Iron Modeler

Author: Iron Modeler

  • A family affair

    Remember when I told you that I tend to work in "families" when I build models?  Here's the latest addition, in 1/72 scale.  I might add that I don't usually do these types of subjects in the smaller scale–I like 1/48 for WWII fighters–but these were very nice (and very quick) projects.

    (A note: I recently purchased a new digital camera, and I'm still playing with the settings.  Forgive the quality of the pictures while I figure the new camera out…)

    Without further ado…

    Tony-1
    A pair of 1/72 Kawasaki fighters, the Ki-61 (left) and Ki-100 (right).  The Ki-61 was built from a Hasegawa kit (almost out of the box, I did add a control stick).  The Ki-100 was from a FineMolds kit–it was given to me several years ago partially completed.  I merely cleaned up a few seams, added the canopy, scratchbuilt a tailwheel (the original white metal one had gone AWOL), and painted the lot.

    Kawasaki-2
    Another two-shot.  It is easy to see where they modified the Ki-100 to take the radial powerplant.

    Ki61-1
    The Ki-61.  I've since painted the wingtip position lights…

    Ki61-3
    From the rear.  The color scheme might be spurious, but I like it–it was the easier of the two provided in the kit, so I went with it.  Did I mention that this was a quickie build?

    Ki100-2
    The Ki-100 from the front.  That huge powerplant dominates the photo.

    Ki100-3
    And from the rear.  You might be able to make out where the nose section was gloved to accept the round motor.

    So, there you have the photos.  The story behind the build is this–I was given the Ki-100 several years ago.  A good friend of mine had built 99% of the model, and I guess lost interest in 1/72 scale, so he gave it to me.  Rather than give it away yet again, I decided to give it a good home.  It was put into the stash and promptly forgotten during our last move.  During my recent inventory effort, I re-discovered it.  It looked like all I need to do was touch up some seams and paint the whole lot.  As I got closer to the finishing stage, I realized that the white metal tailwheel was missing.  Enter the Ki-61…

    The FineMolds Ki-100 was based on the Hasegawa Ki-61, judging from the instruction sheet for the former.  Well, I found a Ki-61 kit for a decent price and decided to get it to use the tailwheel from it.  Well, once I got the kit home, I realized that the tailwheel was molded to the fuselage.  It would make copying it very difficult, and I didn't have the heart to steal the tailwheel and render the Ki-61 an orphan, so I used the Ki-61 tailwheel as a pattern to scratchbuild a similar unit for the Ki-100.  When I was getting the Ki-100 ready for paint, I decided that the Ki-61 would make a nice companion piece.  It was built, out of the box (well, nearly so–I added a control stick that you can't see) and it took maybe all of a week and a half.

    Paints used were Tamiya's JA Green and JA Gray, Floquil Railroad acrylic ATSF Silver for the Ki-100 undersides, and Testor Acryl RLM04 yellow with a drop of red added to deepen the color.  Cockpits are RLM79 (well, at least on the Ki-61–I suspect it to be likewise for the Ki-100, although I didn't do the cockpit on that one).  Decals were kit items, applied over a Future base coat.  Final flat was Acryl.

    I could go into the history behind the Ki-61 and Ki-100, but Wikipedia does it so much better…

    Next up in the paint shop:  a Monogram 1/48 scale A-10A to be painted as AF80-221 from the 18 TFS in March 1982 during Operation Cool Snow Hog.  Yes, it is the one that had the white camouflage over the standard Euro-1 color scheme…

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

  • The month of Indy is upon us…

    May.  Spring is on the wane, the heat and humidity levels are rising, and the racers are back at Indianapolis.  Well, maybe not quite yet, since their race in Brazil ran a day longer than it was planned to due to rain…

    I remember watching footage of the 500 as a kid–you'd usually catch it on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" a few weeks after the race ran.  I didn't follow it as closely as some fans did back then, but I knew of it and of the storied drivers who attempted to beat the track.  Some won, some lost…

    I was in college when I really started taking an interest in the race.  I got familiar with their qualifying format, Bump Day, Carburetion day, and the like.  Back then, you might have 50 or 60 cars vying for a spot in the starting grid.  Indy, unlike other races, sees the fastest 33 cars start the race.  It doesn't matter if you're the defending Champ, if you aren't quick enough, you go home–as Smokey Yunick said in his memoirs, "Turn in your hero badge and try again next year."

