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Building model kits...

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  • Member since
    January 2013
Building model kits...
Posted by BlackSheepTwoOneFour on Thursday, August 22, 2013 12:44 PM

...without instructions. Who can do it? When I was younger, I used to do a lot of hot rod and muscle car kits. So many, it got to a point I didn't need directions. LOL!! First, I may take a look-see at the directions then dive right in without going back to it.

 

Car models are always the easiest because the engine step is ALWAYS the first to build. Next is the interior, the the rest well.... there's nothing complicated about doing them.

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: State of Mississippi. State motto: Virtute et armis (By valor and arms)
Posted by mississippivol on Thursday, August 22, 2013 12:49 PM

Sometimes, when I can do it intuitively, some are just too complex nowadays. I built a Hasegawa 1/72 F-18F without them (cuz they weren't there), but I followed Accurate Miniatures Avenger instructions to the letter. With all of those parts, I'm bound to miss something.

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Thursday, August 22, 2013 1:07 PM

Try doing that with some of the Dragon armor kits,some of them can't be built with the directions !!

But then again,maybe you got something,just throw out the Dragon instructions

  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by GreySnake on Thursday, August 22, 2013 5:53 PM

I've built a Tamiya T-34 without them. Of course there's not a lot to work with so pretty hard to mess up.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, August 23, 2013 12:24 AM

Yes, many of Dragon's armor models will include several full sprues that you will only need a part (as in 1) or maybe a few pieces that assemble a component to add to the kit. The excess sprues often have nearly identical parts, just for a different version, that the main kit sprues have.

A Dragon German armor kit or one of their Shermans rarely fit back inside the box once you open it up to look at the sprues.

Yeah, try building one of those without instructions.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Friday, August 23, 2013 8:57 AM

Certainly in the days of a car kit (for example) that had a dozen pieces total, including the wheels, it was possible. In these days when even car kits have over a hundred pieces, and ship kits sometimes going over a thousand pieces, I wouldn't try it any more.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    April 2013
Posted by SchattenSpartan on Friday, August 23, 2013 9:22 AM

I always have the instructions of the kit I'm building at hand.

Dragon kits are impossible for me to build without instructions, because of the amount of tiny parts.

I am able to build Tamiya's Thunderbolt completely without instructions though. I built one of them already and that was enough to remember every step of construction.

Eduard's aircraft kits are also a no-go to build without instructions for me.

Accurate Minatures' are not that hard to assemble without instructions, but I follow them step-by-step, because they are so nicely written with lots of hints on how to make certain  tasks easier.

Just my 2 cents...

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Saturday, August 24, 2013 9:54 AM

Just read a review of a model in the latest FSM- an aircraft kit (1:48, I think it was) that had over 780 parts!

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    April 2013
Posted by SchattenSpartan on Saturday, August 24, 2013 12:57 PM

I didn't find such a kit in the my latest issue of FSM. Which issue are you refering to?

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Sunday, August 25, 2013 10:52 AM

SchattenSpartan

I didn't find such a kit in the my latest issue of FSM. Which issue are you refering to?

Sorry, dislexia, combined numbers in two rows.  Still, 714 parts, as I read it correctly, is more than an order of magnitude more than first plastic airplane kits I built!  Hobby Boss P-61 in review section of October issue.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Mount Bretherton Model Aircraft Observatory
Posted by f8sader on Monday, August 26, 2013 7:55 PM

Hey guys come on now!  We all know we never need instructions till we get in trouble!  Then we read them after the wife leaves the room!

Lon-ski

  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 7:58 AM

Hi !

  Instructions , what's that ? LOL . LOL . I was one of those who could build a car kit without them . Now that I am into 1/350 ship kits and especially TRUMPETER and or DRAGON and some HASEGAWA as well as TAMIYA , I use them .Sure I know what a FLETCHER is supposed to look like .I lived on one for seven months .Then , oh well , I got transferred to a full fit WW 2 Gearing . Now as to planes and armor , well , it's been so long since I built any I do use the instructions , but , I still build in sub-assemblies .That way if I have to leave it for a while I don't get lost when I come back to it and YES I do check off each step as I do it with a pencil or sharpie !         Tanker - Builder

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