I try to approach my modelling projects with the same belief that one would have when doing a parachute jump, a lot of swearing, a lot of praying and most of it spent with my eyes shut. Gone are the days of buying the kit rushing home building it, painting it popping in the cabinet to admire until the cows come home. These days it is a lot more of a deeper process, at Average Modeller HQ my choice of kit to build, or finish off which is more to the point is driven by the time constraints that I set myself due to my reticence to get my back side to the workroom when I have the opportunity and when I do the constant cleaning tidying and reorganising that I have a habit of doing when I do have workroom time. My modelling comes in various stages, which is probably similar to most, the preparation which involves the looking for a suitable part build or occasionally the selecting of a new build, the build itself, the washing and drying, I know not everybody does this or needs to do this however my builds can take place over quite a long period of time and nine times out of ten the completed model is very dusty, hence me bathing my model. Once my chosen subject is dry, I give it a nice primer coat and then pop it away in a plastic box to protect it from there elements and keep it safe until I feel the need to paint it. So the norm is, it gets to early September and I am in low panic mode looking for something that I can get finished for Telford, unfortunately this is what drives my modelling or has done over the last few years, it isn’t ideal, it isn’t perfect but it is what it is. That’s when I begin the finishing in earnest of my chosen subject and this is where my modelling anxiety comes into play as the chances of ruining my model is evident at every turn.
This year with one eye on our trip to Telford I have tried to approach things in a slightly different way, firstly we had a slightly cooler summer so I was able to spend time at the workbench without the risk of my kit parts warping in the heat, secondly I had quite a few kits that were either primed or already base coated so that my starting point was closer to the finishing point than usual, I also started much earlier than is the norm due to the virtually non existent summer that I spoke of earlier. Going slightly off topic, I was looking at photos on my phone of previous telford build ups and was quite shocked to see pictures of me decaling in late October early November and one or two years where I am just starting painting my models around Halloween, what was I thinking, talk about lack of preparation it is no wonder my modelling anxiety is through the roof in October and November and a disaster is never far away. Anyway, with my approach being different this year, I have also approached the finishing of my models slightly different, in the past it has been a mad rush to get things finished even to the point where I have been matt coating my model the night before we leave for Telford. So with this new approach, I would say a more relaxed approach however with my track record and as I feel a disaster is not very far away, I have set about painting and weathering my models stage by stage, not rushing anything and making sure I am reasonably happy with each stage before I move on to the next, I have been just modelling at weekends to give each stage good drying times and I remember reading somewhere that a colour a day keeps disasters at bay and I think that is a good benchmark it also gives you the chance to rectify anything before you move onto the next phase. Something else that I have done differently this year is watch weathering and finishing videos on you tube just to get the gist on all the numerous techniques, it has been a good step in my modelling education however I have to say practicing the actual technique is how you learn, you cannot beat doing the actual application yourself practice definitely makes perfect, throw the risk of disaster in there and it makes for an interesting journey.
As you take each step along the path to completion and as you make progress it is hard not to look at what you are creating and think to yourself that it doesn’t quite look how I imagined it would look but what you do have to remember is that you are not going to master each step immediately and if you are like me and only practice once a year you may never master any of the techniques at all. I have attempted more or different techniques this year than I would do normally that is for the simple reason that under normal circumstances the weathering of my kit I do in a day or so or over a weekend and not over a series of weekends or a month or two and in the past I have struggled with some of the weathering techniques due to lack of knowledge or practice. I have purchased numerous weathering solutions over the years, filters, washes, pin washes, pigments, liquid pigments, the list goes on, I have tried to use as many as I dare without overdoing it and avoiding the potential for disaster. I have used filters for the first time this year and I will be quite honest the jury is still out on them, not sure what they bring to the party, I have used pin washes, now I get what they can do for your model, practice is what I need with the pin wash, you also need a very steady hand for application and clean up not something I have yet I am willing to persevere. Washes are a problem, and something I need to practice, I can cover my model in a wash yet the struggle to clean off the surplus once dry or close to drying is a huge struggle and it leaves the model looking overly dirty and perhaps over done although yet again, practice makes perfect.
So here I am with little under a week until we make the long trip to the Midlands and although my models are well on the way to being finished or as close to being finished as they are ever likely to be, it has caused me to think that although they are not how I think or feel that they should be, they are further along the process than any of my models have ever been. Yes there are some techniques that I am yet to master, some I have yet to attempt and some I am not very sure about however the process that these little plastic tanks are going through is something that my mind struggles to maybe appreciate. It is a process, a process that starts when you select your project, it grows as the different stages start to take shape as it moves from one step to the next. From the construction to the cleaning, from the priming to the painting and the weathering as each process creates this miniature work of art layer upon layer. As the project progresses I for one find it hard to satisfy myself with how it looks as we go through the different stages, maybe I am just my worst critic, will I ever be satisfied with each step, perhaps it is something that I am yet to grasp an understanding of, after all when you are building a piece of flat pack furniture, after the first stage it is not finished and will not be until you have completed each phase until it is complete, maybe I can look at this in a modelling sense, maybe, just maybe the model will never be complete until you have done that final stage of the process, a process that you need to be invested in and wholly believe in, then it will be time to apply the final matt coat to marry it all together and hopefully you won’t be doing this the night before you are packing the car for a weekend of modelling. Until next time.
The Average Modeller (on the cusp of) Telford 2024
The Average Modeller 