Thank you.
"That attitude" is trying to be as close as possible, so I guess I'm not out of topic in this forum.
In this thread, Mark was trying to find the correct decals used on the X-1, not decals that are close. I have seen some discussions you had with other members regarding Studio Scale and accuracy and I respect your choice to use decals that are close, or resin or 3D printed parts when styrene parts were used ont he original models. However keep in mind that's not the case of most guys in this forum section.
MT, I apologize for I must have taken your comment about "General modeling" wrongly and consequently taken slight offense. To me, this is *all* modeling & art (but not science), but I tend to be inclusive with my definitions - and assign equal standing to all efforts in this arena. As such, the idea that there is a 'general' modeling attitude that is somehow less correct rankled in light of my personal paradigm. But again, as is said, "that is just me" and so I do not speak for others.
My on-topic point is specifically that it may be
impossible to identify the original source(s) used, in which case an
identical but non-original source (such as 'Microscale sheet xyz' vice 'abc' - or even 'reproduction' graphics) would certainly be the way to proceed & also completely
correct. As such, at least in my mind, there is no requirement to
only use original parts, decals, etc. - only to be rigorous so (again, in my opinion) the result
looks the same. It is impractical to be any more "exact" this since certain things are simply no longer made or to be found (or just out of reach from a financial standpoint.)
Again apologies as perhaps I also failed in being clear re: Mark's question; I never meant to imply that "close" would be the goal, merely that
exactly the original decal sheet might be unavailable and as such a *matching*
exact alternative should be fine - again, for
practical purposes. The real benefit of identifying the original decal source is so to have a crystal-clear determination of how the original application looked so then the replica's application can be matched exactly.
I wonder if this little bit of discord is more about language than meaning, as you seem to stand in the same field of thought as I based on your post on the MF decals survey thread:
here
I believe everyone involved certainly understands the reality (depressing as it may be) concerning availability of the original sources. However, I think consideration should also be given to the "spirit" of the original modeling projects without being overly pedantic; after all, these models were 'slammed & jammed' together for other than aesthetic purposes with many shortcuts being taken. The beauty is in what they achieved *in spite* of the limitations imposed on their work... in short, don't forget the joy of the forest for staring at one tree's bark! ;^)
Regards, Robert