OOB and the new models in contests

Bill,

Sure. Godwin's law is invoked frequently outside of the internet.

All this rhetoric on OOTB is nonsense!

It all comes down to one overriding issue...If you had to add it from an aftermarket source then it is not OOTB! The age old exception is thinning and drilling of "kit" parts and addition of antenna wires (if depicted on the box top or instructions).

I was a at national where someone had entered a Tamiya Tiger "E" late and added the zimmerit "as per the kit directions" and it was disqualified as the zimmerit was not part of the kit "but" added buy using putty. These were delineated in the directions but was not included in the box. There was a big discussion over that one but the judges prevailed!

Wow, I didn't know it had an actual name nor instructions on proper use! :)

TMB

Ah, a precedent has been set for this.

I probably would have thought nothing of it and entered it thinking that if it was ok for seams and such... But then putty can be used to correct the shape of things on a kit like the rear light housing on a Kettenkraftkrad (from the kit's box-like look to a rounded look), and that would obviously be a 'major surgery' change. Looking at it from this viewpoint does make sense to not allow it though.

It brings up an interesting point of consideration: What about using a soldering iron with a blade to carve the zimmerit? It doesn't add anything from outside the kit, but I personally think that would fall under the provision of 'major surgery' because it does such a radical change.

For me the primary draw for going more towards OOB building lately has been the cost. Figure average $50 for the kit, $20 apiece for PE interiors, exteriors, and version changes, $20-70 for resin interiors and such...

$100+ is just not an average I can can maintain for the various models I want to build.

Another reason is not wanting to wait several months for the aftermarket stuff to show up. One nice result of this is I've found a couple of kits that I learned I really didn't want to build 'tricked-out' even after all the nice stuff was released for it.

The final thing is it's a real drag to buy an 'improvement' aftermarket kit to learn the kit part was as good or better. I did that with a Warhammer conning tower for the 1/72 VIIC U-Boat, and was very disappointed. With care and patience, the kit parts are just as good IMHO. It went goodbye on EBay for a $7 loss...

The satisfaction is still there, and some of them turn out well enough that I want to enter them. I can try out new techniques on an OOB without the worry of really fudging up one I've invested a lot of money in.

My newest experiments involve finding a way to bond weathering pastel dusts with a protective finish without changing the color tone or blowing it off the model. (I've made a couple of muddy models so far!) The old Sheridan kit was great for that, trying it out on my Tiger with PE and narrow Friulimodel tracks on a railroad car would worry me to death.

TMB