Kit List, What's In, What's Out for 2017 - February

Part way through last year I decided to keep a record of everything hobby related that I bought and sold in order to keep track of my hobby consumption.

2017 has seen me continue this, so here's what I bought and sold this month, just been a few detail parts to enable me to work on several more aircraft kits which I currently own.

In - Purchases for February 2017

• Yahu Models Instrument Panels - £4.30
• Vacform Canopies - £4.60

Total Yearly (2017) Expenditure - £46.06

Out - Downsizing for February 2017

• None

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #12

Day 12 and I feel it’s time to bring this modelling challenge to an end by writing about an overlooked part of my hobby, reading and research.

For me I rarely build a model or paint a miniature without some sort of reading, or search for inspiration, or in some cases, in-depth research into the subject area. This takes up hobby time, but currently has no obvious direct physical result. A completed model is a completed model, and the depth of research, and the time taken, is not obvious at first glance. I have estimated that with my models I spent an equal amount of time researching a topic as I actually do working on the model itself.

I’m very much a person who likes reading and then, due to my creative, hands-on nature, I explore those topics via my modelling. It’s important to take this journey, it helps build connection between the concepts and information I read and the, physical, real world object I create in my hands. There’s also the issue of accuracy. I get a sense of achievement by producing an accurate model. Again this is personal to me, as I’m not the kind of person who would take time to comment on the inaccuracies of the work of others, only my own work.


It’s slightly different when it comes to the miniatures I paint. In this case I’m trying to create a physical representation that fits a theme. An example of this is when I paint models for Warhammer and I’m trying to aim for miniatures which fit a certain era of the Warhammer world, both the fictional world and a point in time of the real world, something I have written about before.

This reading and research gives me time to engage with my hobby when I’m not sat at my desk working on the models themselves. Usually this is time during the week as I tend to only have time for actual modelling at the weekends. But until now it’s not really been reflected on this blog. When I’m not modelling it appears that I’m just inactive, which is far from the case. And so that’s why I’ve decided, going forward, to share my research here, as I get as much enjoyment from writing about models, history, my inspirations and interpretations as I do from actually building them.

In the coming weeks and months you will see two types of new posts, they will be called, History in Detail and Inspiration in Detail (and will be labelled as such to assist searching). History will typically focus on the real life historical aspects of a model I’m building. This might be a look at the type of aircraft I’m building, the pilot who flew the aircraft or broader themes such as the campaigns in which an aircraft or vehicle took part in. Inspiration will be more geared (but not exclusively) towards my miniatures projects. In this case it will look towards the literature, games etc. which influence the miniature that I’m creating or helped shape my interest in that topic in the first place.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out for 2017 - January

Part way through last year I decided to keep a record of everything hobby related that I bought and sold in order to keep track of my hobby consumption. Although I didn't buy an excessive amount I also didn't get much completed.

With a new year starting I've decided to repeat the whole exercise, and actually complete more models. After all what the point of buying them and not building them? I'm not looking to create a bigger stash because I want to keep my hobby consumption at an efficient level.

In - Purchases for January 2017

• Oil paints (for weathering) - £7.90
• Tamiya paints x2 - £3.60
• 4x Bandai 1:144 Star Wars Kits (X-Wing Starfighter, Y-Wing Starfighter, Poe's X-Wing Fighter, First Order TIE Fighter set) - £25.66 

Total Yearly (2017) Expenditure - £37.16

Out - Downsizing for January 2017

• Eduard 1:48 F6F-3 Hellcat

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Days #10 & #11

The last couple have days have seen me start one of the planned models on my 2017 wish list. The model is the Airfix 1:72 Bf 109E-7/Trop. I’ve had this model for some time, I picked up it last summer for just £2.99 before it was discontinued by Airfix.

I initially thought it was an older boxing and so had decided to sell it as I wanted to purchase and build the newer Bf 109E-4 kit, a kit which I’d owned and started before then destroying with a bit of overzealous conversion work. It was only after a quick look on the scalemates website that I realised the discontinued Bf 109E-7/Trop kit was actually exactly the same kit with an extra sprue for the external fuel tank and bomb load of the later variant. Presumably the similarities were the reason why it’s been discontinued as Airfix seem to be consolidating their range and getting rid of any duplicates.

So I’ve been here before, construction has started with the cockpit, I’ve even managed to salvage the instrument panel from my previous attempt. I won’t be using any of the other interior photo-etch as this cockpit will be occupied and the model will be portrayed in flight.

