Modeling Health 401

[StephenLawson]

Welcome Class: *There's a foot of snow outside and I have had two requests for a follow up class to last years 'highly informative series' of online classroom endeavours. Informative, *due to class participation that is.

The topic is Modeling Health 401. *Here we will discuss some overall concerns that effect us during our modeling exercises that often, manifest themselves in a negative manner long after we get up and close up shop for the day.

I will be referencing a paper by Dr. Allen Harrison, fellow modeler and Chiropractor. *Dr. Harrison gave this Paper at a recent IPMS meeting as a program. I find this topic relavent and a word to the wise as it were. *We often ignore the small concerns until it gets too agrivating. By then we don't know where to start to fix the prpblem.

First of all. Posture: *When you sit at your desk for any lengthy period of time a modeler tends to work in a very small area of their desk. (See the Laws of Modeling 101.) *We tend to stoop or hunch over to work on microfine details. *The average table height is 36 inches. *This stooping or hunching puts your spine out of alignment and temporarily its not a large concern. *But later when you get up do you ache or find that you get headaches if you sit and work too long? *

Consider what is comfortable and think of that as a priority. Modern offices are more concerned today about erganomically healthy chairs. *Employee comfort and good health promotes more hours at work. *Try to see that making your modeling space adapt to you is much more effective in making your hobby enjoyable. *

Spine in a vertical position, neck aligned with your spine and elbows at a maximum of 90 degrees. For me when I built my desk (see Poetry of Modeling 301) I raised the table surface to about 40.5 inches. *While I work I can rest my elbows and arms on my desk. *I can spend 4-5 hours working and I don't feel bad like I used to with a 36 inch high table surface. *Also I'm not as frustrated when something doesn't go right, its easier to back up and try again. *Face it if your emotionally aggrivated it won't help you enjoy your build.

Pop quiz: what is the real reason we use putty or filler when working with models?

[willycoppens]

To sniff the fumes ??? willy

[NeilE]

Hello All;

According to Revellus of Padua, Modeler's Putty was first invented by that greatly feared leader of the Golden Horde, Tam-Iya Khan during the long days of the Great Siege of Bolgograd in 1173. Frustrated that his model of the Great Wall of China was exhibiting unsightly cracks and seams, the Great Tam-Iya Khan executed 1243 burhgers of Bolgograd in one afternoon.

The Great Khan was determined to solve this problem and first tried stuffing pony poo into the cracks...this worked quite well once the poo had dried but the smell was unbearable - even for the Great Khan who reputedly only ever washed at the Festival of the Yak every five years. Eventually The Great Tam-Iya Khan hit upon the idea of mixing the poo with captured Chinese aromatic spices which solved the problem as far as The Great Khan was concerned.

This practice spread throughout the known world and was widely used until Eugenius Korpak of Bohemia (1455) mixed a variety of slow setting plasters of paris left over from a fresco together with a small amount of water and the notion of a slow setting yet workable filing substance was born. This did not help Eugenius Korpak however, whose innovative ways earnt him the wrath of the Inquisition. He was burnt as a warlock in Magdeburg in 1459.

From: Modellus Modellisium,
Revellus of Padua 1523.
(translated by M.O.D.E.L.)

[Barker]

Stephen, the real reason is no one can carve styrene that tiny. Some try as I am told.

Is there a market for something even smoother than Mr. Surfacer along the lines of invisible ink?
You put it on, not so much for the model, but for yourself.

If this business plan is viable, we could all partner up, retire and buy more putty. 8)

Neil: Welcome back. I love a good yarn, expayshully the exotic juans.

[NeilE]

Its nice to be back Mr Barker, sir, running M.O.D.E.L. is damm hard work. So much AMS so little time........

[StephenLawson]

Willy, Barker and Neil_E....wait for it, AAAAANNNNNNNGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! wrong.

The real reason we use filler or putty is to provide a better surface to apply a coat of paint to. Your trying to create a continous plain from the union of two dissimilar parts of a union. I have known Tank modelers to use as many as four different colors (grits) of filler to correct mold imperfections in just one turret. Now, we're talking AMS.

When you spend one to three years on a single model for a contest you can bet more than half of that time your trying to show them what you did with a photo album that will be apart of your presentation. Putty or filler becomes crucial to a continous surface.

Next, is it healthy to pour so much of your life into a build? It depends if you allow yourself to have a life away from your modeling bench. Have you ever had a build that no matter what you did, it did not go as you envisioned? Planning ahead, and giving yourself plenty of time to accomplish what you want to do is the way to get the most enjoyment out of your build. Keeping it from being squashed, smashed or free from the barbeque smeared pudgy little fingerprints of IPMS judges can be the on going concern.

The following story is true: A great modeler that I have the privilege of knowing admitted this to his whole IPMS club. (They say confession is good for the soul.)

Our hero relates that he was returning to his hobby room in his basement with 'his latest build', a Japanese Bomber (NonWWI) that he had just shown at an IPMS meeting. He tripped going down the stairs. The plane did a gentle arc, impacted and cartwheeled halfway across the room. Miraculously and largely due to the carpeting the only imediately visible damage was to some gun barrels and radio areals.

Our hero sat it disbelief at his desk, one year of work damaged. Then the worst of it... On closer inspection he found the cockpit and nose decking had collapsed inside the model. The only way to salvage the model was to...wait for it... split the fuselage down the center seam as he described, '...like I was gutting a fish.' and to rebuild. He did a wonderous job and no one could have believed him until, he produced photos of the rebuild.

In modeling mental health is just as important as physical. In The Laws of Modeling 101 remember that specifically the 'Law of Finite Differences' in modeling says that, 'In most people's minds, the line between being different and being weird is thin and easily crossed.'

Pop quiz: If using an optivisor magnify's the flaws while you build, why use one?

[NeilE]

Hi Steven;

Oh well, may some one should have told that to The Great Khan.....if they dared.

I have a question about Optivisors....Given that Optivisors are a generic tool and not optometrically customised to an individual's eyesight, is there a danger we are doing our eyesight more harm than good if we use them?

I use my relatively new reading glasses for close work...and am now less clumsy as a result.

All the Best

Neil

[stringbags4ever2]

To Stephen L.

I would surmise the use of Optivisors is to help us modelers in the correct placement of tiny plastic and photoetch parts, especially in 1:72 scale, to which I find myself turning to more and more due to lack of shelf space.

To Neil E

Ah, the humor of you Aussies. Gotta love it, mate. You should write a book entitled: "The Humor of Modeling", or something similar. Could make a lot of Samolians, ya know?

Pop quiz: If using an optivisor magnify's the flaws while you build, why use one?

There can be no flaws in the finished build. Perfection is atainable. We are the all powerful, the great and mighty, er....

Never mind.

[NeilE]

Stephen;

I would concur with Pete, its to enhance the chances of getting very small parts in the right place when normal eyesight fails.

I guess they would accentuate flaws given the magnification but it up to the modeler to correct these or be relaxed enough to ignore them if they are not crucial and not overly visible to the naked eye.

I don't use them as prefer my reading glasses and lots of light (1x100w globe overhead, 1x100w on a flexible desk stand in front, and 1x100w globe behind. All this cuts down shadows - another enemy of the modeler at times) and illuminates everything well enough for me to see properly.

I found optivisors to feel a bit odd and unwieldy to wear but that is my my personal preference only.

I am concerned about their overall affect on eyes given they are not prescription lenses.

All the Best

Neil