Disclaimer: as with all of my posts, these are opinions. You are allowed to have your own opinion and i will not lose any sleep over it.
Something that becomes more apparent every day is that there are occasions where the "facebook groups" don't actually help newer builders. That is not to say that the groups are not helpful, or that the members do not try to help. But it is more a case of too much information leading to confusion and bad decisions.
For example if i were to pose a question in a group asking something trivial, lets say, what color would look best on a 70 Chevelle? I am sure i would have 100 different people reply with 100 different color options. So how did that help?...
You could have someone asking how to modify a part, say something as simple as ..How do i make tires look more realistic? Among the 50 different responses ranging all the way from "throw a coat of dullcote on them" to " sandblast them" and every variation or method in between. So which direction does the new builder take?
I am going to say that this is not the fault of the people trying to help and offering suggestions. This has to do with the newer builders asking the questions. ( i am sure i am going to get some heat for that one)
Facebook Groups are awesome for certain things. They are great for gathering information ( more on this in a minute ), also great for helping find parts and suppliers you might not have stumbled upon during a normal google search, Great at providing a platform to show off either your building process or the finished completed builds themselves. One thing they are not so good for is....providing actual clear instruction or direction to help newer, less experienced builders move forward in the hobby.
There is such a thing as information overload. Especially when it comes to newer, less experienced builders looking for help. Newer builders have a bad habit of asking open ended questions. We have all seen the " What is the best model paint?" question in the groups we are in. That question is 100% guaranteed to get you 50 different answers from 50 different people, each and every time its asked. Everyone has an opinion on what they believe is "best" in their eyes. The problem is, by the time the thread dies down and all information that was provided is read through...the original poster is no better off than he/she was before asking.
So now, think of things through the eyes of the less experienced builder. In this internet influenced instant society that we have come to think of as normal, you asked a question hoping for a quick single brand name of a product to point you in the right direction so your model building can get "better results". In reality you are just as confused as ever because you have no way to choose between brand X when compared to brand Y because according to feedback from different members...they are both the BEST....
Same thing goes for when people ask "How do i get smooth paint?"..Here comes the onslaught of 500 armchair quarterbacks in the world of model building, all ( in their mind ) thinking their way is "the best" and obviously "the only way" things could ever be done to get a smooth finish. These questions normally result in bickering throughout the thread as builder b insults builder a's method, then builder g has to throw their 2 cents in because their "system" is different to what was already posted. Then there is the Intentional asshats you find in every group who think it is actually funny to give bad information simply because they don't care to help. This leaves the original poster with 432 different options and directions they can possibly take, all claiming to be "the way".
How is the new builder going to improve from those interactions? The long and short of it is that they are not. They walk away from the threads being no wiser than they were to begin with and overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities that have just been laid out before them. This normally leads to the original poster mashing together a bit of this, a tad of that, a pinch of this....then the next question is normally " what do i use to strip paint off a kit?"
It is all backwards, while we cannot stop it from happening, we can educate younger/newer builders on better ways to progress their building style.
How do we fix the problem?
Or better yet, if you are a builder looking to get better... How do i learn new skills to improve my builds without having to filter through all the excess information?
Find A Mentor/Become a Mentor
Find someone who is showing work that you would like to learn. Scratch building, Painting, Detailing, Modifying... and ask them specifically for guidance. Basic mentoring is the quickest way to learn a skill. Some of you are shaking your head right now, thinking about how you don't want to bother Joe Blogs and ask how he did this or that because he probably does not have time to help you. For the most part i can guarantee you that this is not the case.
One thing i will tell you about our community...People who build models, the ones that spend all that time and effort learning new things, perfecting things that work for them. They all love to talk about it, explain what they did, why they did, and what they would do different next time. Whether we admit it or not, it's an ego thing. It is validation that all the hard work that was put in learning a skill was worth it, in someone else's eyes other than our own.
I would say it is a safe bet that 90% of experienced builders would never have a problem pointing someone that wants to learn, in a right direction. You will 100% run into the extremely small minority of people who don't want to help or are simply ignorant and will not respond to questions. If this happens, move on to someone else.
It is also possible to have multiple mentors. For example you see someone consistently showing awesome paintwork, someone else who is great at weathering, then again someone else that can make a working rendition of a Ferrari with a paperclip and 2 pieces of chewing gum. Why can they not all be respective mentors in the fields they excel in? I wouldn't go to a mechanic if i needed bodywork on my car, nor would i go to a bodyshop if i needed tires. It is all based on what you want to learn.
I am not telling any of you new builders that are looking to learn to pester the hell out of Jay Famous so that every time he logs into facebook he has 17 messages from you asking what grit sandpaper to use to sand mold lines. For a mentorship to work there needs to be patience and the realization that both participants have lives outside of the internet.
From personal experience, i am always around to help anyone with anything. I don't do it because i think i am better than anyone else, i do it because i like helping people and passing down skills i have learned over the last 40 years. I can honestly say that in the past 10 years i have only blocked 2 people from my facebook messenger because they did not understand the term's "personal space" and "patience".
Find people that inspire you to do better, that push you in a single forward direction. Absorb knowledge and put it to use in your next build. The goal should always be " better than my last"
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