Gen: What are your building preferences?

I build 1:72 exclusively, too, and for similar reasons. Actually, my dream job would be to work as the curator of an aviation museum. Since that's probably a long way off, I'm building my own aviation museum in a constant scale, and since 1:72 affords the most variety, that's what I tend to stick with.

I don't build collections, but I do get into bursts of thematically-related subjects. Currently, I'm building models of people I've interviewed for "The Pilot and his Plane" features on Internet Modeler; I'm also doing a Mosquito for a book project and a P-51B just for fun.

Resin? I love it. I couldn't live without it. It makes my world go around. (Disclaimer: I also co-own Obscureco Aircraft, makers of fine resin parts since

1998. :)

--Chris Bucholtz

1/72, 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24 (aircraft)

1/35 (armor)

1/350 (ships)

Building themes:

1/48 US Navy Adversary, 70's-90's. 1/48 USN/USMC Aviation, 70's-90's. 1/48+ WWII. 1/48 50's-60's USAF/USN. 1/48+ MiGs.

I do resin and P/E details when it makes sense to do so. Rarely if ever do vacuforms or resin kits, but the WEM 1/350 resin Adams class DDG will be my winter 2003-04 project.

Haven't buit a biplane since I was about 12, either.

Regards,

Scott G. Welch

I build RC scale ships, but I also like static models as well.

I build a lot of 1/72 scale these days, myself. I got back into aircraft modeling because I was building mobiles to hang form the office ceiling. I started out doing 1/72 scale WW1 aircraft, buying a number of old kits off Ebay. Then along came Toko and Roden, and now I've got 20 different finished planes, and another 30 in my stash!

I build just about everything OOB, except a lot of my models have a pilot figure added, if they are built "in flight". I've used PE a couple of times, and have yet to try a resin cockpit. I can feel myself starting down a slippery slope here- I find myself more willing to consider PE add-ons, and I *almost* bought a resin cockpit for my Hasegawa 1/72 SBD this weekend from a vendor at a show.....

My interest in WW1 and WW2 has caused me to branch out into 1/48 scale as well. I also like 1/35 and 1/72 armor, and I still like stick and tissue balsa models too. I even built a car kit last year. About the only thing I don't do now is figures.

-Bill I

I work in 1/72,but occassionally do smaller scales for larger subjects. My interests tend to change,so my collection is varied.I spent the last six months on ww2 german planes,now I'm concentrating on the allies.Next could be anything from ww1 to modern jets. And I have over 50 Me262s,as it's my favorite subject. Although I only do airplanes now,I still have a huge stash of cars. I use resin when I have to but find it to be a pain in the rear,not to mention expensive. But I do like vacuforms...

I build more of 1/24 scale, since my favorite genre is racing cars. However, if I scratch build I do 1/12 or 1/8.

I also like scratching large aircraft, 1/24 or 1/16. In ships I prefer

1/96 for older ships, 1/350 for modern warships or 1/192 for modern commercial ships.

SamVanga wrote:

1. I prefer 1/48 and even 1/32 (aircraft only)

2.Whatever I like to as long as it is a post-war military aircraft, may that be an F-86 or a Su-27 Collections come rather coincidentially (ca. 20 F-4 Phantoms) My current project is Academy's Su-27, next ist Hase's F-16CG and I am waiting for Dynavector's Sea Vixen (all 1/48), which will be my first attempt on Vacform...this could become a collection of british aircraft in the future - I like the Vampire, Venom, Javelin, Seahawk, Scimitar, Canberra very much...and already have the Meteor, Lightning, Hunter and F-4K.

1. I use resin whenever I consider it necessary (Su-27 being a very good example - I wouldn't want to have it without the Cutting edge cockpit and the burner/exhausts. I have Eduards and Airwaves etched parts for it too) Sometimes I can withstand to buy a resin cockpit as they are expensive. Other times I have them even before I have the kit itself (so happened with the black box cockpit for the F-4B/Hase)

The same. I do have a few 1/48 models (Tamiya Do 335, Hasegawa Hs 129) that are good enough to build OOB, and I built a car earlier this year, but 1/72 works well for me for the reasons you state.