    When the Split came in 1996, I lost interest.  It seemed to me then that North American open wheel racing was in serious trouble.  I wasn't far off the mark–the upstart Indy Racing League (IRL) sputtered on with their low-buck scheme using one or two approved powerplants and chassis to make racing affordable, while the established Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) seemed to hold all the cards–other than the Memorial Day race at the Brickyard, they had the well funded teams and still fostered a sense of innovation.  CART had better backing, and most of the established teams stayed with CART after the split.  After a few years, though, CART's armor started to tarnish when several big name teams–Penske, Ganassi, and what is now Andretti Autosport, to name a few–defected to the IRL. Their goal?  Run ans win the Indy 500.  As CART teams, their chances were limited under the IRL's rules which only allowed a certain number of non-IRL teams an opportunity to qualify.   CART went insolvent in 2003, re-branded itself as ChampCar, and then folded in early 2008.  The two series were reunified under the IRL (now IndyCar) banner. 

    But the IRL wasn't the first time that open wheel racing in the States had issues.  The Indy 500 was originally sanctioned by The American Automobile Association, and remained so until the multitude of racing fatalities that occurred in 1955–Bill Vukovich died in a fiery crash at Indy, and over 200 hundred people were killed or injured at that year's running of the 24 Heures duMans when Pierre Leveigh's Mercedes went airborne and crashed into a group of spectators, to name a few.  AAA got out of the racing business.  The United States Auto Club (USAC) took over sanctioning duties for North American open-wheel racing (along with short track, sprint cars, and briefly, stock cars) until the late 1970's.  With attendance, purses and revenues on a decline, and a sense that the sanctioning body wasn't doing their job, a group of team owners drafted the "Gurney White Paper", which was inspired by the way Bernie Ecclestone had reformed Formula One.  CART would promote the races under USAC sponsorship.  When that was rejected by USAC, CART took over.  The rest, as they say…

    These days, a good year sees maybe 35 to 40 cars make a qualifying attempt.  I do certainly hope that the new overseers of IndyCar take a long look at what Indy has become.  Do we need four weeks at the speedway?  After all, the cars haven't used carburetted engines since the 1960's or earlier, so what sense is having Carb Day?  Knock it down to two weeks, and you'll save the teams money and maybe be able to add a race to the schedule.

    If you want a good idea of what Indy qualifying used to be like, you need to read Smokey Yunick's memoirs.  While largely though of as a NASCAR personality, Smokey's real love was Indy and the 500.  As he says, they had a little. skinny rule book and they fostered innovation.  And Smokey was certainly an innovator.

    I do look forward to this year's running–it is the 100th running of the Indy 500, true, but the quality of the racing has improved.  In a twist of irony, the IRL under previous leader Tony George had turned into what CART was when the Split took place–a few large, well funded teams were the perennial winners, the others were also-rans.  Once they defected from CART, they quickly became the teams to beat, and the smaller, lesser known teams suffered as a result.  It seems that the new leadership at IndyCar understands this, and it also seems as if some of the former ChampCar teams have caught up to the long-standing IRL teams in terms of speed and quality.  New drivers have come along, both those from the defunct CART/ChampCar ranks and from the various developmental series.

    And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "girl racers".  While ladies had run Indy before–Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie have both run the race–lately it has been the Danica Patrick show.  Before Danica was Sarah Fisher, now a team owner, and the forgettable Milka Duno–Milka came to the IRL from the Grand American Road Racing Associations' Rolex Sports Car series, where she was a perennial back marker.  If she couldn't get it done at sub-100 mile per hour speeds, she certainly became a hazard at 200+ mph.  Lately, two new young ladies have entered the series:  Simona deSilvestro and Ana Beatriz.  Simona and Ana, I believe, have what it takes to win races–Simona had the quickest lap this past weekend at the rain-soaked Brazilian race.

    And my favorite to win?  This year, I'd like to see Sarah Fisher's hard work pay off.  She's due for some good fortune at Indy, and why not this year?

    Whoever you cheer for, enjoy the month of Indy.  Try to catch some of the qualifying sessions.  They're so different from the way qualifying is usually done, and it can become habit-forming.

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace. 

     

  • Where does the time go?

    Since the Learjet departed our facility, I've had some time to actually sit down and do stuff–like start clearing out the model backlog on the workbench.  I'm Happy to report that I've had some success at doing so, and once I get some stuff completed, you'll get the full report right here.

    Meanwhile, we're hitting the e-books at work–the FAA requires a certain amount of recurrent training every year.  With the lull, I decided to get mine done and over with.  There's nothing like sitting for several days listening to presentations on Human Factors, Lockout/Tagout procedures, HAZMAT, and the like.  It keeps everyone happy, so in the end it is worth it.  I'm also lobbying for more specialized training this year, too–I'm a firm believer that you can't get enough training.

