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Heinlein scale models 
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JackKelly
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
Blackhawk wrote:
RobertJames wrote:
I think the decline in modeling comes from several sources.

A) the obsession with sniffing glue in the seventies drove the models off the shelves of neighborhood drug stores, Kmarts, grocery stores, and the like.

B) since they are no longer visible to kids, kids don't do them.

C) we are moving away from Yankee know-how, tinkering, do-it-yourself culture. Twenty years ago, all of my students could disassemble and repair their own cars; last time I polled them, two of them could.

D) Patience is a virtue we are losing. Modeling requires patience.

Make sense?


Those all sound reasonable to me except the last. I regulary have people tell me they would not have the patience to build models like I do, especially when they see the amount of detail in person. But my reply is that everyone has the patience to do the things that they enjoy doing. For instance, I would never have the patience to play golf or watch baseball. But some people seem to have infinite amounts of patience for those activities.

But even the short attention span that a lot of young people seem to have is not necessarily an impediment to getting started in modeling. My model club does a make-n-take every year at a toy fair. We help kids assemble simple models which they can then take home. We usually slam these models together in 30 minutes or less. That's quick enough that very few kids get bored with it. Many come back to do another model. Sure, it's not high quality modeling but it may get them interested enough to try it on their own. If they do and continue to enjoy it, they will develop the patience to do better work as they learn more advanced techniques. I believe that's how it works for pretty much everyone.


I loved building model car and airplane kits when I was a kid. Those kits, and comic books, were how I spent all my limited disposable income up until I was about 11 years old. The glue sniffing epidemic put an end to all that, because you needed an adult to buy the glue and it just wasn't worth the trouble anymore.

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Wed May 19, 2010 11:38 am
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RobertJames
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
Interesting take on patience: I hadn't thought about it like that.

If we're interested, patience is a side effect....

R.
Wed May 19, 2010 12:08 pm
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Blackhawk
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
RobertJames wrote:
Interesting take on patience: I hadn't thought about it like that.

If we're interested, patience is a side effect....

R.


Patience is being steadfast in the face of opposition, adversity or difficulty (according to Merriam) and I can understand that when people look at a very complex and detailed model, they see the difficulty involved and imagine it required patience. What they are missing is that though the work is difficult it is enjoyable, too. I believe most craftsmen feel satisfaction in doing a difficult and challenging job sucessfully. That sense of accomplishment that we anticipate during the process motivates us to drive through difficulties. So it may be more accurate to say that if we are interested, patience is not even a factor. But it is the word that people outside the process use to describe their impression of what they would feel.

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Dan Thompson

Thu May 20, 2010 7:00 am
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
I finished the Lewis and Clark torchship model. Photos can be seen at my website: http://picasaweb.google.com/sfscalemodels

I've added a lot of other, non-Heinlein models since the last time I posted here, too. I have some more Heinlein models in the works but doubt I'll get any finished and photographed before next year.

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Dan Thompson

Wed Dec 08, 2010 12:09 pm
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PeterScott
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
You represent a dying breed of artisan. Well done.
Wed Dec 08, 2010 6:37 pm
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Blackhawk
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
PeterScott wrote:
You represent a dying breed of artisan. Well done.


An aging breed, certainly. There are young modelers but the numbers are very small compared to my youth, when nearly every boy at least tried his hand at modeling. But that's already been discussed in this thread.

Thanks, though. My current Heinlein project is making a full sized replica of the Lady Vivamus from Glory Road. The sword produced by Albion is very pretty, but its price is more than I can rationalize. I'm trying to produce an acceptable version at a budget price. After that, it will be back to the scale models with the "land cruiser" from If This Goes On...

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Dan Thompson

Tue Dec 14, 2010 10:10 am
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
I have several new Heinlein models under construction but, in the mean time, I am rephotographing all my completed models using a new DSLR camera and technique called focus stacking. When I am editing a set of model photos, something I enjoy doing is putting the model into a realistic setting, sort of like a movie visual effect only for still photography. This is often called "photoshopping" but I use a different graphics editor.

As a sample, here's my recreation of the cover of Rocket Ship Galileo


Attachments:
File comment: This is my recreation of the cover using photos of my model, Earth and the Moon.
Rocket_Ship_Galileo_model_00b_small.jpg
Rocket_Ship_Galileo_model_00b_small.jpg [ 239.68 KiB | Viewed 1259 times ]
File comment: This is the dust jacket from the original Scribners edition.
Rocket_Ship_Galileo_model_01.jpg
Rocket_Ship_Galileo_model_01.jpg [ 99.25 KiB | Viewed 1259 times ]

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Dan Thompson
Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:57 pm
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LilLeaguer

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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
Very good. The model, the photography, and the compositing come together here!

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Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:27 pm
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PeterScott
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
Superb, sir. Should be used for a reprinting.
Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:04 pm
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Blackhawk
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Post Re: Heinlein scale models
Thanks. I'm glad you like it. Here's another: the Free Trader Sisu departing the planet Jubbulpore, capital of the Sargony of the Nine Worlds, with Thorby, son of Baslim the Cripple, aboard.

More pictures of the Sisu can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/116637781725296267499/CitizenOfTheGalaxy#. The ones with the black background are new.


Attachments:
Sisu_small.jpg
Sisu_small.jpg [ 241.96 KiB | Viewed 1241 times ]

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Dan Thompson
Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:15 am
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