Is out of box kitbuilding so hard?

incrediblefruit · Post by **incrediblefruit** » Tue May 19, 2009 2:05 pm

I've been scratchbuilding and kitbashing for so many years now that I find building a straightforward out of box kit quite difficult.

I recently got hold of a FM 1/48 X-Wing and would like to do it stock as it's a nice kit that doesn't really need much doing to it but i'm finding it hard as when scratchbuilding you follow your own rules but with a kit you have to do it a little more according to a plan or at least that's how I see it or maybe it's just because i'm a little out of practice with kits, who knows.

Does anybody else have this problem?

STAREMPIREUS · Post by **STAREMPIREUS** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:43 pm

I can not just build out of box . I either see what it could be or what it isn't .

Mostly after seeing what you guys an gals do .

puddingwrestler · Post by **puddingwrestler** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:29 pm

I can build OOB, but only with difficulty, and only when I want to build quickly. Also, I can only seem to do it with ww2 aircraft...

3d-builder · Post by **3d-builder** » Fri May 22, 2009 1:08 pm

I totally understand after scratch-building for 10 plus years, building a kit is hard!!!

Rocketeer · Post by **Rocketeer** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:03 pm

I don't like to build straight out of the box--I prefer to put my own spin on things. OOB stands for Omigod Overly Boring.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:56 am

Having won several awards for my OOB or near OOB builds, all I have to say is you're obviously not building the right kind of models.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:34 pm

SEE! SEE! It takes a dedicated OOB builder like Kylwell to do OOB kits!
Properly, anyway.

The only OOB I've been able to do in the last few years has been the Apollo 27 kit, and that's only 'cause I just wanted to do SOMETHING quickly. Now I can un-snap it and conver it to 1/48 th scale and add the chicken feet....

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:48 pm

Buy a Hasegawa Falke. It's so frakkin' cool and has such great paint possibilities.

Richard Baker · Post by **Richard Baker** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:09 pm

I always look at kits as points of departure- even if it is just adding some detail where things seem blank.
I htink the only kits I have build OOB in the past 30 years are the Bandai Star Trek ships- they fit together like watches and already have the aztecing painted on.

.

3d-builder · Post by **3d-builder** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:24 pm

Richard Baker wrote:I always look at kits as points of departure- even if it is just adding some detail where things seem blank.
I htink the only kits I have build OOB in the past 30 years are the Bandai Star Trek ships- they fit together like watches and already have the aztecing painted on.

.

Your right Rich I built a few of these on commission way back in the day, if you messed things up you almost had to destroy the kit to get it back apart!! thats how well they fit I remember well!!

rmitchis · Post by **rmitchis** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:14 pm

This is interesting because as an OOB builder for most of my life I always thought scratchbuilding was harder. Any scratchbuilders want to share how you got started in the hobby? I'd be interested in comparing how you got started vs. how I did to see where the differences lie.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:41 pm

I always wanted physical models of things there were no kits of. Then again, that was even before Lindberg released their UFO the first time. So I scratchbuilt stuff using whatever came to hand. When that UFO came out, it even got modified from 1/72nd (?) to 1/1000 (!).

Also, I know that in the case of most styrene kits there are 10,000 or so of each kit released and I don't feel like building one just like everyone else. I turned one of the first release of the TOS 1701 into a scout ship...

Ziz · Post by **Ziz** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:24 pm

Years ago when vinyl figures were popular - Horizon, GeoMetric, Screamin' - I got into them because I thought it would be an excuse to build something OOB. It didn't have straight lines and hard surfaces like a spaceship, so I wouldn't be inspired to try and modify it.

So much for that idea.

rmitchis · Post by **rmitchis** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:29 am

I've only been scratchbuilding or kitbashing depending on how you want to look at it for the last couple of years. I think that if the internet had been around when I got started things might have been different since information and supplies would have been more easily found.

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:51 am

Is out of box kitbuilding so hard?

No, just not terribly satisfying.

naoto · Post by **naoto** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:03 am

Building the kit out of the box is one thing, but building the model kit while it is still in the box might prove to be challenging.

If you're into cardmodelling, it's possible to build the model using the box. (come to think of it, I vaguely remember a few plastic kits from many ages ago where the inside of the kit box had printing on it and you were supposed to cut out some of the flat parts from the kit box... so indeed in this case you did build part of the model out of the box)

Treadhead · Post by **Treadhead** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:54 pm

Yes. I thought it was only me, so I was hesitant about posting. But yes, OOB building is much harder for me than scrathcbuilding. I'm thinking that when building from scratch, you build the parts so that they will go together the way you, the builder, want them to.

If a part doesn't work right, then you just re-build it. There's no problem sanding away raised detail because the detail goes on after the model is built.

Yes, you are right. OOB building is harder for me.

naoto · Post by **naoto** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:55 pm

I've got a some model kits where an out-of-the-box build would prove to be problematic if you followed the instructions. I've got a few Mig27 kits which came with instructions for a Panavia Tornado. I've got a few Saab JAS-39 kits that came with the parts sprue for a Mig 21. Of course... it could be interesting to see the results if one simply follows the illustrations (ignoring the part numbers that aren't going to match) and locate similar-looking parts and modifying the joints to make them work...

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:33 pm

It's not so much hard as just plain boring. Stick well-engineered tab A into equally well engineered slot B... The last kit I bought to build was the Miyazaki tank, and it flew together in about 3 evenings. I have so little invested in it, it will probably never get painted. For me, most of the fun is figuring out how to make a set of shapes and then making it fit, the "whittle away everything that doesn't look like a wooden Indian" phase. I need to go finish the thing I made out of a plastic latch hook tool now.

incrediblefruit · Post by **incrediblefruit** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:03 pm

So it aint just me then

eeun · Post by **eeun** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:23 pm

I really don't understand the "OOB is Boring" sentiment. If it goes together quickly, then spend more time on finishing. Construction is only half the process.

