Model Builder (PC)

Developer:

Moonlit

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Release Date:

2022

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Systems:

Win

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Model Builder! Well I'll be building stuff in it at least, I don't know if it really counts as gameplay. This is another simulator along the lines of Car Mechanic Simulator or PC Building Simulator, except with a bit more room for creativity... with any luck.

Most of the games I cover on Super Adventures are about shooting things or punching things or crushing creatures underneath the hero's mighty boots, so this is unfamiliar territory for me. Wait a second, no it's not. I've never actually raced a Lotus Esprit, or travelled across the universe to defeat an alien despot, but I have put a model kit or two together, so I can compare this to my actual real-life experience! I hope I get to build a Spitfire, I liked making them.

I'm going to be spoiling a lot of the models you can make in the game, so if you want to be surprised when you play it yourself I suggest not reading too much. I mean, it's possible that you could play this right now and don't realise it. The game was given away on Epic a while back, so if you've gotten into the habit of claiming the free gift each week it may be sitting in your game library, forgotten.

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You can tell this was made fairly recently by glancing at its menu, and I'm not just talking about that Discord logo in the top right.

I'm not usually keen on games advertising their DLC like this, but there's something interesting going on with them here. First, a lot of them are free, on Steam anyway. Second, they're not available at all on Epic right now, so for me the buttons do nothing. I have a feeling they'll be doing nothing this time next year as well, but who knows?

There are no difficulty options I can pick from either, but I always put games on 'medium' if I'm writing about them, so I'm fine with that.

Okay, the game itself starts with a letter from the player's deceased Grandpa Stan, which is a bit sad. It's also a bit like the beginning of Stardew Valley, as the player gets to inherit his stuff and use it to start a new career. Well, hobby in this case.

Before that, there's a 'walking around the room' bit, just like in similar games like PC Building Simulator. I suppose Model Builder would be closer to a PC Gaming Simulator though, seeing as it's about doing the thing that provides entertainment. Theoretically.

First though: escape! I ran around the basement looking for exits and found a couple of doors, but they're both staying shut. I don't know if they're locked though, as I can't interact with them at all. I can't open the window and get out that way either, but I can at least watch the butterflies fluttering around out there.

Looks like fate is forcing me to click on the workbench, as there's very little else here I can interact with. I can't even start swiping all the paints off the shelves or anything like that.

I don't know if the tiny version of this image really gets across just how many little bottles of paints and brushes there are all over the corner of this room. You might need to click the picture to get a better look.

Hey the first model is a Spitfire! That's exactly what I wanted to make, so the game's doing well so far.

There's a little diagram in the bottom right that I can flick through, with instructions on how to assemble the pieces. In fact, the game's full of instructions, with little video tutorials and guides to what all the buttons do. There's also a help button at the bottom left in case you forget anything. Which I will.

The first step is to cut all the pieces off the sprue, which it apparently expects me to do manually.

Yep, I have to run the blade across each bit of plastic holding the pieces on. I guess I should be thankful I don't have to sand the edge smooth afterwards.

I like how the little pieces all have numbers next to them, just like on a real model kit. Though a real model kit also puts the numbers in the instructions so that you know what piece goes where! It's fine, I just click the part I want in that illustration down on the bottom right and it selects it for me.

The whole cockpit section comes pre-assembled huh? I guess they've simplified this build for the sake of tutorial, though I don't see the process getting any more complicated.

Step 1: Double-click a part on the instruction sheet to grab it from the pile.
Step 2: Select the next part and drag it into the blue area until it snaps together.
Step 3: That's it, you're done.
Step 4: Seriously.

I'm not sure why the shadow's so fuzzy though. This is with all the video options set to 'Ultra', so I should experiment with that. The game did suggest I try putting it down to 'Medium' when it saw what my PC specs were.

Hey, that looks better. Actually, it looks objectively worse for the most part, but you can't tell with these tiny pictures so it's fine. You can't read the text either, but all you need to know is that right now it's got me glueing down the rest of the parts.

There's no need to get out the little bottle of polystyrene cement and apply it to the edges, it all just snaps together. You don't even have to carefully line up the piece you're putting down so that it sits in the holes. And you can't wrap rubber bands around it afterwards to keep it together while the glue dries.

I just select the piece, drag it near enough to where it should be, and it's done. The only catch is that sometimes I need to rotate the model to get a clear look at where the next part goes.

Oh, I guess I'm done then. I didn't even need to paint it. The game seems pretty impressed with the model as it is, as given my work the full five stars. I'm not going to argue.

