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Snobbery and greed in hobbies.


RobL

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21 hours ago, stevehnz said:

ow its either feel shame for only using what the kit provided

I personally absolutely love that challenge. Plus many others.

 

It is up to you what gives you most fun. Collecting the things of value? Striving for perfection? Overcoming challenges and solving problems?

 

My last build ended up with gun handle in cockpit made out of blutack and painted with coarse drying hard paint, because carpet monster ate the original.

 

I wonder if anyone except me will ever notice the difference?

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On 7/2/2022 at 8:06 AM, lasermonkey said:

I did play a Mexican Strat once, and even though I'm not a Strat guy, I thought it was one of the better Strats I had tried

I have a Mexican-made Strat - the Jimmie Vaughan signature - and it's an excellent guitar. Like all Strats you have to fight it to get what you want, but it's worth the fight and it cost a third of what an equivalent American-made Strat would have cost.

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From my own observations I find that the ones who tend to carry on about such things are quite often those with little to no talent and try to make up with gadgets and shiny things.

More money than brains if you will. Like the idiot who used to show up at flight school in an Irvine with a airline pilot flight bag to do bump and jumps in a Citabria 😐 (Some what unfortunate that its illegal to smack the stupid out of some people)

I'd suggest ignore the miserable sods and be comfortable in your own life.

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9 hours ago, masterKamera said:

 

model by sections, it seems a good idea but in reality it isnt..  some of the model ship ones only let you order a section after you complete the previously numered one. thus if you complete section 5, and 6/7/8 are on backorder for 8 months.... you twiddle your thumbs amongst other things.

 

Yes, that's another sort of part work arrangement. I couldn't get into that because I'd be worried that they would go bankrupt before they sent me the last section. In fact that's another reason that I wouldn't subscribe to a weekly magazine version. 

 

Uncertainty, waiting time and high cost - what's to like?

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A good rant, if I say so :)

 

My biggest scale building hobby is building 1/20 F1 cars. There is a general rule, that you either buy a car model as soon as it is released, or you forget it.

Why: the models are made in smaller quantities than say aircraft or armor models due to the smaller demand, and many people simply buy them to scalp them on eBay at twice or three times the price.

As an example, a Tamiya RB6 was issued for something like 70GBP/EUR/USD and is now sold for upwards of 200 on eBay.

This of course becomes a self winding spring as more and more modelers simply "just buy it" not because they have an interest in the model, but just in case they might at some point, driving the demand up further.

 

I am new here, but it does not seem that brimodeler has any snobbery (people talk about egg plants and kittens in Zeppelin build threads :) ) but some other forums I watched were really bad.

The models people built and presented were getting pulled apart for using the wrong kit, the wrong paint, the wrong perceived historical reference etc. etc. I have no interest in that as I know my skills are not the greatest, but I still want to have fun doing it. Than again, there are forums in which building a model with two twigs and a string is greatness and happiness.

 

Snobbery and greed is the worst ever as it really destroys the hobby (any hobby). How can you attract new comers if the entry costs and skill bar is too high for them to enter?

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7 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

I have a Mexican-made Strat - the Jimmie Vaughan signature - and it's an excellent guitar. Like all Strats you have to fight it to get what you want, but it's worth the fight and it cost a third of what an equivalent American-made Strat would have cost.

 

I don't understand this "fight" business, may I suggest lighter strings? 😉

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18 minutes ago, 3DStewart said:

If newly released kits rapidly sell out and then shoot up in prices as collectables, it's a sure sign that they went on sale at too low a price!

 

No.  It's just because they didn't make enough to start with.

 

Similar situation with my other hobby - wristwatches.

 

Rolex can sell every sports watch they make immediately and grey dealers sell at a huge mark up, all because output is limited.

