So, You Bought That High-dollar Kit...

Beyond weathering, I'm afraid of battering anything I build regardless of how much $ I shelled out!

Oh, no... I'm saying that, say the Monogram B-24 cost 90.00-100.00 dollars...

Would ya do THIS to it?

On purpose, I mean...

"Lady Be Good"  diorama built by Shepard Paine, kit manufactured by Monogram.

yes.. to create that./ yup.... One of my favs !

been kinda thinking of taking a B-1 and doing that to it..

My skills arn't that good for battle damage yet.. I've done some dents on armor and cars,, but thats about it...

Oh I get it - on purpose, if I was capable of it... probably not. I am intrigued/amazed at folks who are able to pull that off. Everything has to be "to-scale" sheet-metal, stringers, how the damage appears etc. In my mind it is the ulitimate in modeling, and I applaud those who have the cojones to try it.

But in my case it wouldn't matter if I found a $15 special at a yard sale or if I sprung for a $100 kit off the shelf, I still prefer the kits I build to look as they would in-use, not after abuse.

Hans von Hammer

... And it cost you say, anywhere from 70.00 to 150.00...

Would (could) you build it with battle-damage? Actually taking the Dremel and a steel-cutter bit to it to grind out the plastic from the inside and then rip open the panels with an X-Acto knife to make flak-holes? Tear a chunk outta the canopy? Model it it crash-landed on one main, like the sole-surviving TBF (8-T-1) from Torpedo Eight's detachment on Midway??

Or would you just "build it" and leave it on the shelf? 

About 10 or so years ago, when I was getting back into modeling for the third or fourth time, I bought the F4U Corsair by Tamiya (the -D variant with the moto-tug). I think it was around $30 or so. For me, that was a big expense - and Tamiya was 'the way' to go since I had always built their kits as a kid.

Anyways, I got ahold one of the Verlinden aircraft dios books and decided to try my hand at doing some damage. My vision was a Corsair returned to some South Pacific dirt strip. The plane is shot to hell and skids off the runway with one gear collapsed. The pilot is wounded, being helped out of the plane by a couple ground crew guys.

I never finished the project (though I have actually been thinking of returning to it a lot recently), but I did beat the hell out of the kit.

So, the short answer to your question is yes.

are you kidding,I can hardly bear to build it.No seriously I usually don't alter my builds too much,it would be out of box most likely

Hans von Hammer

... And it cost you say, anywhere from 70.00 to 150.00...

Would (could) you build it with battle-damage? Actually taking the Dremel and a steel-cutter bit to it to grind out the plastic from the inside and then rip open the panels with an X-Acto knife to make flak-holes? Tear a chunk outta the canopy? Model it it crash-landed on one main, like the sole-surviving TBF (8-T-1) from Torpedo Eight's detachment on Midway?

In a heartbeat, if that was the vision that I had.

If I had the skills, i would do it in a heart beat.

Heck I am just happy to get a build odne without too many glaring errors and not too many seams.

If I thought I had the skills to pull it off in a way that was worthy of a kit of that price, certainly.

I'm actually planning on recreating the recovery of the F4U-1 birdcage from Lake Michigan with the Tamiya kit:

Also recently got my hands on Trumpy's Dauntless...planning to build it straight-up, but I'd consider flogging another into this (and Yellow Wings actually makes a decal sheet for this plane, both during Operation Torch and as the training bird that crashed into Lake Michigan):

Need to get skill up in terms of battering and diorama building before I'd be comfortable doing that to the big Dauntless, though.

Like others have said, if I had the skills and the idea for something like that, then yes I would.   My main concern would not be the cost of the kit, but what kit would be the best for what I had in mind.   In a proposed situation like this, I don't think that it matters if the kit is inexpensive or not, but rather what it offers in the box for the work required. 

Dre

Like others have said, if I had the skills and the idea for something like that, then yes I would.   My main concern would not be the cost of the kit, but what kit would be the best for what I had in mind.   In a proposed situation like this, I don't think that it matters if the kit is inexpensive or not, but rather what it offers in the box for the work required. 

In which case a high-dollar kit might make sense, given the usually high degree of internal parts present.

Honestly, if I wanted to model a busted up Jug, especially one snapped in half or missing a wing or with its guts hanging out, all that interior ducting the Trumpeter kit requires would probably come in extremely handy.

No, I wouldn't.

I model mainly from a love of the aircraft themselves & boring as it may seem, I prefer to have them nice,  shiny (if applicable) & clean, - concourse examples if you like (I'm not very good at weathering either!).

Kinda the point I was going for DoogsATX, but I didn't know if HvH was setting us up for another Monogram Mafia hit....  but yeah, I'd prefer to start with more than less.

Hans von Hammer

......build it with battle-damage? Actually taking the Dremel and a steel-cutter bit to it to grind out the plastic from the inside and then rip open the panels with an X-Acto knife to make flak-holes? Tear a chunk outta the canopy? Model it it crash-landed on one main, like the sole-surviving TBF (8-T-1) from Torpedo Eight's detachment on Midway??

