Just curious what you all think about..........

....over building models. What I mean is spending 43 hours on an engine only to hide it. I know we all do it, but do any of you ever think, "Why am I doing this only to hide it?". May be a lame post, but I was just thinking about it as I stare at my CS. Why should I put so much into it only to hide it?! Sure we all are at different levels of skill, but why not spend 43 hours on the body cause it shows?! If it is posted and or pictures are taken then we can always see it. But in the end, all we can really see is the complete body and most of the time, only 50% engine. Just wondering what you all think.

I know how we all build is a personal expression. What we build is what we want to build and that is what counts.

I have no qualms with detailing parts that are going to be hidden. That said, I often renege on ambitious suspension plans. I mostly build because it's fun, and I have fun adding details I know are there, even if no one will see them. I also have fun saying stuff like, "If you look waaay down in there, you can see..." to my friends, so, I guess that's part of it, too.

What I don't necessarily like are builds that go crazy. I love the skill, the effort, and in the end, love the ridiculous degree people go to with their miniaturization, but I often feel that models can easily go from pleasantly detailed and well thought at as a whole, to just a pile of details that neglects the whole. When we see a beautiful forest, we are aware that there are leaves, and may see many leaves individually, but we don't have to see the veins in each leave to appreciate the beauty of the forest; indeed, if we did see the veins in each leaf, we may not find the forest so beautiful after all.

That said, everyone tends to build not only what they want, but how they want. I'll build some things that are hidden, but neglect others. I'll spend tons of time scratchbuilding one part, and scavenge another from different kit. No matter what we do (with some exceptions), not everything we build will be visible, and not everything that's visible will be just as we'd like. But that's the challenge, if not the joy, of model building.

Dang, Will should be a poet! :sunglasse

Dang, Will should be a poet! :sunglasse

That was very eloquent, lol.

Dang, Will should be a poet! :sunglasse
Took the words right outta my mouth.. :lol:

Willimo Shakespeare strikes again :D

Whoever said that building scale models is a rational and objective hobby?
It's 110% irrationally subjective in my opinion - just the way a good hobby should be ;)

I partly think it´s this forum thta makes us do things like this. In my case all the other builds by certain people make want to me improve my builds and my techniques....This leads me to C7F-decal parts that will only be seen with the hood open and the model turned upside down - which is a very unusual way to display a model. So thanks guys...

It's 110% irrationally subjective in my opinion - just they way a good hobby should be ;)
That's going over my desk. :grinyes:
And very nicely said, Will.

That's going over my desk. :grinyes:
Correct the spelling mistake first, though! ;)

Curbsides rule!:grinyes:

Sure we all are at different levels of skill, but why not spend 43 hours on the body cause it shows?!

The correct answer is: Spend 43 hours on the engine, and then spend 43 hours on the body too!


At the end of the day you build for yourself. If you enjoy spending 43 hours superdetailing an engine, then spend 43 hours superdetailing it.

I wish I spent 43 hours in the CS engine, also 'cos I done twice. This is becouse I don't count time spent :D so I can't blame myself :D

BTW, Sir Willimo, ravishing bucolic eyesight you give us, just to make me about your business, there was a cool princess in the story?

(and for cool I intend attractive, not almost passed like SnowWhite after the apple ROFL)

Enzoenvy: you need holidays LOL

I wish I spent 43 hours in the CS engine, also 'cos I done twice. This is becouse I don't count time spent :D so I can't blame myself :D

BTW, Sir Willimo, ravishing bucolic eyesight you give us, just to make me about your business, there was a cool princess in the story?

(and for cool I intend attractive, not almost passed like SnowWhite after the apple ROFL)

Enzoenvy: you need holidays LOL

For anyone else wondering, I looked up bucolic and it means:

bu·col·ic
1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.
2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.
–noun
3. a pastoral poem.
4. Archaic. a farmer; shepherd; rustic.


gionc - so cool (I don't intend attractive!) that you can take part in this forum. What is your first language?

gionc - so cool (I don't intend attractive!) that you can take part in this forum. What is your first language?
Canadian, of course. :evillol:

Curbsides rule!:grinyes:

You can say that again :lol:

I put as little detail as possible in places I'll either rarely or will never see once it's built, and spending extra time on parts that can be easily seen (body/interior/rolling stock).

Do you know why? :lol: (inside joke w/Veyron)

Probably due to the guilt/embarrassment of 1000+ projects (of which maybe 200 are really worth it) staring me into the face every time I visit the basement workshop saying "build meeeeeeeee...build meeeeeee....BUILD MEEEEEEEEEE" :banghead: :lol:

Canadian, of course. :evillol:

Yep Canadian from the giant italian side of Canada :D

DSM Mark, never heard something called "classic music"? yep is something strange, zory. Anyway, I promise: I'll try to improove my cool crappy english as soon as you'll improove your Italian's Canadian :D :evillol:

gionc - What is your first language?
Italforumish :D

Have you been watching "Hard Shine"?
Jimmy Shine ( I think that's his name) has made some points along those lines.
Scratch building a part in a business where time is money, and over finishing a part that doesn't show.

