Back to Basics

Hey folks! It's been a while, huh? Well, I'm going to make a concerted effort to make more regular postings, and to attempt the hardest part of any modelling project, and that's to actually complete a modelling project. And I plan on doing so by taking a back to basics approach. Let me explain.

In the almost ten years since my return to model building, I think I've completed a total of 2 projects. That's not to say I haven't started or worked on a lot of projects. I have, and I think the tens of open boxes and half worked on kits can attest to that. But the biggest hindrances to actually completing anything are self inflicted. One is a form of ADD that is acute to plastic model builders. We always have our eyes and thoughts on the next project. Or the hottest new kit that hits the market. 

The next is what I call letting the good become the enemy of the perfect. The hobby has always had it's rivet counters - people who obsess over the smallest details of any subject, taking apart and analyzing any imperfection in a kit and doing all they can to correct. And that's where I tend to fall. Usually, my downfall tends to be tolerances. I do what I can to correct gaps or imperfections in the way kits fit together, so I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get that last nanometer of perfection and end up going way overboard and ruining all the work I put in. There's an old saying in the hobby "It's always easier to take material off than put more on", and it's one I always had a hard time heeding.

So what do I do to combat this tendency. Well, to focus on building some box stock models and focus on developing a clean building technique with what's available from the manufacturer (for the most part, more on that later). For example, my first project under this philosophy is a Tamiya Lotus 99T that you will see in the following posts, as well as a Hasegawa 1/72 Macross VF-1A . So wish me luck.