Free Models against bought ones

[Butchers]

Hi everyone
There are loads of free models out there and I was wondering what are the advantages of buying models.
I am making an Apache Longbow at the moment, the one from the japanese website and it is either me being new to this and not being precise enough with the build; or the templates do not match properly, (probably me).
Are bought models more precise? when you do buy them do you get the model to print as many times as you like?
Also I have come across templates that contain the phrase "make print safe" I cannot find out what this means.

Thanks for any help and back to the cutting mat

[peaceglue]

Hello butcher's,

There is no common rule, but I'm a fan of kits, you can buy (I don't want to offend any constructor of free paper models, they of course enrich the paper model scene (often with very rare designs)):

1) The probability of correct fitness is greater (because they want earn money).
2) These kits have often more details included.
3) You support a constructor in a positive way, because the construction of papermodels is weired and complicated (it is not only to construct the parts, they have to support a suffcient assembly plan, too; the paper community is very challenging in camouflage, design and so on).

These three advanteges are true for printed or download kits.

Printed kits seems often to be more expensive then download kits, but that is not true. Even when a download kit is free, you have to pay for the paper, and more important, for the colour. If you want a good print you have to pay a print shop, or you print it by your own equipment (laser isn't useful for our hobby, so you need a good ink printer with high quality ink, if you print parts of a model you have a lot more of consumption of ink as normally).

A printed kit is often not beatable in price and quality (even older handdrawn kits).

[umtutsut]

I'm on the other side. I prefer downloaded kits.

1. I'm in the United States, and most printed kits are from Europe, with commensurate postage costs.

2. If you screw up a part on a printed kit, what then? So...

3. I plan to scan in the one printed model I have , a 1/24 X-4, because I want to reduce it to 1/32. More important, when I screw something up -- as I undoubtedly will -- I can simply run off another part.

Just my .02 zlotys....

Les (The Voice of Authority -- VoiceofAuthority.net - The Voice Stylings of Les Dorr, Jr.)

[airdave]

Agreed! (with what has been said)

I believe the original question referred to pay versus free.
(Not printed versus other.)
But I agree with the answers.

The advantages of digital (downloaded) kits are many.

I don't think a "pay" kit will guaranty any better quality, but you would expect a designer
of retail models to put a little more effort into all aspects of the model.
Not only the design, but also the presentation, public relations and support.

And then you can consider the product retailers themselves...like ecardmodels.
ECM works to offer customers a wide range of products,
makes it easier to acquire those products, makes it safer to acquire those products,
and offers support and assistance to customers who buy the products.

I agree that PrePrinted kits, from the big manufacturers, can not be beat for price
and print quality...however you must consider that publishers like that can afford
to produce in very large quantities...which results in considerable printing savings,
which translates to lower selling prices.
And these publishers are mostly confined to Europe ... if it wasn't for the internet
we would have little access to them.

And thats also why digital designers have had success over here...a lack of real competition.

Once we get a big North American publisher putting out printed models at competitive prices,
it will drive many digital download designers out of business.

[Pgtaylorart]

Originally Posted by airdave

Once we get a big North American publisher putting out printed models at competitive prices,
it will drive many digital download designers out of business.

I agree also with most of what's been said, but I'm not so sure of your last statement Dave. As Les said, a big advantage of digital downloaded kits is that you can reprint when you screw up a part. You can also easily rescale. And then there's the instant gratification of downloading the model as soon as you buy it. Which leads back to the original question about free vs paid kits. Pre printed kit manufacturers can't easily offer free sample kits. As you know Dave, this is a great way to drive customers to your site and also give them a sample of your work to sell them on your quality. I think the downloadable kit is the way our hobby is going and the pre printed kits will eventually be a thing of the past.

[Darwin]

Why pay for a model? Easy....to make sure enough designers stay interested enough to produce more free models.

