Build a " turd"

cbaltrin

 

 

Glamdring

When I was a kid, I would build strait from the box and forego any paint and sealer.  Times were so much simpler back then.  These days, these are called my shelf queens...

 

 

 

 

When I was a kid, my hobby tools were 1 xacto knife, 1 tube of glue, some testors nylong paint brushes and maybe 20 bottles or spray cans of testors and model master paint... Oh and a Paasche VL airbrush which I ran off my Dad's aircompressor,which did not even have a regulator, in the unheated Garage (In the winter, you had to poor hot water over the piston housing to warm up the oil in order to get it to start). 

Now I have six different xacto handles with various blades, about 300 bottles of pain, 4 air brushes [insert about 100 other tools here] and the list goes on  , so yea, it's pretty hard to revert to childhood building techniques.....

 

Ain't that the truth!   

Glamdring

When I was a kid, I would build strait from the box and forego any paint and sealer.  Times were so much simpler back then.  These days, these are called my shelf queens...

 

When I was a kid, my hobby tools were 1 xacto knife, 1 tube of glue, some testors nylong paint brushes and maybe 20 bottles or spray cans of testors and model master paint... Oh and a Paasche VL airbrush which I ran off my Dad's aircompressor,which did not even have a regulator, in the unheated Garage (In the winter, you had to poor hot water over the piston housing to warm up the oil in order to get it to start). 

Now I have six different xacto handles with various blades, about 300 bottles of pain, 4 air brushes [insert about 100 other tools here] and the list goes on  , so yea, it's pretty hard to revert to childhood building techniques.....

When I was a kid, I would build strait from the box and forego any paint and sealer.  Times were so much simpler back then.  These days, these are called my shelf queens...

cbaltrin

This has been an interesting thread. I have tried this before without much success. It's hard to build like a 14 year old when you have the brain of a 50 year old. Imagination and ignorance of many things at that age filled lots of gaps back then that can no longe be filled so easily...

 

I do build a model now and again where I finish and paint the wings and fuselage separately, then glue them together, if the fit is good enough... makes for a much more relaxing build at times.  And then you have the Monogram B-17G I am working on the Git-R-Done GB... I painted and decaled the fuselage halves before stuffing in the interior and joining them--that's something I did as a kid... I think that is about it though. Somtimes I can leave the fuelage seams alone but those wing edges just have to be sanded...

cbaltrin

...

It's hard to build like a 14 year old when you have the brain of a 50 year old. Imagination and ignorance of many things at that age filled lots of gaps back then that can no longe be filled so easily...

 

Another big change is I now read the instructions before I start! I also feel the need to paint a lot of stuff before assembly.

stikpusher

 

 

Rob Gronovius

And every time a new and improved kit is released, the older, highly regarded kit, hits the secondary market at a discount. Everyone is selling off their great kit because another company is putting out an even better one! 

 

 

 

Yes indeed! That method has helped me fill a few gaps in the collection/stash...

 

Roger that

This has been an interesting thread. I have tried this before without much success. It's hard to build like a 14 year old when you have the brain of a 50 year old. Imagination and ignorance of many things at that age filled lots of gaps back then that can no longe be filled so easily...

Ooohhhh yyyyeeeeaaa

armornut

...

    Joe that Tetsors is still good?? WOW that has some staying power LOL.

 

  Awesome guys...thanks. If aftermarket was in the box now.......what say Uncle Bob didn't stick it in there when you were ten? 

    Joe that Tetsors is still good?? WOW that has some staying power LOL.

I don't like clickbait or stringing people along.  I also took a peek into the box (why was it so heavy?), and found a set of Takom aftermarket tracks.

So the kit will be Tamiya's Chieftain Mk V with some AM tracks.  Well, they WERE in the box, and the tracks would go to waste since I have no other Chieftains.    At least there was no PE set.

Pulled from stash.

Ooh Ooh that smell!

Real G

Okay, I am compelled to show my support for Armornut.  I will build a model from my childhood.  Starting today.  No aftermarket.  No mods.  OOTB.  I'm a man of my wuuuuuurrrrrrrrd.

Pics to follow.

 

Okay, I am compelled to show my support for Armornut.  I will build a model from my childhood.  Starting today.  No aftermarket.  No mods.  OOTB.  I'm a man of my wuuuuuurrrrrrrrd.

Pics to follow.

Rob Gronovius

And every time a new and improved kit is released, the older, highly regarded kit, hits the secondary market at a discount. Everyone is selling off their great kit because another company is putting out an even better one! 

Yes indeed! That method has helped me fill a few gaps in the collection/stash...

