For a certain period of time I was almost "obsessed" with AM parts. Up to a point where frustration about the "fiddly parts" became so great that a (costly) kit went airborne and I actually cleaned out the stockpile.

After a 2+ years pause from model building I am now mostly OOB with a very few, very select AM parts. PE is only bought after a lengthy comparison between the kit in hand and the building plans for the PE (No online plans/series of pictures => no buy) and then only if a) I consider 75+ percent of the parts useable and b) a massive enhancement (Say the Sgt. York PE set)

Even OOB I am a lot more selective these days. "Rubber Band" tracks are ok, Link&Length are acceptable, everything else is a "no buy" (Sadly, I would love to do a Chieftain Mk10) and I have been partially switching to cars for this reason.

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Again, as for the OOTB concerns, here's a link to one of my OOTB builds:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/7343

How does it compare to other kits heavily supplemented with AM parts? The weathering on it is minimal (very slight dusting, mainly streaking).

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Krupp - I'm really impressed with your OOTB build. Maybe you should be my motivation to get to the point where OOTB is fine. Your AFV looks great! I need to work on certain skills anyway, and painting is certain one of those, and you need to get to the end of a build at some point to try those painting and weathering skills. Ultimately, no matter who good the build is, without the finishing touches, it doesn't matter much, anyway.

...always felt that a good paint and weathering job on a kit is what makes the kit stand out cause after its painted you can't see all the shiny pe anymore .

The fun was over when I took it to a show and made the mistake of walking past the judges as it was being judged. The rivet counters were absolutely destroying it. Afterwards I went home and did not build for a while as I thought it looked very nice. Since then I got over being critical of myself and strated just enjoying the hobby.

...I can justify the extra cost of the a/m by balancing it against the fact that I almost never buy brand new kits from the store - usually second hand at a significant discount. That said, a lot of kits available today simply do not need much, if anything in the way of a/m!C[ ]

My problem (and it is a problem and I KNOW it's a problem) is that I'm an engineer by profession and when I look at photos and compare them to what is IN the box, I cannot help but try to match the prototype as closely as possible.

I get a tremendous satisfaction being able to add details, and scratch build things like functional hatches, etc., even when doing so results in such long completion times for a kit that I'm constantly fighting the feeling of wanting to move on to something else.

I know that because I'm almost 67, and have a LOT of other interests besides modeling, that's only going to get worse as skills diminish and time starts to run out.

I still find it VERY hard to say, "that's good enough" when I know that I can do better and it's not easy to "settle" when my whole professional life as an automotive engineer was dedicated to ensuring designs were the BEST they could be.

So far I still get more satisfaction from solving some particular problem and adding something or improving something beyond what the original kit designer provided than in simply completing a kit.

At some point I know that is going to have to change, but it is a real struggle!

I built a T-62AM with the legend AM kit a few years ago and though I posted it here, it went to print and I had fun building it. The fun was over when I took it to a show and made the mistake of walking past the judges as it was being judged. The rivet counters were absolutely destroying it. Afterwards I went home and did not build for a while as I thought it looked very nice. Since then I got over being critical of myself and strated just enjoying the hobby.

Don't get me wrong some of those guys give us inspirational builds to look at but it's when they start nit picking a kit not so much the guy or gal that built it but the kit. It sometimes discourages a few from building because they think if they don't go out and spend 3 times what the kit cost on aftermarket stuff or spend 6 months researching and scratch building the build just won't be good when its done.

My problem (and it is a problem and I KNOW it's a problem) is that I'm an engineer by profession and when I look at photos and compare them to what is IN the box, I cannot help but try to match the prototype as closely as possible.

Ok kurt for one never said it stopped me but have seen many get discouraged.wasn't trying to imply rivet counters were a bad thing .i don't sweat the small stuff was just giving my 2 cents .don't need to be preached to by the likes of you about being an adult i do just fine.

...Also, it allows me to complete more kits and I get to focus on painting and weathering instead of placing thousands of tiny PE pieces!!