Okay, the to-do list on the top right says I should leave the workbench and go over to put the model on the display shelf. I can do that.

The modelling tutorial's finished, so now the game's teaching me painting. I like how it has split these subjects up into different projects so I can focus on learning one thing at a time, not that there's much to learn.

Step 1: Go over to the instruction sheet and click one of the circles to load the appropriate colour and brush settings.
Step 2: Click a bit of the model that should be that colour according to the picture.
Step 3: Repeat with the other colours.

In fact the painting tool's so effective that it'll usually take the liberty of painting everything that's supposed to be that colour, not just the bit I clicked on. It's one of the easiest colouring books I've ever played with.

Hang on, it's making me do something properly now.

The hammer is supposed to have an orange diamond on it and the game's given me an airbrush tool to paint it manually. I've used other editors that let you paint directly onto the model in 3D, so this isn't blowing my mind right now, but it's doing it as well as any of them. It's even got graphics tablet support it seems, with pressure sensitivity... which is thoughtfully active by default, so I have to toggle it off. Actually I don't know if it makes any difference for mouse control.

Alright, that's one virtual hammer successfully virtually painted.

Don't try to read this text, you'll probably just strain your eyes.

I finished the figurine and got my five stars, but the game refused to give me another model until I left my workbench, hiked over to my laptop and checked my emails. And by 'hiked over' I mean 'turned 90 degrees', because it's right next to me.

There's one email in my inbox, from the Model Building Society, who are giving people scrap models to finish, with fabulous cash prizes available for the three modellers who do the most impressive work. Plus experience points too! So does that mean I can level up in this? I wonder if there's a skill tree.

This time there was a third step to the model construction: decals. It's basically given me some stickers to put on and I have the power to rotate them and place them where I wish. It probably helps if they go where they are in the diagram though.

Getting the right decal is as straightforward as anything else in this game: I just click the icon in the instructions and it switches to what I should be using. There are also preset views for the model, so I can snap to a perfect overhead or side view; ideal for precise decal placement.

Once the decals are down, that's it. They dry instantly and you can't move them anymore. Fortunately you can just paint over them and try again, as unlike in real life there's always a spare one in the box.

Now the game's making me buy chocolate to introduce me to the concept of online shopping. My precision decal placement won first prize, so I can spare the $5. In fact, I can spare more, but this is the only kind of paint in the shop right now. I guess the game's making it absolutely clear which one I'm supposed to pick.

It's also making me think I won't be needing to restock the other paints I've been using. Man, where is this infinite paint in real life?

I wish I could brag about this awesome camo paint job, but the tank came pre-painted. The lesson this time is weathering, which requires my new chocolate paint and the drybrushing tool.

It basically works just like drybrushing in real life: you run the brush over the details and the raised bits of the plastic start picking up paint. Handy for making a model look worn on the edges. Though this is getting a bit too much paint on it, so I should lower the opacity a little.

Once the tank's done it's back to the laptop.

I zoomed in on the email this time to give you a fighting chance to read it.

It's a message from Joy, Grandpa Stan's student, who has a model for me. I have actual dialogue options this time, so I decided to be nice, though I have no idea if it'll actually change anything.

The model I got from Joy is a giant dragon statue. The guide's telling me to paint it in sections and then assemble it later, but I'm a renegade so I put most of it together first. It doesn't seem like the game is taking any issue with me making my own decisions, but I'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll get rated 1 star after I'm done.

I gotta say, so far I'm not regretting my choice, as it's making it way quicker to apply the drybrushing to this rock. I'm also giving it a wash to darken the creases, which is done in pretty much the same way. I like how it all dries instantly, it's a real time saver, but I could definitely do with a bigger brush for this work. I've pushed the slider to max and it's still tiny.

Man, painting this green stripe along the back of the dragon is taking forever. Seriously, it's a real test of endurance and perseverance. I mean, I could always just do a scruffy job, but then it'd look scruffy!

SEVEN MILLION HOURS OF PAINTING LATER

Alright, I've done the body, now I'm working on the head, which I very sensibly did not glue to the rest of the model before painting. I think having the base attached would've made it a bit awkward to rotate it around and paint the yellow on these bits of the dragon's, uh, beard?

Though it's actually fairly easy to airbrush parts of the model without getting paint everywhere else, as long as I keep the centre of the brush within the lines. If I slipped here and moved the cursor directly over the neck, it'd get paint on it, but going around the edge works fine.

SOON

You know what else gets old? When a model guide has a little circle on it with (4x) or (6x) written in it. That means I have to paint the same piece a whole bunch of times! I can't just copy and paste what I did for the first bit, that would break the immersion! (Unless I can and I've been wasting a bunch of time on this dull, repetitive task.)

