how much research do you do?

[62rebel]

in other words, what can you tell people about your model? that it was a sales leader or a lead brick? that it held a speed record for years or was the slow and steady tortoise?

do you rely on the kit instructions to tell you what colors were appropriate, or do you seek out more concise information?

the modifications that you do, are they viable and feasible on a 1:1 or flights of fancy? (nothing wrong with flights of fancy; just asking).

i ask because i tend to work from physical examples: usually my own, or friends' and family's cars and trucks, or from magazine articles, even if i'm doing customs of my own design.

[Harry P.]

First thing I do is a thorough google search to find all the references that I possibly can. There is such a huge amount of information out there, and it's all free. All you have to do is go get it.

[a/gass]

YEA! what Harry said.

[RoadRunner1083]

First thing I do is a thorough google search to find all the references that I possibly can. There is such a huge amount of information out there, and it's all free. All you have to do is go get it.

Ditto!

[Agent G]

First thing I do is a thorough google search to find all the references that I possibly can. There is such a huge amount of information out there, and it's all free. All you have to do is go get it.

Double ding dong ditto.

G

[62rebel]

i had stacks and stacks of car magazines available as a kid; my uncles were gear heads, my GrandDad and Dad were mechanically inclined, so i was blessed with stores of reference material to glean from. that, and back in those days, the kit boxes and instructions had all kinds of added information such as the brand names of performance parts so you'd KNOW what they were, not just guessing.

and today, it's even easier, as all of your responses stated, what with instant internet access to just about any info you desire.

add to that, years of building actual cars, and having them at hand to refer to, and there's little reason to get things wrong... not that i'm perfect by any means (far from it, and losing ground due to my eyesight and shaky hands)....

[Sport Suburban]

I do a lot of research on many of my models. To me it is part of the fun of building it. I read about options and oddities plus differences between years. Sometimes that affects the outcome of the build. To me it's not homework it keeps me going and is also why I tend to build a few at the same time. Others I find a car online that just looks great to me and I'll copy it for details.

Recently I read that the 59 Corvette was the only year a turquise soft top was availible. I may build my Monogram 59 in white with the turquise top on it. I just don't know what color the cove should be. I found an online reference that had a silver cove on white.

[martinfan5]

It all depends on what I am building, and how much, or lack of knowledge I may have on the subject, or what it is I need to know

[jbwelda]

yah ditto on what Harry said.

but usually i do it after i finish the car!

[The70judgeman]

I have lots of reference material in my own little library besides the computer searches. I have amassed quite a collection of magazines, lots of car books, and pictures I've taken at car shows over the years...before there was really an internet. The pictures I take are mostly different angles of a car, close-ups under the hood, and unique details. I have very few digital pics compared to 35mm pics in an album or two.

[warra48]

First thing I do is a thorough google search to find all the references that I possibly can. There is such a huge amount of information out there, and it's all free. All you have to do is go get it.

Best modelling tip I've seen for a long time.

It's exactly what I do.

I'm currently building the AMT '62 Ford Thunderbird, and the instructions are almost totally silent on suggested colours etc. So what to do? Use google to do a search, and bookmark all the useful references I can find.

[1zebra3]

First thing I do is a thorough google search to find all the references that I possibly can. There is such a huge amount of information out there, and it's all free. All you have to do is go get it.

Yes research is very important to me. I'm not good with the puter but most of the time I can find what I'm looking for. As Harry says all you have to do is google it.Thats part of the fun.

[Chuck Most]

Depends on the subject. On the rare occasion I'm trying to duplicate an actual vehicle, I'll go all out on researching it. But most of the time I just kind of play it by ear, and go by what 'feels' right.

[Boreham]

Years can be spent looking for reference material , depending on your urgency or priority (could be on going while you build other model topics)

How you archive the material is vital.

make a " new" folder in Photobucket for each project,

within that folder a model reference material

and futher folder for WIP.

