do you add it to your model. By "it" I mean details and PE parts etc. i just find that adding a tube to the engine, for example, and for it to then be enclosed in the body is a waste of valuable modelling time. I would rather spend that time detailing something that can be seen and apprecaited. Am I alone?

I feel good because I know it's there. If you model for yourself, I think it's important...

it is true what you say.
but sometimes there is a model and you love the model you will upgrade it to a better model.
so there is more to love.
it is just part of the modeling virus.

it is no offence, but some people are detail - #:-) and some not.
it is what you want

i have never (yet) used PE but the next model ( M4A1 Hedgerowcutter) is gona get a PE-set.

greets Sander

On some of the things I do, I will put details in that no one will ever see, but I know it's there. On other stuff, I just build OOB. I guess it depends on the subject and how much I love the kit. I never buy PE, but I do a lot with strip styrene. Right now, I have just started an M1A1-HA from DML that has a rudimentary interior. I have tossed most of that stuff in favor of some Velinden stuff Brent Sauer gave me, and I am going to scratchbuild the rest. I have a feeling that there is going to be a lot that no one else will ever lay eye on except in the pictures. But I don't know of anyone else who ever did a complete interior on tha Abrams, so I will feel good about it because of that. (That's not to say that no one else hasn't done it, I just don't know of one) Now ask me if I would do that for an M-60 Patton and I'd say no way, I don't like the subject enough to do that (sorry to m-60 fans out there) So I think my answer to your question, Godfather, is it all depends on your feelings about the model. BTW, I am not doing an engine in it.

Rob

Here's a great tip for those of you who model details which will be unseen on the finished thing. It works great and I have done it on every model I've ever made.
Simply either imagine, or lie about, all the detail you have painstakingly constructed inside your model. I would post some photos of models on which I have done this, but there's not much point really is there LOL!

I was wondering about the thing that many modellers do, build the whole tank and paint it fully assembled. Just tried this once myself, I´m surprised as it was not so difficult to paint that I first thought it would be. This approach goes if you think the most important thing is the looks of the finished model.
It just annoys myself to KNOW that the back sides of the wheels are not painted, even though there is no way to see them. Next time I will paint those wheels before assembling and KNOW that the rubber parts are crisp and sharp, painted and weathered.
There could be a case when I would like to add something special inside or areas not to be seen. For my Schwimmwagen I bult the engine compartment and added some scratchbuilt stuff just because it was fun to build and I wanted to practice doing that. I feel good about it even though I decided to display it the lid closed!

Toni

I add everything I can to my models.I just bought an engine set from Tank Workshop for a M-10,even though there was an engine in my verlinden detail set. The engine in the verlinden offering was a flat bottom "tub" and would not do,for me.That was the point of getting a different engine.If I don't find something to my liking,I want to replace it with what is, to my standards,superior.I have spent $150 in aftermarket products on this kit alone. Some find this exsessive,I find it fullfilling.The hunt for aftermarket parts supplies me with extra research and time spent on the subject,therefor making it a more intimate build.That, is the joy of building something that noone will see,self fullfillment! Also,lets face it,most people who look at our models don't realize what they are looking at anyway.Even if you point it out,they just uh-hum you and take in what they see,from thier own perspective.I do alot of OOB while I hunt down parts and references for other models. Once I buy a extra part for a model,I have to bring that subject to the level I feel it can obtain. Modelling is suppose to be fun so, if you don't like adding an engine,DON"T!
(:-)

The idea that no one will see it so why bother. Many modelers, yours included, will go the extra distance just because "you cain't see it but I know it's there. I know it's as accurate as I can make it". It's not a new thought either. There is a model in the US Naval Academy museum collection, an english builders model built in the 1700's. No one has seen the interior in over 250 years and the builder is long dead. A few years ago the museum did a study of its collection including a detail inspection of the interiors. Using fiber optics they discovered that the builder of this model had included not only a complete interior but had built a working bilge pump deep within the model. Right where it should be on the real ship. The photos were compared to surviving examples and it was deemed to be accurate in every detail. This man died hundreds of years ago knowing that "you cain't see it but I know it's there". Man thats something. This guy spends untold hours building something that he knows no one will ever see, at least not in his life time, and we with our modern technology can now marval at his skill. Sad though that we may never know who he was. But he knew.

That makes me wonder, it bothers me to know that the backside of the wheels arn't painted, but it doesn't bother me that I have no engine detail or interior. Just wondering how many of the super detailers do get around to putting paint in all the hard to reach spots even though no one will see it? For me I am just to cheap and too lazy to spend money on AM stuff.

Well said ARMDCAV, you hit the nail right on the head there.

Bender

I take the approach that I will not 'NOT" do something if I know it's not going to be seen. If a kit comes with a part or interior or I have purchase the interior or detail set I will use the whole thing and go all out. When I do A/C I do the entire cockpit or cargo bay. If there is an engine I do it and paint it and add it in there. I paint the entire kit top to bottom inside and out even if its going to be stuck down on a base. It's about Me Knowing its in there.

I'll echo this sentiment - Model for Yourself first and do what you enjoy and what makes in enjoyable for you.

My 2 pennies worth, it is what ever the person wants to do, I thought it would be neat to build the complete sherman inside and out, and use interior lighting to see what is in there, the only one who really noticed it besides my self was my father who served on a sherman. For me I like the little details that people use, even tricks on painting, I sit back and think cool i'm gonna try that, every time I build a sherman I use and try something new, especially with the great builders on this forum, I am never out of ideas.
Just my 2 pennies worth

I think my mania for M113's is a pretty subjective thing. I have wires coming out of the backs of the instrument panel running in the appropriate directions, and about an additional 20 parts added to the commanders station chair, but I left the engine out.
I am not much in the way of an automotive intelligence, I can barely make the things work in real life..
So I buttoned up the engine compartment and detailed the bejezus out of the interior.

If I know a hatch will never be opened, no figure, no nothing I'll leave the interior parrts out, engines seats whatever. But if I'm going to town, the sky can be the limit.

Is it normal, nope. It's just modeling.
My US$0.02
Mike