SPA Modeler

In the spirit of “The Great Galland Decal Do-Over” I removed the Tamiya panel number decals, as well as a few stencils which I thought were lacking in detail and credibility, and put the Eduard ones on there instead.

I was heeding John’s advice on this, making sure that no carrier film from the number decals disrupted the panel lines. This was easy as the Eduard decals don’t have as wide a surrounding layer of film. After positioning each decal where I wanted it, I made sure I could pass my small-diameter brush down the panel line and not disrupt the positioning. That all went smoothly and that’s a good stopping point for the day.

I suppose I can let all this cure, then spray some more Clear to seal the existing decal work, and get on with the pin washes, and apply the crosses later when they get here. Or I could wait. I’ll start on the landing gear and whatnot on Saturday. I plan to get the tank wheels started then too. It’ll be one big batch of stuff that I usually slack off on LOL

Kenny: Now that you've drawn attention to it I noticed it. Just an fyi: 99.9% of models that get built have some kind of fault. It's all in a builders abilities to 1.) recover from the mistake fully or 2.) distract from the mistake. Sometimes I find myself in category #1 but most times it's in category #2 that I live in. I tend to distract from my mistakes by making the viewer look at something else instead of the "boo-boo" by using a "wow" factor.

Looking forward to your progress here bud.

Muchas gracias, Joe!

I guess I’m still in a place where I’m working on doing things more thoroughly and carefully to avoid my common faults that I make, and upping my wow-factor game. That’s the thing, for me. More of this will come with experience, I’d imagine.

There’s a universal point out there which Bruce enlightened me to, which I knew but always seem to neglect:

“Measure twice, cut once.”

I really need to be more mindful of that. Faults happen. In fact, I have one in the construction of my Corsair which I have every confidence wasn’t my fault, at least, not my own carelessnesses fault anyway. That’s okay. I was doing my due diligence with all the test-fitting, and during that wing installation too. And even with that, the back portion wound up about a quarter of a millimeter off. I’m not beating myself up for that.

It’s the faults that I could’ve avoided if I had been doing my due diligence that get me. The faults I make that I would’ve avoided had I not been rushed, or had I “measured twice.”

Know what I mean?

mustang1989 wrote:Kenny: Now that you've drawn attention to it I noticed it. Just an fyi: 99.9% of models that get built have some kind of fault. It's all in a builders abilities to 1.) recover from the mistake fully or 2.) distract from the mistake.

All of my builds have a construction gaffe or three in there somewhere... usually due to my rushing of the project at that point. And then I try to minimize or conceal the goof one way or another. But if I go back and make repeated corrections, the delays mount and mount and I will never finish anything. Or sometimes I notice the goof way to far down the line to justify the correction work, often due to a time factor. So it is as Joe says, distract, conceal (the wonderful thing about armor builds- mud and/or stowage to cover such things), and in the end for online sharing, photography angles... I don’t photoshop my photos to edit out goofs, but some angles and lighting are more flattering to a project than others...

Separate topic but Carlos touched upon it... have you considered using a better camera to document your builds, Kenny? Your photos (from a smartphone I'm guessing) are perfectly acceptable but I admit to wanting to see your work a little more clearly. Well-lit, in-focus photos are also a good self-check in the building process and there have been numerous times that I've caught something in a photo that I did not notice in person. It can be a brutally honest perspective but I can personally say that documenting my work better has improved me as a modeler.

jkim wrote: Well-lit, in-focus photos are also a good self-check in the building process and there have been numerous times that I've caught something in a photo that I did not notice in person. It can be a brutally honest perspective but I can personally say that documenting my work better has improved me as a modeler.

The digital eye on your subject against a plain non distracting background will see any flaws that the good ole Mk.I eyeball often misses.

A good digital camera with a manual focus, and a proper set up for good model photography, are on the list of things I wish to buy but can not afford at the moment, sadly.

I have a nice Canon EOS with a couple lenses for my “real” photography. I even picked up some macro lens filters to try and get more out of it for my model photography. Perhaps if I had a good desktop computer for the editing, I could get the results like Bruce and John do. (Well not really, but perhaps at least aspire to such work). However, with what I have, my iPhone 7 does some pretty nice macro work as is. My biggest challenges are due to lighting. I have one power outlet in my work area, and not enough lights... my biggest gripe about this home is lighting...

Maybe one day.

As it stands for me right now, between childcare, and medical bills piling up from my children’s surgeries (adenoid removal, eat tube installation), and their repeated doctor visits to the ENT and now also Allergist, bills, two car payments and so forth, about all I can but for myself is a kit here and there, and paint and stuff. And it is all budgeted very carefully.

So I make-do with what I have, and that’s fine.

I hear ya loud and clear there. Been there, done that. Hang in there Kenny, the lean times always pass.