[Art Anderson]

Research, research, can never do too much research! That said, I use the 'net a lot, at least for starters, as it's far easier to navigate with a Google search from the comfort of a stuffed desk chair than crawling around looking at stacks of old car magazines or shelves of books. Case in point: I helped Dave Metzner at Moebius Models with the body color availability for the Hudson kits. This took some real digging, as while I have in my possession a nearly 4" thick Martin-Senour paint chip book (NAPA's long time "house brand" of automotive paints) the book I have didn't give any information as to 2-tone combinations. I looked up autocolorlibrary.com whose chip books are I believe, DuPont, and hit the jackpot! By clicking back and forth through 1951, 1952 and 1953 Hudson chips, I not only found all the available colors for 1953 (some colors were shown in previous years, but being carried over a year or two, didn't appear in the 1953 pages), and digging a bit further, found the available 2-tone combinations, with a notation that they could be used in two basic ways, either color could be the main body color, or as the roof color--quite unlike most other automakers' practices! Thus, the very comprehensive list of body colors on the last page of that instruction sheet. Dave did the same thing, concentrating on interior and engine colors, having available within 30 miles of his home, perhaps the finest collection of Hudson automobiles on the planet.

Google images are a great resource, but I find I have to take much of those with a grain of salt--what appears to be stock in those images may in fact not be, and not often are the variances from stock noted in captions--so many images online are of cars being offered for sale, often from individuals or dealers who may or may not be well-versed in the subject at hand, so some cross-checking is always a good thing. But, they are at start at least!

With all the stuff available on the 'net, still nothing beats having the information in print, however. Perhaps, for the replica stock builder, Collectible Automobile Magazine is as good as they get, particularly for American cars, even though they are very unpredictable as to what they might feature in any upcoming issue. CA has been in continuous print since July 1984, almost 20 years, and the level of their photography along with the text puts this magazine as close to being the "National Geographic" of the automobile as I have ever seen. Of course, with rods, customs, drag cars, in fact race cars of any sort, similarly accurate and well-photographed magazines abound: Such magazines as Rodder's Journal, Vintage Motorsport, Vintage Truck, the various Hemming's magazines (Hemmings started publishing a collector car magazine, "Special Interest Auto's" in the late 1970's, morphing that into their "Hemming's Classic Cars" magazine a few years back, but either way, both magazines can be a wealth of information.

Not to be forgotten are factory sales brochures! You know, the kind you can gather up at new car dealers. While brochures for this years' cars generally are free for the asking, expect to pay at least a little bit of money on the collectors' market for older ones--and many are not as expensive as one might think. Literature vendors at real car shows are a very good source, and most will let you peruse a brochure you are interested in before you buy it, and often, toward the end of the show or swap, negotiation of price is possible--don't be afraid to bargain a bit here--same goes for old service manuals, even old factory assembly manuals, even old out-of-print books on real car subjects--you don't get unless you ask!

Then, there is the sheer volume of both hard- and soft-cover books published over the years. Just about any famous car or make of cars has been the feature of at least one single marque book on the subject, many have been the subject of numerous books, many with well-taken color pics of restored examples, with a LOT of black & white contemporaneous pictures (pictures taken at the time when the car was new, both factory and candid shots!). It does, however, take years and some serious $$ to amass a large library--I've been doing thus for nearly 50 years now, so been there, done that, got the T-shirt. In all this, both with books and magazines, detail pics are at a premium--most writers (and their editors and publishers) much prefer so-called "beauty shots" which while artistic and intriguing, often don't give as much information as we modelers would like to have, so, on to the next thought:

One of the very best reference tools you have is your own pair of eyes, aided by your camera! With camera's, no longer do you have to worry about the cost of taking copious pictures--while the camera can set you back anywhere from $100 to almost enough to buy every model car kit you would ever want, the pictures you take are, themselves practically free of charge, the only cost being the CD or DVD you want to permanently store them on, and of course, ink cartridges and paper if you want to print them--but at least YOU have the choice of what pics to print off here. And, reference cars are EVERYWHERE, unless you are into any sort of race car, which means going to a show or shows, or to a race track, and springing for a pit pass. One note here: If the car is one or a subject that is plentiful online or in print, why spend a lot of time taking overall shots? It's often better, and more productive to take those detail shots, of the engines, wheels & tires, interiors and dashboards, in short, anything you might need to know more about, but which aren't readily visible in otherwise available pics anywhere.

