|
Standard David Merriman Disclaimer: Some people don't like reading David Merrriman's articles. If
you are one of them, try visiting a different page. David is very opinionated and very talented. You get a bit of both from him. You have been warned.
INTRODUCTION
Examine the
above title with care. Note I used the term, 'building'. The act of taking processed raw materials and giving them shape. I understand the methods/techniques of the Craft and I have the skills and means of
accomplishing the tasks required, and have done so, many times. Therefore, I am a Model Builder.
Kit-assembly is a whole different craft - little more than jig-saw puzzle manipulation, really. The only
real challenge confronting the typical kit assembler is the burden of ripping off the shrink-wrap off the box and working out a means of dumping all the kit parts onto the workbench without having them spill over
onto the floor.
Many of you can't even get past the kit box heat-shrink barrier - we call you types, 'collector's'.
Kit assembly is to model building what paper airplanes are to Boeing.
I've
arrayed out before you here a photo essay about what real model building is about. I'm doing you a big bloody favor here so do me the courtesy of reading and examining this work carefully.
So, listen up,
take notes, and you'll learn something about the craft (never call it 'art'!) of model building, from one of the best. Me.
You... yeah, you! In the back of the room... get your finger out of your nose!
It's my intent here to take you long suffering eighteen and twenty-two inch TOS ENTERPRISE kit-assemblers by the hand and to lead you (many will fight, cry, kick, and scream through the entire ordeal) into
the twenty-first century of the craft. The craft of Model Building!
Not kit-assembly.
Not mouse-controlled finger painting.
Not kit-collecting.
And certainly NOT continued Internet
TALKING about that ultimate ENTERPRISE so many of you keep writing about in e-mail, chat-rooms, and on the boards. How tedious!
So, Hush... hush, settle down, sit up straight, and pay close attention. If
you're good, I'll give you milk and cookies later. Now, if you can focus your little minds a bit, and get to the end of this piece with some comprehension of what you've read and seen, you'll be rewarded with a
better understanding and appreciation about the tasks of wood working, acid-etching, vacuforming, tool making, resin casting, practical lighting effects, assembly, painting and weathering, display, and other model
building techniques.
You won't leave this with a comprehensive understanding of the techniques and methods demonstrated here. But, hopefully, I will have planted within you an appreciation of the utility of
these aspects of the craft; maybe you will see usage of these techniques on current and planned modeling projects of your own.
Drink deep and savor. You have much to learn.
The topic of this
discussion is a model I completed well over ten years ago from custom made vacuformed and cast resin pieces. I was commissioned to build this display for a rich ST enthusiast who wanted the definitive display piece
for his office. He asked around for the services of the best builder of the genre around and eventually - quit naturally, of course - he was referred to me.
On to Part 1
|