Tcoat

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/general_discussion/f/50/p/2213276/reply.aspx

 

OH COME ON

I enjoy building older kits, but I truly appreciate the elite modelers. It is their skills and dedication to the hobby that required the model making companies to "up their game" and stop giving us subpar kits to work with. Their scratchbuilding skills become masters for resin and photo etched upgrades as well as photographic aids to assist in detailing our own kits.

And every time a new and improved kit is released, the older, highly regarded kit, hits the secondary market at a discount. Everyone is selling off their great kit because another company is putting out an even better one!

Eaglecash867

wpwar11

 Funny thing happened when I started construction.  I just couldn't bring myself to put in a less than 100% effort.  I think the fun part for me is trying new techniques and testing my skills.  There has been a handful of times I finish a build and been really proud of the result.  If I don't try my best I rob myself from that joy.

 

 

THIS!  

Had exactly the same thing happen on the Revell 1/72 Space Shuttle I bought.  Everything I looked at on it made me immediately start brainstorming "How can I make this better?"

Yes, I get stuck in this rut called Advanced Modeler's Syndrome or AMS. In 2001, when I moved from Fort Dix, New Jersey to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, a friend I had met bought me a parts kit of the old Renwal M50 Ontos kit.

That kit was one the most coveted kit of my childhood. My friend's big brother had one hanging from his ceiling in his bedroom in a parachute style airborne drop. It was the coolest thing, I imagined the crew could shoot six enemy tanks from the sky before it every landed! A child's imagination is a true wonder.

I built the Revell reissue in 1982-83 as a kid in college. The kit was fairly crude and clunky with lots of movable parts. It spent about 20 years on my old bedroom dresser getting vacuumed every so often by my mom. Many detail pieces had been vacuumed up or broken off in the years.

When my mom was getting ready to sell the house and downsize, I rescued the kit along with my built, partially built and unbuilt kits of my youth.

I went to a local swap meet with this fellow soldier/modeler in Runnemede, New Jersey, saw the kit and was going to buy it. He wanted to buy it for me as a farewell gift.

It contained all the necessary parts to restore my kit and then some. But I got stuck trying to make the kit better. Replace all the old recoilless gun tubes with more accurate metal tubing, etc.

I never got past trying to make this kit into something it was never going to be. And then, when I was at Fort Knox, the Armor museum had restored one to a running status. That made it even worse; having access to a life sized actual vehicle.

About the time I had a lot of information on the kit, Academy released a new tooled version. Today, that old dog sits in a small cardboard box awaiting the day I decide to finish it semi-out-of-box.

Maybe that kit will be my "turd"? It's been cooking for over 20 years and the base kit has been in my possession for around 40 years.

  Thanks for the heart attack JoeSMG,  I was concerned that my thread might be taken that way.

    Thank you for understanding that it WAS NOT my intent. An "elite" modeler I am not I intended it to be more of a walk down memory lane when we were less worried about details, workmanship, and more about bombing coffee tables or charging across moms freshly vacuumed carpet.

      For the record I call all my builds " turds" some are really good....others.....not so much , but the fact is I'm proud, as should every builder, of those turds. That is one of the things that make this community great.....we get it.

     I am glad things are brought forth so I can try to explain the title. Now WHERE IS THE DEFIBRELATER??

     For information it is not my intent to proctor a group build...I still haven't made good on my efforts to post pix....IF it develops into that then THANK YOU if not NO WORRIES. I want EVERYONE to simply think about the fun this hobby has to offer at all levels of skill, financial stability, access to info, etc. and not be ashamed of their best efforts.

As someone who has been building Turds all their life, I find this thread highly offensive!

That a group of elite modelers would find it fun or enjoyable to slum it for a bit as defacto "turd builders" boarders on cultural appropriation and should not be tolerated!

Of course I'm kidding - although my fist sentence is more accurate than I'd like. If this becomes a group build effort I'll gladly join it as my first gateway GB.

Tcoat

[URL]https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/general_discussion/f/50/p/2213276/reply.aspx[URL]

 

OH COME ON

 

You forgot to put the / before the second URL.  

[URL]https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/general_discussion/f/50/p/2213276/reply.aspx[URL]

OH COME ON

wpwar11

 Funny thing happened when I started construction.  I just couldn't bring myself to put in a less than 100% effort.  I think the fun part for me is trying new techniques and testing my skills.  There has been a handful of times I finish a build and been really proud of the result.  If I don't try my best I rob myself from that joy.

THIS!  

