Firstly, old 'Nick' himself, a pleasure to work on. Mostly built out of the box, needing only a few extras to finish what I think is a miniature masterpiece - thank you Hasegawa. The central point of interest is the cockpit of course. The builder gets the choice of parts for either canopy open, or closed. The undercarriage contains sharp detail throughout and only needs careful painting to set it all off. The radial engines are excellent but are mostly obscured by the large propeller boss. The props can, however, come off for separate display. What extras did I add? Seat belts, naturally, aerial wire with insulators, brake pipe tubing and wired up engines. What else can you give the kit that has everything?
And I built a jet. Yes, yes, a jet, remain calm. On a whim, I bought the Revell F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A slight change of pace? For someone who builds as often as I do, a little of what you fancy does you no end of good. I found the Revell kit a bit on the bland side though. It has the basics - engraved panels and weapons bays. The landing gear was reasonably good and it has opening engine and intake compartments, and a pair of sparrow missiles and LGBs are also included. I went off to the internet to do some research, and found the Lockheed-Martin website a big help. In the end, I was able to upgrade the cockpit and ejector seat, and adding some additional wiring and photo-etched parts made all the difference.
Careful painting of the weapons and gear bays is really worth the trouble. Decals are included to complete the model for the USAF, the USN and the Netherlands Air Force. Naturally I chose the former and finished the model in a contemporary scheme. I do like the occasional modern jet, but I'm very choosy. Without wanting to sound elitist, I won't build without a lot of initial deliberation. I think I just invented plastic snobbery....
Then I moved onto ships. I have a small confession to make. I've always had a soft spot for ships. There, I've said it, it's out of the way. Specifically wartime naval vessels, mostly in 1/700 scale, waterline. Here are a pair of '0' class destroyers. They're built from the excellent Tamiya kit.
Although mostly built out of the box, I have added a few extras of my own. In the main, it's the painting. Intricate, delicate painting of these diminutive models makes all the difference. I will be building more warships, so be prepared to see more of them on here. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do.
Now that I've had the pleasure of all the above, they can go to eBay. There's only so much shelf space left in my workroom, and for me, the fun is in the building, not the owning.
More completions soon.
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