Ultra detail

[slant6]

I work on cars (real cars) 6 days a week. I'm not a mechanic, I do electronics and custom fab, so I miss a lot of the details (I do try so take pics when I'm not rushed though). I'm just thinking, what is it that drive all of you Ultra detail guys and where do you find the details? Ive seen some of you do some really intricate, super detail stuff, Ive been building on and off for 20+ years and only hope to reach the levels that some of you can do. I get the impression that some of you do it for a job! Where do you get it all.... or am I just really horrible with my internet searching?

[brett]

Basic mechanical knowledge helps ie knowing roughly where things go.Dont be afraid to ask specific questions ,after you've done a search first . I acutually look at the modelling forums first, someone probably a few someones will have built it before you, one of them at least probably detailed it. Car mags, some better than others,check your local library for a manuel on the car in question. Two other considerations, not everything translates to scale eg some things will have to be made to big to look in scale and other bits wont be noticed and treat each part as a seperate model eg the engine bay as a whole model on its own same with interior etc

[MrObsessive]

Brett pretty much summed up what I do when building a super detailed model. One thing I've done in the past, (and will do again) is spend the money for an actual shop manual of the car if there's one available. The '57 Corvette I did years ago for instance, I used an assembly manual that came directly from Chevrolet.

It showed the car as it would have some down the assembly line, and believe me-----EVERY nut and bolt of detail was shown in that manual! This helped a great deal when it came to see how brake/fuel lines were routed, and also to get things "in scale" as Brett mentioned.

Yes, I do try to treat each part as model unto itself. It makes it easier for me to focus on something I'm scratch-building to make it as correct as possible.

[1320wayne]

I feel that the level of detail that someone places into a model should be for their own personal preference. I would never recommend to someone to attempt to add detail to a build simply to try and keep up with other builders.

I have been around cars all of my life, especially drag cars, so the placement of detail comes a bit more natural to me. That's not to say that I still don't utilize reference material for builds that can be obtained from magazine articles, the internet or simply other builders models. I know where most details need to be added to a drag subject but when I decided to tackle an "extreme" build of a Nascar subject two years ago I used reference from some of the best Nascar model builders around to try and get the details just right.

My own feelings are that I like to add whatever feasible details are possible to make the model look as lifelike as possible. Try to get away from the toy-like persona of the build. That being said, I don't have the fancy machine shops to make details out of raw aluminum and I don't like to spend too much money on details that can be accessed through lesser expensive means.

The bottom line is to have fun, challenge yourself when possible and enjoy the level of building that you can achieve.

[torinobradley]

Research, research and more research. There are so many little tidbits of knowledge for every different car out there that it's relatively impossible to get every detail down to the last nut, bolt and clip. Learn from others, learn from the real car, make notes, create a folder on your pc and put everything in it. In researching my Grand Sport, I researched manuals, books, magazines and parts houses to get all the info I needed. I am ending up changing every part in the kit, if not just rebuilding them from scratch.

One major word of advice, don't assume the kit is correct. Kits are made with mold design and limitations, as well as ease of assembly in mind so lots of liberties have to be taken. The colors provided by the instructions should be a general idea but always research the real thing to ensure the colors are correct.

Bottom line, get as much information as you possibly can on the subject your modeling and above all else, make sure your still building models for enjoyment. After all, you should be using your hobby to escape stress... Who cares, after all, if that darn header bolt is supposed to be 1/2 scale inch further forward???

[Art Anderson]

I work on cars (real cars) 6 days a week. I'm not a mechanic, I do electronics and custom fab, so I miss a lot of the details (I do try so take pics when I'm not rushed though). I'm just thinking, what is it that drive all of you Ultra detail guys and where do you find the details? Ive seen some of you do some really intricate, super detail stuff, Ive been building on and off for 20+ years and only hope to reach the levels that some of you can do. I get the impression that some of you do it for a job! Where do you get it all.... or am I just really horrible with my internet searching?

I can understand the frustration that can come from seeing superdetailed model cars that appear to have been magically recreated by some incredible shrinking ray, and the "wonder" that many must experience at seeing them. Detailing a model kit of any sort does mean a ton of extra work, and finding the references for those details can seem like a wild goose chase to those who've seemingly not had any success at it.