For an aircraft kit:

Depending on the amount of damage, a kit may lose many or all of it's expensive interior components anyway thereby losing some of the advantage bestowed by it's purchase..

Kit interiors would only be of use in undamaged areas which may be viewed through damaged /  missing panels.

The builder must still creating new parts from scratch to match the appearance of bent structural aluminum, wires, torn rubber de-icing leading edge strips, shattered plexiglass.

The only aftermarket parts which may be of use are photo- etched brass or stainless steel.

Worth the price?

Depends on the amount of damage and how wealthy you are.

Still intend to buy the expensive kit?

Refer to the thread:

How to get your wife to agree to the purchase of a $229 plastic model...

The short answer to would I use an expensive kit:

I doubt it.

I am with vance on this. Not matter how much it cost, and i have a few Armour and Aircrfat kits in  the £70 range, i like to see them in use. The most i would do would be a bent track guard or side skirts on a tank, and some chipping, maybe some light battel damage on an aircraft.

And that's still my point...  use the best most useful kit for the job at hand.   El Cheapo brand might have what I need over the HiBux line, so I'd use it.  Or vice-versa.   I see no point in having to recreate parts from scratch if they're already in the box...  

If I was going to go through all that effort, you can be sure that I'd actually do kit research to see who has the most usable stuff that I don't need to reconstruct.   Obviously a heavily damaged A/C is going to need a lot of creative work inside and out, why not minimize that effort by starting with the most useful parts available in the box?  

I would be much more inclined to beat he he!! out of a high dollar kit than I would a cheapy. Takes a lot of work to make some cheapo kits look good. For example, I got a Revell 1/48 TBD for $10, and spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 hours on it. Had it been a "state of the art" Tamiya TBD, for say $40, probably would only take 20 or so hours. I'd take the extra time destroying the Tamiya, just to get my dollars/hours worth.

fermis

 Takes a lot of work to make some cheapo kits look good. For example, I got a Revell 1/48 TBD for $10, and spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 hours on it.

'that bad?

I am still working on making it look nice right out of the box. But then again when I get tick over the way it looks I kind a smash it. Now instead of throwing it away I'll keep in a box for a future dio.  Thank Hans for the idea.

I just thought of a topic for a new thread how many models have you thrown across the room. When it does not go right or that part will not stay put . Or that decal just came apart.

I believe the answer you are looking for is NO! :)

As I see it, that's what lousy models are for, the ones that simply won't go together well in the first place but are adequate enough that when built destroyed, their flaws can be woven into the damage.

I've seen a lot of kits that could have been great kits, if not for having dropped the ball somewhere along the way and thus simply are not great kits. But once the flaw is removed in the process of destruction, it's no longer an issue.

used to blow them up with firecrackers, just to see the special effects, uhhhmm, .22, 12 guage, a simple match, flicking burning sprue at other guys kits.... 'sparkler' powder(thermite) in the fuselage, soldering iron, 8 inch telescope mirror.....man, like lazer....but now I wish I had em all back, cause they cost 90-100 $ to replace......foooolish yoooooooth........

No, now that'ld take guts, except for a specific historic narrative, yeah, for that I would melt styrene....

nice Liberator crash, BTW.......

I usually buy in two's...one for practice and one for real...

Manstein's revenge

I usually buy in two's...one for practice and one for real...

No. I wouldn't even do it with a $20 kit. I just my builds to look like they could operate. Used, but not over abused.

Never blew up completed models, even as a child.

The kit parts are just too valuable for Hans style re-builds.

Did so plenty of times with old kits.

Old Battleship parts became space ships

Aircraft parts were used to make "what if" prototypes, etc.

Never destroy the parts.

Just too valuable.

Depends, is it the only one out there? Is the the only version of that type you're going for (i.e. B-17D, or FW-190F-8, etc)? Does it comes with optional position flaps, tail surfaces,etc, cause that would help in that area if doing a crash scene.  In the end if the more expensive kit was closer to what I was looking for, I'd use it (i.e. if I needed a -J, and the expensive kit was a -G, while the cheapo was a -B, I'd buy the -G)

Sprue-ce Goose

Never blew up completed models, even as a child.

The kit parts are just too valuable for Hans style re-builds.

Did so plenty of times with old kits.

Old Battleship parts became space ships

Aircraft parts were used to make "what if" prototypes, etc.

Never destroy the parts.

Just too valuable.

The one that almost made me just cry was a big Luftwaffe flying wing in one of the 'Raiders' movies, I can't remember for sure....luckily nothing of mine has blow'd up for 4 decades and counting.

I had an associate who would regularly visit HSs to collect unwanted or bashed kits. He built spaceships as you described for FX industry . He didn't like seeing his stuff demo'd....just business....

The Liberator Hans pictured is from Shepard Panes book 'How to Build Dioramas' first edition.

Unless Hans is Shepard online credit should be mentioned for his work.

If Hans is Shepard we have a legend modeling among us!

*Somehow I pictured 'Shep more articulate in his words... Hans is more rasp & gritty like a Marine!