"Least favorite aspect of the hobby?" Topic

Let's set aside the various obnoxious character types occasionally encountered and stick with aspects that are essentially unavoidable, such as collecting figures, priming, painting, etc.— In other words, the things you would do even if you played solo or only with the Best Possible People In the World.

Top of my list:

Prepping figures— most specifically, filing off mold lines.

You file and file and file and little bits of metal or plastic dust that cannot possibly be good for your lungs piles up on the work surface and then you look at the figure and the flippin' mold line is still there. AUUUGGGHHHH!!!

</rant.>

Okay, what's yours?

The same as you.

That and the capricious whims of matt spray varnish.

Prepping and cleaning. By a long shot.

Painting? Jesus. Sounds like you picked the wrong hobby.

That's my favourite bit.

Assembling mutlipart metal figs. Whuf.

Cleaning figures, especially hordes of plastic figures

Leaving aside the whims of matt varnish which once caused all the inks I had used on the figures to run taking all other paint with them, the thing I really want is for manufacturers to finish ranges so that I am not left looking for a suitable figure to convert so that I can field all the troops who actually took part in a particular engagement.

Gluing and pinning anything together

Yeah, mold lines can be a royal PITA at times. I blame braindead moldmakers, which I think are the bane of our hobby.
How many times have you purchased an exquisitely sculpted miniature only to find that the moldmaker has misaligned the mold halves just a little. On one side you're filling with putty, and on the other there is so much material to remove you need a bastard file from the workshop to do the job. Or how about when the moldmaker decides to use that line of rivets/bolts as the dividing line between the mold halves. Ever tried to remove the mold line from this area without obliterating said detail. Lastly, the vent sprues or whatever they're called. Place them in an unobtrusive place (like on the bottom of the mini)? Nuh-uh. Always place them where they are the most visible and/or the detail is the most intricate. Impossible to remove unless you possess the same skills as the person who sculpted the thing.

<rant off>

PS
File file file and it's still there? Are you working with your eyes closed perhaps? Or maybe you just need to get your vision checked? I got my bifocals last week. The hobby is now fun again.

re. the dust
Yeah, it's a problem, but those of us who have evolved have learned that a bit of window screen and some duct tape applied to the vacuum cleaner nozzle will keep our work area clean (and healthy) without having tiny parts disappear "up the spout".

cheers

Painting. I could convert and prep figures all day, every day and it still wouldn't be as intimidating or tedious as painting.

I'm with Moonbeast. I love to assemble models because I can do it without muffing it up. Painting on the other hand. I've been in the hobby since 1997 and have never gotten any better at it.

Joey

Fighting off the groupies.

I hate cleaning and prepping too.

Prepping. Painting I can tolerate because it means I'll someday actually be able to play with the things!

The damn snotling that I bought in '91 and that run away from the working table and that decided to open a flask of paint every night since that time. I've tried everything… Rat traps, poison, paiying him… to no avail…

whiners!
building cleaning and painting minis is just the work part of the hobby.

Prepping and painting here. In fact I haven't even bought the stuff to do it yet. We are playing with unpainted 1/72 plastics at home and other people's toys at group games and conventions.

Jason
Stafford, VA

Painting – I'm too slow and not good.
Also dislike trying to store everything and being severley limited by a lack of space :-(

Not having enough money to buy EVERYTHING!

I love it all.

Prepping
Painting
Basing
Terrain
Research

All of it.

The endless meta-analysis and polling. Play, paint, or shut up, man.

Is "meta-analysis" a reference to all the bacon threads on the Food board?

Clean and prep . When I win the lottery I am hiring someone to do all that so I can just paint and play .

Painting.

Not sure what prepping is?

The hobby is war gaming not figure painting

Prepping??

Maybe that's why… my painting sucks along with lack of manual dexterity.

Nah, it's 40 years of lack of skill pure and simple

Ouzel von Schwartzwolfe, Parzival said we should not mention "obnoxious character types occasionally encountered" such as "it's not really miniatures war games unless it's my way" so you get a pass. I'd buy pre-paints if they were decent enough and in the eras I enjoy!

Gracias,

Glenn

Mold lines, period. That and the deep-seated belief that no matter how good I get, my stuff will still look like crap (to me).

Besides prepping and pinning I really hate buying rules sets. Many of the sets at the FLGS are shrink wrapped and I hesitate to ask that I be allowed to look them over. Of course, there are many they dont even have and I end up ordering them on line. In either case I hate getting the rules home only to find that they just are not to my taste or they really suck. Some people enjoy having a file cabinet full of rule books. I do not and I never go back and look at the ones I dont play.

I'm with Moonbeast. I love doing conversions, but getting them painted is a chore…

Waiting for washes to dry. Even with a hair dryer, I am too impatient. Hate hate hate waiting for that.

I enjoy most of the rest except perhaps varnishing at the end isn't much of a thrill.

mutlipart metal figs Hate putting together Arms, legs heads hands ect……

Prep and painting straps. All I'm doing this evening is painting straps! Tedious work.

Prepping. Which includes everything from after buying the figures until after the primer has dried. I'm ambivalent about conversions and assembling figures, sometimes it's fun, sometimes it ain't.

PS I gave up on fighting off the groupies, now I just go with the flow and I'm a much happier gamer.

The high cost of all the stuff I want.

Autographs.

And not getting my choice of Winnebagos.

My Wife's bitching about how much time, space, and money it takes up?

That, and painting. It is a necessary evil of the Hobby (or the reason there are so many painting services out there…)

Pphalin's wife is right. Time is the enemy. Never enough.

Painting is my least favorite aspect.

Painting the same thing over and over.

Painting horses.

Spray varnish doing the 'white spray of death'.

Getting the flash off the bases of some of Irregulars 6mm figures, makes my fingers bleed it is so thick.

Getting the flash off the bases of some of Irregulars 6mm figures, makes my fingers bleed it is so thick.

Ha ha, I know that feeling!

Anything using sprays and toxic solvents.

painting

Few gamers within 50 miles

Filing off mold lines for me as well, followed closely by gluing teeny weeny little parts (*) onto 6mm stuff.

(*) – seperate wheels on a UH-60 Blackhawk in particular.

Prepping and basing.

Getting rid of mould lines and/or flash without destroying detail.

Having to brush undercoat because of very high humidity or cold weather.

Figuring out a basing system that's both functional for gaming and visually appealing.

Painting horses.

Here's one for you: playing. Seriously, I'd rather paint and paint and paint, but never play. I'm quite sure the total number of games I've played in over the last twenty years is under fifty.

A distant, distant second would be prepping. There's some excitement there, since I am looking forward to painting what I've cleaned, modified and built, but the mold line you find only after priming is a bear.

I think acting upon a good idea when it occurs has bedeviled me. Generally there is a considerable time span expended before I go back to that idea and actually implement it. I'm getting better at it now. I had been thinking about zeppelin building a couple years ago. In the last several months I built two, 44 and 58 inches. I considered scratch building a version of the SS Venture, tramp steamer from King Kong remake. Done. It's 30 inches in length. There's more, but you get the idea.

Players who seem to have an aversion to hot water and soap.

Cutting the outta my hand with an Xacto knife

Poor moldmaking. If you want me to drop $30-80 bucks on a single model, it better fit together like a hand in a glove.

Prepping minis. Unavoidable hassle.

Impending collapse of my second floor (first floor to you Brits and whatnot) due to size of unpainted lead pile.