Master modeler SebSG’s Smallwood County layout is among the best of the best. One of his hallmark skills is clean, tight, and neat workmanship. It makes an enormous contribution to the visual impact of his scenes.
You can’t achieve exceptional modeling results without being crystal clear on the elements that drive those results. At the top of the list are:
-Composition
-Element Selection
-Material Selection
-Mastering Color (including contrast, sheen, and weathering patterns)
Those are the foundational elements of an excellent scene. There’s a fourth, though, and it’s one that doesn’t get much notice; perhaps people take it for granted. It’s basic neatness and clean workmanship, if you will. Some examples of a very long list include:
-Invisible joints and tight seams between parts
-No gaps in your streets and sidewalk joints
-No lifts or curls at your structure bases
-Everything is vertical and horizontal
-No errant globs of glue
-Perfectly horizontal decals with no film frosting
-Clean paint application
-Clean ballast application
-All parts are completely and tightly seated in position
-No fingerprints
To get this subject in hand a) you need to be aware of how important it is b) you have to care and c) you have to execute. The last one is the fly in the ointment. Make no mistake about it, neatness is a skill and one that takes decades to master, if one ever truly does. You start out with the touch of a blacksmith and, with focus, hope to move to more surgical skills. After five decades in the hobby it is one of my primary points of focus when I’m working.