    I wish I had more to report, but in all honesty I started spend some time at the workbench, and before I knew it I had one airplane done, another painted and is now getting decals, and a third ready for paint.  Along with those, the StuG is really making progress now, and I found myself converting a 1996 NASCAR Monte Carlo kit–Monogram's early round-sided kit–into Dale Earnhardt's 1996 car from the Winston All-Star race.  When I originally bought the kit and decal sheet, it looked to be simple enough–until you research it out and discover that the actual car had the slab sides.  Oh, well, some sheet plastic, Bondo, and Squadron White putty solved that dilemma…

    Stay tuned.  I'm on a roll, and want to keep the momentum going.  I'll be at the workbench…

    Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

     

  • Ain’t that worth at least one “Hot-Diggety Damn?”

    The airplane we've been dealing with at work made the test flight this afternoon.  You know you've done a good job when a factory test pilot gets off the airplane and tells you, "That airplane flies really nice."  Remember, this is a production test pilot who probably last flew this particular airplane when it was originally built and certified about 12 years ago…

    The back story is this–Learjets require a major inspection every 12 years and another one every 12,000 flight hours.  This is in addition to other phase/time inspections on a more frequent basis (6 months, 12 months, etc.).  The 12-year, though, is a biggie.  The interior gets removed, the antennas get removed, even the instruments and instrument panel gets pulled out, all so the airframe can be X-Rayed and tested in other ways (eddy current, ultrasound, etc.).  Then, once you know what you have, you effect repairs.  During this inspection, you'll find cracked windows, cracked structural members, corrosion, and all sorts of other issues that need to be dealt with.  There are other time items to do–certify the air data computers so the altitude and airspeed readouts are correct, calibrate the fuel quantity system, check the Emergency Locater Transmitter (ELT), service the emergency batteries–you get the picture.  You also remove the leading edge panels on the wing.  Now, a Learjet is a high-performance aircraft, and how the air flows over the wing is very important.  Removing even two adjacent screws from the leading edge panel, if you read the maintenance manual, requires a test flight along the lines of what we had done today, since you can change the flight–and stall–characteristics of the airplane drastically.  Even having too much sealant on the panel joints has been known to adversely affect the stall of a Learjet, so it is important that the work gets done properly.  That being said, you can only do so much on the ground to certify the systems.  The only way to know how the airplane will perform in flight is to fly it.

    What's a stall?  Well, in aerodynamic terms, it is when the airflow over the wing gets so disturbed that the wing stops generating lift–in other words, the wing is no longer flying.  You enter a stall by pitching the nose up, pulling the power back, the airplane may (or may not–depends on the airframe) start to buffet and growl at you, the stick shaker (a little motor and eccentric weight that makes the control yoke vibrate) activates, lights flash, and…then it seems like the sky has literally dropped you.  The nose drops, and if all goes well, the airplane maintains a level flight attitude.  As the airplane regains forward motion, the wing starts flying again.  Easy, right?  Well, some airplanes behave as they should.  But sometimes, you'll have one that snaps a wing down into a roll after the stall.  Or enters a spin.  Bad news.  That means that something needs to be re-adjusted, re-worked, or re-rigged, and the airplane needs to be flown again.  Fortunately, today's flight went extremely well, and we're about ready to deliver it to the owner so he can put it back into service.

    Not bad for three months' work.     

    On the miniature aviation front, progress is being made on the 1/72 scale FineMolds Ki-100b, and, just as a quickie for comparison, I started a 1/72 Hasegawa Ki-61 to show the differences between the radial-engined Ki-100 and the in-line Ki-61.  The two of them should make a nice display–the Ki-61 is being built strictly out of the box (I didn't even add a stick, since you can't see a whole lot once the canopy is stuck in place) with kit decals–more than likely, I'll do MAJ Kobayashi's airplane.

    The StuG IV is progressing, too.  I've finished the Zimmerit and have to squirt some flat black paint under the engine deck so I can button that area up.  The fenders are on, I hope to start putting the gun and fighting compartment together before too long.  For this one, I decided to go OOB (well, OOB plus the Zimmerit) and concentrate my efforts on the finish, since I can rarely get a convincing finish on an armor piece. 

    The other projects should pick up, too.  I'll give you updates and photos as I'm able.

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

     

  • A long week just got longer…

    Well, today was to have been the day that a crew test flew the airplane we've had in heavy maintenance since the end of January.  Well, it wasn't to be–during the pre-flight engine runs, a problem developed, a problem we had seen during the inspection and had solved.  Or so we thought.  At any rate, we'll have a few days to sort things out, get everything right, and make the test flight. 