I focus almost entirely on WWII aircraft, and I've got very nearly every fighter produced in even limited quantities during the period. That said, most of my building interest lately has been directed at flying boats, or prototypes of fighters.

I've done a few all-resin kits--it's my least favorite medium. I also have used resin aftermarket bits, but I generally dread resin cockpit inserts--they tend to cause my projects to stall when they're barely started. The results are nice, if I get it right, but it's a big psychological stumbling block. For full kits, I much prefer vacuforms to resin, but vacs are a dying breed, I think.

Mark Schynert

Hmmmm.......

Air- 1/72 four engined bombers only. 1/48 WWI through modern military only.

Armor- 1/35 mainly WWII German with the odd Allied and modewrn subject.

Figures-1/35 to 120mm, mostly medieval or ancients but will do 1/35 figures for vehicle crews.

Ships- 1/700 (for space resons when duplicating a class or it's not available larger), 1/600 (same), 1/400 (only if I have to), 1/350 (preferred scale but is a space eater), box scale for sailing ships (whatever trips my trigger and is available), 1/72 (S-boote, PT's, etc.).

I've built one car, a Monogram Mercedes 540K. I don't build airliners or sci-fi as they don't interest me. I almost never build anything from WWII Japan (again not ral interested).

Res> 3. Finally, do you -do- resin? I've tried and just purely dislike it,

I build infrequently but built up a huge kit collection for that "someday" when I would build them.

1/72 aircraft. I have some 1/48 (seduced by more detail), but it's just too big a scale for my small place. I have a few WW1, but mostly post WW1.

1/35 armor. Although 1/72 or 1/76 would be preferable for the apartment, there just isn't enough variety available in those scales. All types.

1/700 ships. Mostly WW2 and later. Not too many of these as there just isn't the variety in any one scale (unless you want to do the IJN).

1/20 Formula 1 cars and 1/24 Sports Cars. Glossy paint jobs are keeping me from these right now.

As for after market parts, I've been avoiding them. I can't seem to get myself to justify spending $30 on aftermarket for a $20 kit. But then, such parts are probably wasted on my current skill level. Once I've built a kit OOB to my satisfaction, then maybe I'll look into after market.

All of them. I just buy the models that take my fancy, whatever the scale.

The French and Italians were poorly represented IRL too, so that's just an accurate representation :-)

1/48 Air (primarily US military from all periods and all the WWII aircraft from other countries that I can afford) 1/25 Auto (primarily Fords/Lincs/Merc cars, trucks and commercial vehicles. But some of the best from each manufacturer) 1/35 Armor and helicopters (primarily US from all periods and some WWII from other countries) 1/24 & 1/25 NASCAR (started with Monogram in 1983 thru to present. Mostly OOB) Star Trek (original series, spino-offs and movie kits)

Other stuff too if it happens to appeal to me. A few 1/32nd aircraft, big scale

1/16 cars, some 1/24 cars, SciFi, Historical Space exploration, etc.

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

1/25 cars 1/100 - 1/350 ships - the bigger the better.

No, but I my interest is in old tall sailing ships and 50's-60's car models.

Nope.

1. 1/72 for myself (publishing ESM 72 helps take the pain out of buying all those kits:-). Any scale for clients.

2.I build whatever catches my interest. 1/72 allows a huge range of selections, many of which are available only in 1/72 scale. Well over 12,000 kits and models have been produced over the years, many times more than any other scale. BTW, 1100 of these are WWI subjects.

3.Used to produce resin kits, now I have them made for me. I find them a bit of a challenge, but the increase in subjects is certainly worth it. Vacuforms, on the other hand, have never appealed to me. The sole exception comes in doing a WWI aircraft as I find vacuformed wings to be far closer to scale than most injection molded or resin kits. I have never used etched metal or resin detailing sets until my current Yak-11 project.

