Monster problems

Monster Hobbies is a local hobby store in High River, Alberta, Canada, one of the towns worst affected by the recent floods. Most of the shop's inventory was destroyed by the flood, but the local modelling community is rallying round to help owner Trevor and his wife Julie get the store back up and running (for example the AMMS show this last Saturday held a kit-donation drive).

If you have any kits that you feel you'll never build (I know, unlikely right?) and would like to donate them to the Monster Hobbies re-build I know Trevor and Julie would be greatly appreciative. Since they'll be re-selling the kits they're looking for factory-sealed models, or if not then they should be complete, unstarted and in good condition. You can contact them via their website, or e-mail me for shipping info, etc.

More AMMS

Categories were a little odd this year, as 1/144, 1/72 and 1/48 models all competed against each other within the same categories. However they were differentiated according to basic, intermediate or advanced levels.

More 1/72 goodness from Dan Mackay

Dan's 1/72 Spitfire

The new-tool 1/72 Airfix Zero built by Dan Mackay

The new-tool 1/72 Airfix Zero built by Dan Mackay

A nicely done Tamiya 1/48 P-47D

Massimo Santarossa's 1/48 Hasegawa Spit (VIII?)

Italeri 1/48 Macchi, also by Massimo. Nice camo.

Rick Chin's 1/32 Bf108F

1/48 F-15 by Rick Chin

The Airfix 1/48 Lynx

1/48 F-86D, presumably the Pro-Modeler kit.

1/48 Nichimo Ki-51 Sonia

1/48 Val(?)

First actual build I've seen of the new Tamiya 1/32 Corsair.

AMMS Contest 2013

I spent the day at this year's Alberta Military Modellers' Show, held at the Military Museum in Calgary. Originally an armour-only contest, in the last few years it's been opened up to military models from all genres. Over the next few days I'll post pics, starting with some of the 1/72 entries.

Mike Tanguay's 1/72 Airfix Bf110 

Mike Tanguay's 1/72 Airfix Bf110 

MPM 1/72 SAAF Boston III by Massimo Santarossa

MPM 1/72 SAAF Boston III by Massimo Santarossa

Sword 1/72 Vultee P-66 Vanguard by Dan Mackay

Sword 1/72 Vultee P-66 Vanguard by Dan Mackay

Special Hobby 1/72 RCAF Digby Mk. 1 by Massimo Santarossa

Special Hobby 1/72 RCAF Digby Mk. 1 by Massimo Santarossa
 

1/72 Revell CH-135 Twin Huey

What-if 1/72 CAF MiG-31

I'm not living in the real world

This week's assignment from the Sprue Cutters' Union asks "How has living in the small scale world influenced your day-to-day view of the 1:1 world?", a question that's perhaps directed at the level of obsession we modellers have with our hobby. I've identified three areas that reflect how deeply ingrained scale-modelling is in my everyday life.

1. Dirty Deeds

We've just got back from a long weekend in Canmore, a resort town on the edge of the Rockies about an hour's drive from Calgary. I'm a keen photographer so I took all my camera gear, and there I was, surrounded by a vista of majestic peaks and forests, taking photos of a bulldozer. Specifically, the rust, dirt and paint chipping on the blade and engine cover. As modellers, we understand such behavior – this was perfect reference for the next armor build (I had Meng's D9R in mind at the time). Similarly when a big truck draws up alongside me at the lights I become so engrossed in the weathering on the wheel arches that drivers behind me have to honk because the lights have turned green.

2. Tangled up in Blue

When I told a friend his newly decorated living room was in a shade 'similar to RLM 02 with a hint of RAF Trainer Yellow' I was told politely by his wife that the colour was actually 'Florentine Plaster'. Modelling has apparently affected how I see and identify colours.

3. Dreamer

The hobby has even permeated my subconscious, as many of my most vivid dreams involve modelling. One of the most satisfying is a recurring dream of me rummaging through a model shop that's packed floor to ceiling with kits, most of them old and from obscure manufacturers, of subjects I've never seen kitted before. I'm young in this dream – late teens or early twenties – and my Dad's with me, making this an especially good one. In another I lived in a Brazilian villa with a huge walk-out basement that was my modelling workshop. Completely tiled in white, the room had counters along its full length with every conceivable tool and modelling product arranged on them, and around the corner of this L-shaped space was a vast stash of kits. These pleasant dreams make a welcome change from the usual fare of sitting exams for which I know nothing about the subject, or hiding in kitchen cabinets from lions.

I would have described myself as being passionate rather than obsessive about the hobby, but pondering this week's Union assignment has made me wonder. Then again, I've been building plastic models for over 40 years so it's no surprise that it's affected my view of life. Some other Unionists' interpretations of this theme:-

Scale Model Workbench
The Combat Workshop
The Eternal Wargamer

Scratch that

Having just installed a new SSD on my MacBook recently I was going through some old folders to see what could be archived and I came across these images, the only remaining evidence of my teenage modelling years. These would have have been built some time between 1976 and 1978, so I'd have been 16 – 18 years old. The images have been scanned from some (very dusty) 35mm slides, so they're a little grainy.
The first is a 1/72 Airco DH9, scratch built from some plans published in 'Scale Models' magazine. Every element of the model was scratch built, even the prop, engine and wheels, the latter 'cast' from car filler (probably David's Isopon) in plasticine moulds. All the markings were painted on, and stretched sprue was used for the rigging.