    Aviation goes that way, sometimes.  Two steps forward, three back, sometimes you can't progress.  Problems that seemed easy to solve start rearing their ugly heads.  Problems that were noted on the flight inbound weren't verified, as in we could not duplicate them on the incoming runs and tests.  And, as sure as day fades into night, they pop back up when you least expect them to.  So, you ask, what do you do?  You deal with them.  You go back into troubleshooting mode and you work the problem.  You find the culprit, make the repairs, and re-test the systems until you are satisfied that you have fixed it.

    An interesting comment was made, though.  Lest anyone think that we're six feet tall, bulletproof, all-knowing and all-seeing, I hate to shatter that illusion.  We're humans.  We don't know everything.  But the subject came up about using a factory tech rep to assist.  "At one point in my career", a colleague said, "I didn't like using tech reps.  It was a pride thing.  The longer I worked in aviation, though, the more I saw them as another tool in my arsenal."  I replied to him that I use any and all resources available to me, including tech reps, and I always have since I became aware of their presence.  I'm not proud.  I don't know everything.  If asking a few questions helps me get the airplane fixed an on it's way faster, well, so be it.  Tech reps have an advantage–they hear about these problems multiple times.  They know the systems better than the back of their hand.  Factory reps have the added advantage of being able to consult a database.  They know what we know–an airplane on the ground is costing the owner money.

    Back in the day when airplanes weren't as sophisticated, repairs were easy–they took a deal of mechanical know-how, to be sure, but if you knew how an internal combustion engine worked, you were pretty well set.  When radios got added to the mix, there was a degree of specialized knowledge required.  These days, airplanes are more of a flying computer than a mechanical beast.  Electronics interface with nearly every system onboard, and when something burps, the whole lot senses it and pukes a fault.  Talk about specialized knowledge…there are schools on top of schools for the latest generation of avionics.  We used to have a saying when I was in college:  "Avionics–Making Pilots Obsolete".  Twenty years or so ago, it was sort of a tongue-in-cheek deal, these days it is largely true.  You think that airliner you're flying in is stable because the pilot has an exceptionally steady hand on the wheel?  Nope–an autopilot can fly the airplane from taxi to taxi, including takeoff and landing.  A standing joke with some airplanes is, "Where's the slot for the quarters?" and "Does this thing have Pac-Man?"  You kids out there will have to ask your folks about Pac-Man…

    We'll be back at it tomorrow morning.  We'll have the old girl back in the air before you know it…

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

     

  • Remember record stores?

    Today is National Record Store day.  For those of you under 25, a record store was where you went to buy music in the form of vinyl albums and tapes–both cassettes and 8-Track tapes.  After 1982, you could also buy Compact Discs).  But there was more to the record store than that–you could get all sorts of neat stuff–concert posters, T-shirts, buttons, guitar picks, drumsticks, headphones (those clunky ones with the plastic ear cups), stereo patch cords, and phonograph styluses. 

    The store I remember as a kid in Ft. Lauderdale is Peaches Records and Tapes next to Holiday Park on Sunrise Boulevard.  Not only was the place packed with all sorts of musical recordings, but various recording artists used to make it a stop whenever they were in the area.  There used to be a sort of "Walk of Fame" out front, where these musicians would sign their names and add their handprints to wet concrete.  Hollywood Boulevard it was not, but to see the signatures and handprints of The Sex Pistols outside your local record store was kind of cool.

    It also seemed that the smaller the stores were, the more neat stuff they'd carry.  All of these stores were truly Mom-and-Pops, no large chains for the most part–although Camelot Music seemed to be a decent place (there was one in Daytona Beach in the Volusia Mall, and they made several dollars off of me over the six years I was there). 

    By the time I graduated from college, the music industry had changed a bit.  8-Track tapes were history (the last one I saw in a store was about 1983), albums were looked down upon because of their "dirty" sound quality, and cassettes were reaching obsolescence.  Digital music was stealing the show in the form of CD's, and a lot of the acts from the '60s and '70s were compiling the now-familiar Box Set–they'd take their catalog, pick out their seminal efforts, and wrap them up in a new, shiny package for you to buy.  There were some available in vinyl and tape, but I believe that the record companies were betting on the CD versions–you'd buy the compilations, and then you'd have to buy (or re-buy) the rest of the catalog.  Purists, by the way, weren't too fond of digitalized music–it was cold, too clean, and in some cases you could hear background noises (coughs, chairs falling over) in the re-mastered works.  I'm no audiophile, believe me–I like what I like, but the "distractions" don't really bother me.

