You will never stop “figuring out how to strategize model instructions….” I myself have returned to modelling after a "break of some 60 years, and so far I’ve only completed one model, with a second nearly complete, and a third on the bench. Does it get easier? It does, but it never “gets easy,” nor would you want it to. If you wanted it to be easy, you’d buy pre-painted, snap-together models and be done with it.
Every model’s instructions seem to be incomplete and confusing. So far, every set of instructions for my three models have proved to be confusing and downright incorrect. You will probably enjoy several “What the heck?” moments with every model you build. They’ll be offset, hopefully, by the same number of “Ah ha!” moments.
Each of the three models I have worked on (as an adult) came with parts that aren’t mentioned in the instructions or are shown incorrectly placed. The model I started a couple of weeks ago (an Academy F-86F Sabrejet) doesn’t some include cockpit parts that are shown in the instructions; instead, those parts are moulded in to the "cockpit tub,” which is not correctly illustrated. My Airfix HP.52 Hampden bomber came with a pilot who couldn’t sit in his seat because his right leg was too long and flexed too much. I briefly reverted to my Navy medical training and amputated his leg above the knee.
Every model I’ve built has included parts that are impossibly small and fragile. While I was working on my first model (a Beech T-34B Mentor trainer), I accidentally launched a transparent landing light cover at high velocity from my tweezers. The cover disappeared into a Modellers’ Twilight Zone, never to be seen again. I had to ask the company (Minicraft) for a replacement, which they readily supplied. I have yet to figure out how to hold and attach tiny parts without losing them.
I’ve broken small parts and decided to make my own, more-robust replacements from sprue material. I’ve used Testor’s Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker to make perfectly acceptable navigation and landing lights.
Then there are details that you decide to add to make a particular model. I’ve used brass tubes and wire to make antennae, black sewing thread to make static wicks, and my own ink jet decals to simulate markings on actual aircraft, like the T-34 I crashed in when I was 19.
In addition, you might decide to “weather” your models to make them appear more realistic with make-believe mud spatters, nicks, scrapes, cracks, dust, rust, combat damage, exhaust stains, etc. Weathering is no walk in the park for beginners, but I managed to “spruce down” my Hampden bomber to make it look like it’s perhaps had a few missions over Nazi Germany. At least it doesn’t look it just rolled off the assembly line.
May there be many happy model-building hours in your future.
Bob Ingraham
Vancouver
Definitely learned that thinner is my friend, lower air pressure is best when possible and the importance of keeping your airbrush clean. Still figuring out how to strategize model instructions and when to paint parts and when to assemble. Does it get easier with practice? It was a great learning exercise and i am certain my next will be better from my mistakes and successes.