does anyone cheat

Cheat??? No, absolutely not. Work smarter? Yes, by all means. I can't come up with one good reason to spend several hours hyper-detailing (or simply assembling) a tank's engine when I know I'll be modeling the kit with the engine bay and hatches sealed shut. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Sorry DURR, there's no such thing as "cheating" in modelling, unless you're talking about submitting work that's not yours in contests.

If you're just building for yourself, for fun and pleasure, then anything goes!

I never paint or detail something that will never be seen. I prefer to spend what modelling time I can find detailing, painting, and weathering only what can be seen. Even if it can only barely be seen, however, I'll give it the full treatment. Something that cannot be seen at all? Nope. I won't even use the parts, actually.

That's not cheating, or being lazy, that's just smart modelling, as Robert mentioned!

J-Hulk wrote:

Sorry DURR, there's no such thing as "cheating" in modelling, unless you're talking about submitting work that's not yours in contests. If you're just building for yourself, for fun and pleasure, then anything goes! I never paint or detail something that will never be seen. I prefer to spend what modelling time I can find detailing, painting, and weathering only what can be seen. Even if it can only barely be seen, however, I'll give it the full treatment. Something that cannot be seen at all? Nope. I won't even use the parts, actually. That's not cheating, or being lazy, that's just smart modelling, as Robert mentioned!

Agreed completely.

If its not going to be seen at all when the model is finished, don't waste time or materials on it. Save it for something else.

When you think about it, it is smart modeling. If you're looking for a detail part for a visible part of one model and you can find it in the form of a part that will be invisible in another kit, why waste it on the kit it came with, why shoot money on a resin aftermarket whatever if you can canibalise it without harm from the styrene of a kit already in your posession?

Usually, I'm in this catagory.  If the part will be hidden completely, I may not even install it.  The engine for my 1/35 Cobra is a case in point.  I just closed up the access panels and still have the parts on the sprue in my spares box. 

But for some reason, I'm going all out on detailing the insides of my AV-22.  I scratched together some seats for the gunners, a sensor operator's console and I'll be making the guns and their associated equipment as well.  The ramp will be down, and I made a bigger window on the forward hatch, but otherwise, you won't be able to see much of it, but I'll know its there.   I can't explain it, but I just wanted to go that extra step on this kit. 

I never paint or detail something that will never be seen. I prefer to spend what modelling time I can find detailing, painting, and weathering only what can be seen. Even if it can only barely be seen, however, I'll give it the full treatment. Something that cannot be seen at all? Nope. I won't even use the parts, actually.

That's not cheating, or being lazy, that's just smart modelling, as Robert mentioned!

Same goes for me. Rather use time and resources on what will be seen.

I try to tread the thin, jagged, wavering, tricky, darn-near-invisible middle ground - Trying to get things as right as I can because I know what's in there, even if no one else does; and not wasting time on things that will never be seen, or can only be glimpsed under supermagnification. Two cases in point:

• Building a 1/72 Willys jeep to go in the display with my 1/72 B-25B, I was puzzled about why the clear sprue included a part for the jeep hood. Duhh ... in case you wanted to show off the engine!  But I didn't, so I used the colored plastic hood, after looking at the front grill work and deciding, nope, not going to drill that out so you can see inside. Anyone need a perfectly good flathead 4 engine with accessories?
• The 1/700 Victory ship I built for my Dad, representing one of the vessels he sailed on in The Big One, had four lifeboats. My kit had lifeboats with covers, so I not only bought an aftermarket set with open lifeboats, I got the photoetch to go with them so the two that had oars and tillers on the real ship would have oars and tillers on the model. I even painted the steering oar in each boat a contrasting color as per practice at the time. Is anyone besides me even going to notice? Probably not, but I know it's right, and as close to historically correct as I can make it, and that's very important to me for some models.

Hi, folks! Interesting subject, and one I ponder a lot. I won't say I "cheat," but I will say I "cut corners." "Cheat" is such an ugly word!  With my work schedule, the time I have to work on my models can sometime be short, so I just do my best. It's not only fun for me to work on a kit, but relaxing, too. Some kits I build, I will really take the time and work on all the intricate details, not caring how well they will be seen once the kit is finished. Other times, I'll omit a part or two if it will be hidden, or if is so small that it might break, or so small that leaving it off won't make a difference, then it'll stay on the sprue. Sometimes I'll use a black Sharpie marker to color the road wheels on a small-scale tank, sometimes I'll use paint. I can't speak for everyone, but for me, I guess it's all in the mood I'm in at the time. I've built kits for my dad or a friend, and for those I'll go all out, sometimes over-scrutinizing my own work. But, for the most part, I don't lose any sleep if I leave a part out of the assembly that I know wouldn't be seen nor missed. Cheers!

