new here, where do i begin?

[RichmondEFXLab]

hello fellas. i am looking to start building models and was wondering where to begin. being an effects artist i am familiar with styrene. i am also familiar with kit bashing and mold making. i believe that these skills wil be useful. ive noticed that many of you tend to build entirely from scratch and use no kits and thats what i am interested in. i know its a hard place to start but thats my nature. how do any of you get inspired to begin a build. where do you locate your materials. what model companies do you perfer. if this all seems random its only cause im a complete newbie to model making. any feedback would be greatly appreciated. thank you

 

[Robiwon]

Welcome to the forums R. It may help to know what types of models your looking to build. What are you favorite movies, shows, etc. Peruse the forum and you will find all sorts of useful info. Most modelers I feel start out with the basics and then advance from there. Throw together some plastic kits to see what you like. Then you could move into customizing kits. Then step up to the awesome Studio Scale kits and then on to full scratch building. Before starting anything new like this hobby you have to set some baseline for what you want and then move toward achieving it.

 

[Newbie Doobie]

Robiwon's right. Start out small first. This way you can decide where to go from there. It's easier to work from a plan,and a parts list of models. This will make it easier to familiarize yourself with what you're working with. Then you can decide which route you want to go whether it's kit bashing,or scratch building,or a little of both. Many movie models were kit bashed to save time making small parts,and were fairly cheap by budget standards. I can give you a website link through a PM for an interview that Grant Mccune gave for what they used when making the milenium falcon,and other models for the star wars trilogy.

 

[RichmondEFXLab]

well i am into star wars models and in the past i have put together and distress painted several ships planes and cars. but compared to the talent here thats nothing. im thinking of the millenium falcon with maybe a cut away interior. im just not sure how styrene is shaped. i was thinking of sculpting the hull in a few simplified shapes and making some stone bucks for vaccuforming those general shapes. then ill do my research on what kits will work and how to make it as accurate as possible. does that sound good?

 

[Newbie Doobie]

well i am into star wars models and in the past i have put together and distress painted several ships planes and cars. but compared to the talent here thats nothing. im thinking of the millenium falcon with maybe a cut away interior. im just not sure how styrene is shaped. i was thinking of sculpting the hull in a few simplified shapes and making some stone bucks for vaccuforming those general shapes. then ill do my research on what kits will work and how to make it as accurate as possible. does that sound good?

That's a great way to start! Good luck!

 

[PHArchivist]

What type of effects do you do?

 

[redirk2]

well i am into star wars models and in the past i have put together and distress painted several ships planes and cars. but compared to the talent here thats nothing. im thinking of the millenium falcon with maybe a cut away interior. im just not sure how styrene is shaped. i was thinking of sculpting the hull in a few simplified shapes and making some stone bucks for vaccuforming those general shapes. then ill do my research on what kits will work and how to make it as accurate as possible. does that sound good?

A cut away falcon is a good starting point. With the cut away sections thats less of the hull you will need to replicate. The interior will give you plenty of artistic license as the entire interior has never been seen. Here are a few pics of my Falcon cut away thatused the stocl MPC cut away falcon as a base. Might give you some ideas.

 

[RichmondEFXLab]

wow! i must say those pics are gonna be super helpful. i have purchased a copy of "sculpting a galaxy" which has been helpful in the planning department. as for what kind of stuff i do quite a bit can be found at www.theeffectslab.com under the same username as this one.