Elco 80 PT596 from Italeri

Or in other words, that great big thing on our coffee table. It works out at just under 28" long and 10" tall on its stand. It's 1/35 scale so it'll go with your armour collection. Did they have tanks at Tulagi?
That's dealt with the size issue, what about the kit? Well, I've been all month just putting it together. It comprises: four x .50 machine guns, one 20mm Oerlikon cannon, one 37mm deck gun, two x posable rocket launchers, four x 21" torpedoes and one 40mm Bofors AA cannon. It took as long to type as it did to build.


I am not going to give out tips on building this kit as it practically builds itself. The reference booklet that accompanies it contains some very useful photos of PT596. From what I can see, the kit wants for nothing. A small set of very useable photo-etch parts are also provided and make for some lovely finishing touches around the model.


The mast/radar array is superb, as are the machine gun positions. The torpedoes have nice surface detail and photo-etched fins. Their release brackets are also very convincing.
The assembly and build-up of the boat is nearly at an end, and what fun it has been. Good detail and parts fit, and a pleasure to see the model take shape.

The next stage of course is the painting. This is the real fun, for me. Unlike a 1/48 fighter, a 1/35 PT boat will need to be carefully planned and each section completed in order. More photos to come.

The plaintive cry...

I do have a fascination with large projects. All my benches are full of large constituent parts, and the largest of them all has been sitting upstairs in my paint room, waiting for me. Every time I go out into the hall I'm sure I can hear this plaintive cry: 'Paint me....paint me'. Last week, I capitulated - anything for a quiet life. I went in there and put some paint on it, just to keep it happy for a while so I can get on downstairs. Here are some photos of the extorted paint job.


It's true what the Bard says: Conscience doth make cowards of us all.

Oh yes, the forgotten Butcher Bird

I sometimes go through the computer archives for images for the blog or eBay, or just because I like to look. I go back a couple of years just to refresh my memory on past projects - see I can use the computer, I'm not really a Luddite!
Just recently I discovered evidence that I had built the Eduard Focke Wulf 190. Quite a revelation. Maybe it's just my age affecting my memory....Anyway, here, after almost eighteen months, are the photos.


A subject as popular as this has had many incarnations over the years. Remember when we thought that the Monogram and later the Fujimi FW190's were good?
Much later, Tamiya introduced their rendition which eclipsed them all. Next came Hasegawa's A3/A4 series. As good as that one was, it was shoved rudely out of the way by the all-singing, all-dancing Eduard kit.


So what's so special about the Eduard offering? Is it the engraved panel detail? Or the multiple choice decal sheet? You can get that with Tamiya or Hasegawa. No, it's the colour etched parts, the engine and the weapons detail. The fit of the parts is not always wonderful, especially around the nose area, and the instructions are not always as clear as you'd like. So what's the attraction? Maybe it's the challenge. As brilliant as Tamiya is, it's too clinical and quick. With Eduard, it's a real project. It feels as though you are building the real aircraft in miniature. It's a tough, tricky little kit of your favourite airplane which you have to work on. So when you've completed it, a pat on the back is due. A big well-done is appropriate. Especially from yourself.

More from Japan

Regular readers will spot that I have not previously mentioned anything about a Japanese warship, but I have in fact been building one for some time.

It has been the most engrossing forty-odd hours I have spent in a while, and I was too intent even to pick up the camera. This one probably counts as a leisure build, although it will go on sale soon. I've been working on it in the evenings and weekends, and I'm sorry it has come to an end. The build went really well, in spite of one or two perceived inaccuracies, but it was a terrific experience. What is it? It's the 'Nagato' of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Made in Japan

A friend of ours is a pilot for American Airlines, and this week he shared with us some photos, taken from the cockpit, of the approach to Japan. They are lovely photos and he was happy for me to post them here for readers to enjoy. Many thanks, David.