Same goes for cockpits. Why superdetail the cockpit if you're going to close the canopy? Even with a super-clear canopy, the shape of it will warp the view so much.

Case in point -- foot pedals. They are so far in the cockpit and under the front consoles you can hardly see them even with the canopy open!

ammoSid wrote:

I won't say I "cheat," but I will say I "cut corners." "Cheat" is such an ugly word!    But, for the most part, I don't lose any sleep if I leave a part out of the assembly that I know wouldn't be seen nor missed. Cheers!

Same here. Why go to all the fuss to detail parts that won't be seen. Since I like to button up most of my armor, I see no reason to install any of the gun barrel or other interior parts.

looks like lots of us rather not waste the extra time for things like that, but that leads to another question though.  how big is the market really for full interior sets for armor kits? 

I personally would rather see more diorama with vehicles in action than a ton of maintainance scenes.

Yann Solo wrote:

I'm a little bit surprise that model kit manufacturers spend time for making parts that won't be seen!!  That's dumb, or maybe I miss something!!!

Well, often you have the option of positioning a hatch or panel open or closed, thus exposing the inner detail. A few Trumpeter aircraft releases didn't offer that option (A-10, F-105, for example), hiding the detailed guns and engines. That's kinda silly.

If I build a subject with all hatches and panels closed, I will not use the intereior parts.

My answer is: Sometimes. I have finished and detailed parts that will never be seen again, just for my own enjoyment. Other times I have left them out entirely...and looking at it from the outside...you would never know.

Perfect example. My current build (1/72 KC-135) I have finished every detail of the interior, and 98% of it will never be seen. My last build (1/72 Lancaster) I didnt even bother with the interior because it was so frustrating. A bit of Testors window tint, and you will never know.

Interesting thread, building models is a hobby that one does for pleasure and satisfaction so whether you detail, paint or even leave a part out is relative to your personal modeling traits and satisfaction.

I build 12 scale motorcycles which have lots of details but a lot is hidden behind the fairings etc so you can’t see the detail but you can’t leave them out either , so generally I put in everything, forget about adding the fine details like wiring harnesses that are hidden anyway and spend most of my time perfecting the paintwork and final finish.

Do what works best for you and enjoy your hobby

jhande wrote:

My wife asked me long ago - "Why don't you just collect die-cast cars?" I looked at her disappointedly and said - "Because I wouldn't get to build them!"

My wife suggested the same thing to me. Why don't I just buy a $100 die-cast 1:48 scale F-14 and put it on the shelf, instead of working on a model, sanding it, painting it, etc and it takes months to do?

I said, there just aren't enough details on a die-cast model, and besides, I can paint my plane whatever color I want!

Sometimes if I'm in a hurry, I'll make up details if finding the real information isn't feasible.

For example, building an Irish EC-135, I couldn't tell exactly what the interior layout was inside the cabin. I had a general idea from photos, but nobody was really able to help me out. Fair enough, after a few days, I figured I might as well keep going. Eventually, about five minutes after I had glued the fuselage halves together, some chap emails me a few pictures. Since looking inside those small windows is difficult, and since I figure that if I couldn't figure out what the inside of the thing looked like, nobody else around here would either, I left it be.

Did the same thing with an Amtrack when I was in Ireland.

NTM

albert_sy2 wrote:

jhande wrote: My wife asked me long ago - "Why don't you just collect die-cast cars?" I looked at her disappointedly and said - "Because I wouldn't get to build them!"   My wife suggested the same thing to me. Why don't I just buy a $100 die-cast 1:48 scale F-14 and put it on the shelf, instead of working on a model, sanding it, painting it, etc and it takes months to do? I said, there just aren't enough details on a die-cast model, and besides, I can paint my plane whatever color I want!

Buying Diecast models is simply shopping not modeling and that's what womens like to do ... right?

waikong wrote:

Exactly, like cooking something from scratch vs heating up some TV dinners!

wait, TV dinners were all my roommates and I did (well 1/2 of the time) back in college!!!  I am still a man!!!  =P

it should be more like trimming your own nails for under 2 minutes as opposed to going all the way to a salon and spending a gazillion dollars to get their nails done...

one confession i gotta make though, i still do buy some 1/18 diecasts roadsters here and there, smaller hotwheels, and in 1/24 i only get those roadsters that i can't really find a model for, like a bmw z4.  some I just got so I can throw them along my office window and not worried about them being touched by my coworkers, which is definitely one thing that's good about diecasts.

At this point in my reintroduction to the hobby after many, many years away - "cheat" is my middle name

-dave