Whatever Happened TO...

[86_SR5]

..just building a model right from the box? No custom paint jobs. No decals, or GT Wings. No big rims and tires. No realism in extent, like carpeted floors, and plushed seats. No computer made decals for gauges? Whatever happened to the days when you could buy a model, a can of red and flat black paint, glue the entire body together, paint it red...glue and paint the whole interior flat black, and do your pedals and/or shift knob in silver or red? Where did those days go?

Well, I'll tell you this, I know someone who doesn't believe in all this realism BS. A good freind of mine Adam. When he buys a model, it may not be realistic when done, i.e.: no masked painted window trim and rubbers, no panel lines, everything the color of the body. He doesn't use primer or clear, and probably has paint look as good, if not better than P-man. Yes, it is possible. Adam, he doesn't put alot of effort in making his models realistic, he says because, if he did, it'd make him want to go drive it that much more. (considering his D.D. is a 87 Ford LTD! )

So, this post is really asking, where'd the days go when you could just slap paint on the body, flat on the interior, and glue the thing together and sit it on your shelf? I know he does it. And, his models are odd, ex: 66 dodge 330 grama car, but under the hood & chassis is a supercharged viper motor. He doesn't bother with accents and the like, and I just want to say, I respect him for that.

Mind you, all you masters are great. He likes the work you do, but he like me, likes our own work best! Because we built it, and that says something. So, maybe this was a waste of time, maybe I'm just doing this, because the cable's out.

But, I just wanted to let you all know of a modeller who does it the old fashioned way, like back in the day. When Tamiya didn't make R34's, SAS didn't exist, no one cared about details, if you had the newest Revell, Monogram, or AMT, built or on it's way to being done, it was still cool.

[jgmodelcars]

We salute you box stock, low detail builder!

sorry had to steal that from the budweiser adds.

Anyway, i still do the old way sometimes! I am with the camaro im building, well mostly aside from the clear coat, sanded tires n such. Hmm maybe im not. Well I know people that do! I think its cool though not every car has to be some overly detailed work of art.

So tell Adam to keep it up!

[ywwong]

i am still building box stock.. i don't know.. i dont have the skills to customize the model

[willimo]

They aren't gone. Not at all. I don't know about others, but I do that from time to time. Well, I guess not box stock with two cans of paint... but I certainly build low detail or simple models. I usually build them about halfway through a more complex one. Like the Hilux I built during my S2000 build. It's often nice to take a break from the hard work, and do something simple. And when a model drags on, I just gotta have that completed model satisfaction, so instead of rushing the good one, I put it on the shelf for a weekend and shake another box. and back at the dorms, I would do a couple simple ones a semester, just to burn off steam. Box stock days aren't dead. They're more like... weekends during our hectic model-building work week.

[jgmodelcars]

Originally Posted by willimo

They aren't gone. Not at all. I don't know about others, but I do that from time to time. Well, I guess not box stock with two cans of paint... but I certainly build low detail or simple models. I usually build them about halfway through a more complex one. Like the Hilux I built during my S2000 build. It's often nice to take a break from the hard work, and do something simple. And when a model drags on, I just gotta have that completed model satisfaction, so instead of rushing the good one, I put it on the shelf for a weekend and shake another box. and back at the dorms, I would do a couple simple ones a semester, just to burn off steam. Box stock days aren't dead. They're more like... weekends during our hectic model-building work week.

couldn't have been more well put!

[Layla's Keeper]

The push for realistic models began in the late 70's, coinciding with the publication of the first issue of Scale Auto Enthusiast.

Car modeling, unfortunately, is not as respected a hobby as model railroading, model ships, or even model aircraft. Model railroading, ship building, and model airplanes have for the longest time been about historical representation in scale. To recreate something real in miniature is the focus of these hobbies, and thus the people who take part in them are looked at almost as historians especially as these hobbies focus on bygone eras.

