How much detailing?

Do you detail part that will never be seen once the model is finished? And why?

Barry

I build two kinds of model. All out detailed, anything I can wether its seen or not (i.e. the TS020 I'm doing now) and box stock. Mostley I do box stock, so it looks good in a display. But for a car that really inspires me I'll go the extra mile or two!

Never !!!

The Body is the most important detail, then the chassis, then the interior.......as far as the eye can see !!!
I mean... who's gonna take the car apart bit-by-bit examening the detail !!!
Oh.......if youv'e an engine with the kit then that's another story.......it's got to be spot on with detail...........

Later, Mike.

I always put in all the details that I can into a model. I'm not very good, but the only way to get better is to practice. I don't really see the point in building a model, if you don't put your effort into it.

It depends on how much I like the model; If there's an engine then I'll go the extra mile. I'll do what I can on a curbside as well if I'm quite fond of the subject.

I strive for accuracy rather than all out detail. Even the great race car model builder Drew Hierwater, who wrote the Bench Racer column for Scale Auto Enthusiast once said "Detailing what can't be seen is only a headache in the making."

Ignition wires, fuel and brake lines, seat belts, and those sorts of things I add sparingly, and I don't add them unless they'll truly add to the appearance of a model and I can confirm that they're accurate.

And frequently, when I'm building a wild custom, I won't even bother.

I don't really see the point in building a model, if you don't put your effort into it.
:iagree: like tonioseven's sig "build for yourself..."

my teacher says to always look at the extreme case...
you say that no one will ever see the part, so would you still build the model if no one would ever see anything you modelled? see using that argument that no one will see the part, why model at all? why should tamiya and other model companies even build a chasis? a sheet of styrene should work since no one will see it in a display case.

get my point?

and i think i speak for eveyone when i say we have lives.

the day I started to do part individually (detail on every part even if you don't see it) is the day my model started to look better.
I always made the most I can on a model
after all, the price you pay for a model, you don't want to make it in 3 days !

the day I started to do part individually (detail on every part even if you don't see it) is the day my model started to look better.
I always made the most I can on a model
after all, the price you pay for a model, you don't want to make it in 3 days !

i agree

i have no life.... :iceslolan

Yep, it seems to always go back to that "build for yourself" bit. Even if no one else can see it, even if I can't see it after completion, I try to detail it. I don't have any friends that model, so if they check out my models they won't notice 90% of the detail work I did; they won't notice igniton wires, detailed batter, carbon fiber decal, photo-etch details... Even my close friends that humor me and see how long that car sat on my bench and how much time and work went into it don't really get it. But I don't care, I build for myself. If the undercarriage isn't painted correctly, I'll know. If I don't paint the backs of the brake rotors, I'll know. If I leave out the pedals under the dash, or don't paint the suspension springs or leave out this or that I'll know, and I won't be happy. I want to be happy, and what makes me happy is the model being as close to the 1:1 as my skills can afford, and that includes detailing everything, visible or hidden.

And it doesn't cause me to not have a life, it just delays completion by a month or two.

Do you detail part that will never be seen once the model is finished? And why?

Barry

Am I reading this question right? Do I build detail into a car that can't be seen after completion?

Huh? :confused: Of course not! Why??!!

I admit I don't get much pleasure out of knowing that there's some little secret scratchbuilt thingy buried inside a model I've done, that no one else, myself included, will ever see again.

Hell no! I don't put pistons and a crankshaft into a 1/24 V8, unless I want to display the engine disassembled- I don't make tiny gears for the inside of transmissions or differentials. I don't detail the topside of the engine of a car I'm building curbside. Now the underside is a different matter- I frequently pour as much effort and detail (often more!) into the underside as I do on the bodywork- correcting exahusts, scratchbuilding brake components (you can see 'em when you take the wheels off!), adding brake lines, etc! Interiors, I want the car to look like you could get in and drive it- cars look silly without seatbelts! And full engine kits take me months (and months...!) I put in every detail I can. But add a battery and master brake cyllinder or turbo impellors to the Tamiya GT2 I just started? No, there are just too many kits I want to build in my lifetime.

Of course modeling is something you should do for yourself (unless someone else is paying you to do it for them- then I do whatever they ask/pay for). But modeling is a visual art. If you can't see it, does it matter if it's there? If you were to paint a mural, would you paint a gorgeous picture of your favorite car, and then paint a bowl of fruit over top of it? When people say, hey that's a great painting, would you shake your head and answer, yeah, but you should have seen what's painted under it?

(...) I don't have any friends that model, so if they check out my models they won't notice 90% of the detail work I did; they won't notice igniton wires, detailed batter, carbon fiber decal, photo-etch details...(...) But I don't care, I build for myself. If the undercarriage isn't painted correctly, I'll know. If I don't paint the backs of the brake rotors, I'll know. If I leave out the pedals under the dash, or don't paint the suspension springs or leave out this or that I'll know, and I won't be happy. I want to be happy, and what makes me happy is the model being as close to the 1:1 as my skills can afford, and that includes detailing everything, visible or hidden.(...)

That's pretty much what I think. I got in this hobby after I joined AF and after seeing all these great models and modellers, I detail everything I can, when I can, i. e., I try my best. I think that's what modelling is all about. Imagine this: you're on a no-speed-limit and no traffic highway and no-limit-speed car. Why travel @ 55 mph when you can go as fast as you desire?
Get it?
Sorry if this sounds weird, I'm having final exams so I'm a little "off" :D

Well, sometimes it's hard to tell what is going to show till the kit is completed. I do look carefully at areas that might show when I test fit a kit and make sure that everything that shows gets painted. Than there's ejector pin marks, sometimes they end up showing where you thought they would'nt.
I spend more time adding things that the kit makers leave out. Things that do show.
:p

after all, the price you pay for a model, you don't want to make it in 3 days !
so fuckin right ! exactly the way i think ;)

Well like Tonio Seven states so elquontly in his sig. "Build for yourself; Noone else matters!!!"

I like detailing as much as I can and if I do go overboard, then I just apply the above logic and it's all good.

Vric makes a very valid point about the cost:time factor. Just about any model can be done in 3 days and then what do you do? 120 models a year? YIKES! @ $15.00 a pop on the shortside = $1800. buck not counting taxes and supplies, you can't drive any of them. And because one took 3 days per model, there ain't ONE that you could show off to anyone.

There can be some headaches doing parts that you will never see. One could very well open up a nasty can of worms. But most of the time I feel like williamo, Emaxx and others. I like to do the detailing.

Virc just so you know, I started back modeling after 30+ years a couple months ago. I've only finished 1 model. 1 model has taken me 130 hours. I'm almost done with her :) and I have just started a new project (body is painted, compounded and polished.) <insert big thanks to PMan How to...here>

To anyone that misread the "don't have a life" line. It was a joke, ya know, humour? ah nevermind, if I have to explain it, you still wouldn't understand.

Thanks to ALL that replied. It was fun and interesting to find out how people feel.

J. Barry

I will add as much detail as i can to try and make the kit stand out a wee bit more then normal.
Mostly i try and do the basic's as best as possible like paint, seem lines, trim etc as this is what people will notice most when looking at a kit.