The Little World

” Oh he’s just built that out of the box “…

If you ever hear this you are entitled to sneer, but be careful where you direct your lip. The speaker is using the word ” just ” to belittle the modeller. There is a suggestion of lack of skill or imagination. Possibly a financial or moral flaw.

Bushwah.

Building something out of the box can be as simple or as complex as you like to make it. Following instructions well – and sometimes doing so by a process of translation and deduction – is a difficult skill to learn. If someone can decipher the instruction sheets that are no more than printed diagrams they are doing well. Not every symbol or graphic essay is readable. And designers do make crass errors.

Have a look at the port side view of the Bock island No.82 Corsair – the underwing roundel. See what I mean? Or here’s another from the Czechs. Apart from a hard diagram to read, the two different airframe numbers on port and starboard would be interesting…

Now as far as OOTB being easy, I would ask anyone who opens a box filled with resin and photo-etch whether that is going to be walk in the sun. Let them first try their hand at gluing an entire set of engine cylinders onto a crankcase without sticking their hand to the workbench and then go onto making a propeller from a hub and three blades – followed by P-E aileron actuators. If they didn’t finish their modelling day with a thirst for strong drink and murder I should be surprised.

I do agree that a modeller who completed a snap-together junior kit with no glue, paint or decals might have extended themselves a little more – unless they were so constituted that they cannot do more. Then they must be applauded. But the average modeller who builds carefully then paints and decals with precision has every right to feel proud of their accomplishment.

There is another aspect to this – criticism levelled if no more work is done than presents itself from the kit components should be tempered by the thought that the modeller may not have access to aftermarket goods, nor the money to spend on them. The price of a kit can be a considerable one – and the person who buys one is entitled to get full value from what’s in the cardboard – including the right to credit for a job well done.

After all, we can get as much pleasure out of a 50¢ bagged Airfix Series 1 if we build it right as the most expensive custom exclusive kit.