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I shoot firearms (mainly rifle) competitively and come across this quite a bit. I shoot on a relatively low budget, most of my rifles are second hand and my scopes come from the budget end of the market. It never fails to make me smile when guys with uber tactical rifles and £3k+ scopes derogatively comment on my tatty kit, which I then use to comprehensively batter their scores with. I often comment to them afterwards how much higher my score would have been if I was shooting their rifle. The rage on their faces is priceless. The phrase "all the gear and no idea" has never been so apt. :)

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There's a common perception nowadays that you can buy anything or into anything - fueled by ads. 🤮

 

However, skills cannot be bought - only developed through learning, and practice, practice and more practice..  😎

 

Regarding aftermarket and competition: I have been judging scale models in competition for thirty years. That gets me a beautiful chance to admire many wonderful models in depth. 😜

I get a lot of ideas out of that - and from asking the modeller about technique afterwards (of course I have first to find out who the modeller in question is!)

The thing is - every extra you build into the model raises the opportunity for booboos. Scratchbuilding, sawing great chunks off the kit and other fun-with-saws-and-scalpels builds giant opportunities for visible build defects 🤔.

So piling on aftermarket is not a short way to a win. 😇

 

90% of all I know about modelling techniques I learned from other modellers at the club or talking to other modellers at modelling events. Again, the local club is irreplaceable for me! 😁

BTW - the search for excellence always begins with an Airfix class 1 kit, a tube of Britfix, hairy sticks and Humbrol paint 😉

 

Cheers, Moggy

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33 minutes ago, Moggy said:

BTW - the search for excellence always begins with an Airfix class 1 kit, a tube of Britfix, hairy sticks and Humbrol paint 😉

 

Lysander in a bag, two bob from Woolworths. Those were the days.

 

John.

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2 hours ago, Neil.C said:

Rolex can sell every sports watch they make immediately and grey dealers sell at a huge mark up, all because output is limited.

Does that mean that the Sub Mariner which I bought down Buggis Street in Singapore for $20 is worth a fortune? Bloke even knew my name. He kept saying "Copy watch John. Genuine copy watch".

 

John.

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4 hours ago, Neil.C said:

 

No.  It's just because they didn't make enough to start with.

or the speculators have stepped in an swept up many multiples to sell on, creating said shortage & driving prices up

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Well, there is only so much a company can charge for a model.

As mentioned, a 1/20 scale F1 car usually costs 70GBP/USD/EUR which is a not cheap.

And as much as the scalpers buy them, some of them (half, maybe more) do reach people and shops and they do have to sell for the company to earn back their investment.

Scalpers alone cannot keep the company afloat, just as they themselves (the scalpers) need a market.

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20 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Lysander in a bag, two bob from Woolworths. Those were the days.

 

John.

 

Indeed.

 

My first aircraft kit <misty eyes>.

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Interesting comments on page 1 about the US v UK IPMS. I am a Brit but lived in the US for 20 years from 1998. I attended my local model club on Cape Cod and entered models in local competitions. The highest awards I got were bronze medals in small, local comps. No issue with that, it gave me something to aim for. I was therefore totally gob smacked when I entered a couple of models in SMW Telford in 2019 and won a gold in class with a model that had only been awarded a bronze in a small local comp in the US. It was a vac kit but I had never thought about that before I read this thread.

 

Ian

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On 6/30/2022 at 10:57 PM, jackroadkill said:

Man, you guys should try competitive airgun shooting!  It's fun when folks talk down to you because you shoot with a rig consisting of a spring-powered rifle made up of used parts and a second-hand scope that come to £350 in total, whilst telling you that unless you can afford to drop three or four grand on a rife and scope combo you haven't got a hope.  What's even more fun is when you comprehensively outshoot them and then listen while they explain that the conditions don't suit their rifle, or that their pellets came from a shonky batch, or that their mum didn't pack their favourite shooting mat....

 

Elitism has no place in a hobby; people should only ever be encouraged by others.  I'm glad to say that I've experienced plenty of that here.

That definitely rings a bell. I competed in an Airgun World field shoot back when I was a kid and got 6th place in that National competition. I was the highest placed using open sights! The next year I fitted a scope and came nowhere!

