Originality Counts?

[Roadrunner]

Just added my vote. I seriously doubt that anything I'll ever try is original, and I don't concern myself too much over that fact. I'll probably only do a dozen or less more cars in my lifetime, and most, if not all, will be fairly straightforward.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Just added my vote. I seriously doubt that anything I'll ever try is original, and I don't concern myself too much over that fact. I'll probably only do a dozen or less more cars in my lifetime, and most, if not all, will be fairly straightforward.

And there's nothing wrong with that in the least, as long as the ride was enjoyable! Me....I'm planning on another 10 a year for the next 10 years at least, until something gives out! Steve

Edited January 15, 2015 by StevenGuthmiller

[Roadrunner]

And there's nothing wrong with that in the least, as long as the ride was enjoyable! Me....I'm planning on another 10 a year for the next 10 years at least, until something gives out! Steve

You've figured out how to live beyond 100? We need to talk.

[StevenGuthmiller]

You've figured out how to live beyond 100? We need to talk.

Ten years from now, I'll be 62. Ten a year will make 100 builds. If I can still build after that...Great! Steve

[southpier]

it's not the end of the road, just another turn on the trip

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ten years from now, I'll be 62. Ten a year will make 100 builds. If I can still build after that...Great! Steve

Gee, I hope you're still building then. I've got more than 10 years on you and still build real cars for a living...grunting, straining, lifting, bending and getting under the things...in an unheated, un-air-conditioned shop...every day. I didn't know mid-60s was all that old.

[Fabrux]

The way I build is such that I rarely can build anything straight out of the box. I have to change something, for whatever reason. It's a compulsion I can't shake, it it affects the speed at which I build greatly...!

[StevenGuthmiller]

Gee, I hope you're still building then. I've got more than 10 years on you and still build real cars for a living...grunting, straining, lifting, bending and getting under the things...in an unheated, un-air-conditioned shop...every day. I didn't know mid-60s was all that old.

I hope so too Bill. I just figure you never know when the eyes, or something else, will go. I hope to still be modeling in my 70s! I just don't know how realistic that will be. Steve

Edited January 15, 2015 by StevenGuthmiller

[Roadrunner]

Ten years from now, I'll be 62. Ten a year will make 100 builds. If I can still build after that...Great! Steve

Sorry, multiplication malfunction.

[vintagerpm]

I generally build race cars or armor, so basically I am making replicas. However, there are still ways I can get "artistic" if not "original". One is to build a version of the vehicle that is not in the kit and takes some scratchbuilding, especially if its a version I never see anyone else do. Another is to make a vignette (small diorama) where you can play with the surroundings the vehicle is in. Or just do a display base that is somehow related to or compliments the model.

[Russell C]

I tend to favor going mostly original in my car ventures (some would call a few of my works http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/uploads/gallery_12144_1240_130902.jpg).

But every once in a while I spot somebody else's infinitely clever model that I'd really like to replicate just to I can have my own copy of it. Cheaper than buying it from the builder, I'll bet, such as Michael Turk's "Das Heir Uber KerBoomerVagen" Red Baron bomb truck custom.

[Junkman]

Being one of those Europeans, I tend to gravitate toward replica stock most of the time,

but I do enjoy customs, hot rods and show rods.

I really love some of the way out creations done by some people around here.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Being one of those Europeans, I tend to gravitate toward replica stock most of the time,

but I do enjoy customs, hot rods and show rods.

I really love some of the way out creations done by some people around here.

I enjoy those "way out" creations too. I've just never had any real interest in building them. I've never really understood why I have no interest in customs & rods. Even at a 1:1 car show, most times I'll rush right past that tricked out custom that everybody else is gathered around, to get a look at the stock '59 Desoto in the back! I guess you don't really pick the things you love, they pick you! Steve

[Tom Geiger]

I voted it's all been done before, I really don't think about it.

I disagree. I love to see models with a new or unusual slant. It doesn't have to be a custom, rat rod or street rod. It can be a version of that race car nobody has done before... like when you find a photo of a car from a specific race or out for a tuning run before it got painted. I remember someone did a Dodge Dart with gel coat fiber glass nose. It was cool because I hadn't seen that before.

Even factory stock builders can do something different. Change of trim line down to the Plain Jane, 4 door sedan or wagon conversions, all cool stuff, some of which hasn't been done for a specific car. For instance when I got my Trabant Universal wagon, I did some Internet research and found photos of a panel van version. Then I just had to do the postal van! And nobody has done that one just yet.

Even staying strictly with the kit, you can always add a roof rack with luggage, or even fill the back seat with Christmas presents. Simple accessories like some photo etched sun glasses on the console make your model just a bit different. I'll add a bumper sticker, inspection stickers or a parking permit. On my recent Chevette build I added a college logo book bag in the hatch as well as a college decal across the back window. Oh, and that one had fuzzy seat covers on the front buckets. You can do little things like adjust the two head rests at different heights, I have even had the drivers seat positioned closer to the wheel than the passenger bucket. Sometimes it's just the little easy things that can make your model a little different. And I love that stuff!

[Chuck Most]

Originality is pretty much impossible at this point- everything you can think of has been done, and in some cases is completely played out. Every good idea has been tried, meaning that all the ideas left are the bad (or at least mediocre) ones. Not that that stops anybody from trying them out. Rectangular headlights on street rods comes to mind there.

It might be a bit more doable on a model than on a real car, just because you can get away with the result. Sure, you could stuff a big-block Chevy into a Miata in real life, or splice together a '57 Plymouth and a Chevy S10, but then you'd have to live with the resulting machine and all of its faults. With a model, you can do something like that without having to deal with any repercussions like you would on a real vehicle.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Chuck Most

[Nova-ss]

I build what I want weather I'm building a stock 67 chev or a custom.it has got to satisfy me...and me only.