Top Billing for Lee K at Modeling Madness

[lgriffin]

Good points, Lee. In the big scales, there's nowhere to hide. In the smaller scales, you can get away with less detail and you can get away with general shapes to represent the presence of stuff. I recall a reviewer saying that the nacelles of an Airfix 1/24 Mosquito are as big the fuselage of a 1/48 single-engine fighter. I can see someone easily getting in over their head taking on a project that big - nowhere to hide with that thing.

Lee G.

[Ryan K]

See three chapter written by itself, add some pics and your golden.

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Lee.  I think that modelers who work on 1/32 scale kits sometimes bite off more than they can chew.  ONE fuel tank on a 1/32 scale F-4 has more linear seam area to fill than an entire 1/72 scale Bf 109. (!). I think modelers come in ill-prepared for how much work is involved and end up rushing through just to get the behemoth off their workbench.

There is conventional wisdom that as modelers get older and their sight faculties diminish that larger scale models are better due to larger parts.  That certainly hasn't been my experience, as the detail parts get teeny and even harder to apply properly.  I remember the landing gear struts of the the Academy F/A-18C kit had thirty parts that drove me nuts getting attached and properly aligned.

One has to really want to build kits in this scale as there are all kinds of impediments to doing so: the cost of the kit, the amount of time it takes to build one, and the age-old problem of where to display it when it's done.  It took me 100 hours of effort to get the F-14D across the goal line.  That's more than three times what it took me to build the Monogram PBY-5 last year.  And it was three times as expensive.

For me, the wow factor of larger models is the lure.  Nothing satisfies me more in this hobby.

Lee K

[lgriffin]

Good idea for Lee K. to write a modeling book on going big. Sorry to be so blunt, but most of the big-scale models I've seen at contests over the years are junk. It's almost like modelers forget about the basics when doing big-scale stuff because maybe they think just the size speaks for itself. It's always been a mystery to me why the big models are so often done to a lower standard. Maybe it's just because it's so glaringly obvious on a big model.

Cheers,

Lee G.

[Lee_K]

Something definitely to consider for my retirement years.  Thanks!

Lee K

[Ryan K]

Thanks, Ron!  No, I can't say that I've ever given it much thought.  The reviews I occasionally do are about all I have to say.

Given the volume of 1/32 kits you have built, I would think you could write a generic how to in 1/32 or modeling. Talk about basic techniques used. The difference between the scales with regard to construction, painting, weathering etc. De-spell the myth of old eyes. Throw in a chapter on photography and history of the scale.  How to on Monogram Bombers and the new 1/32 B-17. That would be enough for a few pages.

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Ron!  No, I can't say that I've ever given it much thought.  The reviews I occasionally do are about all I have to say.

[Ronv]

Way to go Lee! Ever thought of writting modeling books?
RonV

[Bob S]

HoooRahhh Lee!  My hat is off to you, sir!

[Lee_K]

Thanks!

[Ryan K]

Congrats...once again a nice build and review.

http://modelingmadness.com/review/mod/us/usn/kol14d.htm