On The Madness Of Rearranging Bits Of Plastic #2

Total Fail building the Belkits Peugeot 207 2000

Were you thinking the next post would show the Italeri F-104 getting built? Maybe a few of you fell for the "ol' gonna just build it out of the box in a few weeks routine". Well, welcome to the real world of modeling in which a whole lot of things have a very uniquely formed logic of there own. So, let's conveniently forget about that 104 and switch over to "I started this a while back, I bet I can get it finished". In this case it's a 1/24 Belkits Peugeot 207 S2000 Rally car. I have built lots of different kinds of kits over the years and become more skilled. Well, this kit is kicking my ass:

This is the chassis and interior, so far so good. Not much different than an armor or airplane kit, lots of different colored junk and some weathering. The interior of the car has a nice level of detail.

Here is the body shell, it's white, easy-peasy, primer, buff and paint. Just like painting a KV-1 or a F-104. Well, no. This is the second round of white after the first round of kit decals were an exercise in failure. Putting on decals are easy, right? I was pretty dissapointed, because I assumed I was build "a masterpiece" worthy of ooohs and aaaahs from other modelers. Again, a reminder that modeling can be many things and the potential oooohs and aaaahs are just one small part of it. Failure is a reminder to think about the present. It's a reminder that the hobby is a process. It's a reminder that you will be terrible at things and that being terrible is OK.

Here is a nice picture of the real car. The Colorado Decals I got are too dark. Maybe it's the blue walls of this room messing with my mind. Maybe because the kit is crashing and burning I need a scapegoat. 

I used Tamiya spray on the rims. I left the tires on the rims and you can see that the paint has liquefied and turned into sludge. Really? 

Behind me is the F-104. I hear it calling..."I promise not to melt if you build me". Shhhh! Maybe I should be working on our club group build for Chattanooga. Or go on Ebay. This is the cruelest hobby I've ever had.

On the Peugeot I sliced off the windshield washer jets, marked them and drilled tiny holes for new ones. It makes perfect sense to nail a detail the size of a pin head rather than figure out how to get the decals on right.

Second round of white (that took a while to fix) and next set of decals. Look at the tears, bubbling, areas where the blue is melted off from scrubbing....not to mention the bubbles and misalignment's. Yes, not a winner. Why do I keep going? At the last nationals I talked to some car builders and they explained that they used a hair dryer to get the decals to snuggle down. Their cars looked perfect! Why even bother?

Here lies part of the answer. Putting things into piles. Making sure all my foil from wine bottles is perfectly organised. Listening to the OST of Conan. Gluing bits of things to other things to make different things.

Until next time!