 

Ian

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On 7/2/2022 at 10:53 AM, IanC said:

 

Ah, now I get your username.

 

Flight Level Change..✈️

As long as it's not "feltch". That makes my skin crawl every time I hear it.

If you're not familiar, Google it, I will NOT explain it here!

 

Ian

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1 hour ago, Brandy said:

As long as it's not "feltch". That makes my skin crawl every time I hear it.

If you're not familiar, Google it, I will NOT explain it here!

 

Ian

Probably best to not Google it, especially at work or in polite company. Once you know, you can’t un-know.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

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1 hour ago, lasermonkey said:

Probably best to not Google it, especially at work or in polite company. Once you know, you can’t un-know.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 

Lol... but you can use that word to make some VERY creative insults.  

 

But i bet your 14 year could have told you in less time then it took to google it. 

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Greed and Snobbery go hand in hand.  

 

Its not that people have purchased limited run kits up as investments, its that some companies NEED that response or attention in order to get there "street cred".

 

Example WIng Nut Wings..  they apparently made good kits, high factory prices, slightly higher retail prices from independent suppliers.  But on ebay you can easily pay 2-4 times what the original price was.. and the sad part is the WnW guys KNOW they still have a market but are merely giving out a bulk reply "when covid ends we will start selling kits"

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but a question that really does go in with snobbery in anything.. 

 

does it matter if you spend the extra 50$ to get the aftermarket cockpit seat, and instrument panel, and "true dimensioned gass tank" for your eindecker if no one is ever going to see it?   If you add in the PE set for the eduard nieuport 17, and then attach the sides, is it going to make the model anything more special when no one sees it?

 

Or is it just snobbery because not everyone has the ability to do so?

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27 minutes ago, masterKamera said:

but a question that really does go in with snobbery in anything.. 

 

does it matter if you spend the extra 50$ to get the aftermarket cockpit seat, and instrument panel, and "true dimensioned gass tank" for your eindecker if no one is ever going to see it?   If you add in the PE set for the eduard nieuport 17, and then attach the sides, is it going to make the model anything more special when no one sees it?

 

Or is it just snobbery because not everyone has the ability to do so?

I'd say it's only snobbery if it's used in an attempt to belittle someone else's efforts. A person can spend what they like on their own stuff, just as long as they don't try to force others to follow along or to make them feel bad.

Edited by John Laidlaw
Horrible typos.
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A lot of scenarios here, certainly some interesting reading. My 2 cents. I have been involved with modelling and clubs for a very long time now. Modelling for 58 years and with clubs for 36 years. Over the years on other sites, I have been ripped off, slandered using my own surname, praised, laughed at, agreed with, disagreed with, etc. My son has had an even harsher time with his genre, physical violence being one of them. The ability to change the channel is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
A few things I have learned over the years. I don’t give advice unless asked for, however I gladly take advice to improve. Try to make the positive aspects outweigh the negative. People like to hear complements more than complaints, over what they have accomplished. Modelling should be an enjoyable experience, not a chore.
When my kids were telling me they were having a bad day, I would say, “there are probably millions of people in the world that would gladly trade their good day for your bad one”. Another one I used was, “no one is better, only different”. 
From the outset of my club, we welcomed all skill levels in modelling, and we put on lots of displays to promote the hobby. In doing so, we attracted members, rather than repelling them because they didn’t think they were good enough. There is a great feeling of joy when someone tells you how welcomed they feel, regardless of their skill set. I think BM is a reflection of that attitude and why it is so successful. 
I won’t mince words if I find serious faults in the manufacture of a kit, however I will never criticize someone else’s modelling. A 49¢ bagged kit to one person can be just as spectacular as a $200 kit to another. The dynamics of this hobby have changed incredibly and will continue to do so. Try carving a wooden model, it very quickly puts things in perspective.

 

Cheers

Jeff

 

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