SPA Modeler

One of the things I've always liked about SPAM is the fact that we build a mixture of scales - and that generally none is seen as better than the others.

However I was just wondering why you guys build in the scales you do - preference? History? What's behind it?

(brought to you by 'Portman's pointless discussion threads' tm)

Cheers!

in the beginning I started 1989 with 1:72 Revell Eurofighter and F/A-18, pure interour seats more like a plate no details. With the next money I buyed a Monogram kit in 1:48, seats with details, open doors and lot of details, so 1:48 was more the way I like, build all Revell kits I can get 1:48 than all other 1:48 when I was in a hobby shop with my dad...collecting till today

in 1:32 you find more the famous, in 1:72 it is to small for me but this is a question of training

I have only recently gone "over" to 1/32 scale, perhaps mainly of two reasons:

A) the feeling working with a bigger subject, to see & have the bigger pieces in my hand, feels good!
B) My eyes... I cannot help it... but 1/32 helps.. :-)

- Kari

I tend to go for 48 scale as its a good mix between size and cost.
32nd scale is out of my price range most of the time.But you can pick up a nice 48 scale kit for around $20 here.
For larger subjects i go 72nd because size!

I currently have a 48 scale P-40C on the bench. But i also have a 72nd scale Lancaster in the mail. (along with a 72nd P-47 and an unknown scale Lancaster caricature kit)

portman wrote:One of the things I've always liked about SPAM is the fact that we build a mixture of scales - and that generally none is seen as better than the others.

However I was just wondering why you guys build in the scales you do - preference? History? What's behind it?

(brought to you by 'Portman's pointless discussion threads' tm)

Cheers!

When I was a kit I built in every scale. If I liked a model, I built it. Although I did group them by scale and subject matter in their storage and display, everything was fair game.
I thought I was going to stop building as an adult when I joined the Army and left for training (well at 18 that is debatable before you get there). But upon completion of training and arrival at a line unit, the PX at Ft Polk had a model section, especially of Tamiya armor, to rival any hobby shop that I’ve ever seen. And since I had been trained and assigned to be a Heavy Anti Armor Weapons Infantryman, aka TOW gunner, I decided to take advantage of this and start building 1/35 modern armor to help in my tank ID. By the end of my enlistment I had a good selection, and decided to standardize in 1/35 for vehicles. I also decided to do standardize in 1/48 for aircraft as that offered the best balance of subject selection, detail, and size of builds. Now I do dabble in 1/32 aircraft, just because of the detail possibilities, but the display size constraints really limit my reality there. A large scale Apache or Blackhawk has a very large display footprint with those rotors.

When I returned to the scale modeling about four years ago, I concentrated on 1/48 scale aircraft because it seemed to be a good medium between the big and the small. But right now, I prefer 1/32 scale kits because of my old eyes and they're easier to work with, IMO. I like the heft of the parts and the visual impact of the completed builds. Detail is easier to add at this scale too. I can't imagine trying to cobble together an HGW seatbelt in 1/48 scale... do they even make them at that scale?

jkim wrote:(...) I can't imagine trying to cobble together an HGW seatbelt in 1/48 scale... do they even make them at that scale?

Yep, and they're a pain in the a**!

My main interest in modeling lies in airplanes and I chose 1/48 because - as mentioned above - it's a good medium scale that allows you to build single engine fighters and bombers with a reasonable demand of shelf space. Scale consistency in one topic is important for me.
A new hobby area that I'm discovering atm is building small dioramas. Here it is the availability on the market that dictates the scale: 1/35. Plus building dios in smaller scales would be too fiddly for my taste. Bought 28 corn plants this week to create some surrounding for my Panther. I'm very excited on how that will come out.

I've always built in 1/48. That's what I started out with as a kid. When I got back into the hobby, the first kit I got was the Italeri 1/48 Osprey and I've stuck with that scale for the same reasons everyone else stated.

If I was to start all over, I would start and concentrate only in 1/48. Aside from Modern Vehicles, the selection in all eras of aircraft and WWII Vehicles is excellent now. If Tamiya and Airfix expand on their handful of modern vehicles, and/or somebody brings back the older Aurora 1/48 stuff, that would be a good start of filling the shortfall in that area. Tamiya’s 1/48 Military Vehicles line is a sheer joy to build! You can even get water craft such as Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats (Riverine/Brown Water), and Landing Craft in that scale already. It’s a huge barely scratched subject area. Hell, there is now a 1/48 U-Boat... imagine a diorama of a PBY or Liberator vs. U-Boat in 1/48!

Stuart,

I have built spaceship models for a long time... ago in a... alright, alright... but pretty much every model is at least 1/48 or studio scale which varies (1/24 being a studio scale X-Wing).

More to your point. When I started the aircraft builds last year I definitely felt a larger scale would be better for me. The Mustang I would definitely display. I also would want to research a Spitfire as well and also in 1/32.

From a builder’s standpoint I think 1/48 has a lot of options! There are many more AM and decal choices in 1/48.

I hope that helps!!