Kit Building - Objective Driven?

[inkpen]

Generally speaking, the kits produced to current standards enable a proficient builder using appropriate tools, adhesives and paints and applying a methodical approach and patience to make good quality 'replicas' almost every time.  But sometimes, I can find this a bit of a slog - almost like work!  OK, what I put in is reflected in the finished model, but sometimes the enjoyment along the way is lacking.  And I'm sorry to say the failure to complete a kit more coomon than I'd like to admit.

But I do enjoy building the older, more toy like models produced in the sixties and early seventies.  Aurora [now Polar Lights] were one of my favourite brands as the firm commonly produced much of the Irwing Allen programme hardware from series like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, and Land of the Giants and the figures from the Universal 'horror' films eg Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein etc.   

I still get great satisfaction from [a] getting a complete kit at an affordable price from web-based auction sites [b] 'fixing it up' as we'd say when kids, and [c] finishing it!  OK, not to very great standards of finish but the result is an enjoyable build tapping memories from years gone by and much interest from people who see the results.  I generally donate the end products to local charity shops where, I'm told, they provoke much interest and sell well!

I wonder if other kit-builders do the same and would be delighted to hear what subjects are made and/or which manufacturers favoured.  I also enjoy the older Airfix and Revell kits too but I must say that I still regard FROG kits to be 'serious undertakings' just as I did when I was a lad!

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate and enjoy building and finishing the quite superb modern kit, but as I grow older the-older subjects push more buttons!

I wonder what others think?

 

 

[Ratch]

Interesting thoughts, and you are not alone on many of them.

I too like the older kits. I am a member of the IPMS Ancient & Nostalgic Vintage Modeller's Special Interest Group. We attend a few shows each year (unfortunately not as many as pre-Covid) showing any brand of kit that was newly tooled more that 25 years ago. Sometimes we build Out Of the Box (OOB) and some we enhance by scratch building or adding aftermarket bits.

I'm also in the lucky position of receiving new sample kits from Airfix for review. These may not be kits that I would normally be interested in, but I try to build each one like everyone else. I'm just an average builder so my Reviews are to encourage other normal builders that they can take on these new tools and not be intimidated by uber-modelling.

I am a determined builder and don't let bits of plastic beat me. I can put up with a below average finish to get a completion. Better a bad finish, and a lesson learned, than no model. I also build any genre. I have to chuckle when I read that someone who has only ever built aircraft thinks that AFVs are from another planet - they're just bits of plastic that we stick together and paint, after all.

The main thing is having fun. When you lose sight of that, get an old, simple kit out and build it as we did in the 60s. Straight OOB, care free.

[peebeep]

I keep promising myself I'll select a shake 'n bake from the stash (there's loads to choose from), but it rarely happens. This Thunderbird 1 was a mash up of two quite old Imai kits. Two were required, because on their own they were meant to be a push along toy and parts had to be cannibalised from two kits to get the one.

 

Sometimes the kit might be more recent, but still needs some work to get it scrubbed up properly, such was the case with this newish Airfix Bf109. It's meant to be a 'G', but remove the fictitious cannon bulges and you have something more like an 'F', plus mix and match some decals and you have Black Six.

 

Old Frog kits, love 'em. I acquired this Bristol 138 a few years ago, the decals were shot, but Rising Decals to the rescue. The cockpit is a bit bare, but the pilot figure, a simple panel and stick and you're up and running. It actually went together relatively well, with a minimum of fettling.

Nurse! Nurse! I need my meds...

[Sailorman]

I tend to be the same.  I love the old kits because they give scope for you to make something different to everyone else's build. I do build the newer kits but the vintage kits are just as much fun to build.

This started life as the Airfix Avro 504k

[AirportsEd]

That Autogyro from an Avro 504K looks great; not something I would be brave enough to attempt! I must admit that I mostly prefer older kits but that's partly because I either enjoyed making them as a kid, or for some reason I never got around to buying one back in the day. For that reason, the Vintage Classics range has been a bit hit for me and no doubt I will buy more as they continue to be released. 

[Tour de Airfix]

It has really surprised me as to how much scale modelling has taken over my life since the 2020 lockdown and now retirement. Indeed, when I stopped working for a living, slightly earlier than planned, I had a dream of being commissioned to build scale models. My donations to and subsequent volunteering as scale model builder for a WW2 Airfield Museum gave me an insight into how this could play out. I then picked up a ‘patron’ who wanted to complete his aircraft collection without having to construct them himself. This has, however, opened a real can of worms for me. Just as the innocence in Garden of Eden was ended by the eating of an apple, the taking of shilling for building a model has done similar for me! I’m finding commission modelling, whether it be ‘free gratis’ to a museum or for a small return for a friend, too much like work. All the usual stresses of wanting to do a good job, finish on time and please the customer, have sadly started to take away the pleasure and reason for me picking up the hobby in the beginning. 

