Modelling 101: Be prepared to lose a kit or two

Good day to you all. 

This will be my first post to greet the new year with. I wish you all a very happy new year. I haven't post anything since 2015 started due to stress concerning some hiccups in my life. But I won't bother you with my problems.

Anyway, I have been planning to type this up for a few months now. So here it is -

I have seen so many people out there asking question of how to paint their gunpla or mod or weather and they always say these things which is really starting to get on my nerve '' but I'm afraid I might damage/destroy it '' and or '' but I'm scared that it won't come out as good '' 

Let me tell you what people, you will lose a kit or two .. or in my case, somewhere around 10. That's the only way to improve. If you really want to become a modeller ( instead of just a collector ) and you want to improve your skills on your painting, modding or weathering, you will have to just bite the bullet and ( to use swimming term for want of a better metaphor) get into the water and slowly wade toward the deeper end.

That being said, I don't mean dive into the deep end right away. In fact, let me show you some pictures of what happened when you dive into the deeper end straight away ( you can read the post I wrote about it here - LINK )  

Wading slowly is the best way to improve and actually learn your weakness and strong points. Allow me to show you all the kits I have sacrificed and subsequently thrown away as I wade through the shallows - 

One of my very early attempt at painting. The rest of the body is not painted. Hell, I didn't even painted the two cable ( the white nylon cable ). It went in the bin in 2012.

My very first attempt at camo panting. I painted it with enamels but messed up the decals. Lessons learned, as much as enamel is self levelling, thin the bloody paint and don't brush it straight out of the bottle. Binned 2011

My early attempt at hand painting with Tamiya paint. Lessons learned - NEVER hand paint with Tamiya. NEVER. Binned 2012.

a Few of my attempts on painting the camo scheme with enamels AND acrylic. Lesson learned - two different types of paint are different and must be worked accordingly to the way each dry and behave. Binned - 2011 and 2014 respectively.

My very first attempt at weathering, I learned about dry brushing and literally dry brushed the whole vehicle with a grey colour. Lesson learned - NEVER do that. Weathering is an art in itself. Binned 2011

My very fast attempt at using masking tapes and small amount of weathering. Lessons learned - Take it easy with the masking tape as paint can still lift off AND paint seeps underneath the tape and will result in paint run. Binned 2011

My very first proper attempt at weathering. I managed to get painting down pretty well at this point. So I put chipping literally EVERYWHERE on the tank. Lesson learned - Weathering doesn't work that way. It must tell a story and be consistent. Not yet Binned as I'm planning to re work on this but at the same time, I want to bin it. 

I have never tried doing a rusted out, well abandoned vehicle. I bought this half built kit for £8 which is very cheap so that I can practice on it. As you can see, this is my 2013 work ( which is one of the better days of my skills ) but regardless, this is a sacrafice kit that I needed so that I can do a better  looking kit like this in the future. Not binned yet. Still have this.

 In tern of gunpla, this is one of the kit that I sacrificed - 

I was practicing painting when I first started my double action airbrush, which was back in 2009. I bought a cheap chinese airbrush and wanted to try spray painting. It's not as good as my current works but I learned a lot of spray painting and how to use a airbrush with this. 

I don't have the pictures anymore but I also destroyed a Sinanju and a Unicorn with some crappy painting that was done sometimes in 2009. From them, I learned about painting the inner frames of the MG. I sent those two to my friends as they were better builders than me and they thought they might be able to re-work on it. They told me that it was done so bad they had to throw it away. HAHA.

I know very well that you guys don't want to hear this but I have to say this - You will messed up a fair share of kits before you get to where you want to be. It is a necessity and you guys have to accept it. These poor sacrifices will definitely help you improve your skills. Trust me on this. Just go my completed works and compare my early works to my post 2013 works. You will see that I have improved leaps and bounds because of the experiences I have gained from all those sacrifices. 

Happy Modelling.