    After a while, more an more stores started to carry more music than they had previously.  The discount stores carried a small selection, as did the department stores.  There was also mail order in the form of Columbia House and RCA Record Service, where you bought an introductory offer ("Buy 10 records or tapes for a Quarter*".  The asterisk led you to the rest of the story–you needed to buy so many at the regular price after that before you could cancel).  But the bookstores like Barnes and Noble began carrying a good deal of music.  The electronics stores carried a large selection.  All of this served to take business away from the locals.

    Before too long, someone figured out how to take digital recordings and package them into data files.  Then they figured out that they could be shared, swapped, or sold.  These days, a lot of "albums" aren't available in stores–you purchase them on the Interwebs and download them.  And you can only imagine what that's done to the local record store–if you can find one.

    Alas, music, too, was a niche market.

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

     

  • Let’s revisit the whole niche retail thing, shall we?

    I've been reading with great interest some of the comments on one of the larger modeling forums, in which a modeler goes to a few hobby shops, asks for a particular kit, and gets different answers to the same question.  The groundwork:

    The kit in question is the Airfix 1/48 scale Spitfire XII, which is only now starting to hit the sunny shores of the U.S.–apparently, they've been available in the UK for a few months.  Several have been built and photos posted around the modeling sites.  But the fact remains that it is only now becoming available on our side of the pond.

    One shop told the person that he couldn't possibly want the Airfix kit, as all Airfix kits are "crappy".  They also didn't make an attempt to order said kit for him.

    Another shop told him they didn't carry Airfix because the distributors didn't carry Airfix.

    The third shop promised to order one for him.

    Let's break this down.  First, I can tell you from experience that it has been quite a wait for these kits–I've been trying to order them for our stores for a month or so.  It appears that they've finally started to come in at the distributors, so I'm hoping that they'll be able to fill the orders.  Why is this an anticipated kit?  Nobody else does a mainstream kit of Spitfire XII in 1/48 scale.  There are a couple of conversion kits, but no full-blown, everything included kits.  Until now, that is. 

    So, from the modeler's standpoint–he comes into the store looking for a particular kit.  This should have been a clue to the personnel at Shop #1.  He knows what he wants.  You don't know him, you don't know what he builds, you don't know what he's capable of doing.  Apparently, you haven't even tried to get to know him, since you basically told him "Tough Darts, Farmer Brown."  Do you ever think you'll see this guy again?  Probably not.  And, were it the loss of just one sale, it might not be a big deal.  But, since you decided you didn't want to try and win his business, you didn't bother to find out that perhaps this gentleman spends a bit on his hobby.  I don't know whether he does or not, either, since he doesn't live near our shops–but in the retail game, you assume the guy spends millions every year, and you do your best to get at least part of that.

    Also, for a shop to dismiss all kits from a particular manufacturer as "crappy" is ignorant.  Every manufacturer–well, save maybe two–have great kits, so-so kits, and kits that were either best not made or date back to the Truman administration.  Sure, Airfix has some dogs in their line, but for each dog they have a nice kit.  It shows that the shop personnel are not aware of the fact that this kit is one of Airfix's latest and greatest. 

    Shop #2 committed one of the biggest sins in the hobby business–they lied.  See, back in the day, you might have been able to get away by telling a customer that you can't get it since your distributors don't carry it–most customers didn't have the foggiest notion of who the distributors were.  But in this day and age, the Internet is the great equalizer–a customer can tap a few keys and get an answer almost immediately.  Now, there are truly some things that we don't carry because the main distributors we use don't carry it–usually, these products are aftermarket bits 'n' bobs that cater to a small protion of the market.  In order to get stock on some products, we'd have to open an account, usually with the manufacturer, and place what is sometimes a rather large stocking order.  If we had three or four customers a week asking us for one of these products, we'd look into getting set up with them.  But Airfix kits are widely available–I can think of at least four distributors that we deal with that carries Airfix kits.

    The last shop seems to know what they're doing.  But they need to be sure to follow up–order the kit, and then contact the guy when it arrives.  Cultivate the relationship from there.

    Now, from the standpoint of the various shops, here are some thoughts.  It pains me when I read a post from a person I know to be a local that starts out with "My local shop doesn't have anything."   Have you been one of those?  Well, my reply is usually, "How do you know what we carry?  I haven't seen you in the store but once, and that was when we were having a sale."  We can't read minds.  We also can't stock two of every kit, decal, and aftermarket detail set in the hopes that sooner or later we'll stock something that interests you.  Let the folks at the store know what you're waiting for, or seeking.  In this day and age, most people working in hobby shops are only vaguely aware of what a model kit is, let alone what there is out in the world.  Help them, help you…

