It's also been a bit of an eye-opener confirming the fact that I am a wargamer and by no means a scale modeller.
I originally put the kit on my B-Day list as a nostalgic throwback to my youth, inspired by that Captain Slow chap from Top Gear. What I didn't remember was exactly how much work one of these kits can be. Building it was fine as was applying the base colours, though I had decided from early on to paint over the canopy and save myself some work that I wasn't entirely sure I was up for in several ways.
Everything started going a bit Pete Tong once I applied a black wash, which wasn't thin enough and then split anyway. Sorting that out produced a finish that would have been fine for a Star Wars freighter but not really for a scale model.
Applying the HUGE number of transfers brightened things up considerably and forced me to improve that skill somewhat, which is never a bad thing. The last 10% didn't quite make it though.
Whilst Googling up some reference material I came across this chap's scale modelling site http://hsfeatures.com/lightningf6me_1.htm and his effort which features a host of metal and resin details parts, including the "extensive Flightpath kit".
Having seen scale modellers at shows, of varying quality, I've picked up the odd technique but never really appreciated the depth of their craft, until now that is.
Wargames figures are often horribly out of scale with huge hands clasping tree trunk rifles painted relatively garishly. All of this is often necessary so you can actually see any detail at all. It's telling that as sculpts get finer so the quality of the paint-job needs to follow.
The Lightning has involved just as much time and effort as the Falcon, and as such is another 10 PPs, and at time has been frustrating. It has however been useful to have been pushed outside of my Hobby comfort-zone, which has reminded me of where that stands.
Learning a little can be worth an awful lot :)
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