Biggest pet peeves on builds.

[LL3 Model Worx]

5 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

My biggest pet peeve doesn't bother a lot of people, but it's metallic paint that has metallic in it that is way too big, or far too heavy for 1/25th scale.

 

In my opinion, the little things like mold lines in radiators or tires might not be immediately evident on a model, but there's no hiding "the bass boat syndrome".

It's an instant turn off for me.

 

 

Steve 

I don't particularly care for the "bass boat effect" either....

But that is at least subjective? The mold lines are just plain and simple poor modeling.

[W-409]

3 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Not really a pet peeve, but i cant stand it when someone says that they started building models when they were 5.....No you didnt.....there are a million reasons why thats false. I dont know, but maybe people believing that load is possibly more annoying.

Don't know what would be wrong with that statement. I started building when I was six years old and since then I've finished something every year. My first one was AMT '60 Ford Starliner and my dad was sitting next to me telling me what to do with those parts. But he let me do all the building myself - and I did. The Starliner is still sitting on my shelf.

 

 

What I think is kind of frustrating, is a problem with some Drag Race models. Many models are built very well and the builder has used tons of time and effort creating something cool. Then when the car is pretty much complete, class markings for completely wrong racing category are installed. I understand that all of the modelers don't know all class rules, but with after spending so much effort in building the model, I'd do some research to see what class does my model fit in. Often it's pretty simple actually to find the basic rules, or someone who can tell right away if your model would have a shot at passing the tech inspection on track.

[LL3 Model Worx]

1 hour ago, Repstock said:

I might be way off on this (wouldn't be the first time), but as I read this it seems like people are saying "It bothers me when someone else doesn't build the way I like to build."  I'm probably taking this all way too seriously.

Yea, you are...

Everyone is entitled to build how they choose.

But seeing how what we do is subjective art, we are all also entitled to an opinion on the subjects within the art form.

I personally love watching hpiguy on YouTube and he does tons of "no no's" he dosen't clean mold lines, and he shoots paint right on the tree...

To sit and say things like mold lines and sink marks irritate you is perfectly fine imo... they are both text book examples of poor modeling, as decided by IPMS and nearly every other model organization out there.

No malicious intent here man, just laughs about the things we see and the observations we've made.

No one is telling anyone how to build.

 

 

[LL3 Model Worx]

1 minute ago, W-409 said:

Don't know what would be wrong with that statement. I started building when I was six years old and since then I've finished something every year. My first one was AMT '60 Ford Starliner and my dad was sitting next to me telling me what to do with those parts. But he let me do all the building myself - and I did. The Starliner is still sitting on my shelf.

 

 

What I think is kind of frustrating, is a problem with some Drag Race models. Many models are built very well and the builder has used tons of time and effort creating something cool. Then when the car is pretty much complete, class markings for completely wrong racing category are installed. I understand that all of the modelers don't know all class rules, but with after spending so much effort in building the model, I'd do some research to see what class does my model fit in. Often it's pretty simple actually to find the basic rules, or someone who can tell right away if your model would have a shot at passing the tech inspection on track.

Agreed.

I downloaded a pdf of all NHRA's rule books for a few decades in a matter of seconds.

Then just reference when need be...

Easily overlooked things can blow a build for sure.

Not to say it will not still do well for great craftsmanship.

[Bainford]

11 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I feel ya, ma brotha, but at this point, I'd be happy if Testor could sell me a 1/4 oz bottle that wouldn't dry up, skin over, separate, or otherwise go bad before I've used even half of it! 

I'd be happy if they would just put a label on the bottle that I can read. I find it ironic that as the model building demographic gets older, the printing on the bottle labels gets smaller. Even trying to determine what paint in the bottle is nearly impossible.

[Tom Geiger]

7 hours ago, LL3 Model Worx said:

I the molded oil pans drive me nuts also... I really like "locator" pins that are placed on block halves that completely miss align the halves when joined.

And I'd agree some of the placement for chrome is downright suspect.

Which is why I pretty much sand off all kit provided locator pins and sand the engine halves until I'm sure the mating surfaces are flat. Some of them are rounded from the molding process.  I also sand off locator pins for things like mirrors and engine accessories. I drill all these out and assemble with bits of straight pin once I have flattened out the mounting surfaces.  

As far as ejector pins and mold lines on parts, try an early Revell kit like the Surfite!  That kit had horrible pin and mold lines on all the spindly chrome suspension pieces.  I built mine way before Alclad, so I had stripped them all and painted them with Testors Metalizers.  And the AMT '59 El Camino interior has huge ejector pin marks right on the patterned seat surface!

