6/10 "Back in my day" rant. Young wipper-snappers have it too easy.
I absolutely agree. Until the Internet came along and informed me of how inaccurate my old Star Wars and Star Trek models were, I had no idea--they looked like what I saw on screen (for the most part, anyway) and that was good enough for me. It was truly a case of "Ignorance is bliss", and building models was a lot more fun when I wasn't so concerned about all of those inaccuracies and whether or not I had the skills to fix them, deciding which paint colors were the most accurate, and so on.IMO it was a lot less stressful to build models before the Internet. When you got a model kit you just sort of assumed it was accurate since, by golly, a real big company made it for us. The only references were Starlog and a few 'technical manuals', sometimes some Bubblegum cards. I had no idea how terrible the kits were
- that the B-C deck of the Enterprise was wonky or the X-Wing had poor proportions. If fitting parts was just part of the building since just about all kits were that way...
The MPC/AMT/Ertl Star Wars kits had one major advantage over the Fine Molds and Bandai kits--they forced you to improve your modeling skills if you wanted the end results to look like the filming models. Learning how to assemble ill-fitting parts, puttying, sanding, correcting details, scratch building from raw stock...well, you get the idea. I like a well engineered kit as much as anyone else, but Bandai is almost making it too easy to build their kits. I'm sure there are "beginner" modelers out there who are happy to have kits molded in different colors that they can snap together and have something that's a damn good replication of what they see on-screen, but they aren't learning much about building models by doing that.
I agree with Zombie! I really enjoy puting myself through the paces in order to make a older less acurate kit shine. To me the Bandai kits are like taking an easy vacation where you know youll get great results with minimum effort.
Well, I know what I'M getting this Christmas.
AND some new jeans, obviously.Socks?
Idk about great results... Results, yeah, but great? Even with the beautiful and easy to assemble Bandai kits, greatness is not a given. There are a lot of good builds out there, but I put great in another category. We can't go around and assume every build is great. If we did, then great gets watered down and becomes meaningless. I'm not trying to attack anyone, so don't get the wrong idea. I just think that there are a lot of good builds out there, but not that many great ones. I think we need more modeling competitions/shows... I'd love to enter one and see what others would enter. I live in a terrible area for that, though.
I agree completely, but I'm a bit of a harsh critic. I've seen a lot of quality build-ups over the years, but for me "great" is in a very special category. And even though I've been building models for nearly 50 years, I've yet to even come close. My finished builds are good enough to satisfy me most of the time, but enter them in a competition? Not a chance.Idk about great results... Results, yeah, but great? Even with the beautiful and easy to assemble Bandai kits, greatness is not a given. There are a lot of good builds out there, but I put great in another category. We can't go around and assume every build is great. If we did, then great gets watered down and becomes meaningless. I'm not trying to attack anyone, so don't get the wrong idea. I just think that there are a lot of good builds out there, but not that many great ones. I think we need more modeling competitions/shows... I'd love to enter one and see what others would enter. I live in a terrible area for that, though.
I agree korben44, I guess I was meaning the quality of the kit in the box compared to for instance, an MPC. Night and day difference. Bandai in the box= fun opportunity to make a potentially great model. MPC/AMT= lots of work, blood sweat and some tears.....to get that same level.Idk about great results... Results, yeah, but great? Even with the beautiful and easy to assemble Bandai kits, greatness is not a given. There are a lot of good builds out there, but I put great in another category. We can't go around and assume every build is great. If we did, then great gets watered down and becomes meaningless. I'm not trying to attack anyone, so don't get the wrong idea. I just think that there are a lot of good builds out there, but not that many great ones. I think we need more modeling competitions/shows... I'd love to enter one and see what others would enter. I live in a terrible area for that, though.
The MPC/AMT/Ertl Star Wars kits had one major advantage over the Fine Molds and Bandai kits--they forced you to improve your modeling skills if you wanted the end results to look like the filming models. Learning how to assemble ill-fitting parts, puttying, sanding, correcting details, scratch building from raw stock...well, you get the idea.
I really love the look of that version of the Falcon!- It would be great if Bandai released a 1:144 of that- I would gladly pay the additional cost (for all the new greebly sprues)The AMT/MPC Falcon offers a chance to do a build of the ship and how it looks at the end of Solo, after doing the Kessel run. I have one and I'm considering doing just that with it.
You guys see what Stefan Hacker is doing with a Deagostini Falcon?
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2318
SB