Kitbashing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kitbashing is a practice whereby a new scale model is created by taking pieces out of commercial kits. These pieces may be added to a custom project or to another kit. For professional modelmakers, kitbashing is popular to create concept models for detailing movie special effects. Commercial model kits are a ready source of "detailing", providing any amounts of identical, mass-produced components that can be used to add fine detail to an existing model. Professionals often kitbash to build prototype parts which are then recreated with lightweight materials. [1]
For the hobbyist, kitbashing saves time that would be spent scratch building an entire model. Hobbyists may kitbash to create a model of a subject (real or imaginary) for which there isn't a commercial kit.
Although it has a long history, kitbashing came to the attention of a wider public via the fine modelwork with the Thunderbirds TV series (1965), and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and (especially) Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977). Many of the spaceship models created for these incorporated details from tank, speedboat and car kits.
Sometimes source kits are selected primarily due to kit quality, and sometimes because a kit closely resembles the desired model result. Kitbashing is common in sci-fi modeling. (Where rearranging components from two-dimensional media such as starship schematics may be seen as a lack of creativity and effort.)
It is not uncommon for parts to be cut and filed into shapes leaving gaps that are later filled with putty. Although a model with putty often looks unprofessional at an early stage, careful painting can completely hide defects. Greebles may be added to enhance a model.
A popular venue for kitbashing is diecast emergency vehicles such as fire apparatuses. Kitbashers frequently utilize models from manufacturers such as Code 3 and Corgi. The kitbash in such cases can be as simple as painting or redecaling a model, or as complex as tearing the model down and adding scratch-built components, followed by custom decals.
The popularity of ready-to-run, pre-assembled models, even coupled with the increased availability of many unique prototypes using resin castings, seems not to have seriously impacted the art of kitbashing.
[edit] External links
- [2] Examples of kitbashing from several Gerry Anderson puppet shows, including B-58 Hustler and F-104 Starfighter models.
- [3] [4] Examples of kitbashed models from and inspired by Star Wars.
- [5] The 1978 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind appears to contain a kitbashing joke.
- [6] A kitbashed concept toy.
