Is it just my luck?

Agreed! So much satisfaction in that!

My philosophy about such kits is that they sererate the men from the boys. If you can make gems out of substandard kits aou are a VERY competent modeler indeed. Keep it up!

Hey Tench,
Cut yourself some humble pie,
Think of each obstacle as a learning curve. The better you solve the problem at hand the more competent and better a modeler you'll become. Or you could look at it as your introductory foray into scratchbuilding.
Your ability to make due with what you have and to do a good job with it should be a testament to Southern Ingennuity, as well as the resourcefulness of those endowed with creative talent.

And next time you take some shots of your stuff, see if you can get them to put them on a disk for you. Doesn't Eckards offer some sort of Kodak deal that they give you prints and your pics on a disk for e-mailing? Then we can see what you've been up to and its a fraction of the cost of a digital camera.

You going to Jacksonville in October?

Mike

No, I'm not going to Jacksonville in October(I don't think, anyway), why?
As for the alternative to the digi-cam, while a good idea, would require film, and a camera, and trips to the wal-mart for photo development. Alot of work, and I'm a lazy person!

Just curious to see if you were going to enter any of your stuff in the IPMS show there. I have a couple of pieces I'm planning on entering and I thought if you were, it would be a good chance to see some of your work.

How can you call yourself lazy? sound pretty industrious to me.

Mike

That is really the way to do it. If you like the subject, buy the kit and build it!

We all like to build kits where all the parts fit perfectly, have finely recessed panel lines, lots of interior detail, beautifully molded thin canopies, perfect decals, clear and concise instructions, etc., etc. This is called MODEL BUILDING!

None of us look forward to building kits that lack the above and having lots of gaps in seams, missing or shallow panel lines, sparse or no interior detail, thick canopies, thick or out-of-register decals, vague instructions, etc., etc. However, filling seams, scribing panel lines, scratch building interiors, vacuum forming new canopies, using after-market decals, figuring what goes where, etc. is what we are all about. I call this MODEL MAKING!

There is a difference. I get much more satisfaction out of MODEL MAKING than I do MODEL BUILDING. Especially if the finished product wins an award!

So, if you like it, buy it and make it!!!

Pete

O.K. Tenchy I like you kid but this is where I need to put you in your place.
No matter how good you think you are at anything you will find that their is someone that's better.

Bragging is not becoming.

I will agree with you on one thing.
It takes a good modeler to make a poor kit look good.
We have all had those kits that are poor quality and we challange ourselves to make it look the best we can.(I do it sometimes just because I feel sorry for the kit itself).
This seems to be part of the hobby that make us better modelers.

Please don't be offended.
Just try to be humble.

P.S. I am a direct decendent of the Hern family of Texas.
The Herns owned the largest platation in Texas.
Also they owned more slaves than any other platation in the country.

I am not proud of my herritage.
I am a yankee at heart.
I ask that you leave those comments alone.
Besides where would we be if the south won the war??

Hey Tenchi, consider yourself talented...I buy great kits and manage to make a mess of them...

Put me in my place? Would you like me to pick some cotton while I'm at it, massa?!
Sir, it ain't bragging if it's true! Pride comes before the fall, and arrogance before a haughty destruction, but bragging ain't bragging if it's true!
Of course, there is always someone better, but if I cannot take pride in my works, how can I have pride in anything anyone else does? I'm just saying I'm the best I know!

I din't know IPMS would have an expo in October here in Florida... Well, I don't have the money this year, but I'm going next year come hell or high water! And I gaurantee one of my models will be there!!(I might enter my customized Woodland Camo Shenlong Gundam, or maybe the Desert Camo/Confederate Army Mercurius Gundam, or maybe a MiG-25 Foxbat!!)
PS: Does IPMS accept Gears-up submissions for aircraft? I only do gear-up...

As for the South, I'm sorry to hear you are not proud of your family! Why you mentioned slavery, I can only assume you think I'm a racist! For your information, I ain't. I don't think that Slavery was a part of the South anyone should be proud of. But one issue shall not blind me from the Southern Call! Just remember, when you go spouting off that the South was "all about slavery", no slave ship ever flew a Confederate Flag, but they sure did fly the Union one!! Also, Robert E. Lee freed his family's slaves and believed in Emancipation, as did StoneWall Jackson! So how is it possible that we are racist?! I certainly am not!!
As for being a Yankee, It ain't possible for a Texan to be a yankee! Drawl with PRIDE, not twang with guilt, Southern Brother! Humility does not become you!
If the South had won, Slavery would still be gone, and we probably wouldn't have had segregation, there would be no racial inequality, yet our honor and chivalry would still stand! People wouldn't think Southrons were stupid, they'd look at them with respect! Our Chivalry would still stand, and our honor intact! The world would be a much better place if we had won the Civil War. That's why to this day we carry on the Good Fight, and forward THE South in all ways we can, while still paying respect to the Government up North, though we don't have to like the people that live there!
And, I shall not ruffle your feathers, but I will still say things about the South and the North ever' now and then, but I'll keep it to as much of a minimum as possible!
Just a question, but, no one else seemed to mind, why do you?