Click the brown paint icon, click all the metal bits on the model, click the black paint, click all the cogs, click the grey paint, click the spherical tyre at the bottom... repeat four times.

Oh, plus it needs to have weathering done as well!

Another 5 star result, huge shock.

Wait, hang on, I only got 'great' for the Special category, not 'amazing'? Look at the thing, it's a shiny steampunk work of art! How much more special did they want it to be?

Oh damn, Hollywood's going to hear about me!

Wait, I got a score of 96.7? What the hell? I still got a bunch of money and experience, but I don't understand why my steampunk spider tank didn't get first place. I mean, what didn't I get right? How did I fall short of perfection? Some actual feedback would be appreciated.

Now I'm being forced to learn about online auctions. It's like online shopping, except I lose items and gain money. Though only if I can actually bear to part with any of my creations.

Yeah, I'm getting rid of them all. I don't want a second-prize winning tank on my shelf, reminding me of my undefined failure. Give me the cash, I want more paints and tools.

As the game goes on it's asking me to do more of the work and giving me trickier tasks. There is still a lot of 'click paint icon, click model' going on, but I also have to paint this woman's face on with a brush. I'm just glad I can zoom right in like this, as can be tricky to paint with a mouse.

The funny thing is, I don't think the game even cares about my accuracy. All I have to do is put one drop of paint on the correct part of the model and it's satisfied. It's up to you to give a damn about the end result. I'm not doing this to earn points, I'm doing it because I want it to look good.

Well, I got it to look horrifying at least.

The game features different paint schemes for the models, which is good as it likes to make me do them twice.

Doing the actual painting is the same process, but the miniature does come out looking different so I guess it's fine for the game to insist that I do it all over again.

See, now I'm back to this tank again! Though to be fair, this time it didn't start off already half-assembled and it's making me paint the camo on myself.

There are some helpful pictures at the back of the instructions to help me with the paint pattern. I just wish I'd flicked through the instructions first and seen what it expected me to do, then maybe I would've painted it before putting it together! It's asking me to stick my paintbrush into the gaps between the tracks and the wheels so it's no surprise that it's turning out to be a real scruffy mess.

I'm setting some of the colours as favourites so I can quickly switch between them and clean up overlaps. There's no undo button when you're doing actual painting. Unless there is and I just don't know about it.

SOON

Now the game's turned into World of Guns: Gun Disassembly, as I'm putting together a pistol out of actual handgun components rather than blocks of plastic with the detail moulded in. It's not getting too pissy about the order I put it together though. I get to exercise a little bit of creativity.

Oh, I actually did manage to mess up and put something together in the wrong order after all. I should've put something else in place before putting the screw into the handle. Not a huge crisis though as I can disassemble glued parts by undoing each step in turn.

Hang on, this gun looks a bit familiar to me. In fact it's basically identical to Han Solo's pistol in Star Wars! I'm pretty sure they didn't get the licence for that.

There are some official Frostpunk model kits here, amongst other things, but they're out of stock. And DLC. And like I said earlier, not available for me on my Epic Games Store version at this time. It's a shame really, because the game could really use a lot more models. Sure you can make a plane, a tank, a submarine, a fake Gundam etc. But who wants to make just one kind of plane?

Anyway, I was sent here by an email to buy the next model, so I have to do that before I can go back to the workbench.

The models are definitely getting a bit more complex now. I've come a long way from glueing a cockpit into a plane fuselage and then sticking the wings on. The only problem I've got with this is that it can be awkward clicking the tiny parts on the instruction sheet.

EVENTUALLY

There isn't a plot exactly, but every now and then I get another message from Joy, who's suffering from doubts and a lack of motivation, and could do with some reassuring words. It would be nice if that's all it took to help someone get back into their hobby, but it doesn't necessarily work like that. It's definitely not working here, though I am still trying.

I also got another commission in my inbox, from a butler. He works for a man who's into more extreme hobbies, but needs a design he can use for a real vehicle. Also it has to be black. Dude, am I working for Batman now?

I screwed it up though and only got three stars. This is the first time I've ever got less than 5!

The frustrating thing is, I'm not sure what I did wrong. The progress bar at the top of the screen froze at 95% complete and nothing I did would make it move closer to 100. I put it all together, I painted it all black like I was asked, I put the bat symbols on it... I don't get it. There's no way I could've missed a spot with the paint, I used the tool that covers the whole model!

This mech project's working out a lot better. The progress bar's already at 100% and I'm not even done yet.

