Modelling is a creative artform. Wives may laugh at that and feel that it’s just playing with toy soldiers. But then those same wives will probably try to tell you Shortland Street is quality drama. So like any other artist modellers tend to want to show off their work, and like most artists they are also their own harshest critic. But at the same time their creation is their work, their effort, their baby, and they want others to love it as they do themselves but fear that others will say that their baby has an ugly nose or too many fingers.
So when you put together a build who do you build it for ? Who is your audience, who does it need to please ? Often times I feel that when you put your work out in public there is the temptation to build to please, to build as is expected, and to forget that really at the end of the day unless you’re trying to sell it that the only opinion that counts is your own.
We see it in its most obvious guise with the trend lately with weathering, or rather over-weathering to be more precise. There seems to have developed a train of thought that Germany only owned rusted, battered hulks that went into action and stayed there for ten years, running countless flame-throwers, seaspray storms, and driving through endless rock walls, brick buildings and turpentine factories.
So about now you’re probably thinking that this is where I launch into a diatribe against this trend. Not exactly. If you’re building for yourself then honestly it really matters not one iota what your build looks like so long as you’re happy with it. I’ve seen a vietnam era 155mm Howitzer glued into the back of a White Scout car and if you closed your mind to the technical inaccuracy of such a beast it actually looked quite impressive.
At the same time if you’re building to show off don’t feel pressured into doing something you feel is wrong just because it’s the current trend. I don’t believe in rusty mufflers, I don’t believe in heavily chipped tanks and I don’t believe in rusty aluminium parts, blackened muzzles and grey primer. I don’t believe in them because historical photos show the opposite to be true. But I do appreciate how they are visually appealling and tempting to do. In the same vein if you build to show off and you DO follow these trends then don’t be surprised if others will criticise the build’s inaccuracies.
Even if you do receive criticism again it comes down to who you want to please. If you seek the kudos of your peers then criticism can hurt but take on board this piece of advice I was given very early on in my life regarding my artwork ( I’m trained as an Architect with a background that includes graphic art, 3D animation and period furniture making ) – “If the critic can do no better then their opinion counts for nought, if they can do better then their criticism should be seen as guidance”.
But if at the end of the day you just build for your own enjoyment and care not for the input of others then an even more sage piece of advice is found in this old joke – “A man picks up a woman and takes her to a hotel room whereupon he drops his gear to reveal a 4 inch penis. ‘Who do you expect to please with that?’ sneers the woman. ‘Me’, replies the man.”
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yes, I hate that trend too – the tank that looks like it has been in the wrecking yard for the last 50 years.
Personally like to model ‘hard worked’ vehicles, plenty of dust and what have you, with tired looking crews. Working vehicles.
That is the premise that I always see when I am modeling anyway. Don’t know what others see though – a daft old bugger playing with soldiers…!
Have to agree with the over weathering trend. Quite ridiculous depicting a vehicle with 3 months service tops having more rust, stains etc than a relic thats been sitting outside in a public park for the last 50 or so years!
Yeah I like to stop and look at the things outside the various RSAs to see what they look like and to note th small areas that have little gatherings of rust and dirt. I know they are cleaned reqularly but then I’d like to think if I was trucking around in something that kept me alive I’d want to look after it and keep it in the best condition possible under whatever the current circumstances were.
I would like to point out that I would not laugh if you said modelling was a creative artform! I am in awe of the required ability to visualise and create something that encapsulates that vision. I certainly can’t do that.
And Shortland Street is crap TV but we all know I find crap TV endlessly entertaining.
Um. That’s probably the sort of thing your wife would say.
I am sure that you are a most amazing wife and have an incredibly lucky husband