AFV Club’s M42A1 “Duster” Late Type 1:35 - by “Art Instructor”:
This is from my latest page:
http://www.falconbbs.com/model65a.htm
Comments and suggestions are welcome!
At first glance it looks really nice. But a closer look reveals some points. The weathering looks very impressive- however it is not consistent. Those spare barrels should be as dirty as the water can stowed behind them. As should be the pioneer tools and tow cables. Those items do not match the surrounding areas. And just looking at a few photos of the real thing to make sure it was not supposed to be that way, but both side fenders and all the stuff mounted on them are canted down and out. Basic alignment was not checked there.
Standarad data on his mediocre, purchases. They look good at 6 feet, but once you get up close, they are mediocre at best with all sorts of issues.
Dang Model Maniac who the heck did you piss off?[:P] would have like to have seen it.
Clay
6ft. @1/35 scale = 2.06 inchs; so that means they look good pretty close up, as you have said.
Don’t get mad just kidding [:D]
good looken build Model Maniac [Y]
Clay
You mean, “Good looking purchase.” He doesn’t build any of them. Just buys them built then comes here to show them off and expects everyone to go nuts over them.
WHAT??? NO SH%^?? NO WAY.[blkeye]
Clay
Yup, every single model he posts across the various forums here are built by others and bought/paid for by our good Model Maniac. None are his own builds. He is simply a collector.
Way! Clay.
OMG THAT’S NOT RIGHT. i always thought they where his. man that’s been for a long time. YIKES “show what you build”!! . we do you can too man i’ve looked at his stuff for YEARS[:O] thanks for letting me know guys
Clay
But, to his credit, he does identify (sort of, anyway) the actual builder in his post. This one was built by a guy he calls Art Instructor.
But i thnik there is a bit more to it than that. Personally, i am not bothered that he doesn’t build them himself. I don’t get it, building is part of the fun of it. But, as sub points out, MM has never claimed to build them.
But there are a couple of other things that have meant some, myself included, have stopped commenting on the builds that MM show’s. And some of those that do comment go out of their way to find the negatives.
I like looking at models no matter who builds them!.
It’s true he pays some one else but he has never claimed to have built them himself and for a long time his main builder has been ‘Art Instructor’
As ‘Art Instructor’ is paid he is therefore a professional builder, perhaps that is why the builds are looked at more critically.
He builds a lot better than I can and I have no problem with anyone who pays to have his models built…cheers…Kenny
Hello!
Look at the crewman - I think it’s a Bravo 6 figure. He’s just holding his hands kinda funny… That AFV Club model sure is nice, and such an improvement over the old kits! Model Maniac, congratulations on further enlarging your ever-growing collection. Have a nice day, everybody
Paweł
stikpusher - thanks for your comments. For you and some other people there may be a lot to be desired. But for me this is OK. I belived AI has tried his best, I don’t desire anything more.
Clay - I’ve been here for 10 years. You said you’ve looked at my stuff for YEARS, I think you just
looked but didn’t read. Over the years I’ve never claimed to build any, and I’ve always given credit
to the builder in EACH and EVERY posts that I’ve made - as subfixer, Bish and spacepacker kindly
hinted above in their own words. I think most everybody know who build models for me. There’s
just a guy here who keeps yelling and telling others that I don’t build them myself. I don’t know what for.
spacepacker and Pawel - I can’t thank you enough for your kind comments and understandings.
You can rest assured that newer and better kits will still be built and shown on my site and on here
for the years to come.
You all know, I sort of remember a discussion of Model Maniac using paid pros to build his models. As I remember, Art Instructor has to really jam on these builds to get them done to make enough $$$ on the deal to live on. I seem to vaguely remember that if he was paid more, he could take the time to do a really rad job on each model he does. I remember at the time, AI was criticized for not taking more time on a model where he got a red reflector a little off with a bit of red on the od ring around it, and this point came up.
I think AI and MM’s other paid modelers could do better work if they could take the extra time, which would mean paying them more so they did not have to jam like crazy to get the models done so they could make a living.
But, as MM has noted, “I belived AI has tried his best, I don’t desire anything more.”
Still, jammed or not, I think overall AI has a lot of talent, and some of his dust effects really get me.
For the record in the time I have been here, I have always seen MM identify the people who made the models, and never felt he tried to pass them off as his own making.
Nice, succinct, clarifying answer . 
So that should bring this “discussion” to a close.
In my many years on your planet I have noticed you can never please everyone, there is always some that will raise an alarm, even it is only to practice raising the alarm. 
The important thing is if I can pick up an idea from pictures of a quality model I do not really care who builds the thing.
George