Model Forum / General / Models / April 2004

Depend on what you call "best".  I certainly have to take my hat off to
them for creativity and building "out of the box"...some of the custom
stuff out there is really hot.  That's GOOD.

I know that if you want to REALLY start spending money on aftermarket
parts, become a serious car modeler - they have the widest selection of
any genre I can think of.  You may buy a kit for $12, but then I've seen
aluminum custom wheel sets for upwards of $75.  There's tons of custom
etch, resin, and chrome around for car models.  Engine parts, AN
fittings, wiring harnesses, wheels, tires, hyd systems, flocking, fuzzy
dice...you name it - if you can got one for a 1:1 scale car, you can
probably get it for your model.  I've seen competitive 1/24 scale cars
with well over $200 in them...if I built cars and couldn't cure my
severe case of AMS, I'd be bankrupt in a few weeks...and that's BAD...

And the reference material is certainly easy to come by for autos, which
only feeds the habit; not to mention that if you're doing a custom,
there's not really any "wrong" way to do it...which is GOOD.

As usual, it gets back to building what you like...and can afford.

Geez!  And here, all these years, I've been preached to that aircraft or armor
is where it's at?

Seriously though, a lot of what you say has truth to it:  There is a ton of
aftermarket stuff out there for car modelers, and not just the basic kit--the
aftermarket is huge as well. Of course, when one considers that for every
aircraft type, or armor subject, there are literally several hundred potential
car subjects (after all, automakers update their styling, even totally revamp
various models almost yearly -- certainly in the decades between 1920 & 1980 or
so).  Certainly there is a very large segment of car modelers who are deeply
into "replicating the real thing", but I suspect the vast majority of car
modelers (at least in the US) are very much "free-form" modelers, a mirror, of
you will, of the real car hobby.  By free-form, I mean it is possible, with a
car model, to "do your own thing" in painting, detailing, customizing the
bodywork, in short, do anything one's little heart desires.  That's pretty hard
to do in most other areas of scale modeling, where the tendency is for others
to point out that "real airplanes (or tanks, or ships, or artillery,
or--or--or...) aren't or weren't done that way".  Not that there is anything
wrong with a heavy emphasis on accurate replicas--that is part of what makes
the scale modeling world revolve.

As for the Trumpeter 1:25 scale 1960 Pontiac Bonneville kits--yes they are $40
kits, however there is a ton of stuff in one!  The parts count for each of them
is over 230 parts, including things like PE scissors hood hinges.  Sure, they
do have some niggling detail inaccuracies, but once the initial "carping" has
died down, the car guys are building them just fine.

However, aircraft builders (still the mainstay of IPMS!) do have a significant
advantage in that, across the developed world, aircraft modelers are apparently
in the majority, and given the relative simplicity of tooling an aircraft (car
bodies require at minimum, a 6-way sliding core mold, where aircraft components
can all be molded in much simpler, 2-part tooling, which is vastly less
expensive for a model the same relative size to a 1:25 or 1:24 scale model car.
In addition, to engineer a model car kit in full-detail (opening hood, engine,
etc.) requires upwards of 100 parts minimum to do it justice, and the majority
of those parts aren't simple, add-on's in the manner of underwing stores, but
must be engineered to fit together intricately.  As a result, a model
manufacturer with a global presence can realize far more unit sales of an
aircraft than with a car kit, and often for a lower investment in tooling.
Thus, while it is so that there are many, many more variants of the
comparatively limited subject matter, vis a' vis automotive subjects, it is
unlikely that an equivalent percentage of cars will ever be produced in model
kit form, primarily on the basis of the up-front investment in tooling--hence
the auto modeler aftermarket.

Art

My take on Trumpeter's prices is that almost everything they do is
expensive.  As Art says further down, there are a lot of parts in that
kit.  The only other '60 Pontiac was put out by AMT (the real AMT) in
1960 and re-released once in '69.  Theoretically they should cost mucho
dollars too, if unbuilt.  I sold my built one on E-bay about a year ago
for what Trumpeter wants for their new one.  I have no idea why they
picked a '60 Pontiac, which is to me a ho-hum car.  Once I sold off my
other Pontiacs there was no reason to hold on to that one.

I also realise that most people wouldn't spend any money on the cars
that intrigue me so I don't look forward to any of them showing up in
plastic anytime soon.  I'm just happy as heck that the moulds for the
Beverly Hillbillies truck have been found and re-released.  I may have
to buy several of those for the parts.  How many times have we been
presented with a non-Ford car from the '20s?  Not for a long time, if
ever.  (I'm talking plastic here.)

It is indeed a matter of your tastes and interests.  If you 'have' to
have a '60 Pontiac you'll buy one.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Its a tossup between cars and ships, especially the old tall sailing
ships.  There are lots of detail for both as well as after market items.

<snipped>

I did post my models on alt.binanaries.models.scale, if anyone wants to see
them. Post name is Mike G.

Max,
I've been a car modeler for over 30 years. I've built planes, tanks, ships,
and other armor that is out there, but I just never got into it like I did
with cars.
I do have some favorite planes though, F-4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, P-38
Lightening, F-86 Saber, Me-109, and a Fokker-Wolfe (didn't spell that right,
its been a long time) anyway, all fighter planes, right?
I build mostly old style hot rods and full customs, and an occasional muscle
car. I build some for other people too.
But like one of the other replies you got, if I build a car now, it has to
be correct, i.e. miniature example of the real thing. I have posted my
pictures
on alt.binaries.models.scale posted under name of Mike G. to show what
I'm talking about. If you are interested in looking.
I built a 1964 Pontiac GTO for a guy in Kansas, the kit (which at the time
was discontinued) cost $20, spent $16 for the correct mags it had, about $20
for a detail set to get the emblems for it and other items, another $10 on
film for pictures of the real car, $12 for the correct paint, both interior
and exterior. The guy paid me $250 for building the car for him, which is
cheap considering I had nearly 300 hours in it.
Now on customs I make a lot of stuff myself, its cheaper and it works, but
that's me. but if I feel the car needs a $10-$15 item to look right I'll get
it.
If I was doing a Bonneville for somebody and Trumpeter is the only one that
had it, I'd get it but for me personally, no I wouldn't.
I don't know if that helps or makes things more confusing, but that's how I
go about it.

Mike G.

Car models. Harumph.