As for the colour scheme, I’m going to opt for the lesser known Bulgarian scheme, in the markings of an aircraft flown by Bulgaria’s highest scoring pilot, Stoyan Iliev Stoyanov. I’ve recently been reading about smaller WWII air forces and pilots, particularly those from the Balkans, and so this fits in nicely with my research.

Bf 109E-7 - Bulgarian Air Force - 1942
Source: Airfix

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #9

Day 9 and a book recommendation! It was time to continue with the Airfix 1:72 Typhoon. The topsides had been washed with Flory Models Dark wash, mixed with the grey wash, a slightly darker mix than I’d used for the undersides. It took a few hours of meticulous cleaning before I got it to a point in which I was happy with it.


The undersides I’m really happy with, I’ve not gone for heavily washed panel lines, rather a slightly weathered and dirty finish that you’d expect a used combat aircraft to have. Topsides, I honestly think there’s little you can do here, mostly just adding a tiny bit of contrast to the grey areas but again, trying to make sure it doesn’t look overdone.

I was about to seal it all in with a flat coat, but then, searching through my bookshelves (in an un-related clear-out) I found I book which I’d forgotten about, Osprey’s Painting and Finishing Techniques by Gary Edmundson. I’ve spent so long looking for articles on the internet that I forgot I have everything I need right here!

After a brief introduction to some fundamentals, the kits used in the book, paints and the tools used, it works through the various stages of painting and finishing. Focusing primarily on 3 model aircraft, (plus a couple vehicles and a small piece on figure painting towards the end) it works all the way through step by step, painting shading, camouflage, weathering, dirt, panel lines and more. Most of paints used are Tamiya, and there’s a preference towards using oil paints for panel lines and weathering, rather than clay washes etc. but it is well explained with plenty of photographs for each stage.

The 3 aircraft are a WWI Albatross, a Bristol Beaufighter and fortunately, a Hawker Typhoon. After reading this it’s finally persuaded me to try using oil paints, so my Typhoon build will be taking a little more time to complete.

For me has been an extremely useful (re)discovery which I’d highly recommend. So much so I’ve included a link below should you wish to purchase it yourself. As I said, I’d forgotten what it was like to have all the information in one place, easily to hand. I think there’s a tendency for us, when using the internet, to pick up little bits here and there a lose sight of the complete process of painting and weathering a model from start to finish. Having said that I think book can allow you to pick and choose what to try so, in my opinion, it is book suited to all skill levels.

In the next few days I’ll pick up some oil paints, and with any hope, I’ll have some good daylight (which I think is essential for this stage of finishing a model) and I’ll show you how I got on.

Purchase:
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Looking Ahead: The Aircraft Wish List For 2017

Around this time of year you will no doubt be seeing plenty of "New Year Resolution" posts, this post is one and at the same time isn't one of those type of posts.

After last year in which I completed just one kit and suffered a significant loss of motivation I've taken some time to reflect on what I want to achieve this year and come up with an "ideal" world list (actually, it's 3 lists) which I'm hoping will give me a sense of direction but not be so strict as to become too much of a chore to complete.

I've decided to break down the builds into 3 categories, ideally if I can complete one build from each to a reasonably high (for me) standard then I'll consider 2017 a success. Realistically I need to tackle some of the kits I currently own before buying new ones, so some of listed won't become an option until I complete others.

Category 1: Out of the box builds

My, as of yet incomplete, Typhoon build showed me that I don't have to buy photo-etch and resin extras to actually have a build that is both enjoyable while providing a sense of achievement and progress at the same time.

We're very fortunate that these days we have a good choice when it comes to out of the box builds. As I want to build these models in flight, to keep things straight forward as possible, the Airfix range is ideal as they always seem to give you the option of both, something I wish all manufacturers would do.

• Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk.I/IIa (Owned)
• Airfix 1:72 Bf 109E-7/Trop (Owned)
• Airifx 1:72 Hurricane Mk.I (New Purchase)
• Airifx 1:72 P-51D Mustang (New Purchase)

Category 2: Detailed Builds

The next level of build involves a bit more detail, here I want to more work on the cockpit, either resin replacement work or photo-etch enhancement, or both. In such cases the canopy will be open so the aircraft will be modelled as it were on the ground and I will also consider building a display base.

