New to Scale Modeling? Avoid These Five Beginner Mistakes!

what is going on my friends Hank here

from Spruce and Brews scale modeling and

today we're talking all about what not

to do if you're just getting started in

the hobby of plastic model building

we're going to cover five common

beginner mistakes that I learned the

hard way so you don't have to as with

anything skill modeling is a hobby of

live and learn but hopefully I can share

a few tips with you guys from my own

personal experience to save you a little

bit of trouble be sure to stick around

until the end of the video for what I

think might be the single biggest

mistake that beginner scale modelers

make and my suggestions on how to avoid

it with that all said let's hop right

into mistake number one

alrighty so the first mistake that I

often see folks make that are just

getting into the hobby of scale modeling

actually happens before they even start

building if you started looking around

online a bit for a kid to order for

yourself you've probably noticed that

there are tons of scale model Brands out

there nowadays and not all scale model

brands are made alike not even all

models from a single brand are made

alike and what I mean by that is one

model from let's say Tamiya might be

very complex while another one of their

kits might be quite simpler and a lot

easier to build and paint so the first

and in many ways the most crucial

mistake I see new Builders making is not

doing their research before buying a kit

scale modeling is a wonderful Hobby and

it's one that you can really grow into

and develop your skills over the years

but if you start out with your first kit

and it's a real challenge you might get

discouraged and quit and that's not what

we want of course it's so important to

make sure that your first ever model kit

or even your first few model kits are

good kits for beginners what makes a

good kit for beginners Well I'd

recommend checking out my best kits for

beginners video which I'll link to right

here but essentially a good beginner kit

is well engineered it doesn't have a ton

of parts and it's going to be relatively

straightforward to paint it's also super

important that it's a subject that

you're invested in so that you stay

motivated so what I'd recommend doing if

you're just starting out is watch some

best beginner kids videos right here on

YouTube and watch mine watch other

builders videos just whatever works get

some inspiration for yourself and beyond

that is a fantastic resource called

scalemates.com you can go onto scale

mates type in the name of a kit that you

might be eyeing online somewhere and you

can check out the instruction manual

before you even order the model so say

you're looking at To Me is m4a3e8 Easy 8

for example you just type in to me at

easy eight match the box art and then

scroll down to instructions and there

you can get an idea of just how

complicated the model will be to build

scale Mates is a super helpful resource

I check it out before I buy literally

any kit to this day and it's a great

tool to have in your back pocket so to

speak so don't make mistake number one

do your research before you you buy a

kit I promise it'll be worth it

moving on to mistake number two and this

one is a real doozy so you've got

yourself a kit you've opened it up

instruction manual is out and you're

ready to start building every single

plastic part that you're going to be

using to build this model is going to be

attached to one of many sprues that's

what these little frames are called

sprues like sprues and Brews and to use

the parts you're going to have to remove

them one at a time as they're called for

in the instruction manual and here is

where we see mistake number two do not I

swear do not twist the pieces to get

them off the sprue I'm going to

demonstrate this once and it's really

going to pain me all right I've got an

old old set here

I'm gonna twist this off oh

yes that was awful now technically this

works the piece is off the sprue but

there's a bunch of like leftover mess on

here bad the part is damaged and it just

is bad don't do this there is one proper

way to remove pieces from a sprue and to

do this you need to make a very small

investment in what's called a spruce

snipper or a sprue cutter so take a look

at this

here's mine right here these are going

to cost you anywhere between five and

ten dollars I've been using this one set

right here for the last seven years or

so and it's been great the whole time

I'll put a link for it in the

description below if you'd like to check

it out and the proper way to remove

parts of one of these you're going to

pick apart so we'll just do this arm

right here for consistency get the

cutting head up nice and close and

just like that your piece is off there's

only going to be a tiny little bit of

cleanup on the cut Mark here that you

need to clean up with some sandpaper and

then you're ready to rock and roll so

that is mistake number two do not twist

parts off the sprue it makes me cringe

just thinking about it yeah

all right on to mistake number three so

we've got our kit we've got our Spruce

snippers we're taking pieces off this

Brew awesome we're all moving along

nicely here the next logical step we

need to glue our pieces together right

we've got to actually build this thing

well fun fact when you're assembling

plastic models you don't actually use

glue it's basically glue but it's called

plastic cement this is a chemical

bonding agent that actually melts the

plastic a bit and creates a nice strong

bond between the two pieces you're

joining together plastic cement doesn't

work on other surfaces so unlike super

glue or PVA glue like Elmer's Glue you

can't use it to stick anything together

other than soft plastic and when I was

growing up testers plastic cement like

these guys right here were the be-all

end-all of plastic model cement and as

far as I was concerned at least it's a

little tube like of toothpaste and you

just squeeze out the plastic cement as

you need it now no knock against testers

they pave the way for a lot of scale

modelers like myself but it is 2023

there are much better options out there

for plastic cement nowadays so mistake

number three to today is using plastic

cement out of a tube this stuff kind of

sucks it makes a colossal mess of your

parts it's super difficult to control

and you're just not going to have a

great time with it trust me I didn't

know any better when I first started out

but now you can so this right here

is Tamiya extra thin cement and this is

the stuff that you need you can get one

of these bottles online for around 10

bucks and it's going to last you many

many models if you take care of it you

