"Help! I Can't Plamo!"

A lot of fellow hobbyist and collectors come up to me with this predicament. They'll usually approach me, plastic model kit or toy in hand and ask me to help them build /paint/repair it often with the exact same words I used as the title up there.

I help out and give a tip or two about what I'm doing. And usually people come back to me to do a bit more work and advice for them. Here are a few things I usually say to them about getting in to the hobby:




You won't get good overnight - Getting good at doing plastic models does not take overnight. You will have to practice not one but at least two skill sets: building and painting. Expect a lot of failures, budget loss and frustration in your first few kits. And there are no shortcuts. You will have to get out there, buy some (cheap) kits and practice, practice practice! Building plastic models is a craft in itself and any craft entails skills that you'll need to lean to be good at.

It will take up your time -  Plastic models are not done by little magic elf people. You'll have to spend some time working on it to make it into a work of art. And it's not just going to be for the model kit itself. You'll going to be spending time researching what that kit is, its history, its purpose and so much more. In the process, you'll know and learn a lot more than when the kit was still a mass of plastic in a box.

Patience is key - There will come a time that you'll think you've wasted a lot of time and effort only to see hat the kit isn't turning out the way you want it. That feeling is normal.It's called 'Builder's block'.When I have it, I usually get up from my work bench and do a different thing like fetch some supplies, eat or stroll around the mall. When all's done, I usually find that my drive is back and I tackle the kit again. And believe me, the kit that I'm working on magically looks better. True story.

Listen to others - There's this pet peeve of mine. I am annoyed when I give advice to someone and that same guy would  either: Shoot down, bash, contradict or just ignore what I just told them. And more often than not, when I ask if he tried it out, same guy would say he hasn't. BAM! Look, you asked  me for some good advice, I give it to you so the least that you could do is listen and try it out for yourself. That I would dig. We'll both learn from that.

So there. You may find some of the things I said harsh but this is how I do things.

And don't worry, I'm a nice guy in real life. I'm quite approachable.