For me the objective of my scale modelling is an insatiable thirst for knowledge and creativity. I just love exploring and researching the backstory to every kit I build. My book collection is now equally as extensive as my stash level! And the kits I build, according to my Scalemates stash statistics, span all genre, manufacturers and releases, from the 1960s to the latest. I certainly don't feel the need to build the latest. My only challenge, ignoring the frequent calls on me to undertake a commission, is what to do with my completed kits. Since May 2000, I've amassed a plastic mountain of almost 300 kits! 🤦‍♂️ 

[Dominic Thomas]

I only used the ‘sad’ reaction as I’d not used it before. 
I fully understand your comments about commissions and work. I build aircraft for the local Men’s Shed coffers. I experience the same delivery pressures But I am luckier in that the potential purchasers are few in number, so as long as there are models in the window, I can take my time with completions. 
What this has done is allow me to change the emphasis of my stash. By gaining more experience of the old or limited run kits, I find my mastery of techniques has improved to the point where I can, in my mind, do justice to the new range of Airfix kits. 

[john redman]

I generally chuck completed builds away after a couple of years unless they are very compact and / or have display value, such as the 54mm figures or the tall ships. They only get broken anyway. Keeping a model I've built is to my mind a bit like drinking wine and then hanging on to the empty bottle. It would be a mug's game for me to spend £72 on a 1/48 Buccaneer no matter how well engineered it is. It's all going to landfill pretty soon. 

The most fun projects are those involving taking a vintage classic and seeing to how high a standard it's possible to complete it. Very dodgy classics that just don't fit together properly are a faff. Those that do, like the old JE-J, are good value and JE-J still looks like a Spitfire to me.

I'm currently doing surgery on Airfix 1/76 figures. Waterloo French, plus the heads off War of American Independence British, become 1809 Austrian line infantry and grenadiers. Waterloo French with Milliput greatcoats rolled over their shoulders become 1813 Prussians. French cuirassiers with Milliput crests and valises, carbines cut from infantry figures and wine bottle foil straps, become carabiniers. Waterloo British infantry can become War of 1812 Americans. And so on. All possible back in the 70s when I discovered these figures, but I didn't know what I was doing then and now I do. 

Edited April 4 by john redman

[Tour de Airfix]

I’m thinking I may be at the stage now of having to clear out a load of my older builds.

As you say, they do get knocked and damaged and I’ve had the enjoyment of building and displaying them. It would be nice for there to be a second hand market for such things as I’m sure a child would be happy to have one or two to play with … that said all those small breakable parts maybe a major health and safety issue these days 😳

I see a big black bag heading this way sometime soon 😂

[Ratch]

4 hours ago, Tour de Airfix said:

This has, however, opened a real can of worms for me. Just as the innocence in Garden of Eden was ended by the eating of an apple, the taking of shilling for building a model has done similar for me! I’m finding commission modelling, whether it be ‘free gratis’ to a museum or for a small return for a friend, too much like work. All the usual stresses of wanting to do a good job, finish on time and please the customer, have sadly started to take away the pleasure and reason for me picking up the hobby in the beginning. 

Indeed, commission work can lead to a whole lot of different concerns. Trying to second guess the customer/patron's expectations can lead to Advanced Modeller's Syndrome (AMS), a vegetative state where modelling stops while research takes over. And it doesn't really matter about the subject either. I've done figures and contemplated over whether the patron would be happy with the skin tones (on scantily clad ladies) - it does tend to suck the enjoyment out of the build.

[peebeep]

11 hours ago, Tour de Airfix said:

I’m finding commission modelling, whether it be ‘free gratis’ to a museum or for a small return for a friend, too much like work.

One of my other pastimes is as an amatuer musician. People have sometimes asked why I never do it professionally, to which the answer is that it would be work and no longer fun. I have accepted coin playing at weddings and funerals, but usually I say to the families put the money in to either the church that did the ceremony or their favourite charity. I did a funeral the other year because the church organist had taken a tumble and injured his shoulder. I was a bit surprised when a cheque arrived in the post from the church secretary, payment hadn't crossed my mind. Just short of £70 for playing a couple of processionals and two hymns, not bad! But that wouldn't change my position, I'd never deliberately go out looking for paying gigs.

[Sailorman]

I've had requests for commissions ...the last one a few days ago ...... but I've never accepted.  As peebeep says, that would be work and I build models for fun.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

On 05/04/2024 at 05:19, Sailorman said:

I build models for fun.

G'day, rule number 1 in my book. 🙂 I build just for me. Yeah, selfish, I know. 🙂 Regards, Jeff.

[RegenTer]

Building modern kits can feel like a bit of a grind sometimes. But man, those vintage models from the 60s and 70s? They're like stepping into a time machine of nostalgia.

[Hangartime]

Exactly the same, advantage is you have things like washes and lacquers along with a myriad of tools now that can transform older kits. Now I'd do kits I wouldn't have thought of doing a few years ago.