Is it just me?

[Aircav]

My pet peeve is people painting the exhaust collector rings copper on planes 

[philp]

But that is what the instructions say 

[kitnut617]

Sort of looks copper-ish:

[sequoiaranger]

Aircav--"My pet peeve is people painting the exhaust collector rings copper on planes"

Well, on MANY British radial engines during the WW II era, the collector rings were brassy and were NOT painted, as any paint applied would burn off. Most American and other country's radials had the collector ring INSIDE the cowl, but not the Brits. The "copper" color darkened/lightened when exposed to the high heat of the exhaust, so there isn't any "perfect" color.

The "peeve" I have is trying to hand-paint the ring and make it look NOT wobbly. The human eye is VERY GOOD at discerning un-round-ness, or inconsistent line. I found a couple of methods. One, take a hobby knife (the longest blade you have) and put two parallel groves around the circumference of the cowling where the "brass" should be, then carefully brush on paint. The "tank trap" of the grooves will stop the paint flow on a definite line. The other is to carefully fix the cowling on a rotating spindle or something, and have it rotate while touching a fixed brush in place. Any lack-of-exact-center will skew the paint line, but it can work.

Ian: "'You mean apart from competition judges simply not knowing their subject ??"

I signed up to be "tutored" in judging and was SHOCKED. "Knowing their subject" was deemed IRRELEVANT to a judge. The craftsmanship of the model was paramount. If a Bf-109 antenna was in the wrong place, that was better than leaving a little blob of paint somewhere. In some ways I can see the rationale: no one can be expected to really KNOW everything about every subject, so the judging is based almost exclusively on finished look. 

[philp]

Actually, know it all judges are a pet peeve.

Most contests I have judged at (local and regional and even State Fair and hobby shop contests) the emphasis is as you said, on the basics.  Are there fingerprints, is a seam partly filled, paint blobs, glue blobs, etc?  Then there are the simple things like are the gears set the same each side (not necessarily straight, but the same), if you see a low wing tip and it isn't a diorama depicting a flat tire, that will cost you.  Are wings and stabs set the same, etc.  Basic alignment.  Once through all that, there usually aren't that many kits left.

A person who knows that antenna is placed wrong and is mouthy enough about it, could sway another judge who has no idea if they even have antennas.  Especially as our JMN may not know anything at all about the other planes/tanks/etc in the category.

Hmm... maybe it is just JMN's I have issues with.

[Aircav]

Aircav--"My pet peeve is people painting the exhaust collector rings copper on planes"

Well, on MANY British radial engines during the WW II era, the collector rings were brassy and were NOT painted, as any paint applied would burn off. Most American and other country's radials had the collector ring INSIDE the cowl, but not the Brits. The "copper" color darkened/lightened when exposed to the high heat of the exhaust, so there isn't any "perfect" color.

Yes but they are made from Steel and are not metallic in colour, if anything thay should be painted various shades of brown.

[NARSES2]

Aircav--"My pet peeve is people painting the exhaust collector rings copper on planes"

Well, on MANY British radial engines during the WW II era, the collector rings were brassy and were NOT painted, as any paint applied would burn off. Most American and other country's radials had the collector ring INSIDE the cowl, but not the Brits. The "copper" color darkened/lightened when exposed to the high heat of the exhaust, so there isn't any "perfect" color.

Yes but they are made from Steel and are not metallic in colour, if anything thay should be painted various shades of brown.

I'll agree there isn't a perfect colour but bright copper annoys me a little as well. I tend to start with gunmetal and then use a tin of old Humbrol Authentic's Antique Bronze. Gives me the dirty/brown/bronze colour I'm after. Also it's not a consistent colour all the way around the ring.

My pet peeve is the constant discussions one hears at shows about what the correct colour is for say Olive Drab or Sky Type S. My answer is "colour is in the eye of the beholder". Everyone percieves a colour in a slightly different way (With men and women it's not even slightly  ) I'm not saying you should be slapdash about it, but nothing you do will appear perfect to everybody. On this subject of colour. Lifecolor recently brought out a box of British colours for the Western Desert. It's an all in one box way to do the Caunter scheme. One article in a magazine absolutely slated these and then went on to give the author's own preferred mixes. When you look at the ratio's of these mixes you would need a fully equiped science lab to achieve them  , and to my eye look very little different from the Lifecolor ones. Must admit this is a very personal peeve as the articles author "gets to me a little" 

[Howard of Effingham]

Hmm... maybe it is just JMN's I have issues with.

don't we all? 

[BlackOps]

Actually, I loved the story about the Billy Goats Gruff.

