A few more kits on hand

I recently acquired a few more kits to keep me going, as well as some more paints and a few new brushes. My wife also got me a new airbrush for Christmas, something I've been needing for a while now.

The first kit is the Tamiya 1/35 Tiger I Initial Production:

 This kit was purchased for a SIG build on the International Scale Modeller forums. This is an out of the box build as I just didn't have the money to get any PE or resin upgrades. Oddly enough it's the first Tiger I've ever built even though I've been a model builder over half my life.

Next up is the Revel 1/32 Spitfire Mk IIa in the new tooling:

This kit was also purchased for a buddy build on the ISM forums. Again a pretty much out-of-the-box build although I will make what upgrades/corrections I can as I go along and with materials on hand. Since this buddy build lasts all year I may break down and get some resin upgrades if money will allow.

The last new kit is one I've been after for quite a while now, the AMT 1/25 Kenworth K-123 Cabover:

This is a more personal project, although I may also enter it in an upcoming group build. My uncle drove a truck like this from the late 1960s/early 1970s until he retired. He was an owner/operator and leased it to C&H Transportation of Dallas, Texas for his entire driving career. My uncle was a Marine in WWII and had some severe PTSD (although it wasn't called that back then) issues after the war. He started long-haul truck driving as a form of therapy and stayed with it from very shortly after coming home. I think finally being able to buy his own truck was one of the proudest days of his life. I plan to build this kit and finish it to resemble his truck. My cousins are going to go through their photo albums for pictures of my uncle and his truck to assist me. It's builds like this that bring something a bit extra-special into the hobby for me.

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!