Iknow, we all do it. We start off with a simple plan. We just want to build a model - nothing fancy just a little model to have fun with and things just get in the way, family and work commitments, bills to pay or some unanticipated emergency. The model you intend to build seemed simple enough, inspired by a photo or a story or just the love of the subject itself. Then, things get complicated, as life inevitably does. This has happened with my latest build. The base kit was one that I received as a sample. It’s one of those kits when you open the box, you look it over and say to yourself “man that is so cool”. Now, to the non-modeller that in itself may seem a bit weird as they don’t quite get the sheer joy that comes with opening up a new kit. They look at us in utter disbelief that something so small and so nondescript could produce so much joy. I mean it’s not like it is a new mega size TV or Supercar is it? Anyway, the little model in question is a master class in 3d printing, so good in fact that it puts many mainstream plastic producers to shame. Okay let’s get started I thought. The base kit went together with little or no effort and is highly accurate, but then that simple plan became something a little more. Thinking to myself that I want something different here, looking at your stash you find something that might be suitable, and again thinking to yourself this producer never gets anything really wrong, you proceed only to discover the kit you chose was not one of not one of their best efforts and is wrong in so many ways. So, you seek out a suitable replacement. You then turn your attention to putting figures in your little resin scene and that in itself becomes far from simple as there are no figures available, so you find yourself scratch building not one but five figures for this previously simple build. Then comes the prickly subject of the thing that will carry the model. You have recently sourced and modified the base kit to make it something that is close to, but not exactly, what the producer sent you as a sample. Is there any plans of wonderous thing? Umm no, sorry no plans, so what do you do? You go online and search and search and finally come up with something that will guide you on you quest and now it seems like a quest for the Holy Grail and just so far from that very simple plan you came up with when you first opened the box.
Now you may ask yourself, am I having fun? Well I am, but then again, most modellers are a bit peculiar in that respect. Don’t let your friends know that because most people think were almost normal. Well, kind of...
Luke Pitt