ssculptor

I'm a bit confused, As usual. I am familiar with FLY being a Polish manufacturer of 1/33 Paper Card Model airplanes. I have a number on sale at eBay right now. Are these new ones IM plastic? Did FLY branch out into plastics? What good news! We may se a number of much wanted plastic kits coming out of them in 1/32. Lets hope. Stephen

I want one I want one I want one. Stephen

The Blackburn TB was a twin fuselage long range fighter float aircraft of the 1915-1917 era. I am looking for plans of it in any scale. I thought the twin mustang twin Me-109 and twin He-111 were unique. This predates them all. : Thanks Stephen

My appologies good sir. I thought you were keeping the olde petrol engine. I am getting closer to beginning my 1/32 scale three engine float Stuka. I have to dig out the workbench first. Stephen

It looks like a fun project but really, would that 1914 motor really be powerful enough for that 1940's heavy chassis? Wouldn't a lighter tracked chassis be more appropriate? Stephen

Wonderful work. Keep it up. Personally, since I am such a 1) lazy sod and 2) have absolutely no morals at all, I would just scan an existing model in a smaller scale and 3D print it, after enlarging the scale to 1/32, which is my preferred model size. That would take much less time on my part. but then the problem is 3) I do not have the money to even rent scan time, not to speak of purchasing a scanner and its software, so I guess I will not be able to avail myself of such technology. Alas alack, I will have to make do with the old fashioned carving + stick and tissue modelling process, using filler in place of tissue. It is affordable and I have been making such things since the WW2 days. So I know how to do it. I guess it is a matter of go with what you know. Of course, there are oodles of 1/33 scale paper card model kits of aircraft that have never been produced in 1/32 scale plastic, so I can work with those to increase my collection. Stephen

For many years I built models of kits out of the box and from plans, but always just scale models of real planes, tanks, ships, to varying degrees of detail and accuracy. After a while it kind of all got boring. I was just copying in a smaller scale, what others had built in full size reality. Then one day I visited a neighbor who was a medical doctor, He showed me some wood model airplanes he had made and they were to his design. He said just making a model of a real thing was boring to him. He liked the creative aspect of inventing his own designs. That stuck with me and I ended up a sculptor but often I used parts of plastic scale models in my work. I never forgot that meeting. Now when I make models, as opposed to sculpture, I make changes in the models to make them my own designs. That is what gives me the greatest pleasure. Its a big wide hobby. Some make models as small scale copies as accurately as possible.. Some make model kits and add their own touches, or have fun making them without 100% accuracy. Some, like me make models to my designs, or just kit-bash a model or two into what I like. Its a hobby, enjoy it any way you like. Stephen

Looks very good! Stephen

What I like about this Britmodeller forum is that here the guys are very accepting of differing ideas and view points. Also the humor is much better - here guys can laugh at themselves. In uptight USA where I live - yes I defecate red/white and blue feces as I stand at attention (try that if you want a challenging sport), the forums are much more serious. For example, I am building an outdoor model railroad in G gauge (so I can use 1/32 scale airplanes and 1/35 scale military train models) all across the back yard. One part of it will be Happy Achmed' used Aeroplanes and Parts Emporium (scrap yard). When I got into a discussion about the new Trumpeter 1/32 aircraft models that have 350 parts I more than upset some of the guys when I announced that I just build my aircraft models for the outside shapes, with landing gear retracted and the resultant models displayed as if they were flying. Well, that was bad enough but when I said that I'll use maybe 25 of the 350 parts and then dump the remaining 325 parts in Achmed's scrap yard some of the guys got upset. It was like I was Piddling on their religion. Which, I guess I was. Well, money problems caused me to sell off all the Tamiya and Trumpeter expensive kits but I still have a number of Revell kits where the details will end up in a railroad gondola car in Achmed's scrap yard. When that is completed I'll show photos of it on that forum and watch the reaction. Should be interesting. Life is too serious to take seriously. Stephen

