Seems the only time I post lately is around New Years, it is a time for reflecting on the years changes and accomplishments. My hobby took some strange turns this past year, selling then buying and getting back into the card game Magic the Gathering in February, then dropping that in November for a return to my childhood love of scale modeling. Not a miniatures game played all year. I did sign up and pay for some convention appearances but managed to duck out at the last minute. I did manage to play some board wargames early in the year, ASL and the OCS (operational combat system) game Baltic Gap. That didn't prevent me from buying a half dozen war board games though. Again I cleaned house and dumped the balance of my WOW planes and some board games on BBG and the Surplus Wargame forum. Still more to sell as I'm consolidating my Mini's down to 2-3 rules systems and a manageable amount of figures to finish painting. "Sharp Practice" and "IABSM 3" are a lock to remain, while I'm debating selling or keeping my "Mud and Blood" ECW and WW2 skirmish figures. Now on to the scale modeling. I've been building models since I could remember, the old Aurora, Airfix and Monogram models of cars, monsters and planes. I revisited my modeling days seriously in my early 20's when I bought a Paasche airbrush, and have dabbled on and off over the years. This time I'm seriously into in, my first venture into scale modeling since Al Gore invented the internet and the advent of Photo-etched and cast resin aftermarket parts. I had a few kits laying about and started on the Stuka JU-87 and the British Universal Carrier before diving into the more complicated models I began purchasing.
The Stuka is 1/72 scale and the Carrier is 1/48. Next up was a 1/72 scale Japanese WW2 seaplane, a "Jake" as the allies codenamed it.
This model has 4 coats of paint from primer to a metalized aluminum to a red oxide primer and then the final color coats. The plan is to weather the model so at various points the red oxide primer and eventually the "bare" metal aluminum will show through wear and chipping.
The metalized finishes available today got me curious in doing a modern bare metal jet so loving the early jets of the 1950's I picked a cheaper 1/48 scale F-86F Saber to practice my painting skills on before moving onto a better, more detailed kit.
This plane is awaiting accurate rescribing of the panel lines before painting.
The last model in my current build line up is a Junkers D.1 WW1 all metal monoplane. Again the metallic finish (interior only this time) intrigued me. The interior is base coated gloss black as a prep coat for the metalize aluminum paint.
The interior detail on today's models is amazing, and taken to another degree completely with the aftermarket resin cockpits and photo-etched details. I'm getting my groove back slowly before diving into a larger 1/32 scale super derailed kit.
It seems I'm attracted to the early jets, Sabres, Vampires and MiGs and WW1 seaplanes as that's what stored away in boxes so far. Hopefully I'll be updating this blog a little more regularly than in the past.
Happy gaming and Happy modeling to you all in 2012
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