"What does "kitbash" mean?" Topic

I see this word used often here meaning something different to where and when I grew up in the 1970's around modellers that have gone on to greatness.

TMPers use the word Kitbash: "to make from bits of kits etc, also used for scratchbuilt from plasticard etc."
Where as I would define:
Kit bash: made directly from the box with little or no deviation as per instructions.
Scratch built: as made completely from scratch using plastic sheet, rods, putty etc. You could also used parts of other kits but the percentage would be low.
Conversion: as starting from a base kit and adding other kit parts, aftermarket parts or adding scratch built parts to change a Mk1 to a Mk3 etc.
Comments anyone?

I've always understood the term to be a more modern expression for what we used to call "conversion".

I have previously only read "kitbash" in modeling magazines, where they take a Sherman kit and make a B-17 out of it, with extensive use of card and putty and brass tubing.

It has only lately shown up on TMP.

It is when you buy that Heller P-51 to get the drop tank to add to your Airfix P-51 because the former is more accurate.

I ran across this in High School, one teacher had worked at a hobby shop and had guys come in an try to buy 1 part from a kit

I've seen the term "Kitbash" much more recently (as in the last 20 years) in the modeling community to specifically refer to combining 2 unrelated models into one to produce a variant that might not be in kitform currently. FREX, using the turret from an M48 kit on the hull of an M60A1 kit to make the M60 (I know this is not entirely an accurate way to produce an M60, but it was close enough for some). Not seen so much these days (at least in armor modeling, which is what I am most familiar with) because there are so many kits out there that have been released.

Another use of the term was for using parts from another kit to dress up an existing project. FREX this other kit might have a better suspension, so you use that instead of the suspension in the box.

Specifically I am familiar with this terminology because of what was in FineScale Modeler.

Damon.

Kit bash: made directly from the box with little or no deviation as per instructions.

That's "Built from the Box".

Kitbash – is a simple conversion – maybe using parts from a different kit to make a hybrid type. Or jsut adding a few stowage items to a vehicle, for example.

Conversion – a more extensive modification, maybe using scratch built items or aftermarket accessories.

Scratch built – made directly from plasticard / card / whatever.

sometimes you want a particular model so you use a few kits of the some nation/ type and bash them together to make the desired piece.

Garand nailed it ^^

Kitbash – The art of returning a built model into its separate components; usually with a hammer.

That's "Built from the Box".

Kitbash – is a simple conversion – maybe using parts from a different kit to make a hybrid type. Or jsut adding a few stowage items to a vehicle, for example.

Conversion – a more extensive modification, maybe using scratch built items or aftermarket accessories.

Scratch built – made directly from plasticard / card / whatever.

This has always been my understanding, too.

Shawn.

For me, kitbash, is what I do inevitably at some point after starting an ACE kit…

Usually with a hammer.

I've always looked on it meaning a more extreme conversion rather than a simple one. Simple conversions I look on as being based on a particular model or figure; kitbashing I look on as using the component parts of one or more than one model as raw materials to produce something diferent.

Agh. I'll try this again. Garrison gives a much simpler and accurate definition than I had originally.

So, my drunken assembly of the Airfix 1/12 scale Henry VIII with all the gun turrets of HMS Hood glued randomly as adornments to his already ostentatious costume is 'kitbashing', right?

Yes, it is, and it would make a great mech for 15mm.

What do you mean, "ostentatious"?

BTW, do you still have the finished model?

When someone says "kitbash", this model done some years ago is what I think of, the infamous KV-VI:

What everyone else said.

Built from box – it came in a box and you built it.

Kitbash – put together out of parts of other models to make one you can't get in a box.

Scratchbuilt – made from scratch. Not even the parts came in a box.

Conversion – a modified model. Some crossover with kitbash if you use parts from other models, some crossover with scratchbuilt if you make some of your own parts. Comes in a box, but looks different than the box art when you're done.

What CeruLucifus said.

For me, any rate.

John T

AFAIC, the terms "kitbash" and "conversion" are pretty much interchangeable.

"Kitbash" is a relatively modern term. Back in the 60s and 70s, articles in such magazines as Miltary Modelling and Airfix Magazine invariably referred to any modification of a standard kit as a "conversion". Some of those conversions would be what some posters above would apparently refer to as a kitbash.

Various definitions above have tried to distinguish between the two in different ways, but inevitably if you do that you have at some point to decide where to draw the line. When does a conversion become a kitbash (or vice versa)?

One might as well try and work out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin …

Kitbash – is a simple conversion – maybe using parts from a different kit to make a hybrid type. Or jsut adding a few stowage items to a vehicle, for example.

Conversion – a more extensive modification, maybe using scratch built items or aftermarket accessories.

Scratch built – made directly from plasticard / card / whatever.

Nailed it.

Just as long as you do not use the term masshup to describe a kitbash or conversion I will be happy.

Kitbash – is a simple conversion – maybe using parts from a different kit to make a hybrid type. Or jsut adding a few stowage items to a vehicle, for example.

Conversion – a more extensive modification, maybe using scratch built items or aftermarket accessories.

Scratch built – made directly from plasticard / card / whatever.

Nailed it.

So it seems then that you think "kitbash" is a subset of "conversion"?

So it seems then that you think "kitbash" is a subset of "conversion"?

From the contexts in which I have encountered it, I had assumed the difference between kitbash and conversion was that the other bits involved in the model were raided from another kit where as in a conversion some or all would be created from raw materials.

Then again, I'm over 50 so I'm usually guessing when these cool new words appear …

Phil

Conversion – ….Comes in a box, but looks different than the box art when you're done.

In that case most of my models are conversions, even when I have tried to do them "correctly" as per the instructions.