Sprue Cutters Union #5: Philosophy

This weeks installment of The Combat Workshop's Sprue Cutters Union asks a simple question with many complex answers depending on who you ask:

 - What is your modeling philosophy? -

Interestingly enough, I've never had just ONE philosophy when it comes to model building. It's been a changing game depending on many factors including mood, money, age, and many others. In my younger years, It was all about the fun. Slapping something together with tube glue, making a mess, then destroying it with a BB gun later. Once I became a teenager, however, things started to change.

I was sixteen when I discovered the model contest, and for the first time, we see a philosophy shift. Now modeling was no longer about the fun. It was all about the winning and the trophies.In short: PERFECTION. This was an era where a single imperfection, lump of dust, or minorly crooked piece would cancel an entire build. I had to be perfect in every way or there was no hope of me winning that trophy. This was also the time I discovered the aftermarket and started spending hundreds of dollars in an effort to keep pace on the show tables. But in the long run, that didn't work out for me or my wallet. And  besides, as I got older, I finally learned the harsh lesson anyway that no matter what you do, how much you spend, there's ALWAYS someone better than you.

And so we come to the next philosophy shift, which is also my current one. It's the same principal I use in my fiction writing (actually all of my writing) and so far, it's worked out pretty good.

K.I.S.S. 

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!

The acronym is exactly how it sounds. I keep things to the bare minimum. If I don't need to go overboard on detail, I don't. While fully wired motors complete with dipsticks and every line appeal to the eye, you need to ask yourself, "who's really going to see this?" Honestly, in most cases, not even me. Take my 1972 Corvette LT-1 for example. Fully wired engine and chassis and it's been eight months since I've even taken it out of the display case. That being said, that's why I concentrate on the big picture these days. The highly visible parts like bodies and paint schemes, and try to make them look good from a distance with as little effort as possible. It keeps it fresh, fun, and it saves my eyes (and my sanity) whole lot of undue strain.

So in short, when it comes to the question "what is your philosophy?" Keep it simple stupid and just have fun. That's all there is to it!

Unless of course it's a 1:350 Titanic, then all bets are off...

If this post interested you, perhaps you'll be interested in what some other members of the Union have to say

Yet Another Plastic Modeler
The Combat Workshop
Kermit's Bench
Martin's Scale Models