• Eduard 1:72 Spitfire Mk.IXc (Owned)

There's only one aircraft in this list, however I own more than one of these kits so I could, if I excel myself, possibly build more than one of the same aircraft.

Category 3: Conversion builds

The final category is the most involved and challenging as it goes beyond the standard detailing and requires conversion work such as resin engines, super detailed interiors and so on. The kits I have in mind are:

• Tamiya Mosquito FB Mk.VI (Owned)
• Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt converted to a P-47M (New Purchase)

As I've said this is an an "ideal" world list but I think it will be useful to look back after a year and see if this list helped me focus. Of course I won't just be building aircraft so there will still be builds that aren't on this list, and hopefully some miniature painting as well.

Time to get 2017 started then!

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #8

Day 8 and I’ve actually reached the end of the time I’d set aside for this modelling challenge, mostly due to what’s becoming a Christmas tradition, a dose of man flu. I’m going to extend the challenge through the rest of the month although it’ll be strictly weekend endeavours for the rest of the month.

I wasn’t feeling like airbrushing, as coughing and sneezing tend to upset precision painting, so I thought I’d sit down and chop up some plastic. After completing my test Empire miniature I set about raiding my bits box with the intention of creating a few figures for a Mordheim war band.

As I’d previously mentioned the Empire State troops are somewhat limited in poses, or more accurately, pose, as there’s only one. The Empire Archers set, mixed with a few different sets of Empire arms, however offer much more flexibility and as I want to paint up a wealthy band of Marienburg Mercenaries the long, expensive, coat look fits very nicely with the theme. These guys are going to be better dressed swords for hire, a cut above your average militiaman.

I really like to spend time testing poses and trying to make the figures look dynamic. This set, of which I had a nearly complete box of, offers plenty of opportunity to create such figures. After an hour or so of test fitting this is what I have, heads will be added later once I get more of a feel for the each figure.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #7

Day 7. I was happy enough with how the grey wash, that I tried on day 4, came out and so started washing the undersides of the Typhoon. Even though I'm still waiting for it to dry I can see a huge difference, it works really well on the panel lines, much more subtle than the dark wash that I've used previously.

I also got the Bandai Y-Wing started. Black undercoat to start with followed by several lighter shades of grey before a very light coat of white. And then, a coat of grey wash, which may or may not take it all the way back to being grey again. Guess I'll find out when it dries.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Days #5 & 6

My Christmas modelling challenge continued on day 5 with the completion of the Airfix Typhoon's decals, no pictures as there's only so many pictures of an unfinished model that a man can take...

After that I started adding the missile racks under the wings which usually the kind of slow and fiddly task WWII modellers get to avoid, but not in this case.

While I was waiting for the glue to set I started test fitting another model, a Bandai 1:144 scale Y-Wing Star Wars fighter, that I'd recently received from Japan. In fact it went together so well that it turned into an accidental part-build!

What a kit! Just four small sprues (plus a sprue containing a stand) but the amount of fine detail packed into such a small scale is incredible

After a few months of modelling malaise I find, suddenly, in such a small kit, my motivation comes surging back. If this kit is anything to go by I can't wait to try out a few more Bandai Star Wars kits. As well as the detail the way the kit is engineered is simple brilliant. For example, the two engines on a Y-Wing, at first glance, look the same. But actually there are slight differences and the kit is engineered so that the internal clips, pegs etc are shaped and positioned in such a way that you can't get them the wrong way round.

I honestly can't see myself bothering with any of the Revell offerings now.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - December 2016

Finishing my record of what I buy and sell during this year:

In - Purchases for December 2016

• None

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £231.80

Out - Downsizing for December 2016

• None

No sales, no purchases, this month. Although a great many model companies had end of year sales none them offered anything to tempt me into a purchase at this time as I have plenty to be getting on with and want to continue decreasing my stash over the coming months.

That bring this record to a close. There was one significant purchase which accounted for more than a third of my expenditure, the Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower board game. Apart from that the rest felt like I'd managed to reduce my purchases, but on the other hand I've haven't got anything built and so have I really got my stash under control?

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #4

Between ongoing decals and paint stripping I decided to revisit a few miniatures tasks I'd been meaning to be getting on with.

First up was finishing off a test paint scheme for some Warhammer Men-at-Arms. I was reasonably please with the colours, green and purple, so I think this has potential for a future Mordheim, or Frostgrave, war band.

