the two together as well… IMHO, aircraft are slightly tougher than armor and other ground vehicles, but for reasons other than kit complexity… Armor is more forgiving in the finishing phase than aircraft, and you can paint most everything after assembly, unless you’re doing interiors… Depending on the aircraft, paint schemes can get pretty complicated, there’re many more fragile parts, and the filling of seams and sanding reqirements are much more critical than armor… Not saying that you don’t have to bother, because that’s far from the truth, but it IS possible to hang a camo net or some field gear & ration boxes over a botched seam on a tank…
They’re both about equal in the amount of super-detailing possible, with armor taking the prize for having more scratch-building opportunities.
If we talk about complexity only, there’s little in the armor world that can compare to modeling WW1 aircraft… The external bracing wires, struts, and painting problems are enough to make many aircraft people shy away from them altogether, but the same folks have no issues with tackling a Focke-Wulf or Hornet… So if you take into account the aircraft of the 1900-1930 time-frame, they can take the prize for complexity…
I’m speaking in generalities only though… ALL model genres can be a real headache at times…
toughest = ships (I’ll include Space ships in this category as well)
easiest = planes
The toughest builds for me are ships. Tons of Tiny parts always results in a big headache!
Figures are a close second. My fine brush skills leave a lot to be desired.
Armor is next in terms of difficulty. The builds are not hard, but the weathering is where I get stuck. Armor kits usually come with figures, which leads to the previously stated problem.
Aircaft seem to be the easiest for me. I guess it’s because I built so many of them over the years. Minimal weathering is usually involved. The figures can be eliminated, without taking anything away from the finished product.
I go with ships as well. Building in 1/350 will eventually send you insane. Which is why I dont do it that often. Aircraft have that big 'ole fuselage seam which you have to nail every time or the eye gets instantly drawn to it. Plus wing roots, wing halves, canopies So I think you need to be more of a perfectionist for aircraft. As Hans said, you can always hang stowage over an AFV to cover up any boo-boo’s.
I’ve never built a ship but I think the toughest ones to build for me at least are tanks. I hate doing the treads. Airplanes aren’t too difficult if you do everything in the right order. But really, the easiest kits I’ve built are Athearn blue-box model trains.
Sailing ships the rigging is the hardest part
easy I agree with vassar-13 Athearn blue-box model trains
Ships and figures are the toughest for me.
Auto’s would be the easiest for me, I just dont like to build them anymore.
Airplanes are Great except for seam filling and blending without losing any raised lines. (I like the old kits)
Armor’s challenge is matching paint as I have very few references.
Figures - Not even in the running, they look like Zombie Mannequins after I get ahold of them [xx(]
having spent weeks opening up little bitty holes on a submarine I now will conclude that it’s gotta be a boat as well. And I had a big submarine to work with. When I look at some of the detailing that’s done on the 1/350 scale ships I’m amazed. That plus the fact that my eyes are not even close to being that good. And then there’s all the rigging on those old sailing ships to really complicate matters
gary
I have never met an easy model kit
For some reason I read that as " I have never met an easy model yet" [:-^][(-D]
I myself would have to say any model that needs rigging lines, aka Tall Ships, WWI planes, then Vacuform kits are the most toughest to build for me, I’ve built just about everytype of kit under the sun and those are my choices, Auto’s, Armour are about the most abundant in types and are not as difficult as some Aircraft kits but then again there are those next to impossible kits to get right.
I only build aircraft so for me it depends on the kit. I will build an occasional car to have a change of pace.
Ships, aircraft, figures, cars…who cares[banghead]???..I DO [:-^]!!!
Well call me nuts I did them all in 1 model, here it is, and oh yes, just by the way, the guys from Fine Scale Modeler thought it would be a fine object for their magazine too, so they asked me if I would like to have them post it in their magazine, guess what I said!!!
#
Have fun &
keep on modeling René
www.usns.biz
Sean- Sounds like you attended the Daywalker school of figure painting! [(-D]
Rene- Absolutely gorgeous! One of my all-time favorite models there. I cannot even imagine attempting such a huge project. My hat’s off to you sir.
All I have to say is legendary.
Ships, and more specifically, sailing ships. Consider rigging one.
Rene-fantastic job! My hat’s off to you guys who build the larger-scale aircraft carrier models, I think we all appreciate what goes into that.
Regards,
Brad