At first, it's the modeling bug. Then came superdetail painting bug. Now a new sickness has arrive - sratchbuilding. I guess I can't help it. Now I'm going online and searching for reference pics for my Tamiya M4A3E2 and T-34/76. I can't help it! Somebody call the doctor!! I'm going insane!!!

(BTW, where's the insane smiley? #:-) #:-) I like the old insane one)

Shanon,

I don't mean to be a party buster, but I think I had mentioned it before, scratch building is something requires a lot of skills and patience, before you plunge into it, and later be discouraged, first ask yourself, if you are 100% comfortable working with PEs, plastic cards, and rods, and metals. If not, I suggest you should take them one step at a time.

My 2 cents.

Take on simply two dimensional pieces to scratch build at first. Make flat or square angled pieces at first. A good way to learn to scratch build is to make a copy of a kit piece. In the case of armor or soft skins you could duplicate a mud flap for example. On aircraft you could try to duplicate the flaps on the wing. Study the piece that you want to duplicate. You could even trace the piece on thin plastic stock and cut it out. The biggest thing is don't try to make it looked finished all in one step. With practice you will be able to make just about anything you may want. It just takes a lot practice. You will make mistakes along the way. This is not a bad thing. If in the case of the flat pieces use thin cardboard to practice on so that you won't have to waste any plastic stock. I know that you can do it if you set your mind to it.

I would say: jump in and start scratchin'! I already started scratching on my third model, i'm currently busy with the E-100 of which I've scratched a turret and half a hull . What I like to do when building intricate angled plates etc is to first calculate those angles before you cut any plastic. Also building a model out of paper or cardboard first is a great help.

Rick (16)

Thanks guys! Actually I won't start with the big thing. I just want to correct the straps on some of the hand tools present in the Tamiya M4A3E2. They are too blockly.