The other model is a Revell 1/72 Spad XIII, which was given a detailed cockpit and replacement struts. The challenge with this build was the color scheme, which I freehand painted with a fine brush (no masking). My references at the time didn't show the undersides, so I took the easy way out and painted them light grey.

What I find interesting is that today, despite 35 years' more experience, I'd consider a scratch building project like the DH-9 as being too ambitious or difficult, which is a shame as I derived great enjoyment and fulfillment from it.

Sprue Cutters' Union 7: My better half

A couple of years ago my wife Kerry and I were holidaying In Palm Springs, house-sitting for some friends. I decided to make use of Sprue Brothers' excellent service and US postal rates while we were down there.  A day after ordering the 1/72 Special Hobby F-86H, it was delivered. Unfortunately we'd chosen that day for a photographic excursion to the Salton Sea, so the model sat in an aluminum mail box in 112˚ heat for several hours. Needless to say, the kit was completely ruined, along with my mood.  Back in Canada a few weeks later and a parcel arrived out of the blue; a replacement kit, this time in perfect condition. Kerry had surreptitiously made a note of the kit's details, opened her own account with Sprue Brothers and ordered me a replacement.

Special Hobby 1/72 F-86H

While my wife has absolutely zero interest in building a kit herself she's fully supportive of my hobby for one simple reason: she knows it brings me pleasure. She's accompanied me to several US Nats (although I suspect there's an ulterior motive as the first thing she checks online is the location of the nearest 'White House Black Market' store); travels to model contests with me helping to ferry entries and purchases back and forth to the car; and enthuses over my latest builds (I have a hunch this may be feigned, but I still appreciate the effort). 

The least I can do of course is reciprocate by supporting her hobbies. These include watching every televised NFL, NHL, and CFL game. I kid you not – Kerry loves watching sports, so I selflessly sacrifice my time to watch alongside her.

As I suspect is the case for many of us, it's taken a previous failed marriage to help me really appreciate how fortunate I am to have Kerry's support, not just with hobbies but all aspects of life. On the slim chance that she's surfing the internet reading plastic modellers' blogs – thanks, babe!

Other Union posts on this topic:-

A Scale Canadian
Kermit's Workbench
Yet Another Plastic Modeller
MattBlackGod's World
David Knight's Weblog
The Combat Workshop

Can't touch this

I recently stumbled across the Sprue Cutters' Union while reading Jim Bates' blog. The attraction of joining this loose association of bloggers is that someone else kindly does the hard work – coming up with the subject each week. Not only does it provide much needed motivation to write regularly, it's also fascinating to see how other modellers interpret the concept.

This week's theme asked us what models would likely never reach our workbench. My immediate reaction was "any kit by Marivox or Mach 2" but after consideration I decided that wasn't strictly true. OK, so you'd actually have to pay me to build another Marivox kit, which was the only reason I finished a commission build of their Saab 105 several years ago – to this day it remains the worst model I've ever had to build. And I have to admit I own several Mach 2 kits in my stash, there purely because my interest in the subject matter overrides (just) the poor quality of the kits.

Marivox 1/72 Saab 105

So, my final answer on this question is: the new 1/32 Tamiya F-4U Corsair. By all accounts it's the pinnacle of plastic modelling engineering and accuracy, and there are some stunning builds of it (check out Spencer Pollard's build in the current issue of Tamiya Magazine, or this example on Hyperscale). So why will it never grace my workbench? Firstly, I have absolutely zero interest in the subject matter. I know some guys who are total Corsair nuts and can happily build nothing else, but it's one of those aircraft that utterly fails to inspire me (and we all have our own personal examples of this). It's nothing to do with its ugliness – I'm usually a big fan of ugly planes and find they make great modelling subjects – but perhaps more to do with the limited colour schemes. I mean, they're all blue aren't they? Conceivably I could be persuaded to do a FAA aircraft except for the second reason: it's the wrong scale. I build mainly in 1/72 with the occasional foray into 1/48, but (like building a Marivox kit) I'd have to be paid to build in the big scale. I realise that the Tamiya Corsair is a totally different animal than the Revell Eurofighter that I built recently, but it's still much too big to comfortably fit on the workbench and there's just SO much detail. I'm afraid I have a much too low threshold to boredom to be a 'one-kit-a-year' modeller. Oh, hold on a minute...

A few other members of the union on this subject:-

Kermit's Bench

Yet another plastic modeler

Havoc Models

Doog's Models

Lt. Smash's Models
A Scale Canadian