I was wondering,why do you build?I mean look at this at times and I get to wondering if we get side-tracked on way we started to build anyway.Why buy a kit and not build it due to inaccuratices.What is happening to build for the fun of it and to improve our skills.I see a lot of p.e. stuff in which I have nothing aganist.But what has happen to our imgainitions,our skills on scratch building and last but not least our skills in painting.These things show our artist skills as modelers.I got to reading one post with one guy out there worried about weather his kit is accurate or not,heck have fun and build.Build something that depicks what it was like and how it gereally looked.I know I am not the best but boy I do have fun building these things and thats is what it is all about.So have fun building and try doing some scratch building.You might be amazed at what you can do…Digger[C):-)]
My parents ask me this question ALL the time! and then they ask why I have over 2 grand in plastic against my one wall when I could be spending it on more important things (according to them) Well, I frequently tell them that I build for fun and that its a VERY addictive hobby, sorry I’m going a little off-track but anyways I mainly build for fun and try and improve and get better all the time but I’m starting to find myself overly concerned on accuracy issues and it just makes everything more stressful. I started telling myself that even the worst and most in-accurate kits built OOB can be award winners depending on how you paint and weather them and that has sort of become my philosophy.
Simple… I love Tanks,have since I was about 8yrs old.(1956) Aircraft require finishing skills I never had,Ships I like but too few available that I really like,(WWI) in a large scale. I served in USMC Tanks in the 70s,and still love 'em. Scratch-building has,I think,fallen out because of the wonderful asst. of kits and AM bits available…Theres just not much left!! And if one scratches something really unusual/breathtaking,betcha it will be marketed as a kit before he’s done!!! Mike
There was a time when I was in the straight-OOB camp…and over time I gradually shifted to the point where, depending on the kit and my building mood at the time, that I saw adding AM details like PE, resin, etc. as a way to enhance the final product and thereby enhance my enjoyment of the finished product. There’s a pervasive assumption out there that builders who elect to pursue accuracy or detailing with the use of AM as somehow having “less fun” than those who build OOB. The simple fact is that both types of building style are capable of producing enjoyment, it all depends on the builder and what their desired aim is for the end result.
I’ve seen finished works loaded down with every possible AM and PE option imaginable that turned out looking average…and some stellar works produced OOB or with scratch-building…it again boils down to the builder and their talents/desires. Some take great pride and satisfaction in super-detailing and not completing more than 1-2 models a year as a result. Others build rapidly and effectively and take equal pride and satisfaction in what they produce. The hobby has plenty of room in it for both ends of the spectrum and everything in between. [;)]
Now as to why I build armor…as a kid I used to build A/C and the occasional ship as well as a couple of armor here and there, but A/C was my main interest. When I came back to the hobby, I decided to try something new and ended up building armor due, primarily, to the fact that I could display them easier and the genre was just starting to explode with all the fantastic new kits and technology.
I too used to build the things with fans on them, and cars. But I build tanks because I can depict them new or old, clean or dirty. In other words, in a situation. Plus, tanks are cool. A local TV station ran a spot on a local guy that drives a Ferret on the street. Heaven.
I build OOB and conversions, with AM and some scratch-building. Kit-bashing is fun too.
A Exce;;ent question, when I sarted building models at only eight years old I thought they were more like preassemble toys, (I was a big fan of Lego, models and legos are similier) but at first I only bought aicraft and ships, but they always break (not as stong as lego) it took 5 years to figure that out and started thaking it more seriously. Just reasently i accomplish my first true model, now I see the rewards of modeling. But out of all the the types of model i’ve done (ships,planes and tanks) and tanks are the easiest and best of all for me.
When I was a little kid of 10 yrs or so I used to build model jets, ships, helicopters…anything that struck my fancy. No painting, forget the decals and glue blobs all over the place!! But I had fun. When I was 12 however my dad took me to a military base and they had 1/32 Monogram armor vehicles…the CLASSICS!! I thought they were so cool! One, the scale was much bigger than the tiny 1/72 jets or the 1/700 ships I had built before. Two, the figures were almost the same size as the plastic army men I loved!! Three, I could roll those tanks, halftracks and jeeps around and have my own battles…I loved it!! I’ve been hooked ever since…don’t have the slightest desire to do A/C anymore.
When I became a teen I found myself getting more and more frustrated with my armor building. I started seeing Shep Paine’s and Francois Verlinden’s amazing work as well as armor displayed at the LHS and wanted to build just like them, but didn’t have the tools, resources, time and even patience to do so. So I gave up the hobby at 17!! When I returned to modeling at 45, I had everything I needed to do it “right”. Almost immediately I went full bore and started superdetailing, buying AM parts, adding photoetch, weathering, washes, pastels, pigments, sheet styrene, etc., etc.!! After a while I noticed that the “fun factor” was gone. I sweated all the little details and worried that someone would notice every tiny error or inaccuracy. It had gotten to the point that I no longer enjoyed building because of a quest for perfection. So now my new goal is to build more OOB and not sweat the little things. The kit I’m working on now, Dragon’s Pz IV Ausf G “Kharkov” is a smart kit being built OOB. I’m having fun with it!
