Plastic Modeling

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

That is cool. How big is it? There is nothing for scale.

The helmet is about 5"x4"x4.5" With the stand it's about 7" tall.

Apparently there is an entire Star Wars Helmet series which appear to be about the same scale.

One of my other sons gave me this for my Birthday as well. I need to gather the paints and things for it, but it will likely be my next project.

Never heard of "Premium Hobbies" before, but it's a pretty good looking kit with detailed paint instructions for several different versions.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

The helmet is about 5"x4"x4.5" With the stand it's about 7" tall.

Apparently there is an entire Star Wars Helmet series which appear to be about the same scale.

One of my other sons gave me this for my Birthday as well. I need to gather the paints and things for it, but it will likely be my next project.

Never heard of "Premium Hobbies" before, but it's a pretty good looking kit with detailed paint instructions for several different versions.

Never heard of them either but good old Scalemates says it is a rebox of a 2008 Academy kit. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/prem...riors--1392499
This is good news because those 1/72 Academy kits are usually quite nice with low parts count but great detail and easy construction.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This is good news because those 1/72 Academy kits are usually quite nice with low parts count but great detail and easy construction.

That is good news.

Out of curiousity, do you typically paint small parts still on the sprue then touch them up, or do you pull them off first?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

That is good news.

Out of curiousity, do you typically paint small parts still on the sprue then touch them up, or do you pull them off first?

Depends. I like to assemble as much of a sub section as possible and then paint as a unit. Much better glue adhesion that way. I try to avoid painting any small parts that I can separately but if I must I do them on the sprue. Or more accurately I will cut them off but leave them attached to a small piece if the sprue and use it as a handle to paint.
If you can see it you can paint it even in subassemblies.




For build supplies just go the the personal hygiene section of your local dollar store and grab a multi sided nail buffer for fine sanding and side cutting fingernail cutters to remove parts from the sprue. These work as well or better than some of the tools made for modeling at about 5% of the cost. Of course you will also need an exacto type knife.

[Tcoat]

Done. Or at least for now. I never managed to get the side doors shape right so they will eventually be replaced with 3D printed ones.

100% accurate to the real thing right down to the cracked paint on the roof!

[Ultramaroon]

I almost expect it to start.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

That's awesome!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I almost expect it to start.

And take 45 minutes to put oil in!

In hindsight I should have included the battery under the passenger seat and had the cable sticking through the side of the doghouse. It was that cable that the next owner pinched when replacing the side of the housing and burned the van to the ground.
Actually not too late I can probably work it in there.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

That's awesome!

The judges at a show on Sunday didn't think so. They looked at it and said "oh that is some bad paint" and moved on. If they had read the card they would have realized I worked very hard to get that damaged paint to be cracked, dinged, blotchy and swirled.

It looked so tiny!

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The judges at a show on Sunday didn't think so. They looked at it and said "oh that is some bad paint" and moved on. If they had read the card they would have realized I worked very hard to get that damaged paint to be cracked, dinged, blotchy and swirled.

Fuck 'em. You can have your own show.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Fuck 'em. You can have your own show.

I wasn't upset really. There were 2,500 people and almost 2,000 models entered in about 20 different categories.

I entered 7.

This one was in the running but the one judge ruled it out because the aerial HK was "Too shiny a finish". Not sure if he ever saw the movie but those things are almost chrome!


According to the judges too "gimmicky" and "excessively weathered" . I sort of anticipated that one as soon as I saw everything else on the table looked like it just rolled out of the factory.



Excessively weathered. Again have they not seen the movie? The rebels did not spend their time polishing their equipment


Was entered for OOB. Knew it didn't stand a chance but the highlighting of the promo chassis was fun so threw it in there anyway.




This one bugged me a bit. They told me to enter it in the Scratch Build and Heavily Modified category and then when the judges came around they said it was not scratch built nor heavily modified enough. They also would not even look since it was not an "intact aircraft" so they could not determine if "everything is correct for the type".



And this took silver! I threw it in at the last minute just to round out some categories.



Now... this may sound like I am complaining or something but I assure you that is not the case since the ones that won were very, VERY good. I had a blast and the general public enjoyed my work. The Terminator one received several People's Choice stickers which made me happy! What I did come away from it all with is that these contests are obviously judged by a different standard.
Many of the categories (there were so so many) were won by the same person taking all three awards. One guy cleaned up in cars, another in armour and there was a guy for aircraft that just stood on the stage while they handed him award after award. These guys seemed to invariably be IPMS International Plastic Modelers Association) members that obviously have done this a long time and know exactly what the judges are looking for.

I am not in the hobby for awards and will continue to enter these shows for the fun of it but I will attempt to build a couple of models to their standards just to see what happens!

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I wasn't upset really. There were 2,500 people and almost 2,000 models entered in about 20 different categories.

Wow! Reinforces my feelings about subjective competition in general. If the art speaks to me, it's a win.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Wow! Reinforces my general feelings about subjective competition in general. If the art speaks to me, it's a win.

The public loved that one! I bet there were several thousand pictures taken of it.


Ahhh but it seems these judges are not about art but "technical" aspects. A common term in the model world is "rivet counter" it is usually derogatory about that guy that goes way overboard in accuracy.
When the contest judges were looking at the 1/72 scale category I actually heard the one judge say "it is marked as a BF-109E-1 but this extra line of rivets here means it is actually a BF-109E-6" HE ACTUALLY COUNTED THE RIVETS! This is on a fighter the same scale as the model I gave you so the whole thing was about the size of one wing of yours.

I even made a nice base showing that my "art" was accurate to the real thing.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

I think those shows you're entering need better judges that know how to read and how to judge the respective clases they are assigned to.