How wrong is too wrong?

[aferguson]

Have you ever done, or wanted to do a conversion project on a model but you know you don't have the ability to make the outcome 100% accurate? You can capture the gist of it but not in every detail. Did you go ahead with your project or let the inaccuracies prevent you? Really, no model is 100% accurate. So, how wrong is too wrong?

My current dilemma is this:

http://fly.historicwings.com/wp-content ... eling1.jpg

The first air to air refueling in history in 1923 between two US army DH-4 aircraft.

You can read about it here if you want:

http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/11/fi ... refueling/


Anyway, I want to make a 1/72 diorama of this. I can get the DH-4 aircraft....Oxford makes them and I can come up with the US markings for them. Problem is the aircraft used by the US were DH-4B's. This version had the pilot's cockpit moved aft of the fuel tank and was positioned just ahead of the rear seat cockpit. On all other DH-4's the pilot's cockpit was about 6 feet further forward with a noticeable gap between pilot and rear cockpit.

There is no way I can make this mod and no way there will ever be a version of the proper DH-4B aircraft available in 1/72. So, do I go ahead with my project, in spite of a somewhat glaring detail inaccuracy? The cockpit position really has nothing to do with the refueling attempt, it's just the way the plane happened to be built. How wrong is too wrong?

[hworth18]

I seriously doubt anyone would ever know the difference and that the DH-4's were the wrong version. What matters is that you are happy with the outcome and feel you achieved the desired effect with what you had to work with.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

If the likelihood anyone seeing it would know the difference is high, then its too much. If only you know and you can live with it, then it's not.

[ketelone]

Make it so aferg! You will be the only one who will know.

[pmmaker]

aferg,

I used to be a member of a group of plastic model builders who built everything to strict IPMS standards for competition. That meant that every single little detail had to be 100% accurate.

The maintaining of that level of accuracy was incredibly stressful and eventually lead to me leaving the hobby altogether for over 20 years.

Today, I'm back to building kits. Today, I consider myself a recreational builder. I don't sweat ALL the little details anywhere like I used to and I enjoy the models I build no matter the inaccuracies that exist in the mold, the decals, the scheme, or my execution.

To answer your question, go ahead and do the project. Enjoy yourself and be proud that you have created something with your own hands that no one else on this planet has. As to the wrong D.H. 4 variant, follow Dr. Seuss' advice: "Those that mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind".

pmmaker

[aferguson]

I built model airplanes from the time I was about 10. When I was 13 I bought a book called "How To Build Plastic Models' by Chris Ellis. Boy did that book open my eyes. I had never considered modelling a specific aircraft before copying it's markings and even paint scheme pattern....up til then I had just built them generically. Sanding, masking, coating over the decals to keep them on etc etc were all ideas I had never imagined.

Shortly after that I joined the IPMS....never entered contests but read the magazines religiously. By the time I was 18 or so I hated modelling so much I gave it up. It had become zero fun. No matter how good my models were I had the lingering feeling that they weren't good enough.

I'm nothing like that now and upon reflection it's clear that I was happiest before I got the Chris Ellis book because I was blissfully unaware and all my models seemed just great to me.

I had every intention of going ahead with my project before I started this thread but, while i'm not a stickler for accuracy I do like the important details to be correct; so this DH4 project was kind of dancing on the edge of my tolerance boundary line...but since the cockpit location has nothing to do with the ability of the aircraft to do aerial refueling, I don't consider it a critical detail. I posed the question simply to sample other opinions and viewpoints and I thought I might make for a bit of an interesting discussion..

[hworth18]

I still build models regularly but I build to what I like. I found that IPMS contests were more than often judged on accuracy based on what the armchair experts thought and not based on actual known facts. Basically, the judge that thought he knew it all about Bf109's really didn't know what he was talking about...lol
So now I build to suit my tastes and I really don't care if something has 8 bolts where it was supposed to have 9, or if my color choice of Olive Drab is accurate.. It's all about me..

[aferguson]

one surprising thing that's helped me enjoy my models more, both the ones I build and prebuilts, is my fading eyesight. When I was young I had eyes like a hawk....especially my right eye which I used to joke was like an electron microscope. As a result I could see every miniscule flaw in every thing around me.

Once I hit my late 30's my vision began to blur a bit....part of the aging process and probably helped along by the many years prior of doing fine detailed work. Anyway, while annoying at times, overall I find that the world looks better slightly out of focus, not being able to notice the tiny flaws in everything around me, and that has helped my enjoyment of my models too....lol.

[Axis Nightmare]

you know you don't have the ability to make the outcome 100% accurate? You can capture the gist of it but not in every detail. Did you go ahead with your project or let the inaccuracies prevent you? Really, no model is 100% accurate. So, how wrong is too wrong?

If we in 1/18 had to ask that question about most planes, we wouldn't have many planes!

If Hollywood can use modified T-6s for Zeros, Spanish Buchons for Messerscmitts, B-25Js for Doolittle Raider B-25s and P-40Es for P-40B/C types at Pearl Harbor, you shouldn't sweat it. You can create a similar "illusion" with getting as close as possible in the spirit of the scene or story being told. Accurate depiction of the scene and the color and markings go a long way to creating that illusion.