Evidence (the token New Year's Resolution post)

It's a new year and of course it brings with it new New Year's resolutions.

Looking at my stash of kits and miniatures one would probably think my resolution should be to not buy any more kits. But I'm not exactly prepared to go so far, so I think a more realistic compromise would be to limit the number I buy.

This post can serve as written evidence. This year I will buy less, build more from the stash. So, here's a list of kits I don't yet own but could buy this year. I don't have to buy them if my resolve is especially strong!

• Eduard's 1:72 MiG 15 (either a single or the combo kit)
• Airfix's 1:72 English Electric Lightning F2A
• Fine Molds' 1:72 Star Wars Y-Wing fighter

Miniatures wise, I don't buy many these days so apart from the odd figure or two out of curiosity I don't expect to buy much. Potential buys are from (in no particular order):

• Hasslefree Miniatures
• Black Scorpion Miniatures
• Perry Miniatures
• Mierce Miniatures
• Wargames Foundry 

And that's it, let see how long this resolution holds for. Apparently 33% of resolutions are broken by the end of January, 50% by the end of February, 80% before the year is out... Feel free to share your own modelling resolutions!

An average Modeller's stash? Top people working on it, no doubt!

Looking Back At 2013

So here we are, a new year and for many of us a new set of modelling goals. I'm sure you've already read many to-do lists for the next year but for me I'm currently reflecting on the past year. The whole purpose of this blog was to chart my journey as I returned back to scale aircraft models after a long absence from any form of modelling.

However as the year passed I found myself trying my hand at many other projects as well. Looking back at my very earliest posts I had set out to complete certain models but at the end of year I find I haven't achieved that. I did however try many things that I hadn't original intended and I'm very pleased to have widened my modelling focus.

So 2013, lets look and the good and the bad.

The Good

With out a doubt the highlight of my year was rediscovering (the newest) Airfix models, a brand that had featured strongly in my childhood. It didn't start too well with my first Airfix kit of the year which was strong mix of nostalgia and disappointment. However by the time I reached my final build of the year I was thoughly enjoying Airfix again and felt that I'd experienced the rejuvenation of a much loved British icon over the course of the year.

My 2013 Build of the Year

If I was to give out awards, then Airfix's 1;72 scale A6M2b Zero (kit A01005) would be my 2013 build of the year without any hesitation.

Looking forward to 2014 I'm really hoping to get a few more Airfix builds under my belt.

The Bad

The bad point for me really was the way I approached my return to the hobby. First of all I set myself targets that were way above my current skill level. As a result it sometimes took the fun out of the hobby for me. Secondly, at times was impatient and rushed builds. Partly because I felt I had to get something done for this blog and partly because of my aforementioned misjudged level of skill. I know I can build to a good standard but I also now know I'm still learning.

So for 2014 I'm going to take a more relaxed approach to my hobby. I'm also not planing on buying many more kits as I intend to build the ones I have in my stash. When the stash is smaller I hope I feel more of a sense of achievement.

The Ugly...

One of the surprise highlights of 2013 was my discovery of a selection of old miniatures. I came into possession of a large collection of metal miniatures in varying conditions and I'm slowly in the process of identifying /stripping / repairing them.

As I've said before I originally intended to work only on scale aircraft models but this discovery made me really appreciate some of the older miniatures of my teenage years in a way that I've not found possible for scale models. These models may not be able to compete with the latest resin casts, but I have found that sometime a simpler model can be just as much fun to work with.

If time allows then I'd certainly like spend some time rediscovering older miniatures again alongside my continuing scale model projects.

A Games Workshop Necromunda ganger with claw conversion

On that note I'll leave you with a teaser of the first, hopefully of many, that I'll be working on and wish you all best for 2014, whatever you choose to work on this year.

Merry Christmas (And A Mustang Update) - Part 1

First of all, Merry Christmas to all the readers of this blog, I hope your Christmas modelling endeavours are going well!

As promised the Mustang build has begun with Academy's 1:72 scale P-51B. Construction begun with the cockpit, which to fair to this kit is pretty decent straight out of the box. However as I was using an Eduard photo etch set, (SS250), to enhance it I had to file away a fair bit of it!

