I could spend all day browsing this forum :smiling2:
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That's the problem, so much 'research', so little building.Comment
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That’s just a normal part of the progression of AMS (Advanced Modeller Syndrome): at first the patient just build what’s in the box, paints it as directed, sticks the kit decals on, done — he then moves on to the next kit at the same speed. Slowly but surely, as AMS starts taking hold, he will be spending longer on a model because he will start looking into how it was actually done/used in the real world and trying to make his models more like that. The disease usually progresses to a stage where the patient spends ever more time poring over photographs, histories, forums and other sources, as well as thinking about how to replicate certain details that still aren’t clear to him despite all this research, and not actually building them until they are. The final stage of the affliction results in not building anything anymore in a fruitless search for information to make the model absolutely perfect in every last detail.Comment
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Well put @Jakko. I don't like to go off half cocked. As said, 45 years is a long time away from the world of plastic!! A lot has changed, products, materials, glues and paints!! When I last picked up a model in the early 70 - what was an airbrush?
I'll continue reading, sifting what methods, products and what I actually want from the hobby.
Until then, long live plastic!!!Comment
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Been down the AMS wormhole myself. It ended up with me being very disillusioned with the results I could get and then quitting the hobby for a good while because no matter what I made, or what effort I put in, I simply wasn’t happy with the models that resulted. When I came back into modelling about ten years ago I decided to change genres, forgo all that angst and just enjoy what I do.
There are basically two schools of modelling thought…..
If it is right it looks right……..
………and if it looks right, it is right.
The first, if unchecked, can lead to Jakko’s AMS. In railway modelling this was very common in the rarified S4/P4 world I inhabited. We termed it “building a model of subject X in year YYYY using Z’s kit as a basis”. This approach usually needs the model to be modified to a greater or lesser extent to more accurately represent the subject. Most of the time I resorted to pure scratchbuilding because the subjects I wanted to make just weren’t kitted……and ready to run stuff (if available) was a non starter because the track gauge and body scale were completely incorrect.
The second approach is more generic, not being quite so concerned about the absolute accuracy of the subject. This usually means building pretty much out of the box and just correcting glaring errors and sharpening detail a little where required. It’s a much more relaxed way of working to me, though to someone with an absolute fidelity mindset it probably makes them twitch :nerd:
However, both ways of modelling are equally valid, as are all stages in between. It’s also good to try the other approach occasionally, because it can help your technique improve……
Comes down to it, in the end you’ve got to stop reading and build something though, because you really won’t know what suits you until you’ve tried it
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Had a long think about what I want to achieve.
Came to the conclusion I don't really want to be a 'Master Modeller'. I actually want to enjoy myself, do something I'm interested in and hopefully improve my skills. If I do manage to learn to master the airbrush along the way, that'll be nice but I'm prepared to admit defeat and brush away merrily. (After all the airbrush malarky cost me nada).
I do enjoy reading what the really skilled are doing on here - fascinating, but I don't see me ever getting to that sort of level. I know me! I know I get impatient and have been known to whack things with a hammer when not satisfied with the result!! Wife says it's the stormy Geordie coming out!!!
So I'll be pottering when I get a spare hour or so with my kits trying to build the best I can but mainly - enjoying the moment.Comment
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I started out the exact opposite Doug.
I wanted something to start airbrushing on so browsed my local hobbycraft. I turned into the model isle, found a spitfire kit and it kinda spiralled from there...
I still tend and go for well engineered kits that fit together without much hassle so I can get to the painting stage quickly but other areas of the hobby are drawing me in more and more.Comment
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One way to avoid the spiral into obsessive perfectionism is to choose fantasy subjects - that way there is no 'right' or 'wrong', it's just a question of doing what you think is appropriate.
Another release from endlessly fretting about skill and accuracy is to acknowledge that we're making little models that, no matter how hard we try and/or how good we are, will always be just an approximation, nothing more. You just have to decide how approximate you're prepared to go!
In my (massive) family we have a sketchbook exchange - every fortnight we receive a sketchbook from the person behind us in the queue, we do a bit of art and pass it on. It's great fun, with all ages getting stuck in. Some in the exchange fret about whether what they're doing is 'good' enough. My splendid sister (who started the exchange) posted this up on the associated WhatsApp group recently, and I think it applies equally to modelmaking - just get stuck in!
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Just do what you wanna...
... It's ALL about enjoyment,(tis a hobby after all), ....
... Learn when you can, enjoy the new tips you get.... BUT ....
... Just BUILD STUFF!! .. no better way to learn than that!!
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