Beat me, whip me, tie me up

[willc453]

Haven't finished any kits in a couple of years and when I found myself unemployed, decided to get back into it. But got tired of building kits out of the box with a different set of decals. I've been looking at a few modeling web sites for the past year and decided I wanted to build a lot better kit. Which means I wanted AMS. Was going to work on an OV-1, but realized my scratch building abilities weren't up to it and besides, Cobra just came out with a complete resin set for Hasegawas kit. Dad worked on Deuces and figured it was time to build him another one. The first one was about 15 years ago, but Hurricane Andrew took care of that and 2 F-100Ds I had made for him. (they were both 1/48th scale) Got the canopy area cut apart but then hit a snag with the missile bay....the kit doesn't look like anything like the real thing. Look thru the internet and would you believe NO ONE has ever thought to shoot the missiles bays?! So that went on hold till I find/take the photos I need. Then saw a really nice build of the Italeri F-84G in 1/72nd scale and said to myself, I've got a few of those stashed away, but they're under Airfixs brand. Bought a photo etch set only to find out the 2 kits are different. While working on the F-84, deicded to also start an A-6 (1/72nd Hasegawa, again because I've got a stash of 'em). Found every photo I needed along with a couple of books I have...except one. Showing the area behind the ejection seats. The Detail & Scale book has a partial shot on it, but it's not the best. Broke down & bought the Fujimi A-6E kit as I wanted to learn how to cast/copy parts to use on the Hasegawa kit. It took a couple of castings but got the tail hook area copies, though the cockpit area never did turn out well, so made my own. Scanned the instrument panel & then cleaned it with my Microsoft Paint program. Figured making a lot of copies of this, but when I got it to the size I needed, my printer turns the black & color markings into purple & green! Sanded the folding mechanisms on the wings with intention of copying them from the Fujimi kit....that hasn't worked out well either and they need to be about paper thin to be within reasonable scale. The F-84 has a kind of scratch built cockpit and I'm not happy with it, but gotta learn some where, some how. Was going to do a NMF, but camoflauge covers up a lot of mistakes. Did learn how to scribe panel lines and came up with my own tool so I can scribe panel lines on any fuselage with out having to be bent over like some Swiss watch maker making a watch.

I could go on and on about the trouble(s) I'm having, but I'd like to hear from other people on their modeling disasters/learning. Even Shepard Paine or Virlinden had to start some where. The green face is because I feel like puking envy green when I see a lot of the models displayed here & at other web sites.

[phantom]

Its just practice. Perfection won't happen. My kits from 10 years ago suck compared to what I make now. THen again, the stuff I am happy with blow dead bears compared to what others here on ARC can do.

[thegoodsgt]

I find myself in the same boat. For every kit in the stash I'm excited about, I can find a reason not to build it at the moment. Maybe I'm waiting for Eduard to release a PE set, maybe I don't feel prepared to do a NMF, maybe there's a book due to be released, etc.

Your best bet is to find a model that really excites you, one where your enthusiasm willl carry you through the project, and just build it with the resources you currently have. And if you make mistakes, that's okay. It's part of the learning process.