why do some people insist on details?

[Darren B]

Dude best advice,build how you want and just enjoy it.

I would stress at one point about the right color or the right detail,then the hobby for me became no fun,then I realized I didnt have to do like everyone else and it became fun again.

Couldn't phrase it any better!

[skysoldier46]

Yep build what you want and how you want. Slowly you gain experience with a skill set, paint application, how you go about intricate details whatever. I went to the Murfreesboro show 2 years ago, entered one of my 99% scratch built drill rigs but this guy who bought a scale model of a bluegill fish won. Why? maybe because his modeling buddies liked his fish better or maybe because the way his airbrushed application of paint made that model really look like an actual mounted fish. It was awesome to say the least. But his skill was great.

Aftermarket companies provide things that modelers need or just want like tool manufacturers do. What would we do without the good old Xacto knife? Those aftermarket companies provide services and also they help feed their family or their bank account. either way we use them.

I build things no one else builds or at least I haven't seen lately. Just build what you want and how you want and don't fret over what other modelers do with their time or money. The modeling community is a great place with good people in it. Some are expert builders, some are average but we all build something and most of us don't criticize others for what they use or what they put on a model. I get just as much enjoyment looking at a model with so much detail in it because I know that modeler loves his work. And I also enjoy looking at a teenagers work, that sometimes leaves a lot to be desired and yet that teenager built something he or she was proud of. If we teach rather than fault, that modeler becomes better. And we should not criticize them for their joy.

I'm just a modeler who likes plastic.

[Steven Zimmerman]

What !?!?!?

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.[/quI beg to differ....SIR !ote]

[outlaw035]

i build the model the way i want to...i could care less about weather it wins any contest....i just enjoy people seeing my work weather its a grt8 build or a 4 footer...

to me box stock is just pretty much boring...but i can appreciate a box stock build its just not for me...my 2 cents....

[azers]

I attend contests for several reasons. 1. To spend time with my son doing something we both enjoy together. 2. To see old friends and make new ones. 3. For the competition. 4. To show off my work to everyone. 5. To see what other builders are doing and to see what they are building and to get ideas. 6. For the swap meets Nd most importantly to have fun. A friend of mine who builds models and competes once told me that once the model is on the table thats when the competition begins. And the visiting and shopping starts.

[Dave Pye]

I like details and I like a clean build which displays proper modelbuilding. I laughed at the "aftermarket conspiracy" line, and I think I am in a position to say I have never heard of such a thing.

I have built for a contest, not in cars, but back in my model railroading days. The NMRA had a judging system that pretty much listed all the criteria to be met to be considered for a top award. Scratchbuilding was a big point getter.

Now, at age 62, I suggest one should just like to build, and not necessarily a whole car. Every part of a car can be a separate model.

I loved building chassis and suspensions. Engines were OK. I never could get the hang of super-glossy paint, so I chose subjects which fit my skill sets.

Now, diabetes has taken its toll on my eyesight and other health problems severely limit my building. I'm not out of the game, but I am not investing big bucks like I used to. I never did it to win awards, and I did win. I spent what it took to satisify ME! And, I am just too darned picky!

So, oddly enough, as a change of pace, I paint a simple military figure. It's fun and very different. When my back can't take sitting at the model table, I research and make notes. I have always liked research.

I encourage Steve, my son, to build what he likes and push his skills every now and again. He enjoys scratchbuilding detail items. Good for him! So, I don't have any idea why some people like or think big-buck details will win a contest. I know a thoughtful, precise, throrough and correct build is how you win. The details are just for fun and enjoyment. Note I did mention fun first.

And, I really doubt any well run contest uses amount of aftermarket as a "requirement" for a trophy.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Dave Pye

[brad4321]

To people not in the hobby or new to the hobby, the level of detail is what is impressive. Oh boy, look there is a little cd stuck in the cd player! Oh boy, there is a pair of dice hanging from the rear view mirror! These things are perfectly fine and do add to the model - if executed well. But many of us have come to learn the real skill of model building is elsewhere. It's been said a million times, but what's important is having fun. If you enjoy the finished product, then it's a success. My first first models were absolutely awful. But at that time I was way more proud of what I had done. I wanted to show those models off. Now that my models are pretty good, I'm almost embarrassed by them. Well, the paint isn't absolutely perfect. Or some other minor imperfection makes you hate the whole thing. You think you've done something great until you see that some guy out there in another state has done something more amazing than you can imagine. And all of a sudden your very good model looks pretty ordinary. For you golfers out there I'll make a comparison. I am a professional. (Not on the tour, but in the business) I see a lot of golfers who are scratch players or mid 70's players, and think they are hot stuff because they beat all their friends. But those of us that can really play are generally a humble bunch because we only compare ourselves to the best players in the world. If I go out and shoot 69, I guarantee I had no more enjoyment (if anything less) than the guy who shot 92. When I analyze my round, I will only think about the little mistakes. The guy who shoots 92 will proudly remember the 5 fantastic shots he hit.

