[WWI] 1/72 WWI Vacuform kit inquiry

[John Huggins]

I agree completely.  I attempted a lot of vacs early on and failed to  
get one completed.  I was about ready to give up on them completely  
when a friend told me to get a cheap basic one and have at it, knowing  
that it would more than likely go to the trash when finished.  The  
point was to learn the basic technics and learn how far I could go  
with the sanding, and what to do when I did go too far.  Being as I  
knew up front that it was going in the trash any way, I wasn't  
concerned with having a good model.  All it was for was trial and  
error and a learning exercise.  It was finished with acceptable  
results and lives in my display case today.  What I learned was that  
they weren't anything to be intimidated by, you just had to learn some  
new and different building styles.  I  have since finishes several  
more vacs, all with acceptable results.

By the way, the practice model was taken to the IPMS Nationals in  
Miami several years later and took a 3rd place in the vac category.   
That taught me that you don't have to super detail a model, or be a  
master builder to place.  You just have to follow basic construction  
technics, which we should be doing any way.  They are just a little  
different foe each type. Vacs have their rules, resins have theirs and  
plastics have theirs. If y

Also, if you want to do a Salmson 2A2 in 1/72 scale, Czechmaster does  
a very n ice one in resin (not cheap).  A lot less work than the  
Pegasus, but cost at least twice as much.

JP

On Oct 6, 2008, at 3:59 PM, Nigel Rayner wrote:

> Robert wrote:
>
>> As you already know, I am a newbie here, and model kits in general. I
>> started into the hobby painting flats (which I still love
>
> Great hobby. I'm a figure painter myself, haven't tried flats yet tho.
>
>> I jumped too quickly into the kits, and ended up buying 1/32 scale.  
>> which I
>> quickly learned I did not care for, after looking at a 1/72 kit  
>> <lol>. So,
>> I sold or traded those few 1/32 items, and now have about 20, 1/72  
>> kits and
>> some detail sets.
>
> Wise idea - 1/72 is the scale of true genius, closely followed by  
> 1/144.
>
>> I do not have a major investment in them; I believe I have paid on  
>> average
>> $6.00 per kit, and I have examples from Eduard, Toko, Flashback,  
>> Roden, and
>> Pegasus. Here is my problem though. these kits are fine, and I am  
>> generally
>> happy with them, but my favorite part is building. and I am very  
>> interested
>> in vacuform kits, because these seem to me to be the best of both  
>> worlds
>> with lots of building involved.
>
> I'll make an alternative suggestion here. I've never built a vacform  
> but I
> have several in the stack. There is certainly a lot of effort in  
> vacs but it
> is mainly sanding and cutting rather than building. If you like
> scratchbuilding, vacs are the way to go, but here's what I would  
> suggest -
> get some high quality resin kits. The level of detail is stunning  
> and they
> are far more challenging to build than injection moulded kits. You  
> can also
> get some amazing (and obscure) subjects. They aren't cheap, but if  
> you are
> into producing high quality, highly detailed jewels of models then  
> they are
> the way to go. Razor sharp trailing edges, more detailed than any  
> vac or
> injection moulded kit and challenging to build because they are  
> limited run.
> Check out the ranges by Choroszy Modelbud in particular, also  
> Czechmaster
> and Ardpol.
>
> I'm sure you'll enjoy vacs but I think resin kits will give you much  
> more of
> the building pleasure you seek. They aren't cheap though.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nigel
>
>