Opinions Please

This is a hobby ..... so whatever you would like is just fine. some will only build historically accurate kits ... others won't. I've seen armour done in the markings of the Canadian National Railroad and let me tell you they look good.

I've seen
F-15 air racers...
M1A2s in NASCAR colors...
Lamborgini police cars...
Corvette Monster Trucks (no wait, that was real)
... you name it!

One of my favorites was a P51Mustang with folding wings painted in WWII Navy blue... Gotta build one for myself someday.

I'm just making a Bf-109G-6 model for my friend (who is a pilot) - and I decided not to make it as a historically accurate subject, but just in potentially possible markings - but I must say I feel strange a little - mostly that I don't have to search for reference pictures, and that everything I will do will be acceptable ! Do you feel the same ? Aleksander

Aleksander,
Jak sie masz

Thats a wonderful idea. If the markings have some meaning to you or your friend, it connects both of you to the model. I have wanted to do a Tiger Tank but paint it up with Tiger (the cat) markings. The hardest part is getting over the psycological hurdle of paying $40 for a kit and then doing something off the wall. The little voice inside says I have to do it historicly correct. THe artist voice in me says do it like you want to. We have to ask ourselves "who do we model for?" and "who does it have to be acceptable for?"

If your friend is a fan of Galland or another German ace then you should maybe do a model of those planes with those markings. But if he is a fan of the plane itself, then what does it matter what the markings are? It is the plane that is important.

Mike

The guys that build the '1946 Luftwaffe' models are on a sticky wicket to start with, a fictional model of a fictional aircraft with fictional markings!
it's your kit, paid for by your hard earned cash, do what you will with it. Maybe there ought to be a section for this sort of model in competitions, or how about this months weird kit in FSM?
Ken Ellis, who, amongst other modelling subjects, edited Airfix magazine for years, once wrote,' There's a prototype for everything'. Maybe not for some of the idea's above, but if you can think of an alternate scheme for a WW2 fighter, say, Chances are that someone, somewhen has had the same idea or similar.
So, it's all about having fun, time to be serious when they're nailing on the lid,
Go for it!

In this hobby you can only be limited by your imagination and level of skill.
I say "GO FOR IT" and have fun doing it.


P.S. once I saw a diorama with 3 tanks dressed up in nascar paint and decals on a race track.
Talk about fresh ideas.

Custom markings and paint jobs are a wonderful idea. I've thought about painting a Leopard 2a5 in an ambush scheme with either LAH or Wiking markings. Some members of my local modelling club think I'm nuts for wanting to "ruin" (as they have called it) a very good Tamiya kit. I tell them "What if or Fantasy" projects help with modeller's block. Plus it would just look awesome next to a Panther done in an ambush scheme.

Great subject I have done a few odd kits myself ....
a BAE Hawk in USAF Thunderbirds livery and VERY WELL armed
A Vietnam era P51 co,in aircraft, green/dark green/tan
a saab safir (as above)
a Hurricane mk1 with my initials as code letters and wing comanders pennant
an RAF Transport command Concorde
a Concorde in wrap around green/grey cammo with B58 style bomb pod
a Captain Scarlet Angel interceptor in red arrows markings
my next oddball kit is going to be a fairey rotodyne in RAF sand/stoneand black underside livey

I agree that this is a hobby and you get what enjoyment you can take from it. I just wish I had the guts to be so avant-garde.

Gregers you are a wild man..... ;-) The Beau Brommel of bombers, the Picasso of plastic, the Warhol of wartoys, the Stein of Styrene, the Homeguard of the avant garde......

Get some pics of these objects d'arte up man.
And have fun at War and Peace.....I envy you greatly. ...and modelers in America now in bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that were at War and Peace.

Mike