Currently out and about a lot this week as its the half term break - car boot sales and the like - so I'm not able to respond to comments yet but here's a baker's dozen more vague words I'm emailing to the blog via a friends phone:
1. Playworn - is the same as paint loss when describing a die-cast car?
2. Kitbash - is it the same as mash-up?
3. Crossover [comics] - is it the same as mash-up?
4. Mottled - is the same as foxed?
5. Jeweled headlights - does this mean glass headlights?
6. Plastic fatigue - does this mean cracked?
7. Code 3 [Die cast] - does this mean third generation or custom?
8. Vintage - does it mean pre-1970 or later?
9. Kitsch - is this the same as retro?
10. Shabby chic - is this the same as Kitsch?
11. Junk - simply rubbish?
12. Like new - does this mean nearly new? Old but new? What?
13. Scratchbiult - is it the same as custom?
Pfoooh... a couple of those can mean anything, depending on context - 11. Junk, or 12. Like New. Just take them at face value, and inspect carefully anyway. :)
ReplyDelete1: Playworn can apply to any toy, and describes an indeterminate amount of wear and tear, from chipped paint to missing significant components...
2: Kitbash means taking a basic kit and elaborating on it, or making a new creation out of the contents of several different kits.
3: comics are outside my field, so no idea. Anybody?
4: Mottled can indeed be foxed but is probably a wider term applyig to the same effect on more materials instead of just paper.
5. Jewelled headlights is what Corgi called their sparkling cut-glass headlights when they introduced those in the mid-1960s. See text on box http://www.vectis.co.uk/AuctionImages/244/4660_l.jpg f ex. Dinky soon caught up, but I don't know what if anything they called them.
6. New one to me... Metal fatigue in (1930s) diecast toys (or parts like train wheels) was caused by impurities in the metal (sometimes just dirt from the floor) which expand/contract differently and over time cause the metal to "go brittle" and break. Plastic fatigue I'll have to pass on.
7. No idea. Anybody?
8. Vintage usually means an item is old enough to've really disappeared from the shops (including those selling leftover production stock) and starts taking an effort to still find. Starts with OOP (out of print for books - out of production for model kits and other items) and once over 100 years old it is officially antique.
9. Kitsch describes any object from any age that's "in poor taste." Paintings of teary-eyed children, cheap souvenirs, mass-produced fake antiques, that sort of thing. Doesn't mean it can't be charming and there are people that collect it.
Reminds me of a brilliant NTNON sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk2PTEAfdm0
10. Shabby Chic isn't kitsch. It describes items of tasteful design (furniture, decoration and possibly clothing) that are genuinely old and and a bit worn, or newer items that are made to look so. When the latter is taken too far it gets called Distressed. :)
13. A scratchbuilt model (or a scratchbuild as a noun) literally describes a model built from scratch. Whereas a kitbash starts with one or more existing kits, a scratchbuild starts with nothing specific. Wooden blocks, handmade parts, much like Kevin Davies works, or modelmakers like Meddings and team. Doesn't mean parts from kits can't be used for detail (look at the early Star Wars craft f ex) but that's it. Custom applies less to models I think? It describes anything specially made or adapted of reworked to fit a certain taste (cars, boats) or also to fit a certain space (furniture like bookcases or kitchens etc). If it's very expensive and refined, it becomes Bespoke (a coachbuilder-modified Bentley is bespoke, whereas a bodyshop-modified Chevy is custom. A Bentley with a flame paint job is also a custom. :)
Best -- Paul
Bills just gone home after his annual Moonbase week's holiday so I'm now catching up. Well done Paul, these are marvellous! Very comprehensive and puts most of them to bed! It used to be just MIP, NMIP and MOC/ NMOC that taxed me but now there are so many terms used in our hobby that I thought it was useful to take stock like this now and then. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was collecting Lego Bionicle (ostensibly for my sons ;) that MOC was also used a lot on the Bionicle forums. Which had me wondering (Lego isn't sold on blister cards for a start) until I discovered that in that context it stands for My Own Creation as opposed to a figure built from a Lego kit according to the instructions. Took some figuring out, that... :)
ReplyDeleteBest -- Paul