Two for the price of one–Part two

And since we’re on the topic of plastic kits, here’s the last build of 2017. This little fighter is another favorite of mine, mostly because of the way it looks. I dare you to guess what airplane it is and who made it!

Didn’t figure it out? Neither would I before building this kit – it’s a Doflug 3802, a Swiss construction built in the middle of World War II. Every time I look at it, I think that if P51 and Me-109 had a bastard love child, it would look like this!

Of course, just as in pretty much every build, there were some unexpected chalenges with this one. In this particular case, the source of the problem was… primer I used for undercoating the kit. Having run out of my usual Vallejo Grey, I grabbed a can of cheap grey primer I once bought in a local DIY store. Big mistake! The paint job for this kit required a lot of masking. When I reached the step where the tape was to be removed, the paint followed! I admit, there was a lot of swearing and a tear or two, because I was really pleased with how the paint job turned out. I had no choice but to try to save what I could with a hairy stick – end result is far from as nice as just before the ‘disaster’, but I guess it’s the price for learning a valuable lesson (Don’t cut corners when it comes to materials!).

Two for price of one–Part One

It is safe to say that 2018 has so far been pretty uneventful for me in wargaming department. But that is nothing when compared to my complete and utter letargy in regard of that other hobby of mine – scale modelling. But, as so often is the case, after months of complete inactivity (or even worse, absolute lack of interest!), suddenly something happened and I just had to build something.

And after just a couple of weeks (very fast for me), here it is – a shiny new 1/72 Lockheed Vega from MPM. For some reason, I absolutely love this little airplane, even though it wasn’t as easy to put together as one could think. Being a short run kit, it demands a bit of attention and 100 percent correct allignment of wings and undercarriage… was impossible for me.

Major challenge with this kit was created by yours truely. For probably the very last time I decided to mask side windows with latex masking fluid – a decision which nearly ended up in me scratching the entire kit. Once I reached to the final step of removing the masks, it turned out that the latex not only turned into hard shell, but it also seeped into the tiny space between the windows and fuselage, making it impossible to remove it completely. The only thing to do was to detach the wing, knock out the windows, clean, polish and reattach them. And since misery likes company, carpet monsters stole one of the windows and refused to give it back! So one of the window panels had to be made from scratch. The kit took me maybe six hours in total, additional work on windows doubled building time!

There is something very ‘art deco’ with this blue-yellow paint scheme and I just loved how the model looked after I gloss-varninshed it. So much so that I decided to leave it in this state and refrained from doing any weathering.

And for the bonus round…

…you get a P-51 B Mustang III from Revell. Also this kit has been finished for a while, so it was about time it appeared on the blog. Lovely little kit, I must say, with just right amount of detail and complexity. The bubble canopy and Polish checkerboards on the sides made it an instant favorite of mine.

C4 Open 2017

Yet again, C4 Open modelling exhibition has come and gone. As is my tradition, I took a bunch of photos... and here they are!

Some great builds this year, but the trend of fewer and fewer dioramas with each passing year is unfortunately still 'strong'. OTOH, number of German 'big cats' was definitely lower, instead quite a few Soviet/Russian AFV:s seem to be in vouge! And that's a good thing, a bit tiresome to see 20 Tigers and 15 Panther's year after year.

Apparently Google, in its eternal wisdom, decided that embedding albums created in their own photo storage service on their own blog service is too much hassle. So no more embedded flash movies, my lovlies. Instead, if you want to see the pictures, click on image below – it will lead you to my Google album containg all the goodies. Hope you like the pictures!

Double-dipping in the hobby pool

Another sidestep into my other hobby. This time it’s a Messerschmitt 210 from Italeri, 1/72 scale (as always). A problem-filled kit, with sligh, but annoying fitting problems which cost a bit additional construction time. Still, once I was finished with it, I was a bit surprised over how much I liked it. Mind you, the real thing apparently gave Göring an ulcer (which, when you think about it, should really count as a positive characteristic!), but it based on lines alone, it’s a really beautiful airplane!

Anyway, here’s a couple of pics of my take on this kit.

1/72 US Heavy Weapons set from Plastic Soldier Company– painted

Took me just two months, but they’re now done. Final impression after putting some paints on them? Neeeaaah… my initial impression hadn’t changed that much – they are cheap and they are adequately detailed for a wargaming table. It should be enough and yet, somehow, it isn’t.

Oh well! Judge for yourself, what do you think?

Price of more than one hobby

No point denying it, the goal of having one game per month is pretty much a pipe dream by now, largely due to the fact that my focus has mostly been on ‘that other hobby’. Well, at least I have something to show for time spent on model buildning… This time around I’m proud to present Bristol Blenheim Mk I from Airfix. A truly splendid kit that builds like a dream.

Part two in my ‘Soviet Period’–Mig 3 from Zvezda

Allright, just as an interruption in ongoing series about my latest ACW game and ‘Guns at Gettysburg’, here’s my latest modelling effort – Mig-3 from Zvezda. I could claim that it was a quick and dirty build, without much effort put into it… except it took me more than six week to glue on the antenna and put the canopy in place. Anyway, here’s a couple of pictures of what turned out to be a basic, but nifty little kit.