It is getting much better with new kits.  The fact that they are designed on CAD allows for much better placement of parts on the trees, allowing the designers to hide the pins and lessen the seams.

[OldNYJim]

3 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Not really a pet peeve, but i cant stand it when someone says that they started building models when they were 5.....No you didnt.....there are a million reasons why thats false. I dont know, but maybe people believing that load is possibly more annoying.

That one seems oddly specific ?

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Not really a pet peeve, but i cant stand it when someone says that they started building models when they were 5.....No you didnt.....there are a million reasons why thats false. I dont know, but maybe people believing that load is possibly more annoying.

I started building models at 5. I remember my first one, or one of the first, the Aurora 1/48 F95 Panther jet in dark metallic blue. I used WAY too much glue on the canopy and about half of it melted down into the fuselage. I'd started reading and writing at that time, and I wanted "Panther Jet" painted on the wings. I didn't know how to spell Panther (or maybe didn't think I could paint such a big word) so I asked the teenager next door to paint Panther on one wing and I painted JET on the other. In yellow. His was quite neat and you can imagine what mine looked like. 

Many years later I bought another copy of that ancient/classic kit, in the same box, and I still have it unassembled. 

[Jantrix]

For me it's builders who put in a lot of time to scratch build and customize and add detail, but do it poorly. Not from lack of skill though, but becasue they are in a rush. Visible glue joints. Places where two tubes meet but theres been no attempt at cleaning up the joint to make it smooth. What good is all that extra work if you don't have the basics of clean model building down? 

[LL3 Model Worx]

35 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

That one seems oddly specific ?

 

I can thank of one very prolific modeler who makes that claim also... I won't mention names.

[LL3 Model Worx]

2 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

For me it's builders who put in a lot of time to scratch build and customize and add detail, but do it poorly. Not from lack of skill though, but becasue they are in a rush. Visible glue joints. Places where two tubes meet but theres been no attempt at cleaning up the joint to make it smooth. What good is all that extra work if you don't have the basics of clean model building down? 

I've been guilty of that before lol... that's one thing this hobby has taught me, patience.

But yes I've done exactly what you describe, because I was in a hurry and didn't wanna work.

[Tom Geiger]

4 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Not really a pet peeve, but i cant stand it when someone says that they started building models when they were 5.....No you didnt.....there are a million reasons why thats false. I dont know, but maybe people believing that load is possibly more annoying.

Or the five year old kid who wins the Junior Class at a show with a perfectly built,  air brushed -- clear coated -- polished model!   Which matches his father's building skills?  ?

[Tom Geiger]

5 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

For me it's builders who put in a lot of time to scratch build and customize and add detail, but do it poorly. Not from lack of skill though, but becasue they are in a rush. 

There was a guy in our club who was probably the most talented modeler I knew at the time.  Before computer graphics,  he would hand paint his, including intricate little things like scripts perfectly.

But when you looked at his final model there were rookie imperfections, mainly in the final details.  He was finished with the model mentally and rushed the last details to get it off his bench.  The rest of us felt like we were cheated since the model could've been near perfection!

Unfortunately he passed away a couple of years ago. 

[stavanzer]

I'll bite. Ditto on the Camber Tires on Drift Cars thing! That just looks so silly.

I'll just leave out the 1500 words rant on exactly what I think. Suffice it to say that I cannot think of a trend in Real Cars that needs to die faster.

[drodg]

Can paints that you paint once or twice and the nozzle clogs no matter what I do.  Air brushing has its advantages........

[Bainford]

4 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Not really a pet peeve, but i cant stand it when someone says that they started building models when they were 5.....No you didnt.....there are a million reasons why thats false. I dont know, but maybe people believing that load is possibly more annoying.

Sorry Dan, but yes I did. You're going to have to open your mind up a little bit. I built my first within a month of my 5th birthday. I remember it very well, a 1/32 T-bird snapper. Of course my father helped me, it was the first model kit I'd ever seen. But I was hooked immediately; so much better than my toy cars. By the time of my 6th birthday I'd built several small scale planes and battle ships. And whenever Dad brought me home a small plane model, of course he had to get one for my sister and brother also, who were 1 and 2 years younger, respectively. My brother would lose interest and I'd finish his, too, and these were done without parental assistance. Sure, they were serious glue bombs, and one day he brought home three bottles of Testors paint and brushes. Yup, we made a mess, but it was fun, and it was modelling, and I was learning how to do it right. Still am.