Your mention of "internet searching" however, leads me to ask--is the internet the only place you look for references for detailing a model? If so, I've got some news for you, some of which you may not want to hear: For all it's value as a tool, the internet has yet to completely supplant old-technology print media, and certainly it will never likely replace "in person" studying of the real subject. Why? Well for the simple reason that most folks who take pictures of cars aren't doing it for "model building reference", rather to capture the overall beauty or uniqueness of the particular car (sorta like being a real car magazine cover car photographer it seems at times!).

Just as gorgeous pics in glossy paper magazines don't often tell the story in terms of pics of the "greasy, grimy parts", the same of course is more often than not true of pics on websites, even in such places as Fotki or other photo-sharing websites. So, what's a body to do? Most of us who do either scratchbuilding, or replicating actual cars seriously take as much, if not more time looking for the real thing whenever possible, with camera and notepad in hand. Even if the car you are doing is say, a '59 Chevy, under the hood of a '60 you will find pretty much the same exact things, for example (because the '60 was a facelift of the '59, not a completely new car. This is but one example. Some magazines can be veritable gold mines, if you take the time to search them out, read them, perhaps catalog their contents (MS Excel is a marvelous tool for that!). Of course, a few of us have a huge head start on other builders--I, for example, have every issue of Collectible Automobile Magazine, all the way back to Vol 1, Number 1, in the summer of 1984, along with perhaps 95% of the issues of Special Interest Autos (now Hemmings Classic Cars), and from my Indy car building days, every single issue of whatever was printed as an Indianapolis 500 Yearbook (my collection there starts with Floyd Clymer's "History of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race" which covered, in 1946, every race from 1911-1941, then all his annual yearbooks until he passed away in 1973--I then followed on by collecting each of the Carl Hungness 500 yearbooks until I finally burned out on building models of such racecars in the early 80's. I've got selected back issues of mags such as Antique Automoble (the monthly publication of Antique Automobile Club of America--AACA), and several other similar publications. Over the past 45 years or so, I've accumulated perhaps 2000lbs of hardback and soft-cover books on cars, cars of the kinds that interest me. Along the way, I've collected more dealer brochures, service manuals and factory assembly manuals that I care to admit as well.

But, today the best tool I have is first, my memory--I've sorta learned that if I see something that intrigues me, I commit it to memory (which bugs a lot of people, sometimes gets me in dutch with others, but oh well!), second, my digital camera--now on my 3rd one in 10 years, try to have it with me when I go to a car show or museum (where they may or may not allow me to take pics--some car museums are very touchy, others are happy to let you take pics to your heart's content--ask first to be sure). The neat thing about a digicamera is, the pics are virtually cost-free, put them on a memory stick, they can be pulled up nearly instantly, my printer can print off whatever I have, as I might need it. A good carpenter's rule is another tool I have, cost me relatively little, folds up so it's easy to tote around, and a Magic Marker to black out every other inch gives me a ruler that I or a friend can hold up in the area I want to photograph to give me instant dimensions whenever I look at a particular reference pic (incidently, this is how nearly every model car kit, certainly prior to CAD) got referenced, and even today, older cars get this very reference treatment--above all, ASK permission first, and NEVER lay that carpenter's rule on a restored, highly finished car!)

With all the above I have mentioned, books about cars, particularly those covering a certain marque and perhaps a particular model, or era of the marque in question have text, many have lots of text: Take the time to read it, and just for grins, read up on the stuff that comes BEFORE the car you are researching, and read on after you have found what you were looking for--often times there are literal gems of information there that explain not only how that particular car came to be, but also may well help you downroad on a future model car project of the same marque. The same is true of magazine articles; in short, get to know more about the project at hand than just where a certain plug wire ran from distributor to plug--it's that sort of attention to learning that pays me dividends down the road, perhaps even years later.

I maintain that a modeler can never know too much about the subject, the car on the bench--you never know where that knowledge will lead you, and over time, those who do that wind up often surprising themselves more than they who view the finished model. Of course, while I've touted the value of sources other than websites, online searches can have their value--just take the time to experiment with keywords, key phrases to ask Google to search for you--and like a dedicated Chicago voter, be sure to do it early and often!

Art