Well, IPMS contests are really bent in the direction of the guys doing the judging. There is really a very wide range of judges and judging going on. I got a really big laugh at a IPMS meet in Connecticut (USA) in the fall a few years ago. I was wandering around, scarfing up bargains for my stash when I heard an announcement on the speakers. It seems that they needed volunteers to do the judging and would any modelers like to volunteer?. They were to come up to see so and so a the front. Well about 20 minutes later the same announcement was repeated with a lot of "pleases" in it. Finally, a half hour later they announced that they really needed judges and if a volunteer knew nothing about it they would train them right then and there. Now that was certainly reassuring! My super duper model was to be judged by some guy who walked in off the street to see all the pretty models and presto chango, he is now a judge. Fortunately I was not eating or drinking anything when I heard that announcement because I would have spit up all over the guy in front of me when I burst into laughter. What a farce! What I want to know is why do people have to enter contests in the first place? Isn't it enough to just have an exhibit of models so guys can show off their work? Why this necessity to compete for a cheap vapor plated little trophy. Hell, I could build a much better trophy any time I needed one. I'm a sculptor and over the years have picked up a few rewards. A medal and a few ribbons now hang proudly over my toilet (loo) in the downstairs bathroom, which is exactly where such nonsense belongs. I always assumed that a person builds a model for the pleasure and fun derived form the act of building. Thus it is not necessary to try to win a meaningless trophy for the work. The act of modeling is the reward for making a model. Does anyone really think it is worth all the time and trouble and expense to make a model just to get a piece of very cheap plastic? Really? Well in that case I'll just go out and buy a nice trophy and have it engraved Best in Show and put a fictional IPMS meet on it and put it on the mantle. Who ever checks the validity of such trophies? It will cost a lot less than buying and making a model and will certainly waste a lot less time. Then I can make a model for myself and really enjoy the entire process. Stephen

Well, at least we can drink our beer or 10. Stephen

Yes, well, some of the guys are overly obsessive about the models. Well, that is how they enjoy the hobby. But unfortunately their close-mindedness ruins it for others. Funny thing is I have known more than one professional model maker and none of them were that obsessive over accuracy and putting in all the details. Yes, when building a refinery model they have to be over obsessive and 100% correct, because that model is made to check clearances and interferences. So then they are obsessive. It is like when I make my drawings. I am a professional draftsman (draughtsman in England) and what I draw will be built in real life. So I cannot make an error, period. But I do not let that form of obsessiveness carry over into my everyday life. Obsessiveness in a person's hobby simply reflects his own personal make up and perhaps personal problems. It is unfortunate when the obsessive ones ruin it for everyone else by their insistence that theirs is the only way to make a model and all others are wrong. They can be like the religious fanatic who absolutely believes that only his church is correct and all the hundreds of millions of other people will all go to hell. Unfortunately, as far as I am concerned when the accuracy-uber-alles guys take over an IPMS contest it is a case of the inmates running the asylum. Stephen

The problem seems to be that there are two sides in modeling. The purist accuracy uber alles guys and the relaxed, leats make a model for the fun of it types. Yes, they are always sniping at one another. Why? Well I can think of any number of reasons but I wont. It will take too much time and is not worth the effort. But I will say that IPMS is a major factor in making this differentiation. The IPMS contests I have seen seem to emphasize accuracy. Just making a model for the fun of it seems to be a form of heresy. There should be two categories for modelers in IPMS contests, one for accuracy and one for making an attractive model. There should also be two different sets of judges, one for accuracy and one for overall quality of the model without using accuracy as a criteria. I have news for some of you guys, we are not doing anything of importance. We are not making the real things, we are merely making small scale copies of real things that others have created. We do this for personal satisfaction, for fun, for pleasure, for a feeling of accomplishment and for our own amusement. So lighten up guys, fighting over accuracy vs overall quality is a stupid tempest in a teapot. Let the IPMS contests reflect both attitudes. Live and let live. Stephen

Oh, I'm sorry. I missed the point entirely. Why, you go to the same licensing bureau that they had on the Monty Python TV show. You can even get a license for your pet fish, or pet bee. Stephen

When we build our own model airplanes we are not sacrificing accuracy, we are creating our own accuracy. All of us have built a model just as it came out of the box. What we were doing when we did this was copying, in a smaller scale, what people have created and built in the reality of the past. However, what we do when we create our own reality is just that, creating something, rather than imitating what has been done before us. Now, before some guys jump all over us for violating the sacred rules of the "religion" of IPMS, let me say that this hobby is big enough for all of us. The hobby is big enough for those of us who want to miniaturize the reality that existed before us, down to the finest detail. The hobby is also big enough for those of us who would rather create our own reality. Also in this hobby are those of us who just like to assemble a kit right out of the box, just for the fun of it. There is NO one right way to build models, period. I have spoken, forsooth. Stephen