10th August 2007

The Editor's new Blog!

Well, after plenty of pushing from Traplet's young Webmaster, here's the first entry in my regular blog on all things modelling and plenty that are not!

TFI Friday is all I can say! This week has seen me return to armour modelling after almost a year off to build aircraft models which have always been top of my list of interests! Indeed, that has also allowed me to indulge further and not only construct aircraft models, but also build them in 1/32 – another favourite… - which has meant that I've created some spectacular replicas, even if, much to my displeasure, I haven't yet added a 1/32 F-15 Eagle to the collection!

Anyway, the armour subject in question is Tamiya's sweet looking Hetzer, a subject missing from their 1/35 lists 'til now, but obviously already in their 1/48 range. I have to say that it's a neat kit that captures the essence of the original well and as can be seen in the October issue of MIS, looks great complete – even if you have to jump through hoops with that colour scheme to get there…

Along with the armoured diversion that I found myself involved in I've also been completing another 1/32 Ki-61 Hien. Another? Yeah. After finishing off MDC's superlative kit – a 100 hour job spread over four months..! – we received Hasegawa's offering to build. Though not as detailed or sophisticated as the MDC 'tour de force,' Hasegawa's kit is nevertheless fine enough and will be a fine replica once built and painted. As it stands, the kit is built and painted and ready to be weathered – a stumbling block that I seem incapable of getting over! Like a lot of models that build for MIS, unless the kit runs on rails and I go from point A to point B without interruption, it can often languish unfinished for weeks; this is just such a kit. Though I like the model as it stands, one of the decals has not been applied as well as I would have liked and so I've suffered an attack of obsession, got mad and then decided that its rubbish and moved on. Unfortunately, I can't get past that at the moment, despite the fact that I know I'm being stupid, need to grow up and just get on with it! Pathetic really…

As if that's not enough, I've also been building another 1/35 armour kit – Dragon's StuG III – and that Elco 80 MTB. Italeri's huge Elco is without doubt the most involved project that I've ever undertaken and as such, is a massive undertaking that has taken an equally huge amount of time to bring to completion – nearly. At the moment, the model has taken over 80 hours to build and I've completed around ¾ of it and not yet applied any paint! Once again the project has stumbled somewhat but looks to be back on the bench after the appearance of Eduard's etched fret – more bits, more work, no more time to get on with it - and that F-15 still won't get done..!!!