Hidden detail...To do or not to do?

[spanner570]

I'm building a 1/72 Lifeboat at the minute and completed the internal stuff prior to painting and buttoning it up with the superstructure......

The 'Windows' were such awful quality that you couldn't see through them. I tried clear plastic but still the interior could not be seen properly, so I just gave the whole interior a coat of grey and fitted the superstructure.........

This set me to thinking...How do you all approach the subject of internal stuff that won't, or can't be seen, whichever you prefer, on the finished model?

It seems to me we are all somewhere between Trey's amazing B17 build, where every last detail is added to the model - whether it's seen or not, because the modeller knows it should - and will be present, even if it's never seen again........or

The builder who thinks "Stuff it, if it can't be seen, it aint getting done."......and confines the bits to the spares box!

I would be interested to know how you all tackle this part of our hobby.

Ron

[john i am]

Any parts that are unseen normally I leave them in the box if not needed in construction if they are I leave un- painted I mean I don't see the point of spraying inside the hull of a tank if all hatches are closed cheers John

[Andy2035]

With me, it depends on how fiddly the parts are, but, on the whole I tend to build everything as it should or the best I can do...

It is as you say, I know it has been done even if no one else doesn't...

[Guest]

Im now of a mind to think if the detail can't be seen then what actually is the point?

I know we say "I know its there", but if someone (not a modeller type) looks at the model and you say "all the interiors built as well, but you can't actually see it" then I'm sure the comment "why?" would be uttered occasionally.

I've added loads of detail to the tent interiors on the MASH dio, but you can take the lids off to see.

The crab boat has all the details I needed to fit in as the windows are big enough to see through (when I get around to adding the perspex )

I added all the detail in the JU88 1:32 but you could see it through the glass.

All the 35th scale vehicles have any available interior completed.

Didn't bother much with any of the 1:72 aircraft I made as it was nigh on impossible to see in.

Saying this, if I build another small kit that has nice seen through clear parts then I'd be tempted to tart up the inside a bit.

Good thread topic Ron

[Gern]

It's a pity that sometimes interior detail is lost through inferior transparencies. I would have liked to see the cabin of your lifeboat painted up properly. Still, don't blame you for not doing it. There's only so much time we can put into our modelling and it seems a waste, to me at least, to use up such a valuable resource for nowt more than "I know it's there".

The detail has got to be done though if there is even just a faint outline visible through small transparencies. My eye for detail ain't brilliant, neither is my eyesight in general, but some folks have 20/20 vision and may well be able to see what I miss.

Gern

[Dave W]

If it won't be seen on the finished model I don't bother.I take the view that life's too short and there are a lot of models I still want to build.So why spend time on stuff that won't be seen ?.That said,I always do the best I can with a cockpit.But I'm always disappointed when I can't see it all through the canopy.

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I tend to do everything I can, I know a lot of the time it wont be seen but as a friend says I know its there. I spent ages scratch building allsorts for a 1:48th B17 I made and when it was all buttoned up you couldn't see anything!

I guess its what you feel comfortable with when building the kit.

Adrian

[Guest]

I tend to not bother with internal detail unless it can be seen probably because my stash is growing 50 times faster than my completed pile is and I start to get bored of a kit if I am on it for too long. I am also not keen on returning to models after leaving them for a while so like to build to completion before starting another.

[Guest]

Depends on what sort of person you are.

My youngest son (now 35) has a condition which supports obsessional behavior. His Phsco. also gave us his opinion form time to time. What he did tell us amongst the humbo jumbo was that we are all obsessional in one way or another. Some distinctly others very mild. My son could not bear to have things tidied in his bedroom & it would send him berserk if they were.

I like things just right & for instance I will ensure that when I have finished model making for the day I will clear things up & tools are always placed in the same place etc.

So I am pedantic enough to want to see things done as I seem them in the right way & as presented to me. If I left out the bits inside which you cannot see then I would feel that I had cheated & that I had not done my best. Crackers really when you cannot see them afterwards.

On a practical point of view I try to leave doors hatches etc open so that something can be seen.

I also think that the model is made for me & it is incidental that others will look at the model. Also looking at the model I can imagine what I did inside which also gives me an idea of how it would have been for the crew in flying the aircraft (or driving their tank) & also the ground crew in maintaining the machinery. For instance I was amazed how much information I got from building the Mosquito which would have been missed had I not built the inside bits. You can study pictures but only 3d will give the actual picture.

Finally if you get a buzz out of the interior, which I do, & some of the work on the interior is more intricate than the external bit then that is model making for me. Not really had the inclination yet to put wires here & there etc.

I do have one of those photo screen things which continually change photos. Each model I make now I take a few photos of the interiors. These I will caption etc. & have the photo album running beside my models.

Enough back to model making.

Laurie

[PaulTRose]

I tend to not bother with internal detail unless it can be seen probably because my stash is growing 50 times faster than my completed pile is and I start to get bored of a kit if I am on it for too long. I am also not keen on returning to models after leaving them for a while so like to build to completion before starting another.

ditto

if it cant be seen then why bother?

and hate having a build take too long, tend to lose interest, and thats when attention starts to go and start making mistakes

and i just cant put something on one side, do another kit only to return to the first one another time....amazes me when people have multiple builds on the go

[stona]

It varies from kit to kit. I did a Zoukei-Mura Ta 152 which has tons of stuff that ended up hidden but I did most of it simply because it looked the dog's whatsits as I built it and (as someone has said) I know it's there.

On the other hand I very often leave out stuff like radios, air/oxygen bottles and the like that will not be visible.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

A well times question Ron for me. I am planning my F-14B Trumpeter 1:32 Kit and it comes complete with two engines which would be 90% hidden in the normal course of events. But I am going to build them as it gives me practice in filling in some complicated seams, and I might decide to remove a panel in the fuselage to expose one of the engines. Still thinking about it.

[ATTACH]66217.vB[/ATTACH]

A trickier areas is for example the above kit comes with a nicely detailed radar if you show the nose open, but for me this would spoil the graceful lines of the aircraft.

[ATTACH]67302.IPB[/ATTACH]

[takeslousyphotos]

I built a Porsche a while back. I spent hours detailing the pulleys and belts on the engine ................... But when the engine went in the car all that detail was swallowed up by the bulkhead and there was no way from any angle you could see any of it (I've read a couple of things similar on the net for this, other kits) ........... Beg's the question: Why did Tamiya bother putting those bits in the kit anyway?????? .......... I am a little more wary now and do a lot more "dry fitting".

So, no ............. If you can't see it there is absolutely no point in wasting your time on it as far as I'm concerned.

Peter

Peter

[papa 695]

It all depends on what I'm doing, How I'm doing it and most importantly how I'm feeling at the time. So I do both ways really

[Guest]

This is a loaded question so now turn it around on it's head !

Would you be happy just to have a model in the box with out all the insides ?

Just, in the case of an aircraft, to have the two fuselage halves to stick together finished. No insides at all !

Laurie