A variety is what keeps my interest in the hobby strong, and I don't find an OOB easier than a scratch or bash, or vice versa. Each has its own challenges and constraints. If I've just finished an OOB, then I'm often in the mood to tinker with a kit that needs a lot of extra love, or start something right from scratch. Once I'm done with that, I'll go the other way, or more often I'll have a couple builds on the go, and can choose 'lite' or 'extra crunchy' depending on my mood.

davidlgreen · Post by **davidlgreen** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:04 am

yes ive actuallly been forcing myself to build out of box. maybe a piece of wire or something a little extra but no major changes. ive so many kits to build and little time. also forces me to concentrate on painting which is a major weakpoint of mine. i believe a good paint job on an average kit is better than a poor paint job on a major reworking or scratchbuilt. dave

.

MillenniumFalsehood · Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:49 pm

I can . . . with great difficulty.

I can do it, really I can. But usually I have to add my own detail or two just for the heck of it. Maybe replacing a styrene chip with a different shape or including an R5 instead of an R2 unit in the ship.

But I can guarantee you'll probably not see me enter a Red Five, USS Enterprise, or Sheridan's Starfury in any model contest.

Let me share a story:

I got the (then) new FM 1:48 X-wing, which I fully intended to build up as Luke's Red Five. And I was *that* close! I even had the darn thing weathered! But I painted it black and intended to make it into Wedge's custom-painted X-wing from the books.

However, as I was painting it, the black paint went on too thick in several areas, so I had to remove the paint, and as I was scrubbing it I accidentally broke it.

mastermodelreview · Post by **mastermodelreview** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:59 pm

Out of the box isn't for everyone.

spacecraft guy · Post by **spacecraft guy** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:53 pm

Sometimes building a well engineered OOB kit is a refreshing change of pace.

For example building a PL 1/1000 TOS E after accurizing the AMT/ERTL
18 inch.

mastermodelreview · Post by **mastermodelreview** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:06 pm

I had a problem with it until I realized the nitrous, the bottom tier street hookers, and the home made mechanical bull machine weren't contributing to the building.
(these things all turned out to all just be distractions.)

ajmadison · Post by **ajmadison** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 12:27 pm

Damn, I knew something was keeping me from building.

On a more serious note, I'm currently working on a project that's supposed to be almost OOB. But I'm having no end of troubles with it, but maybe because I got lost on the way to OOB. I bought a photo-etch set for the kit. This actually induced more building delays, because installing the photoetch showed additional issues I was blissfully ignorant of. A pair of etched pieces are supposed to sit in little trenches on the kit, but trench wasn't in the right spot, so I had to extend these little trenches. No applying some superglue, pop the brass into place and keep moving. Erf.

Thanks to the aftermarket, most of the panel detail will be accomplished through decals, no painstaking, making masks, shooting second finish coats, so I just need to do some final assembly and get some primer on. BUT NO!! I noticed right off, the main body rocked around against the attachment to the engine assembly. Then I noticed the main body wasn't parallel to the engine assembly. Its off by a scale 1.3 meters. This was supposed to be glue one piece, and call it done. Instead, I spend the next two hours dry fitting, sanding away hidden sections of kit parts in order to remove the interference to get the two sub-assemblies parallel. I finally resort to using blue carpenter's chalk to figure out what was interferring where. (apply chalk to one part, dry fit, pull apart, where the chalk transfers to the other part, is the interference.) But when I'm done, the engine section sits rock solid in its socket in the main body. Just can't catch a break on this kit. In this case, I'm not sweating the shape of some gun turrent, or location of portholes, just basic, good modeling practice of checking for alignment. Frak me.

Scotaidh · Post by **Scotaidh** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:42 pm

I have many, many models in boxes, most of them aircraft models. I plan to build them OOB because I like having and looking at the aircraft.

I don't do tanks much anymore - they're too fiddly, and have all kinds of boringly repetitive things - 27 road wheels spring to mind. Most of the armor kits I have are destined for "greater things" (or is that "grater things"?)

Ditto the ship and car models I have, with a few exceptions.

My Scifi kits are sort of a grey area ... I like the subjects, or I wouldn't have them, and I'll build most of them OOB, but most will be bashed into something or become greeblie-sources.

My version of scratchbuilding isn't usually to build an un-kitted version of something, or even to build an unkitted inspiring craft I saw in a show/comic/dream once. I tend to scratch odd, one-off things that amuse me, such as the SMS Hengboku, this scoutcraft, or my system-defense gunboat.

My Off-Hand Challenge build of the Ex-wing is a rarity, in that I'm actually trying to keep the thing mostly looking like an X-wing, albeit one through my looking-glass.

But I find that each type of modelling has it's 'sticky' points.
OOB - I'm trying (usually) to produce something fairly close to what the box cover-art depicts.

Scratchbuild - I have to decide what the cover-art is - and then make that.

futch · Post by **futch** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:58 pm

eeun wrote:I really don't understand the "OOB is Boring" sentiment. If it goes together quickly, then spend more time on finishing. Construction is only half the process.

I understand. OOB essentially means someone else has figured out how it all goes together.

Construction is where the challenges are. Finishes are generally a formulaic set of steps which can be learnt. You can't learn how to construct. Sure you can slap any old ≠♀§#&@(§ together but if you can't visualise and engineer it all mentally, you can't build it.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:06 pm

Which is why there are some of use who go hog wild with paint and weathering.

Assembling a well design & engineered kit is nothing unless one gets burried in details. The fun for me is in detailing & paint.