Haste, Waste, Etc.
Model building is not an easily understood activity for those who don’t engage in it. This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that we model builders often expect something like “appreciation” of our work.
Fat chance.
Even if you create a masterpiece, the viewer, observer, or bystander had to know something about it in order to be able to form an opinion. It’s like being able to train ants. Who does that? Who would know if you did a good job? It’s all about perspective. If you don’t have an objective way to measure something, you’re stuck.
For example.
I assembled the deadeyes on the starboard side of the Golden Hind and noted that they were fragile and had to be modified to look right. Then, after being completely occupied with other things and unable to work on the model, I went back to it and promptly forgot about the fragile nature of the deadeyes.
This is what happens when you don’t pay attention. Errors like this occur to beginners quite often, and they have to be pretty determined to stick with a hobby where most people don’t see the errors anyway and can’t imagine what’s wrong. But if you do see the problem, then you have to fix it properly and that involves something called “technique.” In other words, this is another case where years of experience will tend to pay off in a way that is virtually invisible to anyone but you and a few other specialists. The really frustrating part is when the other specialists get their noses so close to their work that they can’t remember how difficult it is to get even the basics right. We tend to “recalibrate” our critical faculties so that, even on a forum where expertise is assumed, we end up being just as critical. Beautiful models can be “cut down” by someone who honestly thought they were being “helpful.”
Right.
Fortunately, I have an extra set of these parts from the second kit.
Now that I remember why I was so very careful with them, I’ll get these together and press on.
Alternately, being surrounded by people that know nothing of the subject pieces (such as myself) any mistakes are hardly commented on, and weathering et al are criticised. If I make a nice, cleanly painted Hurricane for example, it is applauded by the people around me. The times when I have painstakingly put in the time to wash, weather, and place minute details, it is then found to be a ‘rush job’ and the paint job isn’t very nice looking, why didn’t I make a nice one like the Hurricane?
Perhaps that is why many in this hobby tend to flock to others of our ilk? We are the only people that appreciate the realistic aspects included in the model.
However, when modelling vehicles and armour, many do appreciate the mud and grime I put on my subjects and running gear, along with the small details I add to dioramas, so perhaps it is because tanks, jeeps, etc are much easier to understand than the way wind, weather and so on affect aircraft?
This is the reason I rarely go the whole hog with aircraft, and virtually all of them come out as ‘nice clean builds’ as the saying goes.