h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Fine Art Of Model Building From Plastic Kit Form, The - A2779149
Author: Gazongola - U564956

This is my latest instalment to the guide!

A fine beginning of an entry, G!

There are, however, guidelines to what can be in an Edited Guide entry. The only way to get through Peer Review (and really, this is the only reason for putting an entry in Peer Review), is to follow those well-enforced guidelines.

The one you are breaking most often is the use of the first-person voice ( all the I's). Fortunately, these are almost always easy to fix.

Your: 'I am here to give you a step by step guide on how to build a model kit.'
can become: 'Here is your step-by-step guide ...'

Your: 'Many companies make kits, but for a first time person I suggest Airfix or Revell.'
can become: 'Many companies make kits; but, for a first timer, it would be best to try Airfix or Revell.'

Your: 'I suggest skill 1 models.'
can become: 'Stick with skill level 1 models, until you feel confident enough to try something trickier.'

You get the idea.

When you are comparing sizes, the concept '72 times smaller' doesn't make any sense.
Your: 'You can have 1/72nd, which is 72 times smaller than the actual thing that the model is of.'
could be better saying: 'You can buy a 1/72 scale model, which means that the original is 72 times the size of the model.'

[BTW: Your: 'I normally comes in a tube or bottle.' should probably be 'It normally comes in a tube or bottle.']

Keep working on it, and you'll finish your 'latest installment' in no time.

Good work, Gazongola . It's a very informative and useful entry. I think FT's advice is very sound also.

My only further suggestions would be the heading - why do you leave the "The" at the end? It should be in its proper place at the beginning IMHO.

Next, the beginning needs a bit of rework - "Hello to all you budding enthusiasts! I am here to give you a step by step guide on how to build a model kit." - This is a very personal statement which doesn't fit well with EG style. Maybe a bit of context might be better - some short sentences on how long model building has been practiced, how many people are parts of model building clubs etc. These are only suggestions - its up to you how you want to do it.

For me, the jury is out on the mention of suppliers names. You need to be careful not to recommend one supplier over another as this broaches on advertising. You should be able to mention suppliers incidentally however, for instance the way you mention Revell's paints works for me.

Good work

Woodpigeon

Some good advice about writing styles already given. The work itself is informative and well structured, and would have been useful to me when I was a boy. Never managed to go all the way through painting and mounting, and I always smeared the 'plane's windscreen with a nice thick layer of glue!

Buying paints is one of my pet hates. Always buying the paints from the model manufacturer is probably good advice for the first-timer (presumably the intended audience), but not every time.

You buy a kit for £3 and have to buy 15 tins of paint for £1.20 each, at least one of which will be a peculiar shade of dull orange that only gets used for the pilot's helmet or the car's indicators. The cheapskate option is to mix red and yellow, both of which are much more useful to have lying around.

In many cases you can substitute the nearest match in your collection for the correct paint, e.g. "Epping Forest" green for NATO green. Alternatively, another manufacturer's paint will happily suffice if there is a conversion chart, or if you have good colour vision and can match the picture on the box to the tin lid. There are literally hundreds of shades available (often with little noticeable difference bweteen them), so a few models will cost you a small fortune unless you cut a few corners.

Hmmmm... the author does still to be here around h2g2 now and then, and is still subscribed to this thread, but just hasn't responded to anything yet. Yooo hoooo! Gazongola! Please come answer people's comments here in your Peer Review thread.

For certain plastic model kits this aplies quite respectfully, but to others it simply doesnt.

Ive been painting and wargaming for a good decade or so, and have been building plastic kits since 1997 made by a certain other model company. The main differances being that for small (or more importantly thin) peices which always seem to break, i would you the stanley knife to cut some frame off around the part, and trim fron there. This puts no pressure on the small part. Plus i wouldnt use the umbrol paints as suggested, as these dont come out of clothes (and personally i find them too thick).

I also only siggest clips if there a fairly new (and sharp) set due to the fact that they can cause horrendous damage if not used exactly rite

Thank you to everyones comments. I am sorry I have not replied to many people, it is just hard trying to lead a teenage life and keep up with everything. I only reply when I remember to unfoutunately, as it is hard to remember sometimes.

The comments have been very helpful and I will put them to good use when I can find the time. G.

Great! When you've had a chance to do that, please come back here and let us know, and we'll take another look at it.

Hey there Gagonzola,

Kudos for writing this article! I'm a model hobbyist myself, so it's nice seeing people write about hobbycraft.

As Fords has said, any article that goes into the Edited Guide has to be written in the third person, the way articles in, say encyclopaedias and newspapers are written. Other than that, just a coupla minor comments:

1. Maybe you'd like to mention, for those out there who are new to modelmaking, the different skill levels for hobby kits. Level 1 being snapfast without glue, Level 2 being easy glue-togethers, all the way up to Level 5 (insane and contains submicroscopic pieces you can snort).

2. Maybe a little on using airbrushes? I don't use 'em myself (I can't afford the equipment!), but I've seen serious kit makers who do, and the effect is awesome, especially when they do camouflage patterns.

3. I agree with Dave. Buying all the paints indicated on the side of the box is A Major Pain! I'm partial to mixing them myself. You could always add a side note for people who aren't too picky about the exact shades that there are sometimes cheaper brands of paint, and that some colours can be obtained by mixing several colours that you have. Heck, if the paint indicator says silverish, I just use a spray can... and then later I add scorch marks to the surface, heh heh.

4. The types of glues you can get in the market range from those in bottles that you apply using brushes (awful!) to those with really fine nozzles, kind of like hypodermic needles. I myself prefer to use the latter as opposed to pouring out glue and applying it to surfaces using toothpicks/cocktail sticks. Maybe you could include this alternative?

5. Carving set knives (you know, those you use for wood carving projects, the one that includes several chisels and blades and this sharp thing you use to poke holes) can come in quite handy.

Other than that.... excellent entry! I'll come by again after you change the article to third-person.

Far.

Also, what about files?

Ill take it this guide entery is focused primarily on airfix type kits? I only say because theres several other types of plastic kit that could do with being covered and the article needs tweaking a bit accordingly

Could you clarify please.

It took me 36 minutes, but it is updated!
Whaddya think?

Lookin good!

The only comment I have for now is -- maybe a slightly longer (and more formal) introduction, talking about model kits and how it's a good hobby, or something? If you want, you could add headings (like 'What you will need' and 'Building your model') to make it easier for your article to follow. Otherwise, the article looks pretty good.


Far.

PS: Would you happen to have this brand called 'Tamiya' over where you are? It's the most bloody expensive brand around here -- whereas you can get a similar model from a different brand for like $40, the Tamiya ones would be almost double the price.

Yes we do have Tamiya. The reason it is soooo expensive is the quality. They are annoyingly accurate and detailed. They even put the welding onto the model. They are amongst the best models in the world. I happen to have a few myself, but they are ancient, probably over 20 years old.
I hope that clears it up.G.
I guess it takes more than two pennies to rub together.

I think the headings are a good idea, but I don't like introductions that are too long.

Well to me it seemed the article was based solely on airfix, Taiyma and other similar companies that make WW1/2 tanks, planes etc. However theres other companies that do other kits that adhere to a slightly different set of rules. Most noteably any games workshop plastic kit

Actually, I tried to base it on lots of different types of models. And besides, it is not for Games Workshop or wargames models, it is for models such as Airfix, Tamiya, Revell and Playmates.

Ahh but there in lies the problem. I would suggest, if you leave the GW type kits out, putting a note detailing that this article is for kits that are WW2 etc etc and not wargaming kits.

Ahhh.. Thanks.