The devil is in the Details!

yeah I hear ya. I build what comes in the kit except for DECALS. Thats my weakness, I very seldom use kit decals , but its the after market decals that gets me.

You'd be surprized what you can find if you look and imagine. I used grass seed for fish in one 1/72 dio I did as well as a raspberry sprout right off the vine as a sea creature of some kind, couldn't tell the diffrence. Solder makes great tubing and nothing beats real dirt ground to powder to replicate well, dirt.

The details will kill ya though. Takes a long time to replace all the portholes on a 1/350 Akagi.

Heh...I just got done putting rivets back on my F-16CJs engine.  I ended up removing some of them while I was working the seams.  Now that I have the primer, basecoat, Alclad, and clear coat on the engine, you can't tell the rivets were ever disturbed.  Gotta love those Archer rivet sets.

I saved a cat whisker that some day I might try using for applying paint to something tiny.  Its almost invisible in the bag I'm keeping it in, so its a good thing its a little freezer bag that I can write on.  Almost threw it away a couple of times while I was cleaning up my tool box until I saw "Cat Whisker" written on the label.

All that AM stuff can get pricey! If I can scratch the detail item myself from brass, plastic, wire, salvaged/swapped parts from another kit, etc. I’ll go that route. To me, the price of AM is only worth it when I can’t do it myself. It’s more fun to create on your own.

Now, my luck with conversions of existing kits into variants not kitted mainstream is the opposite. Ive done a few, and when they were completed, then somebody mainstream releases an injection kit of what had not existed before. 

When I started to model more, and found the world of modeling forums; I was inspired in the art of Gizmology from this guy...

I'm kind of cheap by nature, so wandering the aisles at the drugstore for bits and pieces is a lot of fun for me.

Bill

Once there was no choice, if you wanted to include extra details, you had to make them. Around the time I stopped building models there was this new "after market" thing happening. In those days it was limited more to buildings and ruins to facilitate dioramas. How times have changed.

I never modify or scratch build anything, everything is straight out of the box because everything they mold is perfect and accurate for the specific version I wanted to build.......always.

OK my nose grew 6 inches on that one. I always keep various diameters of plastic, brass, aluminum, solder, wires, you name it. Then there are sheets of different thickness in plastic, aluminum, brass, cardboard, etc. Every hardware, home improvement, craft, sewing, or house shold items store is a treasure trove for "stuff" also known as modifications or details. I remember that in one build I used a dried tree root for a tree. Another time I used one of my wifes strainers for metal screen/mesh. Here is one, I used inert .17 HMR ammo for 1:16 tank ammo being stored in the turret. 

On my current build of the USS Arizona I lost count of the modifications to accurize the model. I know it has 6 different sets of PE, and endless pieces of plastic and brass throughout the ship including after market OSU2 kingfisher aircraft. Then there is scaled real chain, brass machined parts like the ships bell, bollards, gun barrels, etc. I'm not even going to go into the detail on all of the AK and Vallejo paints used for authentic colors. 

Isn't what were talking about really part of the joy in model building? While some people really enjoy building box stock items and do it really well, others have to add something to a kit to make it thiers. Regardless if you detail from scratch, with after-market parts, or not at all, that is exactly what makes this hobby the joy that it is (IMHO).

Ben

I just build OTB, now, even tank decals, I do use after market A/C decals because I have lots of them.  I used to buy lots of after market resin parts and pho etch.  But I think I've just sort of out grown the need to super detail.  I don't enter contests anymore, I still have model meetings, on line via zoom, but no one cares.  My wife does not give a hoot.  Me, I don't get obsessed with little details anymore. Just do good job building and painting the little beast, and there you go.   Maybe back in the day I used worry about the little things, not anymore.  I can understand some still do.  More power to you.

Oooooooooo!!!! I love details (I'm a retired architect). I can spend hours adding details which is why I like building 1/12 scale models. I point these out to my wife and she rolls her eyes and says, "Oh, that's nice".

Yellow arrow: PE hose clamps

Blue arrow: Replacing plastic bolt heads with stainless steel bolts

Red arrows: Adding metal compression clamps on oil hoses

Green arrow: Rubber organization rings at hoses and spark plug wires

For the most part I built straight from the box, I do not consider myself sufficiently experienced to add my own details. In my current built I started to do some experimenting to attempt to make the model look better and to repair things that broke off, I also intent not to use the vacuum formed sails and make my own.

I do, as I get more experience in model building, intent to add more details as I learn on how to do so and how to make the parts for the details.

I guess is a step by step progression, like they say, "You have to learn how to walk before you can run".

My son in law wants me to built him a Black Pearl pirate ship, when I finish my current built I may attempt to built it but, I may use the Revell pirate ship as a base and modify it, such effort may require a lot of changes and a lot of adding details. He also wants to add LED lights to the ship, something I have never done. Will see.

Joe

I think that building a model of a sailing ship would be a lot of fun, especially if the sails were scratch built. Now that's detailing!

Sails would hide all the neato standing rigging, so I never put on sails.  Yes, I have done a couple of sailing ships.   

JohnnyK

I think that building a model of a sailing ship would be a lot of fun, especially if the sails were scratch built. Now that's detailing!

 

Yes it is, but it is very tedious and slow work, for example, I just finish doing the lower lever shrouds, a total of 6, 2 per mast, and it took me, on and off, over a week. And I still have to do the actual rat lines.

All this works produces a better and more realistic model, but takes an artful long time.

Joe

As the title states, the devil is in the details.  I enjoy the challenge of detailing builds.  I may not be the best at it but I enjoy it.  I enjoy going over the wiring schematics, or circuit drawings, or construction pictures of restoration projects.  I enjoy that.  Trying to mimic what I see is fun.  Not sure I could go back to build what is in the box only.

Joe

fightnjoe

As the title states, the devil is in the details.  I enjoy the challenge of detailing builds.  I may not be the best at it but I enjoy it.  I enjoy going over the wiring schematics, or circuit drawings, or construction pictures of restoration projects.  I enjoy that.  Trying to mimic what I see is fun.  Not sure I could go back to build what is in the box only.

 

 

Joe