Is it possible to take the kit too far?

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
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Ok I know that some will respond with variations on ‘well no one is forcing you’ and ‘do what feels right for you’, but I find it hard some times to muck in on some threads because I feel a bit lost.

Over at Track 48 (great place), I have been reading the thread on Sherman tracks (and how to make sure they sit flat properly), and it’s just hard to see myself truly being that worried.

True, if they are wrong, then they are wrong. But, how far is too far?

I was reading through the thread on how to make the fix, and I can’t seem to get past wanting to yell, ‘are you guys really that crazy?’.

98% of the people that will end up in a position to see my Tamiya Shermans won’t know it is a Sherman, and likely will be lucky to get passed knowing it is American because it is American green (I doubt most would know the real name of the colour). So the need to get the track utterly and perfectly flat in the run, such that I will fiddle with shims to get that last microscopic shift in location, SEEMS INSANE.

What can I say.

I personally think spending potentially twice the out of the box price on a kit (when you factor in the cost of aftermarket add ons), is potentially a bit loopy in some cases. But if the person likes that little extra tweak, I suppose it is no biggie.

Granted, I consider paying 40ish for a Tamiya tank ok, but paying 80-90 ish on it as a result of buying extra tid bits that only get bought from being fussy, just means I don’t have TWO Tamiya tanks kits instead.

My idea of a good idea on aftermarket items, is to get variant parts for kits that simply don’t exist to begin with. Case in point, currently eyeballing a Brummbar item to allow me to make a Brummbar from a Tamiya PzIV base kit. And in that way, I can give the fugly 1/35th scale Tamiya Brummbar the boot.

But I have been reading a lot of comments in recent time, and it’s not easy to want to share, when I consider how most of my stuff is out of the box, did my best effort, did the painting as well as possible, but simply didn’t mind that the kit has some issues some have dug up thanks to a magnifying glass and as micrometer.

Ultimately my goal is finish the kit, then photograph it under nice conditions (some sort of diorama setting of a generic sort) such that a person needs to ask ‘is that real?’.

No one is going to really notice the tracks on the Tamiya 48th scale Shermans are a hair raised up incorrectly in almost all viewing conditions. And the time devoted to these levels of absurd attention likely are just ensuring your stash never gets done or expanded much eh guys.

I could almost make a case, that some of us in the hobby are in need of help :slight_smile:

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…yes…and no…

3

maybe

4

Certainly.

5

Please see my thread “Bugs Bunny Moment”. I’m not going to cross-post it. The crux is “What am I doing?!?”.

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I do like to add aftermarket stuff to my kits only where they need it. (See Tomcat nose). But I try not to go overboard with it.

Now there are kits that you can’t get any aftermarket stuff for such as the Italeri MV-22 Osprey. Had to scratchbuild that stuff. It isn’t perfect but it looks great to me.

I’m no rivet counter either. If it looks right then it’s good enough for me.

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things like after market treads are ok if the box ones r wrong but… putting ‘WORKING’ metal ones on for the sake that they move well lets get on the floor and play with our model and roll it around

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GONE!

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Well, everyone has a “personal standard”, but in my mind it’s called :Taking pride in your work". YES, I would fiddle with a track to get it perfectly flat and straight.

I’ve gone through hell to fix some tracks, ad the end result was a model I was quite proud of. But that’s my admitted personal standard, which may be different from yours.

It would be nice to read some more serious responses.

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Although slogging it out in the trenches scratch building & toiling with AM goodies will add a considerable amount of time to a build. 2X - 4X longer than OOB is a good estimate.

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Thing with me is that I’m not sure what my personal standard is, and therefore whenever I try to do something extra I dont know if I’m doing too much or should stick to what I know…it just keeps going round and round and I never get anything done

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In that case, it probably comes down to what modeling does for you in terms of filling a need in your life.

For me, it’s a distraction, but more than that–it’s a lucrative hobby that I make money from by selling articles. So I can’t afford to have my standards be lax. No one is inspired by sloppy or unimpressive models. (Not saying yours are! [;)])

I am an artistically-minded person, so I take great care to try to produce something “artful”–and in that regard, it doesn’t really matter how long it takes. It’s all about the end result being impressive.

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Content removed

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Post edited upon request.

I"m just a happy doog. [:D]

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I photograph my projects really close. I will definitely notice things like out-of-scale thickness at that vantage point, and it will bug the heck outta me. I do what I can to keep it looking as real as possible, at that close range, to try to fool my own eye. If that means fiddling with tracks, using PE, or shaving a StuG fender down to card stock thickness, I find it worth it. The payoff is for me.

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Using THAT image to convey these words “To each his own”" is indeed tasteless and not even remotely clever.

Makes me wonder at what the person routinely considers ‘funny’ and whether I would routinely like their concept of humour.

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Guys, I had NO idea. I’ll get rid of it if I can. It was not to offend. I am so sorry. I just thought it said “to each his own” . It wasn’t meant to be funny to begin with. It wasn’t meant as humor. I thought it was clever. But now knowing what is is I am mortified! Please forgive me.

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I was on my way out and I turned back and felt compelled to say how embarrassed, sorrowfully and stupid I feel. I consider myself to be a fairly sensitive guy as you can see from my thread history. I can’t say enough how sorry I am. When I searched for the words that said “to each his own” this picture along with a few others popped up. I chose it thinking it was old and in German, not thinking it was what it was. Key word “not thinking”. I am mortified! Once again I’m sorry. I can’t seem to say it enough.

Scott

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You should be able to go back to the post, and click the options. and edit it… [Y] I think you did ok with the apology.

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Thanks. I edited it. It’s gone.