Best and worst

[PR19_Kit]

What's the best and the worst parts of any particular build?

Me, I HATE puttying and sanding with a passion, but as a Whiffer what else would I expect? 

Also I'm less than keen on doing cockpits, fiddly little things and there's always some JMN who says 'You've fitted a Mk 8 seat in there and they all had Mk 9bs fitted' (To which the reply is always 'It's my feckin model and I'll fit what I like!' of course) I had a buddy in Trent Plastic Modellers who always painted the inside of his canopies black and to hell with the cockpit interior. I'm starting to think he may have had something............

Painting is OK, sort of, but a messy and time consuming process. Either I have to mix the pots like a madman, and it goes all over the place despite my 30 years old technique for stopping it, or I have to suit up like an astronaut and climb up in the loft with cans of Halfords stuff. Or, by far my least favourite, get the compressor out, hook up the airbrush and mix gallons of thinned paint when I only need a bit of it.

Engineering the build is the fun bit, working out how to do it, and then the actual assembly process is where it's at for me, but then I am an engineer.

But my ABSOLUTE fave is putting the decals on. It makes the whole model come alive and I often do one side completely before the other, then I can swap it about and look at the 'before' and 'after' situation.

So what do others like best and worst?

[Maverick]

Aircraft-wise, I can't stand Vac canopies.  I know most will say they are superior to injected examples, but I'm over the fiddliness of the whole thing.

My favourite pet hate is tank wheels & individual track links.  It's a tie between which I find more annoying.

Regards,

Mav

[NARSES2]

Bit like you Kit - Puttying and sanding followed by masking canopies 

However when the transfers go on, the whole project comes to life 

[nev]

Another one who hates PSR & masking but loves decalling.  Also love weathering tanks

[pyro-manic]

I hate painting, and love building.

[JayBee]

I hate painting, and love building.

I am with Pyro,
Painting is a necessary evil.

[kitnut617]

For me my pet hate was actually applying the decals, for the longest time, and pre-internet days, I just couldn't get them to look right with the carrier film all showing, so a lot of my built models I have (200+) don't have decals on them.  Since discovering the internet and joining a few forums like this, I found how to eliminate the problem but then it poses other problems like if you put a clear gloss coat on flat colours, it changes the shade and then doesn't change back to the original shade when you do your last coat of clear flat.

But decals do make the model appear much better I have to admit.

[McGreig]

Am I the only person who finds PSR relatively relaxing? Achieve a zen state through mindless sanding and the correct selection of average grit particle size 

Canopies and painting on the other hand  - I have seven kits stalled waiting for the canopies to be masked and painted and a further ten completed but unpainted - - -

[B777LR]

I hate watching the paint dry, and i hate paint that does not cover with second layer. I also hate painting white, which is bad, i like airliners...

On the otherhand, i love PSR, painting, interior, canopy, assembly, decalling, etc.

Am I the only person who finds PSR relatively relaxing? Achieve a zen state through mindless sanding and the correct selection of average grit particle size 

Nope, i'm like that too

[Mossie]

I used to hate PSR, but I do kind of enjoy it now, unless I'm not getting good results!  Canopy masking has taking over as my biggest annoyance, partly because it takes up so much time, partly because when I've finished it looks like I might as well have hand painted them.

I think it's painting that I enjoy most, even though my skills don't live up to my expectations.  Building the kit comes a close second.

[Shasper]

PSR & Masking/painting the canopy frame is the bi*** for me, however I do enjoy the painting process . . . Its very therapeutic!


Shas

[Rafael]

Pre-model:
I do love thinking of a model for the first time.......
Then, "drawing" it in my PowerPoint with borrowed graphics from other subjects than the original.
And the construction Planning.

Model:
Cutting, pasting, forming, thermoforming, puttying, sanding, and, above all, experimenting.....

Post-model:
Painting the Black-Canopy and the rest.....

My dreads:
Doing cockpits. I do hate the d/($&%d things. I even skip painting formers or frames on canopies.
Decaling. Don't know why, but it's the most stressful part of my hobby.

Rafa

[puddingwrestler]

I love planning a build by rooting through the cupboard o' doom and holding things against each other. I loathe building tracks - rubber band or individual link, I don't care. I hates them.
SO I build armored cars instead of tanks.

[nev]

Canopy masking has taking over as my biggest annoyance, partly because it takes up so much time, partly because when I've finished it looks like I might as well have hand painted them.

lol, preach it brother, preach it!

Seriously, on my recently finished Osprey I missed a canopy frame (or 3) and rather than re-mask and re-spray, I found some strips of white decal and used those instead.  Must say, it worked pretty well.  So well that I may use it in future where Eduard masks are unavailable.

[NARSES2]

I've used strips of painted decal sheet on a few projects (Lysander) and it's worked well for me. Now have various sheets of decal sheet painted in blocks of my most used colours.

Anyone else got some of those Hasegawa kits that came with pre-painted canopies ? What a boon