Hi All,

Just wondered if u betray your model ? (Frankly !)
For exemple, do u paint the bottom of your tanks ? Or..Do u say "why should i paint the back side of the gun ? It won't be seen !", or boots of the commanders...this kind of things ?

Big confession and beyon I used to do this few years ago, but i don't anymore.
Even i added an interior detail set to my "Marder III" but..hélas..as everybody knows, after completing the model, nothing can be seen What r your opinions ? (Frankly) :-)

I do as much as I can, not the soles of boots, and not interiors if they can't be seen! But the underside of AFV's YES!

I too, do as much as possible. If there's a hint of it being seen I definitely do the work.
I paint and weather the underside of my AFV's. I detail the interior of my AC's.
I do not do the soles of boots that will be put in a dio. If they aren't destined for a dio I do paint them.

Good..u do what's necessary..
I do the same too (approx.) but i dunno why, while mounting an "M113" (any kind..like m577 m132 etc..and variants) i make attention to paint every single corner of it

Who knows, may be because i'm a real fan of "M113" variants.
Beside look at my nick :-)

But for the rest i'm agreed :-) Depends on situation

I paint everywhere..everything as i am ordered.

Gotta obey my superiors, ay ? #:-)

Shhh...shut up and "stand up, go to fight !" (oops) "paint" !

- Supreme Commander of the House - :-)

On the figures I paint everything even if it is not going to be visible. On AFV's I paint all that I can but if I am absolutely sure that something (internaly) is not going to be seen I may just give it a quick once-over with a base coat.

I always paint the bottomof tanks even If it isn't able to be seen

I paint everything except for the interior (unless one is present) of my tanks/APCs. Vehicles I only do what can be seen. Please don't hold this against me, I'm not a horrible person, I swear!!!

If you guys paint the bottoms of your tanks, I take it that you also cur off and sand the words that were sometimes cast into the bottom!

What is a good method/tool for getting rid of those words? THe x-acto knife that I have now really doesn't cut it. It can't get flush enough.

I usually get as much as possible with my knife and then I go to work with some sandpaper to get the rest.

I have a set of different kinds of blades for my knife. There is one blade that is better for scraping things off with (sorry, I don't know any numbers or anything). After scraping, I sand the area with progressively finer sandpaper ending with 0000 steel wool to make it good as new. I do hate those darn letters on the bottom of some models. The companies go through all the trouble of covering the bottom with rivets and then stick a logo in the middle of it!

Nic

I paint it if it can be seen But i looked at it from every angle to be sure you cant notice it.
What can i say im lazy

I once spent hours and hours filling and sanding a seam on the underside of the fenders of some DML kit - never again! I hardly spent an hour doing that on my latest kit. 'Course, it fit a lot better, so...

I paint and weather all exterior surfaces of my armor models, including and especially, the underside of the hull and insides of teh raodwheels. If I have a figure in an open hatch, then the inside of the tank gets a thorough coat of flat black. if I model and open hatch without a figure (a rare case for me) then I install and paint only enough interior as can be see through the hatch.

Modeling is not always about total accuracy. It's as much about what is implied as present, rather than what is actually there. That's where artistic lisence can be your best friend. I find it a waste of valuable time to detail a complete interior when only 5% of it will be visible through open hatches or access panels.

I am building an Abrams with a complete interior, most of which will never be seen, because I am too stupid to stop, so yes, I do everything.


Rob

For what concerns the exterior part I do everything (up, bottom, ecc). Regarding the interiors I just do them if it's possible to see it. I prefer to spend money and time for what i can enjoy at a later stage. I mean that if I have to spend money on an interiors detail set (that are usually quite expensive) that can be hardly be seen, I prefer to spend the same money on a new kit.

I only do (paint, add etc...) areas that can be seen. Meaning I might add some parts of an interior to a tank, but not the entire interior.

There is a good Swedish word for this type of thing "ögontjänare", which literally means "eye servant". I serve the eyes only, not the heart and mind of the AV modeller sorry!!

i paint every molecule on the figure,otherwise it doesnt satisfy me .
that was a good point to ask brother

I used to build and paint just the things that would be seen. Now, I'm working on the M88 interior and I started to superdetail everything... I don't know if any of those things could be seen in the end but I'm still doing it. What is happening to me? I'm scared...

Mario M.

Hehe, also a mighty good english words for this type of thing "Eye-Candy", which literally means...um...."Eye Candy"

Only do what you see, and please to your eyes. I.E. for an armor modeller the exterior, the tiger tank, and for me. N. Kidman.

But seriously, I like to think model as a real tank, ask yourself, with an airbrush gun at hand, where are the area a crew member likely to paint, and where are the areas they will not paint, or doesn't bother. then you got yourself an answer. Back of the wheels, well it will only come with what color the factory put on. So no need to ambush pattern there.... If your enemy can crawl underneath your tank, and see the back of your wheels, chance is he can see the tank, and you pretty much need to bail out.... #:-)

I paint the whole, since maybe some how you could see something unpainted when it is finishd. :-)

I usually paint the whoel thing on the sprues with a base coat...black, OD, or whatever is appropriate. Then I properly paint the vehicle/figure for what will be seen, knowing that all major surfaces are painted anyhow, inside and out. I usually do not repaint or detail paint areas that will be seen, and have been known to leave interior kit parts OUT if they cannot be seen.

I am a sick sick man, but I love it... #:-)

Reminds me of a funny story...

This was 'discussed' years ago at a convention. One guy that always had top notch stuff on display was 'accused' of not painting the bottom of his AFVs.

At the next show, there was a 'hidden' message painted on the bottom and the judges got quite a kick out of that message when they stuck their dental mirrors underneath to check for paint.

Oh, I paint everything... inside and out... to be seen or not to be seen.

Talal?