2 questions I was curious about.

[seadude]

A few thoughts I've had this morning and was curious to ask everyone else.

1. What do you consider to be the hardest or easiest part about doing WHIF's? Is it: Gluing, Painting/Camo, Puttying/Sanding, Research about a subject, Getting pieces to fit correctly, or something else?

2. Do you build "just for fun" and your own enjoyment? Or do you build to be technically believeable/accurate? Or is it both?

[Daryl J.]

1a.  Easiest:  Coming up with an idea.    My imagination has gone full riot.
1b.  Hardest:  Getting things to realign perfectly once saw cut into sections.

2:   Just for fun.   




Daryl J.

[Weaver]

1.

Research is recreation and coming up with ideas is way, way too easy....

Assembly and fabrication is okay except a) PSR (Putty, Sand, Repeat) is boring and b) I seem to be congenitally unable to make two things the same. If you asked me to make two 10mm flat squares of plasticard, they'd come out different.

Brush painting is okay, but airbrushing seems to throw up some new technical/chemical glitch every time I try it. I like decalling, although I'm not brilliant at it: for me, that's the moment that a model "comes alive".


2.

I build just for my own fun, although having the "audience" of this website is a big help: all my family and most of my friends just look blankly at my modelling and ask me why I'm doing "kid's stuff"....

Technical credibility level is a moveable feast for me, but it should be internally consistent and have a context. That is to say, I can adopt a "realistic" standard and make, say, a photo-recce Harrier, or I can equally adopt a "Sci-Fi" standard and make a warp-drive ship with anti-gravity and phasers, but what you won't find is phasers on my Harrier...

[Shasper]

1 - I tend to get hung up on the particulars while researching an idea, but I'd have to say if any hardcore scratchbuilding or major conversion word is needed then that's the most difficult part for me (sometimes my skills are not up to task).
Painting has to be the most enjoyable part for me because that's when it all comes together.


2 - I aim for technically believable (even if it's only me that thinks it is!), but on a rare occasion I'll do a fun build (hmm it's been awhile since I did that . . . )


B

[tigercat2]

1.  Coming up with ideas that are sometimes completely off the wall, like USAF A-4s, or Irish F-84s.

2.  Just for fun, I build only for the enjoyment.  None of my models ever be close to show quality, but that does not bother me a bit.


Wes W.

[Maverick]

I'll agree with most that the easiest thing is the idea, whilst the hardest can be in the construction process.

As for the build, if it's plausible, all the better, but that shouldn't take away the basic enjoyment of the project.

Regards,

Mav

[JayBee]

1. Easiest - coming up with ideas. Anything can trigger one off, at any time.

2. I build for fun.

Mostly my builds are all feasable progressions of real subjects, but having said that my current project has no basis in reality other than the fact that it is a fairly normal looking aircraft.

JimB

[NARSES2]

1) Hardest (least enjoyable) masking, especially canopies and that last final little incy wincy bit of PSR, haven't got the patience 

2) Just for fun and to relax

My builds are split about 50/50 Real/WIF

[upnorth]

Hardest: self control

The basic idea comes easily enough, taming the idea into something plausible (when plausibility is important to me) can be another matter.

Whiffing reminds me a lot of when I got my first dose of Adobe Photoshop in art school. My god! You could do ANYTHING! It was so easy to go straight over the top. Learning the power of subtlety and the wisdom of the "less is more" way of seeing things was the tough part.

You can take a look at the main page of the site and find my bubble canopy Hawker Hurricane project. The most radical aspects of it were the conversion to the bubble canopy and working it into historical context, the rest was fairly subtle and controled.

As for why I build, bit of both really but mostly my own enjoyment though sometimes I like to mess with people's heads a bit with some whiffs.

[Sauragnmon]

1A - Easiest is conceptualization: sweet zombie jesus do I come up with ideas easily.  I can't help it, I'm a mad scientist at heart, so tinkering with anything and everything is natural - it's cheaper than if I had a car, for certain.

1B - Hardest can be the PSR, or sorting out the finer details (even the invisible ones) to make my madness plausible in some way.  I try and keep one foot in the real world, sorta.

2 - I build primarily for the enjoyment.  I started with Warhammer 40K miniatures, for the game, and the customization became the all encompassing hobby aspect - the art of it became my inner peace state, it keeps me sane.  When I got into ships, I started with the mad concepts, and I started by sounding them off people who know things - like Sequoiaranger - I've always had that benefit, really, and it helps me develop the idea.  I enjoy building something believable, something well conceived, or at the least, quasi-realistic.

[Taiidantomcat]

1A. Easiest:Coming up with ideas, one leads to another to another and its pretty exciting when you know you have a great one. I have more plans for F-14s than I could possibly have room for.

1B. Toughest: Finishing all those "previous great ideas" after they go cold and I have already started on another model (or 5) 

2. I build for fun, I feel I can choose whatever I want with a Whiff. When I build without limits and think of it more as art, rather than an "accurate scale representation" I tend to make better models. There is a slight cost benefit too, I could pay about 30 dollars for a Ki-61 in 1/48 scale or I could spend $10 on an F-15 and do the same scheme with "canvas" serving as a modern twist.

[raafif]

Easiest is coming up with the idea (must be either believable or total sci-fi), followed by doing said mod to the kit.

Hardest is actually going to the next stage & finish building it before the next great idea comes along -- after that mixing the right shade of paint colour is hard for me.

Decalling is impossible as 95% of my ideas have unique markings that I need to get specially made / printed and local suppliers are quite unreliable (hence now limiting my hobby to doing profiles on the computer).
Once I got decals & got the model to that stage, then it gets very easy again.

I build for my own fun, relaxation & intellectual stimulation (surrounded by guys who only build German Tiger I's or Spitfires out the box -- SAAB Viggens are border-line sci-fi !!)