can see here it's just a clear liquid

and if you unscrew this top you get this

really nice fine tip applicator brush

and this is going to give you so much

more control with what you're cementing

so you're not making a big goopy mess it

doesn't really smell and it stores super

well so mistake number three is using

plastic cement out of a tube or really

any regular glues that aren't designed

for plastic modeling now some things

like resin or metal photo etch parts

will require super glue down the road

but for a true beginner you're only

going to need a little bit of Tamiya

extra thin cement I'm not sponsored by

these guys or anything of course but

this is the industry standard for

plastic cement this is the good stuff

all right on to mistake number four

we're getting right through it now so

you've built up your whole model it's

looking great and you've gotten some

paint on there it's starting to look

like the real deal awesome and now it's

time for decals almost all Scale Models

come with what's called water slide

decals and these are all the fine

markings that go on your vehicle that

are a little too complicated to paint by

hand so think of the stars or crosses on

a tank model or all the unit markings on

an aircraft for example I won't go into

all the details of how to apply decals

today we'll save that for another video

you can check out this one right here

for a little walk through if you'd like

but right before we put on our decals is

where we come to mistake number four and

that is not using a clear coat or a

varnish coat now most model kit

instructions will have some sort of

paint guide to tell you which parts need

to be painted which colors Etc but what

they don't tell you is when to apply

clear coats a clear coat is exactly what

it sounds like it's a clear coat of

paint and these clear coats are

formulated to have various different

finishes some of them are really shiny

or glossy see and some of them are

really flat or matte and what they do is

help protect your work and prepare your

work for further steps in the modeling

process so what I often see people doing

when they're first starting out is they

paint up their model and then they

immediately just put the decals right on

the paint and technically this will work

but it's often going to give you a not

so nice result if decals have any air

trapped under them between the decal and

the paint they do something called

silvering and if you've ever seen a

model where the decals look kind of

shiny and Gray in some pieces that's

silvering and to avoid this we want to

apply a clear coat after we paint and

before we apply our decals in particular

a gloss clear coat this is going to

provide a great surface for the decals

to settle into and help avoid any

silvering and it's going to avoid

causing any discoloration to your

paintwork if you have an airbrush I like

to use this stuff right here this is AK

interactive intermediate Gauzy agent but

if you don't and I didn't for my first

few models you can use a gloss coat that

comes out of a disposable spray can I'll

add some links in the description below

for options to test test out if you'd

like you can just spray your whole model

with this clear coat let it dry and then

apply your decals once the decals have

dried completely you can spray on

another gloss coat and boom those decals

are going to be nice and protected and

have gone on super smoothly and

depending on the finished look you want

for your model I like to spray my kids

with a flat or a matte clear coat at the

end to knock down the extra shininess

and make them a little more real so that

is mistake number four not clear coating

your models particularly before decowing

it's a super easy one to forget

especially when you're just getting

started but now you know

all right mistake number five we made it

our final mistake commonly made by

beginner scale modelers as I mentioned

in the beginning of this video this is a

big one and this can be a real problem

and a bad habit to develop as a scale

modeler especially when you're just

getting started now when I say this next

part I don't want to sound like an old

geezer but I'm going to a little bit so

stick with me almost everything in our

world today is fast ordering food is

fast buying things online is fast

learning something on YouTube is fast

you're doing it right now a quick

however long this video ends up being

video with some scale modeling tips so

it can be easy to get into an

expectation of instant gratification I

fall for this myself all the time I

might have an idea for a project I want

to work on I order a model kit and boom

it's sitting at my door in a few days

scale modeling however is inherently not

fast this hobby when it's at its best is

slow it's methodical it's artistic when

you're building a scale model if you

want to get the best result and get the

most enjoyment out of making it you need

to go slow take your time enjoy the

process enjoy the build enjoy the

painting and if you take your time

you're going to avoid making silly

mistakes our final mistake today mistake

number five is rushing when you're

working on a scale model I have found

myself over the years getting to a point

where I've been working on a kit for a

few hours and think to myself all right

I'm just going to finish XYZ parts and

then I'm going to stop for the day and

then I'll be cruising along trying to

reach that goal and sometimes when I do

that I'm more focused on reaching the

Finish Line reaching that goal that I

set for myself that I am on enjoying the

build and enjoying the little detail

tales of the step that I'm working on

and when that happens that's when you're

most likely to make a mistake this could

be something small like a bad cut of a

part or it could be something really

noticeable like a sloppy paint job so

here is my hint to you my final little

tip for you beginners out there is when

you have that feeling the I just want to

get one more little thing done feeling

stop put the model away put it somewhere

safe take a break it's not going

anywhere and then come back to it later

I promise you're going to do better work

you're going to have a better experience

if you take that break scale modeling is

a labor of love and it's so worth it in

the end when you take your time and you

do it right so those are five of the

most common mistakes that I see beginner

scale modelers making and my tips on how

to avoid them I really hope you guys

enjoyed the video if you have please be

sure to hit that subscribe button if you

want to check out some of my other

beginner tutorial videos you can do so

right here and until next time my

friends be well happy building

cheers