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Forums - News / General |
For General modelling or hobby-related topics that are not covered by any other specific forum. Please keep to topics concerning the hobby. |
| Topics | 2914 |
| Messages | 21253 |
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| Subject: | Depends on what you want from a kit |  |
| Date: | Mar 20, 2008 |
| From: | Matt Roberts | |
Recently there have been near drag out brawls on a couple of aircraft sites over 'what type of modeler are you' The uber concerned with every milimetre and panel line versus the 'it looks like one' type of modelers. By my tone and if one recognises me from here or ML you know I fall into the later catagory. And I do buy and build Academy kits, and I look forward to the rumored Eighth Army Sherman that is supposed to follow the Grant.
After a while the extremely negative reviews and posts start to cause me to tune out of discussions that I may otherwise pick up info on that may make my builds look better. I like Academy kits. Why? They are good kits - i.e. a collection of parts that assemble nicely into what to my eyes looks like what is on the box, and I like the subjects. The Lee/Grant discussions have made my eyes glaze over. All of the bruhaha over 2 millimetres - less than 3 inches in real life - on the bogies. I stood next to a Sherman last year after getting my Lee and was looking at the bogies and tried very hard to figure out if I could tell if they were 3 inches too tall - or too short. I couldn't, my eyes don't work that way. The same goes for all the anges discussions - before discovering the armor websites I knew nothing of the angles on the back of a Sherman, now I do and I honestly could not tell one kit from another if I could not tell which kit the build started with, with equal skill in building and finishing.
Now don't get me wrong, occasionally I do see something that 'just taint right'. The 76mm gun on one of the Academy Shermans, I did buy my one and only aftermarket barrel as it just looked better than what was in the box. I have two Sheridans and did look at the photos posted around the net of the kits faults, some I could barely tell what was wrong with the kit, and some I agreed were pretty 'bad' but unless someone drops a whole *hitload of money on me to buy a resin kit - which I dislike working with resin in general, I have to live with to have a couple of my favorite tank on my shelf. Nobody who will EVER see my builds will know that the hull was a prototype or the angles on the turret are 'off'. I just get a 'that's a cool tank Dad' or my wife just shakes her head when she sees them arrayed along the wall in my toy room.
I think there has to be room in the hobby for all types of modelers, the AMPS and competition types and the hobbyists that may get an hour or so every couple of days to get away and glue bits together while the kids get thier baths. Academy does have a place in my stash and on my work bench, they outnumber my Dragon kits about 6 to 1 overall, why? Dragon doesn't make the subjects I like and as kits I don't find them as enjoyable to build as my two Academy Stewart Honey's, and enjoyment is supposed to be what this hobby is all about, it is a hobby afterall.
Matt
P.S. If Academy screws up the 48th F-22A later this year then the gloves come off! |
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 | More Respect to Academy! - Bojan Stula - Mar 19, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - Roy Chow - Mar 19, 2008 |
| . . . . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - Juan Contreras - Mar 19, 2008 |
| . . . . . . Let's be fair - James Wechsler - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . I don;t know... - David Nickels - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: I don;t know... - James Wechsler - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Top Dollar - David Nickels - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Top Dollar - Julian Marles - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . same thing - David Nickels - Mar 22, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: same thing - Julian Marles - Mar 22, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . In all fairness... - Herve Charbonneau - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: In all fairness... - James Wechsler - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - Laszlo Harsanyi - Mar 19, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - mark hall - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Sorry to disagree! - Herve Charbonneau - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Respect is EARNED not granted - David Nickels - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy!/ Don't agree - Marc Brandes - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Depends on what you want from a kit - Matt Roberts - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . Re: Depends on what you want from a kit - Laszlo Harsanyi - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . Re: Depends on what you want from a kit - Christopher C. Tew - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . Academy M3 Lee - good kit - Paul A. Owen - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . Re: Academy M3 Lee - good kit - Al Bowie - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . Grant turret - Paul A. Owen - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Grant turret - Al Bowie - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Grant turret - Paul A. Owen - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Grant turret - Al Bowie - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Grant turret - Gerald Owens - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Grant turret - Laszlo Harsanyi - Mar 20, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - Bojan Stula - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . Re: More Respect to Academy! - Gary Cooper - Mar 21, 2008 |
| . . . . . . RE: No respect for Academy! - Andrew Herbert - Mar 23, 2008 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: No respect for Academy! - jose cesar - Mar 23, 2008 |
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