Had exactly the same thing happen on the Revell 1/72 Space Shuttle I bought.  Everything I looked at on it made me immediately start brainstorming "How can I make this better?"

Tcoat

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191997.aspx   WHY OH WHY do my links never work on here? Anybody?

The best way to get something to post as a link is to just copy and paste the text of the web address into your replies, and then manually add the tags before and after, as you can see in the screenshot.

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191997.aspx

Tcoat

  

How? No matter what I try it does not show as a link. I am baffled!

 

"No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Frank Oz as Yoda - IMDb

Rob Gronovius

 

http:/cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191997.aspx" alt="" />http:/cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191997.aspx" target="">http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191997.aspx

 

How? No matter what I try it does not show as a link. I am baffled!

wpwar11

Recently a guy in the club gave away several old models he just didn't want anymore.  I grabbed a really old Airfix 1/72 F86.  The thing has less than 40 parts.  Maybe less than 30.  My intention was just build it up in a day not caring about the finish so much.  Maybe it will just be a paint mule.  Funny thing happened when I started construction.  I just couldn't bring myself to put in a less than 100% effort.  I think the fun part for me is trying new techniques and testing my skills.  There has been a handful of times I finish a build and been really proud of the result.  If I don't try my best I rob myself from that joy.

 

But keeping a build simple does not equate to putting in less than 100% effort. Even those old Airfix can be made into a nice looking model right out of the box. It can actually take more techniques and skill to pull it off than filling it with resin and photoetch. Sure they may have a park bench seat, bare cockpit, trench like panel lines and "inaccurate" details but some paint and weathering can perform miracles. 

Recently a guy in the club gave away several old models he just didn't want anymore.  I grabbed a really old Airfix 1/72 F86.  The thing has less than 40 parts.  Maybe less than 30.  My intention was just build it up in a day not caring about the finish so much.  Maybe it will just be a paint mule.  Funny thing happened when I started construction.  I just couldn't bring myself to put in a less than 100% effort.  I think the fun part for me is trying new techniques and testing my skills.  There has been a handful of times I finish a build and been really proud of the result.  If I don't try my best I rob myself from that joy.

armornut

   Very good point Rob, another part of the thought that slipped my mind. I also have a couple of nostalgia Star Wars kits in the stash, looking forward to finishing them up.

 

I guess I consider kits to be turds that really have been bypassed by newer releases. Tamiya's original M113 or M3 Staurt are quite dated, but still assemble well and are fun to build, as long as you don't try to get down into the weeds and bring them up to modern standards.

These are the kits that really don't have resale value beyond nostalgia and have clunky details, iffy looking tracks with detail on one side, etc. Lots of old Trumpeter kits from 1999-2000 fall into this category. We often joke that they are not worth the glue and paint used to build them.

One of my friends traveled to Russia to meet a woman (fortunately he came back empty handed). He brought back an old Zvezda T-60 Soviet light tank kit. I had obtained one in 1990 when the Berlin Wall came down. It was/is a horrible kit. It was an amazing coincidence that he returned with the same horrible kit.

I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't worth the price of glue. I still have the kit though.

And on the Star Wars front, the long awaited Return of the Jedi Y-Wing fighter was released by MPC in 1984. Compared to the Fine Molds kits of the early 2000s and the Revell of Germany one, it is crap, but it still is a great piece of nostalgia.

   Very good point Rob, another part of the thought that slipped my mind. I also have a couple of nostalgia Star Wars kits in the stash, looking forward to finishing them up.

armornut

       I guess a little more clarification of my meaning of " turd" is in order. In my mind I was comparing my builds today to the builds I have done as a young modeler, kit quality or manufacturer really isn't important, or I didn't consider it. My bad. 

I understood your meaning, and take no offense. I enjoy buying and building some of those nostalgic builds that were reissued. Yes, those kits were much simpler and can really be considered turds compared to even lesser models created today in terms of details, engineering, fit, accuracy, etc.

For instance, when I was a kid and star wars was the hottest movie in theaters, MPC released a handful of kits, and I built them all including R2-D2, C3PO, Luke's X-Wing and Darth Vader's TIE Fighter.

Even in 1977, I recognized that the kits were not the greatest of quality, but I loved building them out of box and hand painting the parts of the kits not molded in the right colors. They look like crap compared to my building skills today.

You can walk into Hobby Lobby today, as long as it's a 40% off kits week, and buy anyone of those kits made by Bandai and they are some of the highest quality kits you can find.

So, a kid armed with 1977's Star Wars kits and a kid with 2020s Star Wars kits are going to have very different results with the same skill level and tools.