There's no professionally printed paint guide for this one, I'm working off a sketch someone drew, and the game doesn't care that my colours aren't an exact match. In fact I'm not even sure I can paint it to match that picture, as the shapes are different.

I like that glowing paint, by the way. Who even needs internal lighting? Hopefully not you, as the game doesn't have that feature.

This might look like Kaneda's bike from Akira, but if you look carefully the decal I'm putting down says "CITIES" instead of "CITIZEN", and that's just one of potentially multiple reasons why it's completely different.

I'm not complaining, I love that I get to make all these recognisable models and I'm curious about what it's going to give me next. I just hope that it doesn't take me an embarrassingly long time to connect the dots and work out what I'm making, like with the 'Warthog Express' steam train it had me building earlier. To be fair, steam trains generally look pretty generic. They could've called a train the 'Great Scott' and I still wouldn't have figured out it meant to be the one from Back to the Future, Part III.

SOME MODELS LATER

I've inherited a new apartment! Look at this place, it's awesome. Especially if that's a bed at the top of those stairs. Who hasn't wanted to sleep with the ceiling right up against your nose, with a 2-metre drop if you roll off the side?

Oh, I should check outside for butterflies.

That's Paris out there, apparently. Though this is all I can see of it out of the window. There's no option to open the window and lean out for a better look, which is a shame as that's the first thing I'd do in real life.

The emails add just enough contact with the outside world to make it feel like there could be people down there, walking down the street, just out of sight. But the only way any of them are going to enter my life is if they pay me to build them a model car.

Okay, I think I've pretty much seen all the game has to show me now.

Hang on, I was wrong, now it's introducing masking tape. This stuff is magic as it can be inverted, so you can cover the tiny bit that you want to be painted then flip it to cover the rest of the model instead.

There were some other tools in the shop which I haven't tried yet, but I bought them all for later. I've also gotten some upgrades to tools I already have, like now I can clip all the pieces from the sprue just by holding the button down, no slicing required.

Okay, that's just the USS Enterprise. Calling it the Copernicus doesn't fool me (especially as there's an alternative decal to call it the Enter Price).

I've been trying to improve my score by adding some extra paint effects with a sponge tool and, uh, a ray gun tool, but the game never seems to be impressed. I've got to keep working on getting my 'Special' rating from 'Great' to 'Awesome'.

This seems like a good time to turn the game off. Though maybe I'll just quickly get this sad rusty hot rod commission done first...


CONCLUSION

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People don't always appreciate it when I put a podcast or a YouTube video on when I'm playing a game, who could even guess why... but this right here is a podcast game. Model Builder was basically made so you can have a video playing on a second monitor and chill out. It's the exact opposite of a bullet hell shooter.

It's also pretty functional. If you want to make model kits without all the expense of buying paint and glue and model kits, this has you covered. It doesn't have a whole lot of kits mind you, especially if you can't get the DLC, but there's a bit of variety here. You can even display your virtual creations... virtually.

The trouble with simulators is that the real-life tasks they're simulating can often get repetitive and monotonous, even if you're doing a hobby. Sometimes a simulator will let you cheat a little and skip to the next interesting bit, but not Model Builder! If the instructions say you have to paint six identical parts exactly the same, then you're getting each of them out in turn and you're painting those parts. All you can do is sigh and get on with it... unless there's a feature I missed. I wouldn't be shocked, as there are buttons all over the place and I'm sure there are still a few I haven't tried yet.

Plus there's always something about the real-life experience that a simulator can't replicate on your computer. When you're building an actual model you have to think about where you're putting stuff on your table, you have to find the right pieces, you have to wait for the glue and the paint to dry, and so on. And you should probably open a window as well, as paints and glues can have a bit of an odour to them. That's part of the reason the game was made actually: to give people a chance to make models without stinking their house up.

You're getting an abstraction of model building here, where putting the pieces together is as simple as dragging them into roughly the right place, and the majority of painting involves clicking the suggested colour and then clicking on the model. There's a lot less skill involved than with the real deal. Though it does let you demonstrate your creativity with the paint job, and the paintbrush and airbrush tools work about as well as I could've hoped for. You can even buy different brushes and there are pressure options for graphics tablet users.

Despite its flaws, it kind of goes without saying that this is the best model kit building simulator I've ever played and I don't think it's going to get dethroned any time soon. There's certainty room for improvement, but who else would make something like this?

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The clue for the next game is way too difficult this time and nobody's going to be able to guess what it is, but that's fine I think. It gets boring if it's always easy.

Please leave a comment anyway if you're into leaving comments!