Dry fitting is second nature to me. I think it all started as a kid. My mother would take me to buy a model, and, me not being able to wait to see what it looked like, I’d start putting it together on the way home in the car (C’mon guys, we’ve all done that). I’d be holding so many parts together with my little hands that when I finally let go, they’d all just fall together back into the box. Sometimes I’d have to search the floor of the car later for a missing part. I still feel like that little kid when I dry fit now, but I do it for different reasons and I’m A LOT more careful about part numbers! (And, well, ok, I still can’t wait to see what it looks like). It has proven to be a valuable part of building something nice, and getting a “preview” of potential problems, rather than the “Oh #!@ !!” (quote from Keyworth) results of just going for it.
And as Darrenbb has said it is one of the fundamentals of building.
Claymore - You know that as we get older, memory is the second thing to go. I can’t remember the first.
Don’t forgrt the second carpenter’s rule (walkin’ on thin ice here)
“Flat as a board and easy to nail”
with all those 10 pennies stickin’ out of my models - I just fail to see how that one works[:D]
wibhi2 - I think someone once told me that the nose weight in my aircraft models was meant to go on the INside. Oh, well I live, I learn.
next to actually sitting down and reading the kit’s instructions, dry fitting would be most helpful… u can always learn these little tips the hard way, like me !
now i try to remember 3 main things:
- read the instructions all the way thru before starting
- dry fit all assemblies first
- take ur time and don’t rush the build; if ur in a hurry, the finished model won’t look as good as it might otherwise
i know, very basic… but sometimes i forget, and then i get to regret not doing it. luckily, no malpractice on this kind of plastic surgery [;)]
frosty[:)]
I’m forever dry-fitting. Dry-fitting is especially important when scratchbuilding your own parts or adding detail. Making your own parts sometimes involves close tolerances or odd shapes, so dry fit, dry fit, dry fit. Also, read the instructions thoroughly and even write notes to yourself on the instruction sheet, particularly if you scratchbuild or buy extra detail parts not in the kit. Otherwise, you just might forget that photoetched ejection seat pull handle until after you get the canopy painted and glued into place!