What I hope to accomplish this year

This year I would love to expand my modelling. I've already added cars to my usual mix of airplanes and armor. My one ship attempt so far has been a disaster, but I can't let that stop me. Maybe it's time to try a sailing ship again - last time was in...well, too long ago to remember! I have ventured into larger scale aircraft but need to find some way to safely display them before building too many more.

One thing I want to do for sure is improve my weathering techniques. In the old days I didn't care too much about weathering and built and painted my models factory new. As such my skills at such simple things as dry-brushing and applying washes are sadly undeveloped. Weathering - adding wear and tear, fading, combat damage, etc. - can take an okay model and turn it into a show-stopper. Or a complete and utter mess. I've been trying to apply some of the techniques on the few kits I've built since returning to the hobby. It's a slow process learning each technique and how best to apply it to each kit. This is something where one size most definitely does not fit all - each subject requires its own level of weathering. Some heavier, some lighter, different colors and techniques depending on the desired effect, even  what color the base paint is changes what needs to be done. All part of the learning process.

D'oh!

For some reason I never posted this kit!

I received this in the International Scale Modeller Secret Santa gift exchange. It will be built as part of a group build among those of us who participated in the exchange. It will also be my first HobbyBoss kit. I'm looking forward to the build as it looks like a fantastic kit!

Ju 88 started

I decided to go ahead and get started on the Revell 1/32 Ju 88 kit. Opening the box revealed quite a few sprues of rather large parts. Everything is so BIG! After looking through the sprues and reviewing the instruction manual I was worried that I might not have enough paint on hand!

One thing I've decided is that I'm not going to try and document every single step for this build. If you search on Google you will find there are already several good reviews available in both written and video form. I'm just going to try to document the highlights and/or trouble spots I run into. 

Construction begins with the cockpit. Or more precisely, the starboard cockpit wall. There are several other parts that are attached to it before it is painted. Color callouts in the instructions are all for Revell paints that aren't available in the US. Looking online I did my best to find color equivalents but some of the lists I found left me scratching my head in confusion. In the end I used Tamiya XF-22 RLM Gray as the base color for the interior as shown here:

Detailing the parts with black, white, and leather brown brought it to life. Here it is with the other bits I've been working on:

I still need to give it a wash and some dry brushing to show wear. As you can see the cockpit area all by itself is nearly 4 inches in length! Once installed in the fuselage and with the canopy parts in place the cockpit area will be a bit over 4 inches by 2 inches, a lot of area to paint, detail, and weather!

This is a BIG box!

While she was out running errands prior to Thanksgiving my wife stopped by a hobby shop to look for a particular kit for me. They didn't have the one I want but did have something else that's been on my list. Even though it was a bit on the expensive side ($50!) she brought this home for me:

This is a huge kit. Well, compared to what I have been building at least. The wingspan is 24.8 inches (63.0cm) and the length is 17.8 inches (45.3cm), quite a bit larger than anything I've built in a very long time! In years past I have built larger models but it's been a very, very long time since I tackled something this size.

The kit is produced by Revell Germany. One of the things you'll notice if you look at the artwork carefully is the lack of a swastika on the tail of the bomber. German law prohibits the display of the swastika as a Nazi symbol. They don't include them on the decal sheet so I will have to source aftermarket decals when the time comes. There are also a lot of aftermarket detail bits available from Eduard (photo-etch for interior and exterior, resin wheels, etc.) but I'll have to make do without since it would more than double the price of the kit!

I'm going to try and take my time with this one. Given the scale there is no excuse not to take my time and try to paint as much detail in the cockpit as possible, especially given the huge canopy area. My primary concern at this point is whether I'm going to have enough paint when it comes time!

Eduard 1/48-scale Messerschmitt Bf.109E-4 Weekend Edition (Kit 84166)

While at the hobby shop a few days ago I picked up this Eduard 1/48-scale Messerschmitt Bf.109E-4 Weekend Edition kit. As this is my first Eduard kit I went into it with great anticipation and have not been disappointed. Even the packaging sets this kit apart from the majority, with a sturdy box holding beautifully molded parts protected by resealable plastic bags. The clear part are in their own ziploc baggie. The decals are superb as are the instructions.

Eduard's Weekend Edition kits are the same plastic parts as their Profi-Pak kits, but only the plastic parts. They don't include the photo-etch or canopy masks, and rather than the multiple choices in marking include decals for only a single aircraft. In the case of the Bf.109E-4 those are for W.Nr. 5819, Obstlt. Adolf Galland, Geschwaderkommodore JG 26, Audembert, France – December 1940, a find choice for this iconic aircraft.

Inspection of the parts shows the magnificent recessed panel line and rivet detail:

This detail is consistent across every part of the aircraft's surface. Such a change from the raised panel lines and rivets I was so used to in the kits of the 70's and 80's!