With race cars, one very important point: A race car at any single race, is more likely than not to be a "snapshot" itself of that car at a particular point, a particular race, on a particular day in its career. Many, if not most, race cars get modified at least someplace, from race to race, be it as simple as sponsor decals and their placement, to paintjobs, to bodywork configurations, to major changes in suspension, etc (Indy cars and sprint cars come to mind here, even Nascar), so concentrating on how that car looked at any one event generally makes more sense if one is striving for accuracy (which is why we take pics, want references, right?). The same can also be true of customs and rods--not always are these cars finished, and figuratively at least, cast in stone--nope. Many iconic hot rods and customs were changed, if mildly, subtly, from show to show, year to year, almost "works constantly in progress", so one would be wise to take that into account whenever possible.

Phew, this is almost more than I wanted to write, but I hope I've given some thoughts worth chewing on for a while!

Art

[Eshaver]

Since I concentrate mainly on Gasoline pumps and service stations , research is key. I was the researcher for the book , Check the Oil by Scott Anderson in 1983 . Most of the photographs in that book still are mine . I'm also asked by members of both gasoline related chat forums , Primarily Petrolinia and Cheese pit stop to provide key pieces of information concerning rebuilding old gasoline pumps . I spent nearly three years just collecting the needed data to do the last diorama I have here , Twin Chimneys . While some call me an "Expert" , I do not , nor do I play one on television ! Ed Shaver

[caine440]

I collect all the photos I can for up coming projects. Google sure does help as do old magazines.

[comp1839]

i research as much as possible on the internet. i use as many publications as i can possibly find. i also seek out as much as i can on the real thing. i document the heck out of everything i can. i have to agree with the research is at least half the fun on my builds.

[Mike Kucaba]

I'll use the net,old magazines etc and try to model the car to a specific one, even if it's restored,and you do that to a T it's correct in my mind.

[sportandmiah]

I love to research the car prior to building. Basic research can make a simple built model into a real showpiece. I Google for at least a week, and Kinko the pics, and put them into a binder for easy reference.

[sjordan2]

I spend much more time (and money) doing online research, collecting books, original manuals, brochures, high-end diecasts, you name it, than I do building the models. I'm cursed by the fact that the cars and kits of interest to me can't be seen in the flesh within hundreds of miles from me, or don't even exist in this country - classic Mercedes, Ferraris, Bugattis, Jaguars, etc. That's not a gripe, because I find the research process highly enjoyable.

Edited March 10, 2012 by sjordan2

[Bartster]

I've never built factory stock, so research is not very important to me. I am a carnut/gearhead so most of what I would "need" to know is already in my head. I do see ideas I have borrowed from other cars. My love of cars keeps me looking at them & occasionally I use what I've seen, but that's not why I look.

[Jantrix]

Most of my research is stylistic. I'll have an idea to do something to a model and I'll try to see what has been done similarly in the 1:1 world. This helps me focus my ideas.

[jonno356SC]

I do lots of research. but mostly pictorial. i want to know exactly what the car looks like for as many angles as i can get. i print them out. hang them above my bench. i find it really helps me stay true to the subject

[Ramfins59]

I use both the Net and various car mags. for reference material. I usually don't build factory stock or muscle cars so being totally exacting is not as necessary. I do research engine and interior details just to be sure that what I'm building looks somewhat realistic.