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Kitbashing or model bashing is the practice of making a new
scale model A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small protot ...
by taking pieces out of kits. These pieces may be added to a custom project or to another kit. For professional modelmakers, kitbashing is used to create concept models for detailing movie special effects. Commercial model kits are a ready source of "detailing", providing any number of identical, mass-produced components that can be used to add fine detail to an existing model. Professionals often kitbash to build prototype parts which are then recreated with lightweight materials.


Purposes, history, and methods

For the hobbyist, kitbashing saves time that would be spent scratch building an entire model. Hobbyists may kitbash to create a model of a subject (real or imaginary) for which there is not a commercial kit. Although it has a long history, kitbashing came to the attention of a wider public via the fine modelwork seen in TV series such as '' Thunderbirds,
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' and the films '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope''. Many of the spaceship models created for these programs incorporated details from tank, speedboat and car kits. Another example is the
Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional land vehicle driven by the superhero Batman, used both to patrol Gotham City looking for crime and to engage in car chases or vehicular combat with the city's criminal underworld. The Batmobile is one of a suite o ...
from the 2005 film ''
Batman Begins ''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight trilogy), Bruce Wayne / B ...
'', as seen in the special features disc of the film's DVD. It is not uncommon for parts to be cut and filed into shapes leaving gaps that are later filled with
putty PuTTY () is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application. It supports several network protocols, including SCP, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw socket connection. It can also connect to a se ...
to hide defects. Textural details known as greebles may be added to enhance a model. Sometimes, kitbashing has been used to create works of
art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
. The
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
sculptor Kim Adams has used HO gauge freight cars, containers, detail parts, figures and scenery to create artistic landscapes. American artist Kris Kuksi also uses kitbashing to detail his maximalist sculptures.


Genres

A popular venue for kitbashing is diecast emergency vehicles such as fire apparatuses. Kitbashers often use models from manufacturers such as Code 3 and Corgi. The kitbash in such cases can be as simple as painting or redecaling a model, or as complex as tearing the model down and adding scratch-built components, followed by custom decals. An important aspect of kitbashing in model railroading is the reconfiguration of structure kits, most often to fit the geometry of a specific space. Walls can be shortened or lengthened, and corner angles can be changed, to fit a given location on the layout. Another application is to use the wall parts to create a "flat", or shallow relief model to be displayed against the backdrop. In this configuration the parts for the rear wall of a structure, often an industrial building, can instead be abutted to the front to double the length of the building. Plain sheet styrene or other material is typically added to the rear to strengthen the resulting model. In
model rocketry A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., for a model) and #Model rocket recovery methods, be recovered by a variety of means. According to the United States National Association of Rocketry, National Associati ...
, kitbashing refers simply to using the pieces from one kit to build a different model. This is typically used to create unusual or especially complex models. With
radio-controlled aircraft A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is radio controlled by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter continuously communicates with a receiver (rad ...
, such kitbashing can be done to kitted aircraft as they are being built, or, more often, to so-called "almost-ready-to-fly" (ARF) aircraft to change their appearance or flight characteristics to suit the owner. This can even extend to "plans-bashing", where a plans-built model has its construction plans partially re-drawn by the builder, either by hand or with
computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
software before any part of the model's airframe has been fabricated from raw materials.


See also

* Mashup (disambiguation) * Greeble


References

{{Special Effects Scale modeling Special effects Toy collecting