Interior detail is a bit less prevalent as this model is intended to use Eduard's photo-etch details. It is still excellent in quality and will build into a great looking cockpit. Here are the cockpit walls for reference:

The kit includes a fully detailed DB-601 and gun bay for displaying the kit with the cowlings removed. I decided to forgo this option as I just don't have a safe enough spot to display what would be a very delicate model.

Building starts with the interior parts. The cockpit, firewall, oil cooler, and tail wheel all need to be built and inserted into one fuselage half before the fuselage can be closed up.

Oil cooler:

Interior parts were painted with a base coat of Tamiya XF-22 RLM Gray. Details were picked out with flat black, flat white, and flat yellow.

There are two options for the instrument panel included in the kit. One is flat panels to be used with supplied decals, the other is raised detail panels for painting. I chose a third option and applied the decals to the raised panel using several applications of Micro-Sol. The result was well worth the effort.

The panels were given a light misting of Testors Dullcote to knock down the gloss of the decals. After installation you can't tell they weren't hand painted. Once they and the other interior parts were glued in place I closed up the fuselage. I also built the wings at the same time.

The fuselage goes together with nearly invisible seams except in the area of the oil cooler under the chin. There I had to used a dab of Squadron White Putty to smooth things out.

Once the glue had set up properly (and a small accident had been cleaned up after knocking my Testors Liquid Cement bottle over) the wings were joined to the fuselage. Once again the seams were nearly invisible and required no filling. Even the wing root/fuselage join, an area where many models have issues, was miniscule. The cowling and access panels for the engine and gun bay were also installed.

More photos to come!

More goodies!

Yesterday I acquired two more kits. The first I won in a Twitter giveaway by DragonUSA Online. Here's what I won:

Later on I took a trip to the hobby shop to pick up some paint for this and a couple of other models. I made the mistake of browsing the aisles and ended up bringing this home as well:

 

Both are fantastic kits. I fell in love with Dragon kits while building my Hummel and expect nothing less from this kit. The Bf.109E-4 is a kit I've looked at before. I've been wanting to try an Eduard kit and this seemed like a good one to start with. And yes, I did get the paints I had gone to the shop for originally plus the paints for the Emil. All in all a very good day!

Revell Ford Custom update

The Revell 1/25 scale Ford Custom is pretty much finished. All that's really left is getting the body painted and attaching the last chrome bits. I need to get some paint before I can proceed.

Finished interior showing dashboard

 Engine compartment

 Underside showing exhaust and fuel tank

Preview of what the finished model will look like

This is a great kit. The parts all fit well, there is minimal flash to clean up, and it builds into a solid model. About the only thing I can really complain about is that the instructions are a bit vague on the exact placement of some parts, especially on the engine and in the engine compartment. I strongly recommend that the builder take the time to dry fit repeatedly before gluing assemblies into place. One example in particular is that the steering pump has an end that fits into a hole in the firewall. Nowhere in the instructions is this shown. It is up to the builder to discover this and figure out how to fit these parts together when the time comes.

Unfortunately this is something that isn't uncommon in plastic model kits. Most have gone to simple CAD generated line drawings with minimal text. In the past instructions were highly detailed and each step was fully explained and accompanied by precise drawings. Those detailed instructions do take much longer to produce and require the services of experienced technical writers and draftsmen to create. The simpler instructions coming in today's kits are adequate if the builder takes the time to dry fit parts, and they do help to keep kit prices lower so I guess it's a trade-off we'll just have to live with.

Revell 1/25 scale 1957 Ford Custom ("Tudor")

I've been working on this kit for a few days now. I'm quite pleased with how it's going together. Parts fit is very good and the assembly is well thought out. Detail in some areas is soft but that's to be expected from a kit in this price range.

Assembly starts with the engine. The left and right halves of the block/transmission line up very well and go together with no unintended gaps. The seam is tight and easily removed.

It really begins to shine when painted and with the other parts on.

I did deviate from the instructions a bit by altering some of the colors called for. Simply put I don't have any gold paint nor the money to get any, so I used silver and certain Metalizer colors that I have on hand. I also decided to go ahead and work on the interior while I waited for the paint and glue on the engine and frame to fully cure.

The blue is Tamiya XF-8 Flat Blue, which happens to be a very close match to the Dresden Blue from the Ford color brochure for this car. The grey patterned areas are decals provided in the kit, and the door and window handles are painted with Model Master Chrome Silver. The only change is that I used Testors Dullcote to get a flat finish rather than the gloss of the uncoated decals.

More as construction progresses.

Grr....

