25 Year Beginner

[tmj]

  Greetings, all!

 I've been a beginner for twenty five years and have YET to complete a single model, however. I 'have' collected many POF kits, and also a 'boatload' of plans for scratch building. Sorry folks, none of this stuff is for sale. It's all gonna be for my long term retirement and enjoyment! My reason for not completing any of these kits, nor scratch building from any of the plans has nothing to do with a lack of skills, nor interest. Quite the contrary! The very first POF hull that I built, (Cutty Sark), turned out quite beautiful for a first time build.  Something for a first time model ship builder to be extremely proud of, of which I am! It wasn't until I was well into fabricating the deck furniture, for this first build, that things started to go south. The more I worked on the model, the more curious I became about details and 'true' historical accuracy. The more I learned about historical accuracy, the more horrified I became with the obvious 'monstrosity' that I was inadvertently building! My heart sank, I lost interest and put it on the shelf, inaccurate deck furniture and all. I'll finish it, someday, as it looks really nice... but I'll not name it "Cutty Sark". It'll just be a 'no-name', nice looking piece of artwork and skill, sitting atop a shelf. "Too proud of the craftsmanship and the time involved to toss it into the BBQ pit, too embarrassed of its inaccuracies to officially name it!" During the time that I was going through the motions of building that first hull, the more I realized how much I enjoyed the model ship building process. I quickly went overboard and started buying models and plans, willy-nilly, left and right. Huge mistake! By the time I figured out that most of the stuff that I had purchased was, and/or was likely to be very inaccurate... it was too late. I already owned it all, and still do!!! If someone just wants to build a nice looking ship model, go for it. Beauty is in the eye of the 'builder', and most all kits can provide exactly that, if your skills are up to the task, however. If one is into true accuracy and detail, as I am... "do your homework", 'FIRST'! "Don't be like me!" I simply 'assumed' that the manufacturers of these models did their very best to replicate accuracy. The truth is, "not so much." I've since tinkered with a few of my kits, not doing much work, here and there... but just couldn't really get into it, not knowing if what I was doing had any real historical accuracy involved, or not. I shelved 'everything' for a later date. I haven't touched 'anything' for 8 years... but I'm wanting to get back into it, but I also want to do such in a much more informed, rewarding and satisfying manner! Looks like there will 'now' be a lot of "Damage Control" in my future, LOL    

 The above being said... "There 'is' a silver lining to this old, dark cloud. I picked up a lot of ship models for about a third of the price that those exact same models are currently being sold for, today. Lots of good wood, rigging items, etc. that can surely be put to good use, albeit. The plans and instructions, for these old models, might well serve a much better purpose in lighting the fires, in my BBQ pit, than in the building of an accurate ship model!

I joined this forum to tap into the knowledge of folks who are in the know, who also know the proper 'ins and outs' of doing good research, where to find the data, info, etc.., and hopefully to make another friend or few. I'm now approaching retirement and intend to get back to it and start building everything that I had once purchased, kits as well as plans. Definitely gonna be a lot of kit bashing required, but that's okay and also a given, with true accuracy being a goal! With the help of you folks... I hope to build a lot of excellent models that are both accurate, and properly done! 😊  

  

 

 

     

           

[Jim Lad]

Hello TMJ, and a warm welcome to the forum from 'Down Under'.

 

Don't give up on your kits.  Many of our members build fine and accurate models based on kits - they call it 'kit bashing'.

 

John

[mtaylor]

Hi TMJ.

 

Welcome to MSW and what John said applies.   Lots of builders just build the kits out the box.  Others go that extra mile and bash it, research and make it correct.   There's a great feeling of success when you're done bashing the kit and it looks "right".   

[Jaager]

Jim,     what is done under the term "kit bashing" here is hardly bashing.   It is far more like kit improvement or kit augmentation.  What it really is = partially scratch building a kit model.  There was a time when this was the primary path towards full on scratch building.

 

It was years ago that I first encountered kit bashing - it was plastic models and it was things like adding P51 wings to the model of a "56 Chevy.   In our world it would be mounting a 5 inch gun turret in the waist of Drake's Revenge and replacing the swivels with M2.  You might think that it could be further bashed by adding a Volvo Penta and a prop,  but that has already been done for real on a replica of a near contemporary of Revenge, the Susan Constant which is over here at Jamestown.

[tmj]

18 hours ago, Jaager said:

Jim,     what is done under the term "kit bashing" here is hardly bashing.   It is far more like kit improvement or kit augmentation.  What it really is = partially scratch building a kit model.  There was a time when this was the primary path towards full on scratch building.

 

It was years ago that I first encountered kit bashing - it was plastic models and it was things like adding P51 wings to the model of a "56 Chevy.   In our world it would be mounting a 5 inch gun turret in the waist of Drake's Revenge and replacing the swivels with M2.  You might think that it could be further bashed by adding a Volvo Penta and a prop,  but that has already been done for real on a replica of a near contemporary of Revenge, the Susan Constant which is over here at Jamestown.

I totally agree with your differential between the terms 'Bashing' vs. 'Improvement/Augmentation'. There is 'definitely' a distinct difference between the two! "Bashing", as I see it, represents an intentional alteration to the original design of something, with forethought, for whatever reason... with the specific intent being to void something of its true and original design parameters (much like a good deal of the model ship manufacturers seem to be doing). To 'BASH' something that is already inaccurate in detail, in order to restore its original design details is not bashing, at all. It's "Historically Accurate Alteration!" When you take an old 'Jensen Das Ugly Stik' and add bomb bay doors and shielded bottle-rocket launchers to its wings... "That's Kit Bashing!"    

[mtaylor]

Well... there's bashing and then there's bashing....   I did the AL Constellation some years ago.  The kit sold as the original frigate.  Nope... the hull was actually the 1854  version.  So it got "bashed"... "cursed" at times... and finished as the 1854 Sloop of War.