[jaydar]

I think your post, while attempting to stir, is based on a faulty premise. It assumes that if your basics, such as assembly, finish and correction of inaccuracies, are deficient, that adding aftermarket details will improve the model.

They won't.

Joe.

[gtx6970]

Dude best advice,build how you want and just enjoy it.

I would stress at one point about the right color or the right detail,then the hobby for me became no fun,then I realized I didnt have to do like everyone else and it became fun again.

Ditto,

I have not competed in an outside contest in nearly 15 years and have no interest to restart now

I build for me and me alone, As long is the completed product looks like my intended subject matter I'm good . The most I use anymore are pre-wired dists and decals , but thats more due to I just can't see that small do do them myself . I might use a photoetched grille sometime but thats going to be the extent of my aftermkt requirements.

[Daddyfink]

What most modelers are trying to do, and what should be the goal, is too fool the eye into seeing something as being more real. Some of the aftermarket stuff is just brutally out of scale or looks way to stiff and fake. I have seen builders do more with just paint than someone with machined everything. I know, some of those builds can be quite awe inspiring,but, they are mostly built by modelers who are dedicated to that style of building and follow through. Some will just build something box stock, and then slap turned wheels on them that are out of scale and look fake, and think they should win. Never assume you will win anything and you will be better off in the end.

I once knew and old judge, who I will only mention by his initials, Drew Hierwarter, who taught me the basics of judging and I still use them to this day! I used to love seeing him loose it when folks brought in race cars with super deep and shiny paint jobs! Especially dirt track cars!! LOL!

Just my 2 cents!

[Dr. Cranky]

Here's my rusty 2 cents:

The older I get and the more I build, the more I return to building simple box stock models. For some reason I always feel rather youthful when doing so.

What comes in the kit should be plenty to work with time and again.

[Guest Johnny]

Here's my rusty 2 cents:

The older I get and the more I build, the more I return to building simple box stock models. For some reason I always feel rather youthful when doing so.

What comes in the kit should be plenty to work with time and again.

I agree Doc! It takes me back.

In fact a lot of the models I have recently acquired are ones that I had originally built back when I was a kid that had long since departed.

Like the old Revell Tri-Fives with opening doors.

[Hollywood Jim]

Here's my rusty 2 cents:

The older I get and the more I build, the more I return to building simple box stock models.

Cranky builds box stock models ????

I guess the world did end last night.

Or else I woke up this morning in an alternate universe................

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[Dr. Cranky]

Cranky builds box stock models ????

I guess the world did end last night.

Or else I woke up this morning in an alternate universe................

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LOL, well, let's just say that I always start out box stock! Then I get possessed by the Styrene Chuckies!

[Art Anderson]

Adding extra details that are above and beyond the parts one finds in a model kit is a matter of personal choice, and as such, just about any conversation about model car building will be full of subjectivity. Yes, many if not most of us started building at an age much younger than we are now, and to look at those few early builds? Well, to many, they don't look like much, unless the builder lets us know the age he/she was when those models were done.

In so many ways, this hobby which both unites and divides us is a microcosm of who we are as human beings. After all, no other species on Planet Earth of which I am aware, strives so hard to get ahead, to continue "growing" even after we've reached our adult stature, been launched out from our families of origin into the wild, hard, cruel world that we sometimes see as our surroundings. In just about any endeavor each of us goes into in life, we have an innate desire to improve, to get better-stronger-sharper (any reader of this can plug in their own description here), and if nowhere else in our lives, model car building clearly shows that sort of very human "drive".

Now, how does all this attempt at pop-psychology relate to this discussion of "detailing" a model car? Well, having been in this hobby seriously since the 1950's, I would submit that model car builders have striven to add that extra little bit to their builds which just might separate their prized creations from the "rest of the pack". Xacto's set of 20 "numbered" drill bits and pin vises have been available for MORE than 50 years now, but who among us today, as teenagers back in 1962 had ever heard of using them to drill out distributors, make holes for inserting a little peg of plastic or metal to represent spark plugs, and then dug around to find that right gauge of soft copper or brass for the ignition leads? No, most of us raided Mom's sewing basket for some black thread, sorta glued that into place--to our much younger, far less-experienced eyes that worked, sent a message to the World (or at least our teenaged model car buddies!) that we'd taken that latest model car to the mountaintop. It's our competitive nature, plain and simple. The same was true with interiors--how many of us hit on the idea of using white pinwale corduroy cloth to "replicate" those white, rolled and pleated naugahyde custom interiors that SoCal customizers were having done, be that in some shop in Pasadena, or a street vendor in Tijuana? Yup, a lot of us across the USA did that too. How many of us now in our late 60's or early 70's entered car after car after car in those old former "Local Hobby Shop" model car contests, or a model contest at the County Fair, hoping to "best" the rest of the competition, bring home that trophy? A lot of us did, and I suspect that protestations to the contrary, virtually EVERYONE who posts or just reads these forums that Gregg has so graciously provided (for that matter, the other model car message boards on the Web) has been through at least something like I have just described. Most of us probably never played football, basketball, ran track (fill in any sport you want here) at any serious level as team sports, but we should be able to see our competitiveness in the very same vein--virtually all of us are competitors in our hobby, be that competition we profess to face only just ourselves, in our own little "Walter Mitty" world.