As you can imagine at this scale, things are small, but that was nothing compared to constructing the side walls. The Eduard set make a more 3D effect to the cockpit which looks much better, after some very fiddly bending and folding of parts which almost too small! Well worth the effort though.

So after waiting for all that glue to dry then it was onto putting the two halves together. Experience has taught me that Academy kits don't tend to go together well and this was the case again.It took a fair bit of filing, pushing and cursing to get them together with a small but fillable gap between them.

Once they were together the next stage was to attach the wings. The wings consist of a single bottom half with both wings and two top halves. The instructions say that you should build the whole assembly and then slot it onto the fuselage. Given the fit issues I'd experienced I decided to slot the single bottom half onto the fuselage with a bit of cutting and filing. Once that was in place I attached the two wing tops. As it happens that's exactly the way the Tamiya F-51D kit is meant to be built and I think it works much easier that way.

So all in all, a productive day. Only thing was that I was careless with the glazed parts, again! Fortunately the plastic box my breakfast croissant came in was a lifesaver as I was able to cut out a replacement window from it!

Christmas Mustangs

After the complete failure of trying to build Academy's F6F-3 Hellcat I've decided to get straight back into action with a dual build.

I've been running short of a few essentials but fortunately a delivery arrived for me, primer, paints, a few detail sets and some decals, just in time for Christmas!

So what am I building next?

I've decided to attempt to build two models at the same time, two 1:72 scale P-51 Mustangs.

First up is Academy's P-51B Mustang, Old Crow, (kit #1667 or #12464) with the addition of an Eduard photo etch set (SS250). First impressions are that this is a nicely detailed kit, I hoping that it goes together better than the last Academy kit I tried.

As well as that I'll be building Tamiya's F-51D Mustang, however I'm planning on converting it back to an earlier WWII P-51D. The main reason for this is that I bought this kit second hand and the decals have perished. So I've got some replacement decals from Kits-World (set #2049). I have to say I'm really impressed with their sets, check them out! Finally, as luxury item, I've got a resin interior set from CMK (#7172). I've been curious about the products they offer so I thought I'd try out a fairly simple one with a view to buying more in the future.

So a few more days of work and then the Christmas break arrives and with it some quality modelling time and more updates!

Simple Scratchbuilding - Academy's F6F-3/5 Hellcat (2224)

After my last build I decided that my next model would be an opposing aircraft, also in flight. Naturally I decided on the Zero's rival, the Grumman F6F Hellcat, of which I had a couple to choose from in my stash.

Opening up Academy's 1/72 F6F-3/5 kit (2224) I was surprised to find that there was only the option to build a wheels down version.

Any way you like as long as it's gear down

Oh well, I thought, guess I'm going to have to build Eduard's F6F-3 (kit 7076, also 1/72 scale). But once again, only one option is offered, wheels down.

I imagine the reason for this is that the Hellcat had hydraulically actuated landing gear struts which rotated through 90° and retracted backwards into the wings (instead of sideways like many other aircraft of the era). I presume this was because the wings folded up to save space when been transported on aircraft carriers. From a modelling point of view this would mean manufacturers would have to produce more parts so in these cases it's appears they didn't feel the need to.

So with the parts I had, I decided to try and model the gear up. This wasn't a straight forward as I expected. For a start the gear covers don't actually fit the space where they'd go if they were up, so some trimming was be needed! Fortunately there was enough space within the wing for the wheels, the finishing touch was to added the struts. These were made from small pieces of cocktail sticks, sliced horizontally.

Finally I cut a hole in the base of the aircraft for the stand. One thing I learnt from my last build was, doing this on a completed model is a somewhat nerve-wracking task, best avoided if possible!

Update 16-Dec: Unfortunately this particular build was consigned to the scrapheap soon afterwards. While trying to fit the clear parts I damaged several of them which meant I would not be able to finish this model to the standard I'd hoped for. (I later realised that the fumes from the glue I used to stick the two fuselage halves together above the clear parts had caused them to fog).