I have no problems over building kits, it's just fun building and killing time.

I more curious about the guys who stash more kits than the hobby shops. LOL

I have no problems over building kits, it's just fun building and killing time.

i have no problem either!

I more curious about the guys who stash more kits than the hobby shops. LOL

thats cause we see a model we would like to build one day so we get it now and that pile keeps getting bigger and bigger cause its either we get it now or we wait and pay twice the money down the road on ebay!

I more curious about the guys who stash more kits than the hobby shops. LOL

That's cause we know we'll eventually be 200 years old; lotsa time and lotsa modelbuilding.

That's cause we know we'll eventually be 200 years old; lotsa time and lotsa modelbuilding.
Actually I need much more :D

But if I remember well here in the AF we have some deathless: I mean one with more than 2000 kits in the stash and 100s resins...

Guys the problem is that we collect kits for our pension but aged have shaking hands and they're blind and they need to go the WC at 50% of a wetcoat, well I guess me and few other will say you soon :D at least I'll become reach selling the stash LOL

Wow, this has gotten interesting to say the least?! I never knew that there was an Italian side to Canada as well as French influence?! What you can learn on an internet forum.

I need to find the pic someone posted on hyperscale. His stash was like warehouse proportions. :lol:

In my opinion, a model car is supposed to be a scaled-down representation of a real vehicle. If the model is lacking in detail, then it fails to fulfill that definition and I don't consider it a true "model."
That said, I would never detail something that will be completely invisible, such as: Dashboard wiring, things under the seats, the trunk interior (if the trunk doesn't open), engine mechanicals (like the crankshaft), or the wiring inside the fenders and interior.
However, would I spend an hour making a brushed aluminum drilled gas pedal that won't be visible under the dashboard once the kit is assembled? Absolutely, because it looks cool.
Do I add wiring and plumbing to the engine even if it's really hard to see? Yes.
Would I spend two years making the body paint come out just right? Of course, because it's highly visible. But visible or not, I think a model should be detailed thoroughly.
Of course, I don't stray beyond my skill level; at the current moment, I will not make working doors because I can't seem to make functional hinges. I save time that way. I have opened a few trunks, and gotten lucky a couple of times with hinges, but I even avoid that sort of thing.
I guess it also comes down to having the reference material, and here is a good example of what I mean: Building a Corvette C5 Z06, I managed to get a picture of a cut-away display car that showed the fuel and brake lines, which are routed along the torque tube connecting the front-mounted engine and rear-mounted tranny. Although a panel and then the exhaust system covers this tube once the car is assembled, I carefully bent all those lines to just the right shape, added retaining clips, and painted them. Why? Because that was one of the very few times that I have had a picture of fuel and brake lines; I normally can't get reference for those, and on many cars they are highly visible. So I just had to take the opportunity. And of course, the pictures I have of the engine out of the car show this--and WIP pictures are a good reason to detail a bit "too much."

Just my 2+ cents.

Alex

In my opinion, a model car is supposed to be a scaled-down representation of a real vehicle. If the model is lacking in detail, then it fails to fulfill that definition and I don't consider it a true "model."
That said, I would never detail something that will be completely invisible, such as: Dashboard wiring, things under the seats, the trunk interior (if the trunk doesn't open), engine mechanicals (like the crankshaft), or the wiring inside the fenders and interior.
However, would I spend an hour making a brushed aluminum drilled gas pedal that won't be visible under the dashboard once the kit is assembled? Absolutely, because it looks cool.
Do I add wiring and plumbing to the engine even if it's really hard to see? Yes.
Would I spend two years making the body paint come out just right? Of course, because it's highly visible. But visible or not, I think a model should be detailed thoroughly.
Of course, I don't stray beyond my skill level; at the current moment, I will not make working doors because I can't seem to make functional hinges. I save time that way. I have opened a few trunks, and gotten lucky a couple of times with hinges, but I even avoid that sort of thing.
I guess it also comes down to having the reference material, and here is a good example of what I mean: Building a Corvette C5 Z06, I managed to get a picture of a cut-away display car that showed the fuel and brake lines, which are routed along the torque tube connecting the front-mounted engine and rear-mounted tranny. Although a panel and then the exhaust system covers this tube once the car is assembled, I carefully bent all those lines to just the right shape, added retaining clips, and painted them. Why? Because that was one of the very few times that I have had a picture of fuel and brake lines; I normally can't get reference for those, and on many cars they are highly visible. So I just had to take the opportunity. And of course, the pictures I have of the engine out of the car show this--and WIP pictures are a good reason to detail a bit "too much."

Just my 2+ cents.

Alex

That is exactly why my wips show everything. You all may not want to see it all now, but in 5 years I can look back at what I did and remember it all.

:sunglasse

I just have to feel as though I put my best effort into each aspect of the model. The level of detail that reflects changes with each model I build (for example, it would be silly to superdetail the chassis of a Fujimi "motorized" curbside :p).

OT: I'm glad somebody else wants to post about the philosophies of building 1/24 cars!

OT: I'm glad somebody else wants to post about the philosophies of building 1/24 cars!

I am learning Grasshopper, I am learning. lol