I would still consider that a model. Its origins are still as a model kit regardless of possession.
This is starting to make my head hurt!
Haha, yeah this is probably all being way over thought.
I think most of us should know the accepted difference between what we consider a model and what we consider a toy…
I’v decided to stir the pot a little more. Do the guys that do figures get accused of playing with toys? Some figures are one piece that you only have to paint. Is that considered a kit? What if you only give a figure a glosscoat? If you leave it in a natural finish is it a toy?
If you get mad at it and throw it at a wall is it now an “action toy”?.
Are Lincoln Logs a kit?
Is an Erector set a kit?
Are Tinker Toys considered a kit?
Or are all these considered learning toys?
Is my 1\72 scale U-Boat a kit or a learning toy?
What happens if I dont learn anything?
What if you build something out of Leggos? Its plastic right?
(Had to throw this last one in for the younger guys who may not know what a Tinker toy is.)
I just the other day saw a pic of a 12" action figure, whether it was a GI Joe or waht i can’t recall, but it had been very detailed and put into a dio setting, it doesn’t look ‘toylike’ in the pic. Where does it stand? Is it a toy or figure? I was wondering too about the 1 piece figure ‘kits’, they just need painting and detailing. When I mentioned my ‘model-toys’ earlier, I like my toy stuff to still have a ‘toy’ loook and feel to them. My models, tho, I want accurate, or at least relatively accurate. I see on eBay a lot of times just because a vehicle is ‘sized’ for GI Joe, it’s described as being 1/6 scale, even tho it’s not even based on a real vehicle or in accurate 1/6 scale, it’d be 2 or 3 times the size it is. Some will even argue that if it’s for GI Joe, it IS 1/6 scale regardless of size.
Perhaps if there is enough interest in the subject perhaps there could be a "Modified die-cast/Pre-built category " for contests. And as far as “toy like” goes, I learned a long time ago that a good 90% of the adult public who aren’t modelers consider us to be adults who build “little plastic toys”. And no amount of explaining or talking will ever change their minds! (My 50th class reunion was last fall and I had at least two classmates ask me if I was still playing with those little plastic model toys)
They only say your playing with toys untill you tell them you get paid for it. Then two things happen … they look puzzled and walk away, never to bring it up again. Or, they suddenly want to hang around you to get to know you better and show them how to do it to. This never lasts however, …they didnt know it takes years to learn how to assemble “TOYS” !!!
Well if you take something apart and enhance and rebuild it so that it is no longer in its original purpose i.e… a toy why wouldn’t it be a model? If someone scratch builds a model from various components, is that not a model? or is it just wood, brass, and glue?
So if you build it to be seen but not played with or handled its a model, if you set the model into a theme then its a diorama, so finally who cares unless you enter it into a competition and claim you built the whole thing from a kit.
buying a toy to fix up is no different than buying an assembled kit to fix up. They call them Wreck-scue on AAMB forum.
i don’t mind diecasts, as they usually have subjects not done by plastics manuf. they have an annoying habit of sticking all together in the box. Sometimes they almost look finished, like someone had a try at assembling it.
Got to add my two cents to all this,if you play with it it is a toy,If you display it,it is a model a form of art,
I know one thing; I’ve made a lot of models into toys.
I would consider rebuilding a “toy” or diecast as modeling. Look at it like being on different levels–scratchbuilding–>building from a kit–>building or rebuilding an existing article. Purists might say scratcbuilding is the ultimate form of modeling expression whereas a model kit has some or a lot of the work done by the molding or casting process. I have a number of models I built from kits back (way back) in my high school days that I would like to “fix” ie repaint, clean up seams etc. that occured when my skill set was not what ii is now or will be. I think that would be modeling.
Freem
Nitehalk The RC guys are coming to get you! I have taken some of my subs to a pond just to see if they would float… Am I playing ? Or does that count as "research? If it sinks is it a model?
I have a Kenner A-Wing toy I bought years back with the very same intention. Take it apart and rebuild it and add fine detail to it. I did the same with a SW Land Speeder.
My opinion is this. Repaint a toy. That is a nicely repainted toy. Rebuild that toy to incorporate better detail and fill in seams add scale fidelity then you now used that toy as a starting point. The end result is a scale model. IMHO…