    Also keep in mind that just because you have a deep interest in the Farleigh Fruitbat Mk.I, you might be the *only* person with such an interest that shops at that particular store.  I am of the mind that I can sell one of anything, but when it comes to the truly obscure, my record isn't great.  So, if you want that new Tamiagawa Fruitbat kit, tell the guys at the store you want one–they should be able to special order it for you.  Don't be upset, though, when they request payment–read what I just said about truly obscure subjects.  Merchandise that sits on the shelves represents cash flow that's not flowing.  When the merchandise is fairly pedestrian (P-51's, M4 Shermans, Tiger tanks, Corvettes, etc.) the store tolerates it since that inventory does turn over fairly frequently.  But that hypothetical Fruitbat kit–which retails for a hypothetical $150 US Dollars, may well sit there for ages if you decide that, yes, the kit is everything you wanted and then some, but you decided to order instead from the online retailer because his price is $15 less than MSRP, well…

    I've told you about my time working in the hobby shop in Ft. Lauderdale.  Most weekends, we'd have a sort of unofficial club meeting, since most of the gang would stop in on Sunday to see what was new, hang around a bit, and look through the stock of whatnot we kept behind the counter.  One friend sticks out in particular, since I can't remember one time when he didn't buy *something*–a bottle of paint, a decal sheet, some glue.  If every customer did that, imagine the possibilities…

    And, the last item–one not brought up on the other forum–is discounts.  If you get a store discount, that's great.  But does the face behind the register know that you're a local club member and eligible for said discount?  Speak up.  Tell them that you're a club member.  Don't be an ass and throw a hissy when the clerk doesn't automatically know you and take the discount.  See "We can't read minds" above.  Also, consider the discount as our gift to you.  We don't have to take anything off MSRP.  We do this in appreciation for your business. 

    Some stores (ours included) offers a Rewards card.  The catch is–in our store, at least–you can either take the club discount or participate in the Rewards program, but not both.  We're trying to help out here, but we're a business and still need to turn a profit…if you do use the Rewards program, once again, you'll need to let the smiling face behind the counter know.

    Niche retail is a two-way street.  Stop in, say hey.  Stay a while, if you can.  If you don't see it, ask.  Let us know what it is that you're looking for.  You might be surprised at what we could do for you.

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

     

  • Modeling Philosophy

    I can't speak for anyone else when it comes to the what/why/when/how they build, and I won't try to.  I won't presume to tell anyone else how to build their models, or why they should.  I will tell anyone who listens that they can do whatever they put their mind to–an answer to the proclamation,"I could never do that!"  Yes, you can.  It isn't difficult to do–back in the day, we experimented with techniques, products, and materials until we happened upon something that worked.  Later on, as clubs gained in popularity, you could ask the other members.  Now, with the Interwebs, you can post the same question to a few dozen forums and get hundreds–if not thousands–of answers within an hour.

    As for me, I fall into several of the loose groups of "categories" that modelers tend to get dumped into these days.  Most of the time, I'm a casual builder, building models largely out of the box to suit one person–me.  Usually, the model is anticlimactic–as Deep Purple said it in "Knockin' At Your Back Door", "It's not the kill / It's the thrill of the chase."  The meat of the project is the research for almost all of my projects.  Sometimes, the research will be brief, but I will find something that interests me–unusual paint scheme, interesting history–and take it from there.  Sure, there are the times when I'll pick up a kit and have at it.  Even then, though, I do manage to do a quick bit of research on the subject.  

    From time to time, I'll get involved in a project that requires more research than others–and these projects usually involve a limited-run kit.  Some of the earlier efforts lacked details and the only way you could discover them was to look at photos.  Some examples include Special Hobby's 1/48 Ju-87A kit where you were instructed to add some details in the cockpit.  The instructions weren't clear on what and where, so I had to source some photos to help in the additions.  Digging for the information was a bit of a challenge, since it wasn't exactly thick on the ground.  I haven't done a web search, but I'll bet there is more information floating around cyberspace now than there was ten years ago.

    Another project that I'm in the middle of that has required more research than I usually put into a project is Special Hobby's 1/48 Macchi C.200 kit.  While it is better out of the box than their Stuka was (the benefit of four or five years experience on their part), there are still areas that come up a bit short.  The details are better, for sure, but I didn't like their method of attaching the main gear struts.  There was a shallow dimple in the upper wing and a small pimple on the top of the struts, which in this kit were a bit on the oval side.  Even if they managed to be round, I knew that the gear attachment wouldn't hold up for a minute.  So, I did what I thought would make a stronger landing gear system–and, in effect, rebuilt 99% of it as well as add missing details.  Some photos of the gear well:

    Here's the left side, unmodified–see the dimple?