As an aside these Empire State Troops, or Freeguild Guard, as they're now called, paint up nicely. You're pretty much limited to the pose above, or swaping out the spear for a sword and shield which is the only downside, if I was going a war band I'd want a bit more variation.

Next up I decided to do a bit of base work. You may remember my moving skeleton diorama, I've disassembled it with a view to updating the base and reusing it for a new, yet undetermined, diorama while the skeletons will be tidied up and individually re-based.

After repainting the individual tiles to add more variation I gave them a wash with Flory Models Grey wash. Firstly this was to see if it improves bases and secondly out of curiosity as I want to use it for the first time on the undersides of the Airfix Typhoon to compare with the Dark wash which I've used before.

Now I just need to let it dry and see if it adds anything to the base.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #3

Day 3, one of those tasks that just has to be done, paint stripping...

I've got a large number of second-hand metal miniatures that need paint removing from them and that meant sooner or later I was going to have to break out the Dettol (for those in the UK, it's the orange liquid antiseptic disinfectant).

Dettol liquid antiseptic disinfectant

Dettol is my preferred paint stripper for removing acyclic and water based paints.It's pretty simple to use, submerge the models, leave for 24 hours, then scrub with toothbrush in the Dettol to remove the paint. Leave the models  to dry before brushing off any remaining paint residue. One thing to remember, don't add water to the mix. Adding water to any paint residue will turn into into a very sticky substance which is very hard to remove.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Days #1 & 2

To get started I decided to tackle some of the growing number of unfinished kits I have lying around. Airfix's 1:72 scale Hawker Typhoon is probably the best painted model I've done so far, yet despite this I hit a brick wall and to date it remains unfinished.

Painting was complete it was now time for decals. I really like models that come with not only markings but stencils and this kit packed in a large number of decals for it's size. This meant it would be very time consuming to apply them all, but worth it in the end.

Unusually for Airfix I had some problems with the decals. One I lost, probably stuck to a finger while handling, which is entirely my fault. However I had two decals break up on me. Fortunately I have a spare decal sheet so I'll have to get replacements from there. Otherwise that would have written off the model as one of these decals was not something that could easily be replaced, a unique ID number for the aircraft I'm building.

So after two afternoons work I'm about 80% of the way through the decals, just the replacement decals and the undersides to do.

12 Days of Christmas Painting & Modelling

It really not worth me doing a yearly review as my modelling output has been dismal this year, in fact I’ve not even sat at my modelling desk for several months now A total of one aircraft model complete and a couple of miniatures painted is all I’ve managed. OK, so the Airfix Defiant was probably the best model I’ve made to date, but that success seems a distant memory by now.

However as Christmas approaches, my workplace is closed for a couple of weeks so I can hopefully free up a bit of time to finish the year on a slightly higher note.

I’ve decided to try and devote a bit of time each day, for 12 days (not necessarily consecutively, as I have a few commitments over the holiday period), to painting some figures, finishing off a few unfinished kits and maybe starting something new so I can take some momentum into a new year and hopefully achieve a bit more in the way of modelling successes in 2017.

Day #1 to follow shortly.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - November 2016

Continuing my record of what I buy and sell during this year:

In - Purchases for November 2016

• Hasslefree Miniatures - £32.22

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £231.80

Out - Downsizing for November 2016

• None

Just the one purchase from Hasslefree Miniatures as I took advantage of their yearly Halloween Sale (a few days after Halloween itself, which is why this is accounted for in November's purchases).

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - October 2016

Continuing my record of what I buy and sell during this year:

In - Purchases for October 2016

• None

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £199.58

Out - Downsizing for October 2016

• None

Finally a whole month of not buying anything, unfortunately that could be could down to a whole month of not much in the way of hobby progress!

Motivation and Me – How to keep on Modelling?

Recently I’ve noticed a steady slump in my modelling output, as you can tell, there’s not been much in the way of blog posts over the last few months.

This isn’t the first time, I tend to get moments where I lose the drive to build or paint models. Away from that I’m still enjoying looking at models, reading about them, maintaining my Pinterest and so on. I’m just not building or painting.

This time it seems to have been the slow and, if I’m honest, the somewhat tedious painting of my Airfix Typhoon combined with a few other aircraft builds that just aren’t capturing my imagination like Tamiya’s 1:72 scale A6M5 Zero. Don’t get me wrong, the Typhoon and Zero are a fantastic kits, just my desire to paint at the invasion stripes and markings on the Typhoon slowed the build right down to the point where it stopped and I’m just not that passionate about Japanese WWII aircraft.

