1/144th Scale USS Chevalier DD-451

[rokket]

and this sort of subtle thing is always more strong and contrasty in digital!

[Pat]

LOL, that was a great answer about the kit makers not doing all the right detail as part of a conspiracy to help out the aftermarket.  There might even be truth to it.

But on the other hand, if they put all possible detail in a kit, we wouldn't get near as much enjoyment out of the build because it would be all straightforward and even an inexperienced modeler could come up with results almost as good.

The way it is, half the enjoyment is doing all the research (remember the feeling every time you find out exactly what something looks like that wasn't very detailed in the kit, and you learned just how to do it.)  A great part of building models is the challenge, to do what 99% of the people out there can't do. 

(IMHO, none of reach that 100% because there's always something that you do that the other guy can't and vice versa)

In the past, I used to judge some model contests.  It was a way to improve my own skills because I always found many builds where somebody had done something I'd never thought of, and it meant I'd have to learn a new technique, or a new level of detail, or some new ways of making painting more realistic.  But in judging, you couldn always tell the difference between the models of the people who did a lot of research and scratchbuilding from the ones who just built the kit as is.  They were often very competent, but just lacked that spark that I see with so many of the b

[rokket]

Well said. Still, it would be nice if you could build a kit OOB for something that was, for descriptive purposes, "plain" but accurate. Then the scratchers could add levels of detail that make it seem real, kicked up a notch. Where we now have OOB kits that look good, but are often  inaccurate. I guess I'm saying that it would be nice if the mods were to make it hyper real, rather than many just to fix kit problems!

[Mr. Bill]

Some new photos.

[Mr. Bill]

More photos:

[rokket]

wow, nice work, esp. so small!

[Siara]

Fantastic Bill!

PS: Love all the links you sening my way Bill, not answering all of them, but having crracking time watching it my friend.
 

[Greif]

Very nice Bill.  The work and detail is exceptional.

Ernest