    DSC_0156

     

    And the right side–notice the strut well liner (not quite complete) and gear trunnion with a moutning hole for the new strut made from scrap sprue

    DSC_0155

    You'll notice that the added detail isn't superdetailing by any stretch–it is merely adding bits and bobs until the end effect approaches what I see in photos of the 1:1.  I don't try to represent every hose, harness, line, fitting, and connector–but I have great respect for those modelers who do.  A friend said to me, "I could never do that.", to which I answered "Yes, you can.  All it took was some basic materials and time."  Sorry, I can't locate the strut photos right now, but they were rebuilt using aluminum tubing and paper that had been saturated with CA (aka Super Glue)–when the CA cures, you're left with a thin, flexible material similar to plastic.  The only parts of the struts I kept were the fork castings.  It took maybe an hour for each strut, and the wells took an hour each.  Nothing difficult about that–Chef Martin Yan used to sign off on his shows with his signature, "If Yan can cook, so can you."  Well, If I can do the detailing work, so can you.  I'm no modeling God…

    Back when I first started surfing the Web, I made the acquaintance of Al Supercynzski.  His signature was "Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to…and the critics will flame you every time!"  I can think of no wiser words when it comes to modeling.  Each one of us derives our own satisfaction, enjoyment, or compensation from the hobby in our own way.  Build your models to the best of your ability.  There's more than enough room for all of us.  Al's gone now, but his words live on…

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

  • Slow progress…

    I finally got some time back at the workbench, and am making some good progress on a couple of the projects I have in the backlog pile.  In fact, I'm about to go upstairs and do some more work.  In the meantime, how about a Rick-roll?

    Oregon State legislators Rick-roll you

    Until next time, be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

     

  • Collection(s), backlog, back burner, and SIDNA

    I've already told you a little bit about the stash I've assembled over the years. By some standards, it is large, by some it is paltry, but all the kits were acquired because I intended to build them. I still do, as a matter of fact, but…

    My current inventory count is somewhere in the high 1,800's. Why so many? Well, the first reason is access—having worked in hobby shops, the kits are readily available and carry an employee discount. That would explain the half-dozen copies of Classic Airframes' P-6E kit to go with the four of their F4B-3 (the plan was to kitbash a few of them to get an F4B-4). It also explains why I have every variant of the F-111 in 1/72 scale, and how I managed to get a bunch of the Hasegawa 1/200 scale “Purple Box” L-1011 TriStar kits and decals to go with them.

    But I digress. I do have collections mapped out for all those kits. To wit:

    1/48 scale World War Two aircraft. This was my original collection, and much of the stash fits this description. At the beginning, everything was 1/48 scale—fighters, trainers, bombers—but these days I limit it to fighters and twins in 1/48 scale, all the four-engine heavies are now in 1/72 scale. To be honest, even the twin bombers are in 1/72 scale, but they're repeated in 1/48. One of these days, I'll decide which scale to stick to for the larger subjects…

    1/72 scale modern aircraft. I branched into jets after building Monogram's then-new F-105G kit while in my sophomore year of college—I'm a Thud fan, and the kit was then and still is a very good kit. I donated that model to the AFROTC Detachment there at the school, and a year or so later decided I wanted an F-111. Well, back in those days, the only 'Vark kit in 1/48 scale was the Monogram revision of the Aurora kit—it ain't much to look at. The more I started to look critically at the kit, the more I was convinced that I could never get it to meet my standards (which were then and still are fairly lax—if I can compare the model to a photo and see discrepancies, I'll either fix them, ignore them, or simply don't build the kit.) and I gave it to a friend who thought it was the best think since bottled beer. I went to the local hobby shop and found Monogram's 1/72 F-105G and built it. Basically, it was a smaller version of the kit I built the year (or so) before. I decided that a 1/48 scale Thud was the same size as a 1/48 scale B-25, and I had already started to downsize that group, so I stuck to 1/72 for the jets as well. A few years ago, I realized that there was no way that I would ever build one-let alone two—1/72 scale Convair B-36 Peacemakers. Hobbycraft had just released their 1/144 scale kits, so I decided that modern bombers would be done in 1/144 scale, so that became a collection-within-the collection…

    1/35 scale armor. After college, I caught the armor bug. It came on slowly—a Sherman here, a Panther there—and before I could say “General Patton”, I had a whole bunch of armor kits. When we moved, I culled the stuff I was sure that I'd never build—mostly German WWII—and sold it off in favor of the modern tanks, multi-wheeled armored cars, and anything from the Middle East wars. I've been pretty good at keeping within the framework, although I've added WWII Mediterranean Theater equipment to the list—which has had the consequence that I've replaced a lot of the kits I sold off. Never fails…

    1/350 scale ships. Ship fever has always been with me, since I built Revell's Arizona kits—1/720 and 1/426 scale—multiple times. I've settled on U.S. Navy and selected others in 1/350 scale. I dallied with 1/700 scale (and still have some aircraft carrier kits in the smaller scale) and 1/400 scale, but I've decided that I can get most of what I want in 1/350 scale without a lot of hassle, and wait on the rest. If nobody does an injection molded kit, there's always resin.