I do not assume that you are a racist.
I assume that you are very proud southerner.
I have read some of your other posts and I know that your NOT a racist.
I also know that the confederation was not all about slavery.
In fact the point of slavery was a ralley cry for war by the north.
More propaganda to insite war.
If my history is correct the south had many good reasons to want to secide from the north.
However they could not let go of the slavery thing.

I could never be proud of my family herritage when it is staind with the blood of slaves.
I also do not think southerners are stupid.
Just because you speek with a drawl does not mean your inbred or live in a trailerpark.
As a matter of fact 90 percent of our space research and launch facilitys are in Texas and Florida.
Our largest nuclear research facilty is in oakridge Teneesse.
With numbers like that you are far from stupid.

I supose we should save this debate for anouther day and anouther place.
We are getting far off the subject of modeling.

I am sorry i took a shot at your pride and It is a free country,you can say what you want.
I will still die for your right to say it,even if I may not like what you have to say

Hi again guys
Alrighty-then!
I am a great looking guy.
No, I am really. I am the handsomest man I know.I've never had plastic surgery,but I consistently just look plain spectacular. A real gem! In fact, if I had either a digi-cam or regular camera, my mug would consistently be on the cover of GQ, in all of its glory! I have no problem looking fabulous


There is however, one little chink in the armor.
Ya see, I'm a Yankee...Yes, a genuine lobstah eatin puritan..The good Lord must hate me, yet I always look great, even when I wear a blue suit[didn't have enough money to buy a gray one].
Maybe I'm just a bad buyer. I've always bought my clothes from K-mart and Goodwill, yet I always look absolutely incredible. But from now on if they don't come from Macy's, Spiegel or L.L. Bean I ain't buying them
Oh heck.. Who am I kidding? There's nothing "funner' in the whole universe than taking the world's handsomest guy and making him..........................gorgious

First Part

Gentlemen .... Being that this is a modelling forum, do you not think that the debate about the pros and cons of the ACW would be better suited in a forum that is dedicated to just that.

Second Part

QUOTE: it ain't bragging if it's true!

Bad news Tenchi ... by definition that's exactly what bragging is. To excessively boast about a talent, a possession, pretty much anything is bragging. If Shep Paine stopped by and declared himself to be a great modeller then he too would be bragging. Try humility, accept the cudos of your peers when they rant and rave about one of your projects. It will taste a lot better than ranting and raving about them yourself.

I am calling NO JOY on the ACW stuff.

I am going to stick to my guns on the bragging part though.

It is in poor taste to pronounce YOU are one of the best out their.
Are you saying that you are better than most of us?
Shermanfreek is right,let others tell you how good you are.

Their is a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

I think your a good kid with potential and you could go a long way in the hobby.

Just try to keep your ego in check.

I would not be wasting my time telling you this if I didnt think it was worth it.

Take this as advise .

P.S. If you walk in to model contest with that atitude you will go home empty handed every time.

They're right Tench, and so far you haven't substaniated any of it. So technicaly I think it falls under the idle boasting catagory. I will add that you are lining yourself up for a fall. You are very prideful of your work, and I'm sure you are very talented. (BTW, You cannot be prideful of anyone elses work, you had nothing to do with it to be proud of) But art and its perception are subjective. And peoples perceptions are different. One man's masterpiece is another's paintball target. So what you may find to be FSM cover material may not be so in the eyes of others. Are you going to be able to accept criticism? How do you handle criticism now? (Its a rhetorical question) Never be so prideful that arrogance outweighs ability.
To boast so broadly will automaticly have people looking for the wrong in your pieces and quick to point out any flaws. Possibly even seeing some where none exist, not at how good they are. Its human nature to level the playing field. And by saying your work is par excellence will bring a scrutiny you may not want. A sort of model prejudice would be an appropriate term given the discussion. And is not being fair to yourself. You said you were one of the best. But that is an accolade that can only be given by others to an individual, it cannot be self proclaimed, it is based upon comparison of which there is none. Pride is good, in that it drives us to do better. We wish to produce good work and to show an excellence in our endeavors. Vain pride though is dangerous and causes the harder fall. It blinds us to our own limitations and abilities. Then only makes us bitter and resentful when we get called on it or are told otherwise.

Given your evident drive and enthusiasm you will no doubt produce a body of work that others will want to compare to. Don't poison the well.

Mike

Tenchi,
Here's something we can all think about:

"Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves."

(Emily Bronte)

Darn, TenchiMuyo, I thought you being humorous in your original post. I got a laugh out of it... My bad.... If you really believe you are THAT good - go to that show in Jacksonville, enter a model and see what happens..... I've been to a couple IPMS nationals. Most of those guys are AWESOME modelers. Me, I consider myself to be a competent modeler, not great, just competent. Most of my friends are much better than I am. I learn what I can from them.