Also, as the emphasis in these hobbies is in realism and accuracy, the materials involved have evolved along those lines. Kits of aircraft, ships, and trains are REVILED if they don't acurately represent a 1:1 prototype. In fact, I have seen Model Railroader condemn certain prepainted boxcars because the serial numbers on the dataplates didn't correspond to actual boxcars of that type, and that was a 1987 issue.

However, throughout the 60's, car modeling was a children's hobby that focused on wild customizing and wacky concepts. Kits like the Monogram Tom Daniels line, Revell Ed Roth Finks, and MPC Monster Rods, as well as shows like Ghoulardi's Shock Theater (a Cleveland hero whom kids could send models to for him to blow up on the air) further added to the "kiddy" image of model cars.

Scale Auto Enthusiast was formed to chronicle the push amongst adult model builders to get the respect and recognition of other sects of the hobby, especially considering model car builders were the biggest slice of the modeling pie for the kit companies. The push was to get away from the Groovy Grader and Hard Hat Hauler, and more towards kits with modern engineering, accurate bodies, and detailed engine and interiors. The demand for detail and accuracy found its voice with SAE, and the model car aftermarket's birth was almost simultaneous to SAE's debut, with companies like Mark Gustavson's Putty Thrower introducing photoetch and All American Models (Mike Watgen's company, I think) doing two piece mold resin bodies.

Just as the builders were calling on the manufacturers to create kits with higher detail levels and better accuracy and forming the aftermarket, they were creating better building techniques and better tools and materials. Polishing kits, bare metal foil, metalizers, improved acrylic and lacquer paints, flexi-files, Exacto's broadened blade selection, shaped styrene for scratchbuilding, modern liquid cements (Tenax and Ambroid Pro Weld in particular) and homemade decal kits have made building an excellent model much easier. As such, standards have risen at just about every contest across the board. No longer do builders have to rely on thread for ignition wires or index cards for body panels. The tools and materials to make even a box stock build-up look classy and realistic are now plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to use. Old guffaws like orange peel, runs, glue spots, fogged windows, scratched "glass", silver painted "chrome", mold lines, and nubs where the parts connected to the tree are now expected to be dealt with.

There are still box stock classes at model contests, and these are frequently very popular, but if a certain level of finish isn't attained the model doesn't stand a chance of winning. Look at some of P-man's box stock build-ups. Clean building is encouraged, nay demanded.

Creativity and originality are still respected and admired in the hobby, but now there is no excuse for a roughly finished model. I find, more often than not, that the people who build rough models hide behind creativity as an excuse, while the people who build the best models are often the most creative. Have you ever seen Roger Yu's F1 2050 diorama? What about Mike Hansen's phantom Smokey Yunick Winston Cup Monte Carlo, built with all of Smokey's characteristic "legal" aero tricks?

Creativity is alive and well, it's just accompanied by detail, accuracy, and high levels of finish.

[Ferrari TR]

Most models are built just like that.
I showed some of my models to some young adults (21 ish) and many told me they had built in their youth, but had never built finished detailed models.

I've tried to build a simple kit in a long weekend but I just can't do it.
For me it is all about the journey not the destination...

[labandabonnot]

Just my point of view...
For some people, like me, kits are a little bit expensive. If they were less, and if there were a larger choice of models (and not always the same Ferrari-Skyline-Muscles models...), mabye I would make much models, completely out of the box.
But, as kits are "precious" things for me, I prefer to take time (months, years...) to make them and put a little extra work on it (taking time to improve myself too!).

Ferrari TR:
"For me it is all about the journey not the destination..."

That's my point of view too! It's a way to make yours something you love (or like), not by owning it, but by having a story with it...
The same as girlfriends, in a way... Is it more important to have had lots of "week-end girlfriends" or to have only one true love story with one girl?
There's no easy answer to that question, lots of ways between the two, so that every choice can be respected. (?)