Now those Troll dolls 

OK, this is too freaky. I was thinking about that story, and just read it online the other day. A bit more gruesome than I remembered, I could see it as a Tim Burton film 

[Sisko]

Aircav--"My pet peeve is people painting the exhaust collector rings copper on planes"

Well, on MANY British radial engines during the WW II era, the collector rings were brassy and were NOT painted, as any paint applied would burn off. Most American and other country's radials had the collector ring INSIDE the cowl, but not the Brits. The "copper" color darkened/lightened when exposed to the high heat of the exhaust, so there isn't any "perfect" color.

The "peeve" I have is trying to hand-paint the ring and make it look NOT wobbly. The human eye is VERY GOOD at discerning un-round-ness, or inconsistent line. I found a couple of methods. One, take a hobby knife (the longest blade you have) and put two parallel groves around the circumference of the cowling where the "brass" should be, then carefully brush on paint. The "tank trap" of the grooves will stop the paint flow on a definite line. The other is to carefully fix the cowling on a rotating spindle or something, and have it rotate while touching a fixed brush in place. Any lack-of-exact-center will skew the paint line, but it can work.

Ian: "'You mean apart from competition judges simply not knowing their subject ??"

I signed up to be "tutored" in judging and was SHOCKED. "Knowing their subject" was deemed IRRELEVANT to a judge. The craftsmanship of the model was paramount. If a Bf-109 antenna was in the wrong place, that was better than leaving a little blob of paint somewhere. In some ways I can see the rationale: no one can be expected to really KNOW everything about every subject, so the judging is based almost exclusively on finished look.  

Because it is a modelling competition not an accuracy competition.

The biggest peeve I have as a judge (and as a modeller) is people who build a kit spending 100's of dollars on after market accessories, do an average job of the build and then throw a little tanty when they don't win.

[PR19_Kit]

Because it is a modelling competition not an accuracy competition.

Erm, isn't that part of it all though?

We're building a model of something that exists, and to portray it properly it must look like that real thing. If the original kit didn't look enough like the real thing, and the modeller modified to make it more realistic, that IS modelling, isn't it?

[Obviously this doesn't apply to Whiffs, we have a different set of rules, ably described by Roger Walsgrove in a recent issue of the IPMS UK mag. We not only get judged on our modelling ability, but also on our imagination and skills involved in turning our thoughts into some sort of 3 dimensional reality.]

[Sisko]

Yes you are right and modellers are encouraged to make any adjustments they want to make their models more like the appear in reality.

But accuracy isn't part of of the overall judging schedule, as it would make judging too complicated and when you have over 500+ models to technically judge and it's approaching 11pm at night, the last thing you want is complicated. 

Accuracy doesn't trump the other modelling basics like glue marks paint finish gaps and seams.

But I think we are getting off track. PM if you want to chat about it further.

[NARSES2]

I was dragooned into Judging once (thanks Martin) never again  I havn't the mentality to do the job.

At E-Day in Prague the models were taken to a separate judging area where the judges (wearing white gloves) marked them using magnifyers, small torches, dental mirrors and copious amounts of reference material. We were told this went on over night. Now whatever your point of view on the subject that is dedication.

Chris

[Gary]

The bit that drives me on panel line is that the typical panel lined model has even darkened panel lines. Not the case at all. Every panel line will be a different shade and dependent on areas of air flow, if they are for regular maintance or panels on a wing and so on. Ground crews opening panels leave a mess generally around the release buttons. So if a panel has a hinge on the top then typically the filth will be on the bottom of the panel. Wing surface has areas that strike the airflow head on and other areas that live in the vacuum created by lift. Airborne pollution like diesel grit wont rest in the mid to aft part of the wing's upper surface in the same way it gets into the panels at the leading edge.

Take note of the panels on this CF-118
http://hazersflightline.com/cf18-90.jpg

For my 2 cents I don't do panel lines other than with a fine pointed pencil after the fact, only to show them. Some times a but of exhaust staining, but that's often washed off in peace time application. And as 99 percent of flying is done without weapons on military aircraft, I see no reason to add the expensive bang toys. I prefer peacetime settings for my war machines.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

And as 99 percent of flying is done without weapons on military aircraft, I see no reason to add the expensive bang toys. I prefer peacetime settings for my war machines.

Mostly I do the same, however just at the moment, I'm going thru a bit of a ordnance frenzy, you will see the results of this thru the course of my next few projects. Slightly off-topic but related.... I set-aside time every now and again for 'Weapons Painting Time' - A day spraying glossy white AIM-9's, Magic's, Shrikes, rocket pods etc, another day for spraying glossy OD bombs, and another day for modern light grey missiles. I don't decal them until they're needed, keep all the yellow & black stencils in one file, together with yellow/brown/black bands of all scales & sizes !  

Back on-topic, sort of, I would ALWAYS prefer to see (something like) a Phantom with just a drop tank (or two) than weighed down with bombs/pods/missiles.

Ian