I have never built a vacuform kit before because I always had the impression that you could never get the detail that injected kits have. I've been poking around and have found that there are several subjects that I never even imagined anybody would manufacture kits for that are available as vacuform. As someone who enjoys some of the oddballs and not-so-successful types, I was wondering if there's a thread, or site that would have some pointers on this. I have a feeling I may be getting in over my head but, what the heck, that's why it's called a hobby.
Any suggestions? One thing in particular - how do they accept metalic finishes?

You're right sometimes subjects are only available in Vacuform, due to their rarity.

You'll fine that in many cases Vacuform kits not only lack some detail (You'll have to add), but many (at least the early one's) suffer from a lot of surface blems (You'll need to remove).

As for finishing them (metallic finishes, et al) there is no problem if you prime them, this of course after you've addressed all the surface blems and filing and sanding scars.

All that said, even when they do require extra work the can be worth the effort, to obtain a model of a rare aircraft you really must have.

Many of the short comings of Vacuform kits are shared by Resin kits.

P.S. Can't say that the next Vacuform or Resin kit I build will be purely for the enjoyment of the build process.

Go here for the how to and tips for vacform modeling

http://www.donsmodelworks.com/reference.htm

I have not built a vacform kit exclusively. I have built Koster's PB4Y-2 vacform conversion using RM's B-24J as the donor kit. The worst and hardest part was cutting out the parts from the vacform sheet, and sanding the cut parts down to eliminate the cut line. I finally mastered that bit at the end of the build. Other than that, the rest of the build was like any other injection kit. I took my time (4-1/2 months worth) building and the result was worth the effort.

Our very own M.E Rowan has written a very helpful guide on dealing with vac-form kits. Vacuform Basics .
Andy

Is there anything you guys don't know about modelling? I checked out the two sites mentioned - great!

Thanks to everyone.

How to walk on a Catwalk...

Jean-Luc

I'm suprised Jean-Luc, the French are the masters of fashion. There was me thinking it was bred into French people to walk on catwalks .
Andy