Should someone open a meeting-thread specialy for fast-built kits?

[gasman03]

its been years since I've done a box stock outa the box build. I've always tried to improve an kit by wiring engines and stuff like that.

[freakray]

I build them straight out the box occasionally, just for a change of pace.

I still prime them though and I still paint window trim, but the model is still built right out the box with nothing added.

Box stock can be as much fun as anything super-detailed, it's all about how you perceive it.

[SonyMobile]

That is what I used to do, and I respect that, I only ever used 3 colors, a gloss for the body, gloss for the interior , and silver for everything else I think this is a great thing, but i find, when I only use 2-3 colors I can build a model in less that a day, which is not something that I enjoy, I like the fact that now, I no better, when glue is drying, you dont keep adding more to it!, I have found that modeling has introduced new skills to me, and more patience, and I like the little details,

But thats just me, also living in Canada, getting anything other then AMT, or Revell, costs me a fortune! so I like to make it look good,

I think that this is cool, a true hobby-ist (dont no how to spell that correctly) He likes to build it the way he builds and and it looks good when he builds it, and he builds to please himself, no one else, I can honestly say, I wish I was like that.

[EMAXX]

I actually like box stock most of the time. I'm not as "lazy" as your friend Adam though. I put primer on and detail a little bit, but I personally don't really like all the body kits, and stuff like that. Some of them look really good, but I don't think I'd build to many like that.

[MPWR]

[quote=86_SR5]..just building a model right from the box? No custom paint jobs. No decals, or GT Wings. No big rims and tires. No realism in extent, like carpeted floors, and plushed seats. No computer made decals for gauges? Whatever happened to the days when you could buy a model, a can of red and flat black paint, glue the entire body together, paint it red...glue and paint the whole interior flat black, and do your pedals and/or shift knob in silver or red? Where did those days go?

Well, I'll tell you this, I know someone who doesn't believe in all this realism BS.


What do you mean, "whatever happened to the days you could build box stock?"??? Guess what- you still can! Get a kit, and build it box stock, paint it with two or three colors with an old Testor's brush, use tube glue even- and see if anyone stops you! Do you feel some kind of pressure to conform, and to build your model like most people posting here do? Then you're totally missing the point of modeling!!! Once again, all together now-

BUILD FOR YOURSELF. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. Got it?

If you want to build box stock, THEN DO IT! If you want to bother with that "realism BS", THEN DO IT! Have you ever seen anyone ridiculed or turned away here because "dude, your model doesn't have photoetch an' phat rims an' CF decals"? I haven't!

The one constant that hasn't changed, and never should, is that most people building models have always and still do build the best that they can. The only thing that matters is your own definition of your best.

Most of us started building box stock. Then, as skills improve, many of us felt they would be more satisfied by doing more than box stock. Alot of model builders get a large amount of satisfaction by creating a model that is a nealy perfect replica of a real vehicle- but if you get more satisfaction from following the kit instructions perfectly, then build it that way! Build it like a custom car enthusiast, or build like a professional graphics artist, or build like you did when you were 7- just do it whatever way you most enjoy.

And then, when you share, be prepared to appreciate what others enjoy.

[86_SR5]

I think that MP, you took this the wrong way. In a way I did that post, just to shed a little light on how models are still being built. By that, I meant with all the realism you see on the board, it's a fresh change to see models built in a week, and painted your basic colors. Honestly, I love everyones work here, if it needs improvement, I don't judge, because I still can't get the hang of window trims(inside window) and the rubbers.

I guess I just don't see alot of the basic low detailed stuff. Built just because you like the vehicle. That's the main reason I made the post. Just to let you know, because most you see is super duper expy alodociuos detailed cars here, that there are still people that do that. Thanks for your input everyone, I'll forward the thread link to adam, and see what he thinks. Funny, no one commented on his 87 Ltd brown n' rusty ford.

[BaNe]

I a building a box stock shelby series one right now.