There are many who believe that we are in a golden age of modelling. We seem to be blessed with an everexpanding range of high-quality products from around the globe, with plastic kit releases that defy belief with their precision and accuracy and ease of construction. Moreover we are provided with an ever-expanding range of paint and tools that make our craft seemly effortless.
I’ve been in this hobby for most of my life and have seen a myriad of changes with everincreasing improvement in both painting and building styles.
Take for example figure painting. Going through some old modelling magazines the other day I was quite frankly flabbergasted at what was considered the gold standard of yesterday to be to be nothing short of average today with some artists today producing photo realistic interpretations that are nothing short of draw dropping. Still, I wonder if we have lost some of the magic and skill set along the way. Take for example basic scratch building, you know that old school thing we used to do, piecing together little bits of plastic card, tube, and strip to produce something that was not on the kit or a variation of a said kit. I get that we all seem to not have a lot of time anymore and life sometimes gets in the way but for me there is nothing more rewarding than creating something from almost nothing.
My modelling heroes back in the day were guys like Brian Wells remember him? -creating models basically from scratch and very little of the base kit left. That building skill set seems to have drifted into obscurity and I for one find that a little odd.
Anyway, enough for now. Modelling for me, in my best Humphrey Bogart impersonation: the stuff that dreams are made of.
Until next time Luke Pitt
H3 MODELS WWII US PARA RIFLEMAN ITEM NO. HS48007
How does one define high quality in a figure? Is it the casting or print quality and this figure, the anatomy, the pose, the facial detail, or a raft of other issues? For me, it’s all of those things. This figure from H3 models embodies all of those things and is a remarkable 3d print with no print lines in evidence anywhere. It is a master class in 3d printing and print stem placement. Take for example the helmet. It is separate to allow for ease of painting. The rifle strap has no print stems and the stems on the rest of the figure are incredibly fine.