Just wanted to see what you all thought;

I feel as if we (modelers) are confined by the amount of reference material from certain timeframes ie: WWII. Looking through many of the references and publications it seems that I keep seeing the same subject shown again and again and depicted in kit form simply because we have "solid" pics of them.

When or at what point if ever do you exercise artistic license and combine different reference material to create a "hybrid" model?

ie: Depict a Tiger with zimm appropriate for a Stug? Or, a captured Panther in Russian or Allied service? Things which would be out of the ordinary but certainly possible considering there was a war going on!

Why are we as modelers afraid to stray from the beaten path?

I hope that all this doesn't seem mean spirited. I am just wondering what you all think?

Me personally i choose to stay closer to the real thing purely out of my own personal interest and also the fact that scaled models are a representation of their 1:1 counterpart. Sorta made sense to me to get it as close to the real thing as possible. Certainly not a hard and fast rule but there where most of my interest lie.

I try and get my work as close to the real thing as is possible, BUT not at the expence of enjoying the model. I can only really afford one model a month at the moment and I want to enjoy it, so if it offers me a challenge I will have a go but I want to enjoy it.

It depends on how you see the hobby. I personally prefer to stick to the "real thing" because I'm very interested in history. "Licenses" can be found on many subjects in the real life too...
Ciao
Fabio

Hello,

I think it's it's a balance between historic accuracy and artistic licence.
When I do modelling, I generally want to depict something original, instead of focusing on which types of bolts were used for this tank for example. I always try to move around nearly accurate depiction of a scene.

I think until you don't model a panther for a vienam war diorama, it's ok for me.

Best,
Julien

Artistic license is everything to me when it comes to figures.. I like to build dioramas that have a lot of "action" in them and it isnt always possible to find a figure or figures that I need to interpret that action. So I mix and match the soldiers,(always of the same countries,of course but disregarding the fact they may be from different units or time periods. Of course I wont have troops in Afrika Korps shorts along with SS soldiers in greatcoats fighting side by side in a winter battle,but I have no problem turning a machine gun operator into a flammenwerfer,even if their uniforms are different,as long as I get the pose I want. I build just for myself,so the inaccuracies are my dirty little secret...but they look so cool!! As far as vehicles ,etc getting every nut,bolt,intake and hinge in the right spot is an admirable pursuit,but who is really going to know that "the loaders hatch on an German Mk lV is about 45 cms wide and your scratchbuilt hatch looks about 43 cms" at a contest? In other words,its nearly impossible to be 100% accurate. After all,if a model manufacturer produces and sells a tank model with a hull that is 4 scale inches short of the real thing,it doesnt matter how accurate the details are..the tank is still too short!! Just dont put an M1A1 turret on a Skoda

You all have some good thoughts.

I think what I was really going for is that you see many people building the EXACT same thing. Innumerable modelers with the same paint, same turret number same figure in same pose etc. just because there is one clear pic of it in some book. No originality or variation.

My thought or question posed to you all is do you make any attempt or even care about having something that looks original and unique? Not completely innaccurate but perhaps with little touches that set it apart. Specifically "battlefield wear and tear as well as modifications"

For example a three tone Sherman camo job in the ETO on the premise that some tanker got ahold of a few cans of black and brown and thought it would help on the battlefield after seeing the extent that the Germans went to in camoflaging of thier vehicles. Or a German soldier in the East with a Russian hat he found off a dead soldier and is wearing because he has little winter clothing or gear.

Once again this is not intended to sound like a rant or a criticism of anyone. I just think that if you showed up to a show or contest somewhere you would catch a lot of flak for stuff like this.

I'm just wondering if I'm weird or what because I like include slight variations in my projects?

No Hellbent, you're not weird !
Everytime I do modelling I always search to make someting different from what I have seen. Something unique in somewhat !
For example, when I have a dio idea in mind, I start to modify figures, eventually to placed a vehicule, and only after I try to check if this vehicule is appropriate or could have been there at this time. That's all.
I think this boring feeling is due to the accuracy obsession, but also to the lack of imagination of some builders. I speak for figure building (as fas as it is the sector I know the most) : many of us don't even try to modify the position of one arm on the figure. So you end with diorama or vignette often the same.
I agree with you and understand your point.

Julien

Hey Hellbent,
I agree with what you're saying and it may releive you to know that i'm not afraid to mix up a bit of artistic license when it comes to kits. I tend to use reference material to answer questions I have while building a kit ie. what colour should this be? does this go here? or here? etc. rather than finding a photo of a kit and copying it down to a T.
My biggest sin (that a few may disaprove of!) is choosing unit markings based on which ones I like in the kit rather than which ones are historically accurate, this can involve mixing transfers between two vehicles meaning that a lot of my kits probably depict units/vehicles that never existed or could have done. However, I like the finished peice and so thats what counts.
As mentioned i'd never go as far as making some crazy hybrid vehicles from different eras, and I always ensure that camouflage schemes etc. are accurate for the theatre depicted, I just wont be scared to not use a good idea iv'e had because I don't have 100 reference photos to back it up.

At the end of the day, reference pics can only cover a tiny amount of AFV's in use, and it stands to chance that everything you can think of to alter a kit was already thought of (and put into practice) by 10 AFV crews at the time in order to adapt to the environment and get one up on the enemy (survival of the fittest and all that!) Therefore I think as long as something is feasable given the circumstances then I see no reason not to go for it.

James

Previously, artistic license meant I could use whatever colors I wanted in a camouflage scheme for example. Now and frankly after running into so much useful information on this site, I try and get whatever subject I am modeling, somewhat correct!

Gary

Thanks Julien and James. You two hit it on the head. I was afraid I was starting to sound crazy!

I'm just trying to do something different that shows in my mind a more "realistic" scene.

Julien, I certainly know exactly what you mean in regards to figures. They do seem to be exactly the same and many people hesitate to change anything. It makes things boring so I'm glad that you make yours different!

But then again, the Pink Panther is a great story...It would make a killer diorama...