I credit my friend for getting me into armor modeling back when we were 10-11. I was an A/C and ship builder before then. He had this ugly painted Monogram Pz IV with a broken barrel, which made it look more like an F1 version. It was cool, especially when we teamed it up with his green army guys and HO trains. [(-D] We overnight became hooked and started buying only Monogram until later switching to Italeri and Tamiya. I should also point out that our fascination with WW II and particularly the Eastern Front, helped fuel our interest in armor.
As for me today, I’m primarily an OOB builder unless something inside the kit, like the lack of grills or poor track, causes me to replace it. I want to be accurate, but don’t obsess about it.
I think accuracy is important to most builders, but agree that it frustrates and side-tracks us in the process. I think some are afraid to build and post inaccurate builds for the fear of being ripped apart by the rivet counters. I try to point those glaring admissions in my post if I realize them myself to save the replier from wasting his time critiquing that area.
Having fun is what it’s all about, but accuracy shouldn’t slow us in the process and take away what the hobby gives us in return. [2c]
Why do I build armor models? As a little kid living overseas in the 70’s, I got to see a few tanks and APC’s in use during the more interesting moments of the democratic process. The sight and more importantly, the sound of these steel beasts was so exciting to me that it’s what I liked to build as an older kid (before my 20 year hiatus) and now. I got see older jet fighters when I was younger and the sound of one in a low pass is also impressive, but it didn’t/still doesn’t compare to the growl of a buttoned-up tank rolling down the street.
Someday, I’ll get the courage up to post some photos of the growing vehicle depot that is slowly taking over my computer room…but I hesitate to do so because the standards here are so high. You regulars really do have black magic mojo working to make a few ounces of polystyrene look like several tons of steel.[bow]
I like the 1/35 scale. Generally not too big and not too small.
I used to be primarily a ship builder, but the rigging process got to be too difficult for my hands. At least screwups on an armor model can be covered up, or at least toned down, with the weathering. Plus there seems to be a greater variety with armor. As long as it’s Tigers, Shermans and T34s!!! [(-D]
Long ago in a place far far away, I was a very competitive model rocket and space builder. Time passed and after college so did the models…Now move a quarter century forward, and the desire for a creative outlet reached its peak. Well, what did I know, what was I comfortable with? After 20 years as an Army officer in artillery it was easy!!!
I found my nitch with US WWII to present FA, AFV and support equipment (no tanks, sorry Rob). Also re-collected the space models of my past (but that’s for another post). I agree with Bill in that all the new kits and technology make it fun.
I’m not a “super scale” guy but like to be “close”. It’s more a matter of how the finished product looks. As my wife says “I know you feel good when you finish a kit if you have that look like you were back in uniform again”.
This old soldier keeps his memories every time he sits at the bench. That’s a good thing!!
It’s probably because my two most memorable modeling experiences as a kid have left lasting impressions that are very different:
Monogram circa 1976, Sherman 1:32 “Hedgehog”, sandbags, the works…LOVED IT. Me and my best friend spent several nights in his basement building our version of this tank. Same model, two buddies hanging out…great memory…I even tried “weathering” for the first time.
Corsair 1:32, not sure of kit manufacturer…my first model contest, had to hurry, frustrated…seams, sanding…loved the plane, still do, but the memories aren’t fond ones.
Tanks are massive, powerful and rule with shear brute force…they don’t steer around a building that just PLOW through it…way too cool!!! Depicting this is tons of fun! I build to get to the weathering, period!!!
Planes are elegant, streamline and powerful also*,* but they are just too finicky…way too much time to build, and don’t even get me started on the cockpits. I do need to try a plane sometime soon , maybe it’ll bring closure[(-D] to that negative memory…maybe I’ll do a 1:48 dio’ with a tank and plane in a gun dual…you know, “meet me at high noon” kind of thing…guess who’d I make the “last man standing”???
The power trip. Same reason I like modeling dinosaurs…they are huge and nasty. Tanks are just fun to build. Those diorama pamphlets that came out in the 70’s- of Shep’s work with tanks and afv’s spurred me to dry my hand at a lot of different things. Wish the newer kits came with such inspirational material.
A great point, SMJ, and after some thought, I just remembered that my own “first experience” with an F-15 Eagle was similar.
I spent a good week building and patiently airbrushing my first plane with all the correct colors and even weathering it with oils. I had carefully painted the cockpit details, and whenit came to the last step–that of applying the clear cockpit, the plastic fogged!
I didn’t know that CA glue would do that then, nor how to fix it, but it completely broke my heart, and I never built another plane after that!
I started building Tanks in 1/72 scale first and painting the little soldiers that were already molded in their poses. These I used with my HO train set. From there I started building the old 1/35 scale Tamiya kits as that was the pretty much all that my local hobby shop carried. I stopped building around 13 when I discovered girls were not annoying any more [:P] I returned to the hobby to the hobby about 14 years ago to relieve the stress of work. Some models I build OOB others I super detail. Like a 1/35 Tiger I that I have already sunk over $100- in and still need to buy some more PE for it.
As for scratch building I have built a PanzerJägerTriebwagen that was a vacu form kit so it is close to scratchbuilding. Now there is a resin kit of it that I had to buy. (it is a railcar mounting two Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H turrets. Here is my vacu form kit.
Next is almost a completscratch build except I used a DML Typ. Ommr railcar as the base for the kit and a Tamiya FlaKvierling. It is not finished, and now it is available in resin, so if any one wants a kit to be built by a manufacturer let me know and I will start to scratch build it. LOL Here is my Kanone Und FlaKwagen partially built.