So now, maybe this comes down to criticism, hmmmmm? Well, I suspect that virtually all of us, certainly those who read and post in these forums, at some time in our formative years, were urged to keep "sportsmanship" in our lives. Some 60 years ago, the late Dale Carnegie wrote in his still strong-selling book on self-improvement/motivation book "How to Win Friends And Influence People" that we really ought to be "...sparing in our approbation, and lavish in our praise", and I think that advice is perhaps one of the most important in any discussion such as this forum topic. The famous poem, "Deseridata" which was set to music and played, sung and spoken by numerous musicians over the years, suggest that we "Go forward into the world placidly" and above all, "never compare ourselves to others, for there will always be those greater or lesser than ourselves"--again I think very strong advice in the world of model car building.

OK, so I have pontificated long and and loud here. But here is my one New Years Resolution for 2013: (to paraphrase a pledge that so many fraternal organizations speak) "I resolve that if I cannot speak well of a fellow model car builder, I shall not speak ill of him."

Phew, I've rattled on long enough.

Art

[johnbuzzed]

If your skills are good and you have the basics down pat, you can do well at a contest with or without any aftermarket parts-- I speak from experience. A few years back I took a first place award with an unpainted (though well-massaged and polished) Dakota pickup in a shelf class at a "major contest" and did OK (2nd place?) at another contest with the same kit built box-stock; again, no paint. Conversely, I have been skunked quite recently with a project that has over 180 parts that were either aftermarket, fabricated or parts-box parts. Go figure.Each modeler has his or her own aspirations, ideas and "dreams" for a kit/project/build and there are no guarantees for results of any kind. In the long run, it's all about being happy with one's creations.

[skysoldier46]

Art, I remember being a 13 year old kid taking one of mom's sewing needles, holding it over a flame and 'drilling' holes where spark plugs go and yep, used her same black thread to simulate spark plug wires. We grow steadily with that experience and also by looking at how other modelers do their work. Modeling should be fun whether we enter contests or just for ourselves. I've had people look at my drill rigs and old trucks and ask me many questions on how I did this or that. I answered each and every question so the next generation could build on my experience. I'm not the greatest builder and don't aspire to be a great builder, just a modeler going an extra step with each new model.

And like Art says, if you can't inspire then don't criticize just for the sake of criticizing, that hurts feelings and may stop that person from becoming a good addition to our hobby. But critique with the intent of making that person a better modeler and also a better person for the next generation.

[Dr. Cranky]

The ideal is two fold:

1) build a model that you haven't see before (exercise your imagination!)

2) and improve your skills while doing so

When you attend a bit show like the NNL EAST you will see many examples of the above.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Art Anderson: "The famous poem, "Deseridata" which was set to music and played, sung and spoken by numerous musicians over the years, suggest that we "Go forward into the world placidly".

Frankly, I always rather preferred Deteriorata. A brief excerpt follows:

"...Go placidly
Amid the noise and waste.
And remember what comfort there may be
In owning a piece thereof.

Avoid quiet and passive persons
Unless you are in need of sleep.

Rotate your tires.

Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself
And heed well their advice,
Even though they be turkeys.

Know what to kiss.....and when!..."

[2002p51]

I once knew and old judge, who I will only mention by his initials, Drew Hierwarter, who taught me the basics of judging and I still use them to this day! I used to love seeing him loose it when folks brought in race cars with super deep and shiny paint jobs! Especially dirt track cars!! LOL!

Just my 2 cents!

If this forum had a Facebook style "like" button, Jesse, I would like your post!

[Danno]

If this forum had a Facebook style "like" button, Jesse, I would like your post!

[2002p51]

But, I didn't know you were "old," Drew!

I'm not, I'm experienced, er, seasoned , , , okay I'm old.

[Danno]

Me? I'm just fashionably weathered!

It's all in the patina.

[CAL]

I have seen some pretty nice box stock models.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Harry P.

[Gramps2u]

Build to suit your fancy. The key to modeling is plain old HAVE FUN! Besides If I dont build some kits box stock I will never live to see the day I finish up my Hoard!