Which Hobby Sayings Are Popular With Model Builders?

I keep a running mental list of the short, stubborn sayings that modelers toss around, and here are my favorites in quick-fire form — the kind you hear when someone leans over your bench and offers advice like they mean it.

- 'Test fit first.' Short, blunt, lifesaving; I say it like a warning bell whenever glue comes out.
- 'Less is more.' Especially true with washes and weathering; too much and the kit looks like it lost a fight.
- 'Panel lining is makeup.' Cute and accurate — it brings out the details.
- 'Kitbash for character.' Encourages creativity; I used that to justify converting a hammer into a bazooka once.
- 'OTB pride' (straight out of the box) — some folks wear it like a medal; others see it as a creative constraint.

I usually sprinkle these phrases into build logs or when helping friends: they’re shorthand for years of mistakes and fixes. The funny ones — like 'one more decal' — are universal excuses that make the hobby feel communal. Whenever someone drops one of these lines, I smile because it means I’m among people who’ve learned the hard way, and that’s a lovely kind of company.

There are so many little mottos and offhand lines that echo around workbenches — they feel like tiny rituals that keep the hobby moving. One I hear the most is 'test fit, test fit, test fit.' It sounds obvious, but I can’t count the times that simple mantra saved me from gluing a part in the wrong orientation or scraping paint off a panel. That phrase usually comes with the smell of plastic and superglue, a cup of half-cold coffee, and the soft glow of a desk lamp at midnight. When I'm sandblasting or pinning parts, that phrase plays back in my head and I slow down, and the build ends up cleaner for it.

Another cluster of sayings is about finishing choices — 'weathering tells a story' and 'panel lining is makeup.' Those two get argued about a lot at shows or in online build logs. I grew fond of weathering after a friend handed me a tiny wash bottle and said 'if it doesn’t look a little dirty, it didn’t live.' Suddenly my tanks and mecha stopped looking like toys and started looking like they'd been on a mission. 'Panel lining is makeup' is a more playful one that I use when I want to justify an hour of tiny brushwork; it makes a model pop the way a little eyeliner can change a face.

Then there are the comfier, community-driven phrases: 'straight out of the box' (often shortened to 'OTB') as a badge of pride for clean builds without mods, 'kitbash for character' when people mix parts to invent something unique, and 'one more decal' — the lie we tell ourselves when we’re already late to bed. I also love the gruffer workshop-style sayings like 'measure twice, cut once' and 'pin vice is king' — practical stuff that comes from countless ruined parts and recovered mistakes. The best part is how these lines carry memories: a rushed clean-up that turned into panel-lining practice, a shared tip about thinning paint that finally got my airbrush flowing, or the sibling who taught me to love tiny screwdrivers. They’re not just words; they’re shortcuts to experience, little cultural threads that pull a room of strangers into one hobby. Next time I pick up a brush, one of those phrases will probably be the first thing I mutter to myself, and that’s oddly comforting.