Here is a little something from starshipbuilder.com that I believe needs to be posted here.
The Rules of Studio Scale Modeling...
"No matter how enthusiastic you may be in the beginning, if you get into one of these projects you will eventually realize that it requires a tremendous investment in time, energy, and money. As a result, once some people get far along into a project they tend to become protective of their hard work and research. Yes, info is shared, but only among trusted associates. The idea of publicly posting information about rare kits, etc. is abhorrent to most involved in this hobby because it renders their hard work worthless.
If you are still serious about tackling a studio-scale modeling project, you might want to know what you're getting into before taking the plunge. Here is an overview of what you can expect:
-- Start by going through all the threads on this board and
--Everyone is responsible for their own research. No one will supply "all the reference" needed or a list of "all the kits" needed for any project so please do not post these kind of requests.
-- The only way you can find the right part is if you have good reference photos. Unfortunately these can be as hard to come by as kit lists! Many good pics have been published in vintage magazines but these can be expensive to collect. (I paid anywhere from $5 to $25 EACH, for example, for all the magazines I have in my collection.) Star Wars modelers have a real advantage here because most of the studio miniatures have been on public display and therefore more photos are available now than ever before.
-- Once you have some photos, you can start collecting kits, but you will find that the cost adds up fast. Since many of these kits are vintage and no longer available, this can get very expensive in a hurry.
-- Remember that just because a kit is listed on this or any other site does NOT mean it was actually used on a particular studio miniature. Many times people think they found the right kit when in fact they did not and, as a result, there is some erroneous info out there. Only by purchasing kits and searching through parts will you know for sure that you have the right ones.
The more prominent a certain kit becomes the harder it can be to find. This is why people are not willing to give away their hard-earned kit lists anymore.
Hopefully you can now begin to see why people aren't very forthcoming these days with either reference photos or kit lists. I hope that by posting this I haven't discouraged you, but I simply want to be realistic about what is involved."
Thanks Charles.