Suffered a major setback in finishing the Hummel. I was trying to paint some of the detail parts when I dropped a brush full of Model Master Metalizer. The result is not pretty:

I'm not sure how to proceed at this point. Options are to lightly sand the affected areas and try to repair the existing paint job, or to lightly sand the entire thing and start over. The lower hull and tracks weren't affected so that can be masked off whichever way I choose to go. If I do decide to repaint I"ll go with a different camo scheme. This one is neat but a bit more than my current airbrush skills were capable of. There are simply too many flaws for my liking, so this would be a really good excuse to redo things. Got to think about it some more - maybe while we're waiting for our landlord to fix the broken air conditioner.

I have commited camouflage...

Yep, the Hummel has its camo scheme:

The scheme is for a Hummel with the 2.SS.Pz.Div. "Das Reich" on the Eastern Front in 1944. Still have decals and weathering to do.

Caution: Wet Paint!

Put the first color down on the Hummel:

Model Master Acryl Panzer Dunkelgelb (Dark Yellow). Still have to add the camouflage colors - once I determine for sure which pattern I'm going with, that is! Red Brown and Dark Green, or just Dark Green. Not going to attempt the winter schemes as I do NOT like airbrushing white paint.

I've also been working on painting and weathering the tracks. First time ever doing anything but painting them steel and I think I did okay:

Primed with Tamiya Light Grey, then base coated with Model Master Metalizer Steel (Non Buffing). After that a wash of Model Master Acryl Shokoladenbraun (Chocolate Brown) and a wash of Model Master Rust enamel. Finally dry-brushed with Steel on the contact surfaces. Might have gone a bit heavy on the rust wash but that's okay.

I've always wanted a pickup truck!

As a break from working on the Hummel and Arizona I started on the Revell 1/25 1956 Ford F-100 Ed Roth kit my wife bought for me. I neglected to take photos of the chassis build but here it is completed, painted, and awaiting bodywork:

A closeup of the engine and cab:

And a preview of what it will look like with the cab and bed on, first with tonneau cover:

And then without:

The bodywork has been primed and is awaiting paint. Just need to decide if I'm going with the kit gloss white or something else that will go with the red frame and cab trim.

Tracks!

The Hummel has tracks!

Each side is 103 individual links glued into a continuous track. Time consuming and finicky but the absolute best way to model realistic sag.

More work on the Hummel

Finally managed to get a bit more done to the Hummel.

The model is just about ready for paint. I still need to assemble the tracks (Dragon Magic Tracks) and set the length so I can permanently attach the idlers. Once that's done it will be time to prime and lay some paint! The paints I will be using are Model Master Acryl over Tamiya primer.

I only started using the paints a few weeks ago but I'm really liking them! After a bit of a learning curve (you MUST use a good primer with these for them to stick) I find they go down quite well and give an excellent finish. They brush well, resulting in a smooth, flat coat. Airbrushing also provides excellent results, although depending on the airbrush you may need to thin them a bit for them to flow properly.

Hummel progress

Slowed down a bit the last few days, didn't really make any progress on the Hummel until last night. Here's what I got done:

The photo-etch on this little box took me 45 minutes to do - yeesh!

I decided to go ahead and close the vision ports since there's zero detail inside the driver's compartment.

 

The gun was actually done a couple of days ago, just forgot to upload the pic.  I have a few more bits on it, 66 of the 69 total pieces (!!) that go into its construction. The paint is Model Master Acryl Panzer Dunkelgelb (Tank Dark Yellow), the color all German armor was painted from 1942 on. Green and/or brown were added in the field, either by brush or sprayed with painting gear that was standard equipment for German armor. There are three photo-etch brass plates that go on the gun as well, two info plates and the range plaque. Those will have to wait until all the painting is done as they need to be painted black with white details - oh, joy.

There is still a LOT more to go on this including the Magic Tracks - 144 individual track links per side. There's also a lot of photo-etch still to go. One thing I have discovered is that bending photo-etch without a purpose-made bending jig is tough, especially for some of the tinier bits. So far I've only managed to lose one piece, a mounting frame for the first-aid kit, due to trying to bend it with what I have and managing to break it instead. Ah, well, live and learn. This is my first photo-etch enhanced kit and I'm learning as I go.

Awesome kit so far, despite a few bobbles along the way. Can't blame those on the kit, though, they're entirely the fault of the builder.

Goodies for my stash

I used to have a stash of 30 or 40 kits waiting to be built. Not big by some standards - I know guys who have literally hundreds of kits in closets and on shelves - but decent. That was a long time ago, before moving out of Texas, going to college, getting married, moving again, that sort of thing. I'm slowly convincing my wife that just because I'm still working on one kit doesn't mean I can't buy another for later on. Not sure she believes me just yet but I'm persistent.

She has bought me two more kits, one a delayed birthday present and another as a thank you for replacing the broken screen on her iPad. Here's what I have in my micro-stash:

 

I'm really looking forward to building these!