    1/144 and 1/200 scale airliners. I've always had a soft spot for Air Florida and Braniff, and those two carriers form the basis of my airliner collection. I also have been known to toss in some Southern Airways, Delta, Eastern, and European carriers into the mix, too. Narrow-bodies get done in 1/144 scale, wide-bodies in 1/200…

    1/24 and 1/25 scale automobiles. I started out collecting MOPAR musclecars (Road Runners, 'Cudas, and the like) and NASCAR Stock Cars. Well, the sheer numbers of subjects I want to do has meant a pretty large collection…

    100mm and 120mm Military Miniatures. I've been ignoring this group for far too long—I started collecting figures when Michael Roberts was producing his superb 100mm figures from the American Civil War. It has been a few years since I painted a figure, I should probably get back to work on one soon…

    Also, each collection has some collections-within-the-collection. I have a 1/72 scale USCG collection, a 1/48 scale Century Series collection, a 1/48 scale Florida Air National Guard collection, and the beginnings of a 1/48 scale South Carolina Air National Guard collection. I've already mentioned the IDF and WWII Italian and Braniff and Air Florida collections as well.  Sometimes, they can be pretty straightforward, other times, they can get convoluted a bit…

    Having all those models in the stash can be troublesome. Moving them all is a hassle—and I've done it eight times! They take up a lot of space, for sure. They add temptation to stray from a current project–or, on the flip side, they get forgotten.  And, even if I were to finish one model a week for the rest of my natural lifetime without buying anything new, I'd wager I still wouldn't finish what I have. The answer? SIDNA…

    SIDNA—Stuff I Don't Need Anymore—is exactly as the name implies. Every now and then, I'll do what a friend calls a Fleet Rationalization Plan where I go through the stash and cull those kits that have either been superseded by better ones or subjects that I'm fairly sure that I'll not build anytime soon. They get sold off at shows, via the Interwebs, or at kit auctions. I'm about due again…

    And even after I cull the dead inventory, I still have a backlog of kits in work. Right now:

    1/72 scale FineMolds Ki-100b, started by a friend. He gave it to me several years back, all it needs is a tailwheel (the original got lost) and paint. Not my usual scale for single-engine WWII fighters, but this is a nice little kit—or so it appears. I'm looking forward to getting it finished.

    1/48 Revell (Monogram) A-10A. This is one of those “For Someone Other Than Me” kits, and it is shaping up nicely.

    1/700 USS Independence, being converted to USS Cowpens. This is one of those rare small-scale ships I have in the collection, and is currently more of a back burner kit than anything else, especially since Dragon released their 1/350 scale kit a few months ago!

    1/35 Sturmgescheutz IV. This is one I'm doing as part of a group build with the local AMPS Chapter, and I'm woefully behind…

    1/48 Special Hobby Aermacchi C.200. No progress lately, and there really needs to be some soon. I have to get this one finished and in the books. There's a review that needs to be done…five or six years later (don't be alarmed–the in-box look was done in a timely fashion).

    And, on the back-burner, I have:

    1/48 scale Monogram F-106A. If there ever was a back-burner project, this is it. I started this one in 1995. I decided to re-scribe the panel lines. What was I thinking….

    1/24 Monogram 1995 Dale Earnhardt Silver Monte Carlo SS Stock Car. This is another kit I started years ago (1995), I finally unearthed it during the latest inventory effort. And now I find out that there might be a new set of decals for the same scheme coming out—this one might wait a little longer.

    Reheat 120mm Space Shuttle/SR-71/U-2/ER-1 pilot. He's painted for the most part, I just need to do some of the detail painting. You'd think I'd sit down for a few hours and do it….

    120mm Reheat Neil Armstrong on the moon. Someday, I'll finish this one. The basic figure is built and primed…has been since about 1999!

     1/144 scale Minicraft C-32/Boeing 757 with Ethiopian Airlines decals. Another review sample (the review was done ages ago—1998 or thereabouts), the decals were produced by a company that's been out of business for at least five years. If the kit itself weren't so horrible…

    I promise, I'll make the time–once the days stretch to thirty hours long….

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.