Scale Model Shop

**Guest** · 06 February 2010, 02:48

Excellent bit of scratch work John.

BB.

**Gern** · 06 February 2010, 09:54

I like that John. It looks fairly simple but very effective.

As for your comment that anyone can do it, I'm not sure it would be that easy for everyone. You need the basic skills which we all practise and the techniques etc which guys like yourself show us - and how grateful we are for that! We also have the materials and tools readily available, so the technical side of these things is not beyond our reach. Unfortunately there's also one other thing we need which I'm sure we all struggle to find and that's the time needed for all the things we'd like to do.

I've been promising myself that I'd try stuff like this, along with dioramas, ever since I re-started modelling. However, due to other commitments, I can barely find time to make my kits and practise the skills needed for that! I hope to get there eventually but I fear it's likely to be after I retire from work; and the way that pension schemes are losing value at the moment, I could end up having to work 'til I'm 95! I think senility is already starting to affect me so by the time I retire I'll have reached the 'locked in front of the telly an' droolin' stage!'.

Keep 'em coming though 'cos it's nice to dream about what might be .......

Gern

**yak face** · 06 February 2010, 17:22

great skills john well done!The idea of scratchbuilding is just that-building something from scratch-whether its a complete model or just a part of a kit thats not good enough or missing. As youve proved even if someones never dared to have a bash they can still get excellent results,although you have done it before ,you just never realised you were doing it> the making of a diorama base (with or without buildings ) is a perfect example of scratchbuilding!! cheers tony

**spanner570** · 06 February 2010, 20:23

Nice on John.

I agree with all the comments here and I would like to add my thinking too.........

I had never attempted any scratch building / dioramas in my life until posted my first here in the middle of last year. Like others have said here I didn't think I could build one either. O.K. I could make a kit with a reasonable degree of success and put it on a shelf, but scratch build, never.

Then I plucked up the courage to have a go....

That is the whole crux of the issue, having the will to try. It doesn't matter one jot how the first one turns out, you are on the way. Trust me, once you try a dio. you will want to get straight on with the next and thus learn. That is the only way to improve. It is no good staring at your cutting mat worrying whether you can scratch build or not....remember your first ever kit, and now look what you can produce!

We must all have a certain degree of skill to produce the sort of things we post on this forum but let me ask this....If, during a build a problem is encountered, we post it and therefore share it and it is solved. With scratch building the same should apply, but until you start you will never have a problem to share!!! That's life.

My advice is to start simple, avoid the shops as best you can, scratch build and laugh at the results then have another go and think 'That's better!' Don't be embarrassed about posting your efforts, no matter how humble you might think the offering, have a go building something simple first, post the result, you know you will get nothing but help and encouragement.

Finally and best of all. Go outside and have a look at buildings, water and plants. These are your inspiration, go for it!!

Soap box kicked from under me!!!!!!

**Guest** · 06 February 2010, 20:49

I know where you are coming from Gern but as one who has reached the 'stuck in front of the telly and drooling' stage (certainly drooling anyway) all I can say is that is why I am on this forum. I don't want to vegetate in front of the telly just because I cannot get out and about enough to fulfil my love of photography. I am here to keep my mind going, to learn, to be inspired and to be amazed. These happen every day on here.

Scratch building has loads of connotations. The effort John has put into making a blank base into a grassy one, that is scratch building because it is adding something something that was not part of the original. To take it to the stage he has by adding a building is a natural progression. I agree that skills are needed and some people have amazing natural skills that they may not know they have. I would say John fits this exactly in this case, he has now discovered it and I feel that there will be lots to come.

I don't know if I have these skills but I intend having fun finding out. Lets face it, a kit costs a lot of money and if I reach the stage when, for whatever reason, that I cannot buy a kit for a while then let me lose with the free stuff and let's see what happens. However, without the inspiration that comes from the modellers on this forum, I know I would never try. Get some stretched sprue and make a better scale arial on one of your vehicles, that is scratch building an arial isn't it? If so, then I agree, anyone can be a scratch builder. Thanks for pointing it out so well John.

**Guest** · 06 February 2010, 22:26

Nice bit of work there john i like it, scratch building can work so well at times my own example is the palm trees you can hunt the shops for ever and ive seen people who buy somthing because it will do. So excellent work and keep going.

scott

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