[Mark Hansen]

Originally Posted by Butchers

Hi everyone
There are loads of free models out there and I was wondering what are the advantages of buying models.

Pretty well what the others have said. The designer gets some money which allows him/her to buy more supplies to design more kits. More kits = more money and the cycle goes on (hopefully).

Originally Posted by Butchers

I am making an Apache Longbow at the moment, the one from the japanese website and it is either me being new to this and not being precise enough with the build; or the templates do not match properly, (probably me).
Are bought models more precise? when you do buy them do you get the model to print as many times as you like?

You can get some extremely precise free kits. There are also some rough bought kits although not as many nowadays. Depends on how much effort the designer is willing and able to put into the kit. Giving one good example of a free kit - YOAVHOZMI's Kfir. The reason it's good is that it's a labour of love for him.
As far as printing I can only give experience with Ecardmodels but would be very surprised if it was done differently elsewhere. You can print that model out as often as you like. Selling or giving away the printed kits would cause some grief. Usually there is a copyright notice somewhere stating that you can't do this, and unless there is a notice stating otherwise, you shouldn't do it.

Originally Posted by Butchers

Also I have come across templates that contain the phrase "make print safe" I cannot find out what this means.

Thanks for any help and back to the cutting mat

Guess time: Possibly coat the printout with a spray varnish to prevent the ink running. Some inkjet printers use dyes and these can be water-soluble and affected by the glue you use. The printer I'm using uses a pigment cartridge that you can dunk the sheet into water (after printing) and it won't run. Ruins the page anyway but the print doesn't run a bit. The spray varnish can also prevent (to varying degrees) fading from UV exposure. Like I said, that's my guess.

[herky]

Originally Posted by Mark Hansen

Pretty well what the others have said. The designer gets some money which allows him/her to buy more supplies to design more kits. More kits = more money and the cycle goes on (hopefully).


You can get some extremely precise free kits. There are also some rough bought kits although not as many nowadays. Depends on how much effort the designer is willing and able to put into the kit. Giving one good example of a free kit - YOAVHOZMI's Kfir. The reason it's good is that it's a labour of love for him.
As far as printing I can only give experience with Ecardmodels but would be very surprised if it was done differently elsewhere. You can print that model out as often as you like. Selling or giving away the printed kits would cause some grief. Usually there is a copyright notice somewhere stating that you can't do this, and unless there is a notice stating otherwise, you shouldn't do it.


Guess time: Possibly coat the printout with a spray varnish to prevent the ink running. Some inkjet printers use dyes and these can be water-soluble and affected by the glue you use. The printer I'm using uses a pigment cartridge that you can dunk the sheet into water (after printing) and it won't run. Ruins the page anyway but the print doesn't run a bit. The spray varnish can also prevent (to varying degrees) fading from UV exposure. Like I said, that's my guess.

agree wholehearted with your comments regarding yoavhozmis models.i would suggest they are better than a lot of the paid kits out there.i generally buy downloads rather than paper kits due to postage costs to nz.the only exception is the scaldis kits i buy from them direct as these are my main interest and not availible as downloads.i do agree though that i think paper kits will die off as more are out there as downloads.regarding the points about printing off spares from downloads i case of errors i always scan any paper kit i but into computer to cover this and also lets me remake kit as i choose and play with sizes

[airdave]

I don't think I have ever seen that notation "make print safe"
or maybe I just don't pay enough attention when building a model?
lol probably

"Fix the print"
Spray sealers, varnishes and clear coats, fixatives...
all methods of "fixing" the print.
I've never heard that procedure called making it "safe", so I'm not sure that is the definition?

Its got to be a translation error?
Maybe "fix" translates as "safe"?

[Butchers]

Interesting stuff, although Peaceglue says that a "laser printer is not usefull forthis hobby". The first 2 models i made (the Johan Sherft birds) I printed off from a laser at work and they seemed fine. Admittedly they did have a bit of a sheen rather than the matte finish you get from an inkjet.