Monday, February 2, 2015

4 things I don't get

My friends will tell you that I'm pragmatic, at home, at work, and even in our hobby. I sometimes fear that may get in my way of enjoying things, but it's who I am. It's in that spirit that I offer four things about our hobby that I don't "get."

Egg planes


I guess they're cute, but I don't get it. The idea of spending even a few hours on an egg plane when that time could be spent building something more engaging.


WIFs


A WIF is a What-If, usually a real-world airplane finished in hypothetical markings, such as an F4D Skyray in Blue Angels markings. I don't get it. There are so many cool and interesting paint schemes and markings out there that I don't understand the desire to turn to something fictional.


Photoetch leaves


A lot of modelers like to use photoetch leaves for their vehicles, vignettes, and dioramas. I don't get it. Representing vegetation in scale has always been a challenge, but photoetch leaves always (and I think I can say: without exception) look fake. If not fake, quite unnatural. Better to save your money and use oregano or one of the other aftermarket products that are now on the market to create leaves, tree limbs, and trees.


Epic dioramas

I appreciate the work that goes into creating a huge diorama, but I don't get it. When a diorama gets beyond a certain size, it becomes more a canvas to showcase the modeler's talent rather than a composition that tells a compelling story. I almost always walk past them at contests.


 A big Thank You to my friend Mark Maroscher for kindly allowing me to use his 1/72 F4D Skyray in this article.


4 comments:

  1. Articles like this make me want to build a P-51D in Luftwaffe colors surrounded by photoetch plant life as a part of a giant What If diorama of the Battle of Yavin from Star Wars.

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  2. So you don't get it?
    That's fine.
    Moving on...

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  3. It's OK that you don't get it, but lighten up a little! Egg Planes are a great way to remind us that we are, after all, just building models and it's OK to have a little fun with them. http://www.milto.net/eggstreme-machines.php
    Hmmm... I think I'll start on my Tamiya egg-space shuttle. Or maybe the War of the Worlds spaceships in my stash. I need a break from my third attempt to master the Wellenmuster camo on an He-219. I'm seeing RLM74 grey squiggles everywhere. Or should I use RLM75? Or 76?
    That egg shuttle shuttle in black and white would be a nice break about now.

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  4. I do have an egg shuttle to get finished sometime. I love what ifs (member of the whatifmodelers group) and not just because you have leeway to use your imagination on something but also because some know it all modeler can't come up and say, that is the wrong color, etc. I also build sci-fi and regular stuff too.

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