If I understand Whitney’s original post correctly, improving kits in principle is not the issue, but the wealth of after-market detailing & correcting items is. Being handed the solutions on a plate (for a price) is considered to supplant the model-maker’s own imagination and improvisational skill.
That’s an interesting position and part of me actually agrees up to a point. But it’s a huge generalisation, nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong because it all comes down to what suits the individual and gives the greatest satisfaction.
The part of me that agrees is obviously a purely personal opinion - if I think I can achieve the desired result by improvisation, that gives me far more satisfaction than shelling out for a pack of brass or resin. That doesn’t always happen (because my skills have many limits) but when it does I get a real kick out of finding some unlikely domestic item that does the job. Example – replicating the toothed ring around the inside of a turretless wrecked tank’s hull opening. I couldn’t find an after-market part (in 2017) so ended up slicing a ring from a large milled plastic bottle top, turned it inside-out in a clamp for a week so it curved the right way, and it worked perfectly in scale.
I also prefer to mix 90% of my own colours from the 3 primaries plus black & white, the other 10% being necessarily specialised pigments (e.g. metallics) which I can’t make myself. I happen to be an amateur artist which helps, and I get some extra gratification from thinking how much money I’ve saved by not buying scores of pre-mixed bottles most of which will never get used up. Cheap kids’ powder paint instead of expensive pastel sticks for dust/weathering. Yep it’s largely about the money, I’m a cheapskate & proud of it - but only if the result’s good enough, nothing is ever ruled out when initially considering all the available options.
Once upon a time, maybe 30 years ago, I heard an old goat (probably in his late 50’ies like I am today) complain that todays (i.e. 30 years ago) model builders were not “real” model builders, they were just assembling ready made parts. I thought to myself that the old fart probably wouldn’t be able to get a plastic model together without smearing glue all over the place. At that time I had just finished “assembling” ESCI’s Sd.Kfz 10. It had a severaly warped hull but I finally won over that abomination.
I would add that creativity was higher back then. Not to say we are not creative now but then, there was little to work with and creativity was what it took to improve a kit.
Model magazines no longer include drawings in the feature articles to scratch build your own conversion of the model anymore. I remember Military Modelling and Fine Scale Modeler both had this in their publications
We need to define “scratch building”. Means many things to many folks. If we take a Tiger tank kit from XYZ and add our own handmade details is that “scratch building”? What if we buy many after market details and create a unique Tiger tank using the same XYZ kit? Is that “scratch building”? Or is simply using a Tiger kit as the basis rule out it being “scratch built”? Should the Tiger tank be completely built up from plans using nothing but paper and styrene?
This whole subject can go down a rabbit hole that will always upset some.
We so easily forget that this is a hobby. We/you all tend to forget that my way is the right way and you are all doing it wrong.
I was at my model club last night, we had a Land, Sea and Air competition and one of the exhibits was a scratch-built narrow boat built by our secretary, it was a fantastic build. It was built from plastic sheeting, paperclips and lots of other bits and pieces, so the practice of scratch-building has not died, at least in this part of the world
I am sure some may recall this thread now hidden in the archives: (30 pages long with many of the original photos having survived the archiving process.)
I thought this was particularly well-made point that I totally agree with. As long as people continue to get “joy and satisfaction” from their scale modeling experiences, the hobby will keep going. The “how” of those experiences has changed over time, and that change is going to continue.
While some of us may lament that newer modelers may never experience some particular aspect, like 'scratch-building, that perhaps we ourselves enjoy, that is no reason to deny that the joy they do get from the hobby is somehow less real or valuable to them. It’s OK to wish that someone else could share an experience that we ourselves enjoy, but it’s not OK to deny or diminish the enjoyment they do experience because it’s different from our own.
This time it’s about scratch-building, kits that leave little room for improvement and PE after-market, but this same complaint is also made in the arguments about “kit assemblers vs. ‘real’ modelers” or “rivet-counters vs. ‘good-enough-for-me’ modelers” and so on…
I have bern modeling since the 80’s.I have no talent when it comes to scratch building,never did,never will,just not my talent.So as kits got more advanced I appreciated the more advanced kits and the few extra bits that I chose to purchase to enhance my builds.It matters zero to me what someone thinks as whether i’m a real modeler or not.I think its fantastic that some of you can scratchbuild an entire afv,but it doesnt affect my joy,but theres no need for you to try to rob me of my joy or denigrate what I do.
You have fun doing what you do,I’ll enjoy doing what I do
All arts relate to the scratch building issue. Do you make your oil paints, stretch your own canvas. paint from an esill (SPELL ERROR,Edit by management: Easel) or do you paint by numbers? Do you play classical pieces on an antique grand piano or use a player piano. It just depends on you, your skills and your goals. I personally admire a really nice build whether scratch or OOB. However in my mind I also relate the skill of the builder to my own skill set. When I see something far beyond my own skill set I become amazed. This is not a ding on the OOB builder it is more of an appreciation of what could be done. For me the amazement of what could be done goes beyond modeling. Have you seen people shoot coins tossed into the air with a pistol?
This is just plain old fashioned gatekeeping. You’re attempting to impose an arbitrary set of criteria which, conveniently, makes your specific way of enjoying model making pure and correct whilst downgrading everyone else’s to some lower tier. Perhaps the true source of your pain is that back in the good old days you could perform mediocre work and genuinely be delighted with it, whereas today with the unlimited connectivity to other modellers there’s always a bigger fish who produces something much better and you’re discontent with your own output and hence seek to disqualify those producing better models. As for belittling younger / today’s modellers with your “instant gratification” slur - just as much effort goes in now as it ever did. Your yesteryear heroes like Verlinden and Shep Paine were good for their era of incredibly basic finishes, but their finishes would compare quite poorly to those many, many modellers routinely achieve today through complex but highly effective painting processes. There’s also the aspect that people have much higher standards generally as in they expect things to be the correct size, shape and configuration for the intended subject and timeframe. Back 50 years ago the information readily available and frankly the accuracy of the result could most charitably be described as “more impressionistic” than is demanded now. The aftermarket drives improvement. They innovate and raise standards. The world has moved on, but it’s not a personality trait I find admirable to try to dictate that other people having chosen to move with it are now doing the hobby wrong. If gatekeepers had their way we’d still be living in caves, because they’d be trying to gatekeep shelter by whining that someone more progressive than them had built a shack above ground.
I like and agree with your “more impressionistic” comment - I am certainly guilty of such.
However I don’t think anyone is “putting anyone down”, “belittling”, or “gatekeeping” here. We are simply analyzing the market trends and today’s trends in personal preferences for model building.
I think we are saying: #1. The modeler’s needs are already being met by the huge number of new model offerings. #2. Scratch building MAY be evolving into scratch CAD design and 3D printing.
Reread the original post. That is exactly what he is doing. This is his usual M.O. of throwing out a post with lots of BS in it to see how it sticks. He likes to rile up the crowd.
