Thursday 25 February 2010

An Exciting Year

Actually, I think I said the same thing this time last year, but every year it gets better and better. Lately I mentioned about the Hasegawa F16 in 1/32 scale. This has come on in leaps and bounds - check the photo. It's going to be a stunner, a very imposing model, full of fuel tanks and and with a striking colour scheme.


Next up will be a very unusual subject - a what-if from the post-WW II era. This is a 1/700 scale waterline kit of HMS Invincible, classed as a fast battleship. However, Britain signed the Washington Treaty and the Invincible became HMS Rodney. In fact I'll be using some parts from the Tamiya Rodney to complete this resin kit. It promises to be quite a challenge.


Lastly, for now, is this old favourite. The Tamiya Lanc has been around since Adam were a lad, but it is till a terrific kit. This build will include the full Eduard Big Ed set, a set of Belcher resin engine cowlings , a set of bulged resin wheels and a set of Techmod decals. I'll be starting on this in a few weeks, so stand by for a mega build.


I have plenty of other big projects on the go for later this year. I'm normally a builder of static models, but I do occasionally do some special work with dioramas which feature light-and-sound - details of this on here later in the year.

Sunday 21 February 2010

A Desert Song

Or how to build an IAF F-16 out of Hasegawa's really old 1/32 scale kit.

Quite recently I was asked to build an F-16A, and with it was a very nice IsraDecals set. Although the kit dates from way back (maybe the seventies?), it's possible to make an impressive, up to date job from one these older kits, especially with the quality decals.

On examining the kit you can't help but notice the good layout, and the full weapons set, and all those fuel tanks. It's been a long time since I had a look at a Hasegawa 1/32 scale jet, but I thought they only gave you the basics in their kit, and sold the ordnance separately. I know that Tamiya's F-16 in this scale is the bee's knees, but then it's a hundred quid, and usually you get what you pay for.

Below are some photos so you can see how it's going. On the box it says F-16A plus, which I assume is because they include a Metal Aces II seat - very nice, better than the plastic one.

Today's kits may be neater and tidier, with engraved panel lines and no flash, but the older kits still have a beautiful model concealed in their sprues, waiting to be brought out by the devoted modeller...


Monday 8 February 2010

Nothing fits!

You know what I'm talking about. There are a few producers whose products can elicit such a response. Classic Airframes is one of them. Late last year I was asked to build their Lockheed Hudson in 1/48 scale. I'd always wanted to build one of these but I was a little concerned in advance because I knew what it would involve..

I looked through the sprues and noticed the thick plastic parts with nicely engraved panel lines. There was a bagful of resin parts - alarmingly all bundled in one bag. The detail was very well rendered but packing them together leads to the inevitable breakages.

I set to with determination. The flight deck built up nicely and I painted it, along with its attendant parts. I'm all ready to assemble, but surprise surprise, nothing goes anywhere near the fuselage. It was the very acme of foolishness to suppose it would.... It was the usual Classic Airframe problem - overly-thick plastic fuselage and an over-wide resin flight deck. The only way round it was to assemble it Johnny Cash-style - one piece at a time. I dismantled the flight deck and started again, test fitting the fuselage at every stage. Of course, I had to fill and paint as I went. Painstaking? Time-consuming? Oh yes, but ultimately a job well worth doing. As a pal of mine used to say, 'there's only one winner'. And now to get the wings on.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Your 'local' model shop

For me this is a bit of a contradiction in terms. My local model shop was closed down about five years ago after serving a community of modellers and hobbyists for sixty years. I even worked there from time to time, and it was always a pleasure.

The manager was gifted when it came to model railways - there was nothing a customer could ask him he didn't know the answer to, and I developed a side interest in railways as a result.

These days, my local model shop is ten miles away, and its real reason for being is radio controlled cars and bikes, with a little railways and kit stuff on the side. I can get my paint, brushes and airbrush cleaner there, so that's great.

But if I want to have a good look at the plastic itself, that's eighteen miles in the other direction. There's a sort of modeller's supermarket - enormous premises and a vast stock of pretty much everything, but because of my workload I only get to go every year or so! This leaves me with the modeller's main option - online. Plenty of choice here, and convenience too, no question.

But what you don't get at the end of your keyboard is a sense of atmosphere. There's no virtual substitute for an hour spent wandering around, talking to the staff who remember you from last time and know your interests. There's no chance of bumping into a fellow sufferer and sharing an experience. You can't root in the box or check the paint chart. Even handing over your goods and getting your wallet out could be a pleasure in the bricks-and-mortar shop. It was a place of rendezvous, a way of staying in touch, being part of the modelling community, and it gave this daft hobby some meaning. Without the hands-on aspect, many new modellers are being lost to the hobby right when their interest may be burgeoning. The internet has taken this from most of us - it made my own shop an expensive indulgence instead of a paying business - and the price of it is anonymity and building in a vacuum. I now rely on emails and photos from my clients and fellow builders for contact, and whilst I have made some good friends, it's not quite the same as a chat and a brew over the counter.

Epilogue:
Just last week I had to make a run for some airbrush cleaner and paint, so it was up the by-pass to the closest shop. Whilst in there I noticed the new Airfix Mosquito in 1/24 scale. I asked the chap behind the desk if he'd had much feedback on it. 'Nothing' he replied. and got on with his paperwork. 'Only been out since Christmas'. Had that been me in my shop, I'd be offering to get it down and give him a poke in the box, and we'd have had a chat about what was in the mags about it. I was the only customer in the shop, but seemingly not worth the time for a bit of back and forth. I left him to get on with his admin, and look forward to a life on line.