My daughter built three 1/25 scale snap-together cars and a 1/72 scale snap-together plane when she was four. Of course I helped where needed, but by the time of the third car kit, she didn't need much help. ...and she was not yet five.

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, Bainford said:

I'd be happy if they would just put a label on the bottle that I can read. I find it ironic that as the model building demographic gets older, the printing on the bottle labels gets smaller. Even trying to determine what paint in the bottle is nearly impossible.

I strongly agree with you there, Trevor.....Have a look at a cleverly shaped container of Revell Aqua Color acrylic paint..... the print on those labels is so tiny, you will struggle with a magnifying glass. Myself, I am 66 and my eyesight is not great...... surely most model builders these days are senior citizens?

David

[Flat32]

There's an app for that.  Called Magnifier plus on my phone. Will even take a picture.  Just wait until tri-lingual labelling gets mandated.

Paint makers could/should have a nice large master label, mabe index card size and free at LHS, for each type or series of paint with the type code on the lid and only color on the label nice and big.

 

[89AKurt]

My biggest pet peeve, not everyone builds the same subjects I like, and not to the same extremely perfect high standards that I so easily and perfectly execute, what's everybody's problem?  ?

Seriously, this is such a subjective topic, fun to read what we have to deal with, much like life.  Without getting into bashing certain types of ..... uh ..... vehicles, what fun is that?  When I tell someone that I build models, they say "oh I built some when I was a kid" which implies something like I haven't grown up? ?

[Repstock]

3 hours ago, LL3 Model Worx said:

Yea, you are...

Everyone is entitled to build how they choose.

But seeing how what we do is subjective art, we are all also entitled to an opinion on the subjects within the art form.

I personally love watching hpiguy on YouTube and he does tons of "no no's" he dosen't clean mold lines, and he shoots paint right on the tree...

To sit and say things like mold lines and sink marks irritate you is perfectly fine imo... they are both text book examples of poor modeling, as decided by IPMS and nearly every other model organization out there.

No malicious intent here man, just laughs about the things we see and the observations we've made.

No one is telling anyone how to build.

 

 

 At the rate people are responding to this thread, I would say you're right.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I started building models at 5. I remember my first one, or one of the first, the Aurora 1/48 F95 Panther jet in dark metallic blue. I used WAY too much glue on the canopy and about half of it melted down into the fuselage. I'd started reading and writing at that time, and I wanted "Panther Jet" painted on the wings. I didn't know how to spell Panther (or maybe didn't think I could paint such a big word) so I asked the teenager next door to paint Panther on one wing and I painted JET on the other. In yellow. His was quite neat and you can imagine what mine looked like. 

Many years later I bought another copy of that ancient/classic kit, in the same box, and I still have it unassembled. 

Yeah, I'm not sure why it would be difficult to believe that kids would start building at the age of five.

Back when I was a kid, it was just one of the things that you did, and there were models everywhere.

Dime stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

It's only natural that something that prevalent would appeal to a kid.

All of my friends built models in one form or another.

I didn't start quite as early as five, but I know that I was no older than eight years old when I started.

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 hours ago, LL3 Model Worx said:

I don't particularly care for the "bass boat effect" either....

But that is at least subjective? The mold lines are just plain and simple poor modeling.

I'm not certain what you mean by "subjective" in this case.

The goal in model building is to achieve an end result that is as realistic as possible.

Just as a seam in a radiator is not realistic, neither is paint with metallic in it that would be the size of dimes if brought up to 1:1 scale, and it is the absolute first thing that you see when viewing a build.

Unless you're trying to build a gasser with a crazy metal flake paint job, paint, like ever other aspect of the model, should be as close to the real thing as possible.

 

 

Steve

Edited December 4, 2019 by StevenGuthmiller

[Greg Myers]

Rear view mirrors ? Ponder the last, or for that mater any movie / TV show with the camera looking in through the windshield. No rear view mirror.

For me, this is just something i forget if it isn't a kit part.

Also consider Gerald Wingrove's  coment on "Eye scale" building so it looks right to the eye.

Sometimes less is more.

  

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

Also consider Gerald Wingrove's  coment on "Eye scale" building so it looks right to the eye.

Yes, but who's eye?

 

 

Steve

[Snake45]

24 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Back when I was a kid, it was just one of the things that you did, and there were models everywhere.

Dime stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

It's only natural that something that prevalent would appeal to a kid.

All of my friends built models in one form or another.

We didn't have computers in the '50s-'60s. We had bikes and models. 

I was pretty much exclusively an airplane modeler till I was almost 12. Then I got interested in cars (1966).