I find that the current level of detail in kits from Roden, etc. to be superior to most etched metal sets as they are three dimensional, not flat.

Tom

in article snipped-for-privacy@mb-m06.aol.com, SamVanga at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 11/3/03 12:17 AM:

First off, I build whatever strikes my fancy. For me this usually means 1/48 aircraft that have props but I build quite a few 1/72 kits as well. Not to say that I don't also build the occasional armor piece or car or even ship. I don't do collections but I tend to do "themes" (BOB, Coral Sea, etc.)

I buy whatever catches my eye and that means I have a very eclectic collection of kits. And I buy a lot of resin and PE. Building OOB is a near impossibility for me.

And, I'll build whatever a client asks for but I don't enjoy those builds as much as I once did. I try to build only for my own pleasure and for my own collection.

As for resin and vacs? I've never done an all resin kit but I've done a number of vacs. Today's mix-media kits are generally very good but a tad expensive for some modelers.

My .02 cents.

Milton

Bill, I normally build 1/35 scale armor and various sci-fi kits, but lately I've been buying the 1/72 scale armor kits. Even been hunting down the PE for it.

Still building mainly modern armor, but now it's the little stuff. I do grab the occasional WW2 German armor kit though. Rob Gronovius Visit my motor pool in the

gallery

I started out as a kid doing 1/72nd aircraft. As a "poor young one", it was hard to go wring with those Hasegawa kits at-a-then $1.29MSRP!

I also did sci-fi, as well as "real" space stuff.

As I grew older, I went full bore into figures and armor. ( no specific scale )

I did many of the classic Series 77 "The Americans", and gradually moved to conversions and scratch. I hardly ever do a "stock" figure nowadays. I like to do something that no one else has. As I see it...no matter how well I paint a stock figure....there will be a "zillion" artists that do a BETTER job on it....lol

For armor and aircraft, pretty much WWII is the area of interest (though not limited to that...)

For figures, the "War Of Northern Agression" is my primary area of interest, although if something "gonzo" strikes my fancy.....

Resin is pretty much unavoidable in figures. The state-of-the-art in resin casting far surpasses white metal, and on a "detail by detail" comparison, even exceeds injected styrene.

Plus, the "resin-ish" epoxy putties ("A&B", "Magic Sculpt", "Atlas", "Duro/Knead-A-Tite") are a revelation (or is it "revolution"?...lol). Sadly...the epoxy putty that most modelers are familiar with ("Milliput") is vastly inferior to any the above.....

1) I prefer larger scales - 1/48, 1/35, and 1/32...though I seem to be buying less and less in 1/48 these days. 2) Yes - I tend to build "collections"; a series of subjects that are somehow related or relevent to each other or an event or period in history, as a rule. If by "eclectic" it is meant that I build other than one genre of kit - like aircraft - exclusively....hmmnnn...I might qualify. 3) Yes - I love resin. But not as much as photo etch...

That's one of the reasons I gave up on Scale Aircraft Modelling. Everything was 1/48 related and I began to feel alienated. SAMi, OTOH, seems to spread the joy around.

1/72 and a growing interest in 1/144 aircraft and 1/25 cars. I've built something in most scales but 1/72 'feels' right.

If you consider trying to build one of everything a collection, yes. But I do have themes and there are times I'll tear off and do a whole related series of something.

I've done some resin car stuff and have one resin aircraft. It's alright but I prefer styrene myself.

Modelbuilders are difficult to categrise as mainstream anything! :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Aircraft: 1/48. 1/72 for bigger a/c (flying wings.) Gundam: 1/144, 1/100 Cars: Rarely build. 1/24-25

Somewhat. I have a good number of P-36/Hawk 75s, and am ready (well, will be) to build even more. I figure by the time I finish building all the schemes, etc. I want to, I'll have about 40-50, with no two alike. Then there are ME-109s/FW-190s, and F-18s in special schemes.

No, but I use it in my models on rare occasion.