So how do I get my motivation back

Looking on the internet and most suggestions (such as this from Dakka Dakka) suggest a structured and almost work like approach to working through a block. I’ve considered setting time aside and making myself do something each day, but that’s not working for me as I don’t like such a structured approach even at the best of times.

For me my approach has always been less structured, I like to try many things, my hobby output is often driven by my curiosity and desire to experiment with ideas. However this may actually be contributing to the loss of motivation as it inevitably leads to a large number of unfinished projects which can seem a bit overwhelming when deciding some of them need to be finished. I am pleased however that I’ve not continued buying many kits in the hope that one would spark my imagination as that leads to an overwhelming stash, a problem which I’ve written about before, and which leads me to a similar loss of motivation.

Skyrim
Source: Bethesda Softworks

Away from modelling I’m still finding time for, and enjoying, my other interests. I’ve read more books in the last few months than I normally would and last week I rediscovered the computer game Skyrim which can certainly consume a large amount of my hobby time. Interestingly enough even these non-modelling hobbies are managing to provide inspiration for future modelling projects.

Realistically I think the desire will come back at some point, and I suspect it’ll involve something new rather than forcing myself to complete one of the many unfinished projects. I just don’t want to leave it too long though as I feel I will start to unlearn some of the things I’ve spent so long learning in the first place. I just need to get curious about something hobby related or have a sudden flash of inspiration and then things should snowball from there.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - September 2016

Continuing my record of what I buy and sell for the remainder of this year, unfortunately it's pretty much been a month of hobby inactivity for September:

In - Purchases for September 2016

• Citadel Paints - £15.30
•  Tamiya Masking Tape (2 Rolls) - £4.80

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £199.58

Out - Downsizing for August 2016

• None

Looking at my collection citadel paints it's becoming apparent many are no longer fit for use and so this month I decided to start replacing some of them, something which I'll probably continue over the coming months. Apart from that, Tamiya masking tape, because invasion stripes require a lot of masking and I'd ran out. So now I can get on with my Airfix Typhoon Build.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - August 2016

Another month and continuing my record of what I buy and sell for the remainder of this year here's what I bought and sold in August:

In - Purchases for August 2016

• Kovozavody Prostejov 1:72 North-American Mustang Mk.III 'Malcolm hood', RAF - £9.99
• Kovozavody Prostejov 1:72 P-51B/P-51C Mustang p/e parts - £3.70
• Kovozavody Prostejov 1:72 North-American P-51 resin pylons & fuel tanks - £3.70
• Peewit P-51 Masks - £2.40
• Montex Hawker Typhoon Masks - £2.00

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £179.48

Out - Downsizing for August 2016

• Tamiya 1:72 AH-6 Night Fox
• Tamiya 1:72 AH-64 Apache
• Frog 1:72 B-26 Marauder
• Airfix 1:24 Spitfire Mk.Ia (Incomplete)
• Airfix 1:48 Spitfire Mk.Vb
• Airfix 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf-109F-4

A few larger scale kits went as I just don't have room for them and couple of helicopter kits were sold. I've had an interest in trying helicopters but there was no chance of me starting any time soon and so I decided to sell some in order to fund this month's purchases.

Kit List, What's In, What's Out - July 2016

Earlier I decided to keep track of what I buy and sell for the duration of this year. This is what happened during July:

In - Purchases for July 2016

• Airfix 1:72 Gloster Gladiator Mk.I - £2.99
• Airifx 1:72 Supermarine Spitifire Mk.I / Mk.IIa - £2.99
• Airfix 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc - £2.99
• Airifx 1:72 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7/Trop - £2.99
• Airfix 1:72 Higgins LCVP - £2.99
• 2x Xdradecal D-Day decal sets - £14.52
• Tamiya Paints - £9.00

Total Yearly (April to December) Expenditure - £157.69

Out - Downsizing for July 2016

• None 

The Airifix purchases were me taking advantage of a promotion in the Home Bargains store here in the UK in which Airifx kits were on offer for less than half price. Some of the purchases will allow me to sell off larger box set that I currently own (Airifx D-Day sets), some are just for parts or test models. The remaining ones are not on my to build list, so I've over purchased, which ideally I want to avoid as part of this exercise.