Just for fun!
By Mario Covalski
During the last weeks, I built some 1/12 motorcycles just for fun and to write some articles. It has been quite long now that I have been receiving e-mails asking when we would be publishing more articles on motorcycles. Unfortunately we do not receive enough articles from the people who build them; so, I decided to go to the mountain… given that the mountain would not come to me.
I built the last 1/12 motorcycle fourteen years ago and I felt as if I were a beginner. Generally speaking, when I add details to a model, I have them on my mind. I am not permanently looking at photographs or books. So, I was lost, just following instructions, with my experience as the only valid resource.
If one lives long enough, one learns that nothing is absolute and this is applicable to knowledge too.
The models were satisfactory and they fulfilled their objective: have fun and people to whom to show techniques, many already known, others just mine, and others "invented" simply to solve some specific problem posed by the model. However, when comparing them with references and even with other models, I realized I had made mistakes… this one was different… the other one was painted in a different color… The instructions are not accurate and this becomes obvious when looking at good references.
And immediately this editorial came to my mind:
How does a "beginner" feel when facing such a situation? Moreover when he is pressed to achieve perfection! It seems that nowadays, anything below "perfection" is short of modeling. The answer is obvious: the newcomer to modeling feels "frustrated" in the belief that he has lots to learn… and will probably loose their will to keep on practicing the hobby.
As Modeler Site's editor, I decided a long time ago that the magazine would be destined to beginners: that would be our objective and, of course, those who new more would write. This does not mean that those who regard themselves as experienced modelers cannot read it; not at all. I do enjoy reading Modeler Site and its articles myself. I just think that very little can be taught to the "masters" and that if they wanted to participate, they should do so as collaborators.
Anyway, in Modeler Site we want to show the best and most detailed models… How come? The answer is simple. We want to support the modelers who are only beginning by showing them that building good models is possible, moreover if someone else explains the "know-how" instead of showing how "skilled and great he is".
To put it in a nutshell, I finished my motorcycles, wrote my articles, realized I had made mistakes and fulfilled my basic objectives: having fun by building plastic and… passing on some knowledge to those who know a little bit less than me.
If you have little experience in modeling or none and have lots of enthusiasm, do not quit so easily. This is a wonderful hobby from which you will obtain great satisfaction.
Whenever you buy a box, please remember that probably, whatever you need to have fun -being happy with plastic modeling - may be inside de box… and probably, you will not need anything else.
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