Building Models Lately it has come to my attention that some people do not like the fact that i post model pictures in MY facebook page. A few days ago there was a very specific person that disapproved of my hobby and decided to try and redicule me in my WoW guild for this. That person is looking for a new guild now. This is how tolerant i am with people who pass judgement so easy and so superficially. Judging others is a fact of life. But doing so fast, and supeficially is the real problem. Now lets get back to modelbuilding for those of you who actually wish to learn something more and what it is. For many models resemble toys. Thankfully they are not toys and they are not designed to be toys. A model used as a toy by a kid will last less than 30 seconds. Thats how fragile they are. So no models are not toys. Building models is a Hobby. Other people collect stamps. Others go to the gym, others cook, play computer games etc. Everything that a person needs for recreation and relaxation from work. Personally i work 46 hours a week, 9 to 6 on weekdays (including 1h long lunch breaks) and 9 till 2 on a Saturday. So basically i stay in my workplace for more or less 50 hours a week. Thats longer than most people do, but hey... thats life. To be able to overcome the routine of work i have to do specific hobbies. My hobbies at the moment, are building models, writing, cinema and online games. I also cook every so often but this is both a necesity and a hobby. Actuall modelbuilding as a hobby actually reveals it to be something spectacular. It is a combination of sculpting and painting. Sculpting because a complex three dimentional item has to be created. Painting because it requires painting. People will say that the assembly of a model is something simple. Well it really depends on the level of detail that someone is trying to give to the model. An out of the box assembly is usually pretty much straight forward. But injection moulding kits have limitations in detail, mostly because of the limitations of the injection moulding process. For this reason there are improvement sets available, which can be either resin or photo etched parts. Resin sets can give the model much more detail. But they are much more expensive and their production is low volume. Photo etched brass parts can give good detail but they can easily be misshaped if the model is mishandled. So getting the right parts for a detailed model and doing the assembly properly becomes a really difficult task. See it like that: If the model has low detail, if it is painted well it will look good. If a model that has good detail is painted well it will look prety damn amazing. So assemly and level of detail is what makes the difference between a really good model and a mediocre model. Here we must add that there are model builders that do not use any kits at all. They simply build their models out of sheets of plastic, wood and other materials. These models are scratch built models and this requires a great deal of skill in the art. (woops. did i say art? yes i did. Because it is) Painting is also something different. It is not mere painting with a brush, even though there are modelers that still use hair brushes. Models are painted using an airbrush. An airbrush is an invention that allows for the spraying of an air and paint mixture. The finish of the surface using an airbrush is really smooth. In addition to that there are a lot of things that can be done using an airbrush that cannot be done using a normal brush. Things like rusting, salt weathering, paneling etc. All these require an airbrush to be done correctly. As for the painting itself... You just have to go to you tube and watch the various painting techniques that modelers around the world have developed. Painting with an airbrush is pretty much like graffiti. It uses the same techniques. Graffiti street artists will use their skills on a wall modelers will use their skills on a model. I suspect that there is a lot of techniques that we can learn from each other. Model building is not only painting and assemlying either. It requires historical research in order to build a model. Some time ago i attempted to build a British Chieftain MK.10 using a tamiya kit. As it turns out the kit depicted a cross between a Chieftain MK.II/III and a Mk.V I done my research to see exactly how the tank was and found several pictures. It took me some time but i did. My problem now in that kit is crafting the stillbrew armor for the model properly. And yes this means that i will have to call BAE defence systems and get some proper pictures of this (or even schematics) Other historical research in this includes units that these vehicles were used, the years that they were used, in what kind of environment, what kind of camo etc. For example for my Chieftain i am undecided if i will make it with a standard British army camo or if i will use the Berlin Brigade camo. These two vehicles might be the same tank (chieftain MK.IX/X/XI) but there are some external assembly differences. People will say so what? What if people study history? What good will that do? Learning history helps us understand our past. It allows us to understand human nature. It also helps us avoid the mistakes of the past. If people today had historical memory then we would not see the rise of neonazism, fascism and other totalitarian parties all over europe and the rest of the world. If people had historical memory then they would know that the moral defeat of this kind of extremism was done in WWII and the cold war. So a modeler is someone who knows hostory and as such he has historical memory. That enables him to be liberated from the politic of today, see the whole picture and be a free thinking person. There are those who say that building models of German WWII tanks or airplanes promotes Nazism. Well thats untrue. You see its not people that are evil. All nations have commited atrocities in war. However wrong and something that must be tolerated we must understand that atrocities is something that happens in a war, because people are flawed. Its not the machines that are evil either. The machine is just a tool. Its the leadership that is responsible for such atrocites. So no depicting a German WWII vehicle, aircraft or soldier is not evil or an indication of nazism or nazism. If anything its an indication that that person might know something about WWII history. And if these are not enough for people to understand what building models is about consider this: Building one model may turn out to be building an eastehically pleasing item. But having a collection of those in a glass display: Thats pretty damn amazing and not many homes can have such a thing. A model can be anything: A car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a historical figure. It can also be something that inspires the modeler such as models from Star Wars and Sci-fi. A model can be a part of a diorama, which is a model on itself. So dioramas are a synthesis of more than one models, and as such they can be challenging. Models are being used in table top wargames. And these are just as fun (or even more) as chess, backgammon, risk and other such games. Some people think that building models, may make people violent because of the nature of the models. Items that are used in war. My question is: Do they fear that somehow this person will commit acts of violence using the model that he built. Do they think that a relaxing and recreational activity will make someone violent? This is pretty damned odd. Building models is a wonderful activity that i would encourage everyone to do. It has a lot of positive aspects and it requires the combination of many different skills. So dont judge a modeler superficially (or anyone else for that matter). Learn more on what it is that they do and understand them a bit more.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:34:49 +0000
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