Hard won advice from novice to those new to the hobby pt 1
Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 6:19 pm
I feel I have some advice to offer new modelers that may save someone else much time and wasted money. So I decided to post it here and now. There are many expert modellers on this site and i don't claim to be one of them. There are things i will say here i could be wrong about and I'm just a green horn with this hobby. So I won't be offend at all if some of the experten here can prove me wrong! I'm here to learn and this post is not intended as gospel but as a starting guide to the new people who may pick up a tip or two from my expensive mistakes!
,This site was an important factor in my decision to get involved in the hobby. How ever when I asked questions, I was given lots of great advice by the kind folks here on this site. Unfortunately too often I was too obstinate to heed some of it and almost without exception their advice proved to be correct.
So with a novices mistakes still fresh in my mind (and my bank account still showing the literal costs of ignoring good advice), this post is aimed at new or novice tank modellers, with the idea that perhaps you can avoid some of my expensive and time-wasting mistakes!
A very brief description of my background is perhaps relevant now. I have years of experience modeling dozens of 1/35 and 1/24 armor and military aircraft, with a 30 year gap since then. I had a years schooling in airbrushing, years of practice modeling and even several years of drafting.... and while this experience was somewhat helpful when I reentered the hobby, it was not nearly as helpful as I thought. The skills used in moddelling, particularly airbrush work, are quite perishable and quickly forgotten and a novice might actually have an advantage as there is little to unlearn...for example I wished I'd spent an hour or two and practiced airbrushing again before I set to work on the actual models!
At the risk of losing readers by being too wordy I will now cut to the chase on what I learned, the hard way on my first heng long build a HL/Airsoft king tiger.
In general, it may be better to not be too eager to tear the model apart and start modifying it immediately you receive it. inspect the model carefully, then drive it around for a bit first. Make sure your new model functions as it should! If the model is modified by you and only THEN a problem is found- such as faulty electronics, bad transmitter, dead motors or shipping damage- the manufacturer may refuse to warranty your defective model (because it was modified and that might be what they will say to avoid a warranty claim). So I think it's wise to make sure the model is undamaged out of the box, and functions as new before changing anything.
Regarding buying your new tank please do not be in a hurry to buy! There are dozens of vendors of Heng long tanks (I have no advice on Tamiya tanks, they are far too pricey for me so this post is about the HL/airsoft tanks)and the money you can save on your new tank is significant.
You can save a lot of money just by being patient. I got a brand new, basic model of the Tiger 1(no smoke and sound) for $65 shipped. The company (hobbygasm) was having a 30% off promotion that month. I already owned the king tiger so i was in no hurry to buy-but knew I wanted a tiger and after months of pricing dozens of vendors I knew that price was rock bottom. I bought it to mod it so the lack of s&s was not a factor, for me. It was nothing but luck I found that tank at the bargain price and it was at least $25 less then anybody else had it for. And always search for a promo code before buying
Don't forget it's never to early to plan your tank build.
Pick your must-have items picked out before putting down your money. Buying the tank already fitted with, say steel gears and metal tracks
will save you a lot of money vs. Adding them on later! A brand new "steel model " king tiger costs around $200. If you decided to add them later, the tracks are $80 and steel gears another $50...
More in part 2
,This site was an important factor in my decision to get involved in the hobby. How ever when I asked questions, I was given lots of great advice by the kind folks here on this site. Unfortunately too often I was too obstinate to heed some of it and almost without exception their advice proved to be correct.
So with a novices mistakes still fresh in my mind (and my bank account still showing the literal costs of ignoring good advice), this post is aimed at new or novice tank modellers, with the idea that perhaps you can avoid some of my expensive and time-wasting mistakes!
A very brief description of my background is perhaps relevant now. I have years of experience modeling dozens of 1/35 and 1/24 armor and military aircraft, with a 30 year gap since then. I had a years schooling in airbrushing, years of practice modeling and even several years of drafting.... and while this experience was somewhat helpful when I reentered the hobby, it was not nearly as helpful as I thought. The skills used in moddelling, particularly airbrush work, are quite perishable and quickly forgotten and a novice might actually have an advantage as there is little to unlearn...for example I wished I'd spent an hour or two and practiced airbrushing again before I set to work on the actual models!
At the risk of losing readers by being too wordy I will now cut to the chase on what I learned, the hard way on my first heng long build a HL/Airsoft king tiger.
In general, it may be better to not be too eager to tear the model apart and start modifying it immediately you receive it. inspect the model carefully, then drive it around for a bit first. Make sure your new model functions as it should! If the model is modified by you and only THEN a problem is found- such as faulty electronics, bad transmitter, dead motors or shipping damage- the manufacturer may refuse to warranty your defective model (because it was modified and that might be what they will say to avoid a warranty claim). So I think it's wise to make sure the model is undamaged out of the box, and functions as new before changing anything.
Regarding buying your new tank please do not be in a hurry to buy! There are dozens of vendors of Heng long tanks (I have no advice on Tamiya tanks, they are far too pricey for me so this post is about the HL/airsoft tanks)and the money you can save on your new tank is significant.
You can save a lot of money just by being patient. I got a brand new, basic model of the Tiger 1(no smoke and sound) for $65 shipped. The company (hobbygasm) was having a 30% off promotion that month. I already owned the king tiger so i was in no hurry to buy-but knew I wanted a tiger and after months of pricing dozens of vendors I knew that price was rock bottom. I bought it to mod it so the lack of s&s was not a factor, for me. It was nothing but luck I found that tank at the bargain price and it was at least $25 less then anybody else had it for. And always search for a promo code before buying
Don't forget it's never to early to plan your tank build.
Pick your must-have items picked out before putting down your money. Buying the tank already fitted with, say steel gears and metal tracks
will save you a lot of money vs. Adding them on later! A brand new "steel model " king tiger costs around $200. If you decided to add them later, the tracks are $80 and steel gears another $50...
More in part 2