Clik here to view.
“It’s the modeler at his bench…”
Topics tend to come back around in the modeling community. And for the past month or so, it seems like the crosshairs have landed on airbrushes. Please allow me to contain my boundless enthusiasm....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bench Maneuvers
Benchtime is usually pretty sedentary, right? We sit. We maybe raise or lower our seat to get a better angle on certain tasks (I frequently lower my chair as far as it’ll go when I’m dealing with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Airbrushing – A Deep Dive
This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a long time. After all, airbrushing is probably my favorite single aspect of modeling. And, with all the airbrushing talk that’s been swirling about the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Airbrushing – Cleaning the Damn Thing
After my deep dive on airbrushing, I’ve received several requests asking for me to discuss my cleaning process. I get it. Cleaning sucks and it seems like it’s probably one of the top three stories...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Problem with Panel Line Shading – 1 Year Later
One year ago today, I hit publish on a rant against pre-shading – specifically pre-shading panel lines. I also hit some nerves, judging by the storm and fury churned up in the post’s comments, on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hubris of Hobby Boss
When Hobby Boss let it slip that they would be releasing the Flanker family in 1/48 scale, the news was met with guarded excitement. On the one hand, the Flanker – in its many guises – is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
There won’t be a second 1/32 Tamiya Mosquito
Back in April, I posted a lengthy analysis of Tamiya’s 1/32 release patterns (LINK). If you have’t read it yet, I highly recommend it to at least get a sense of what the precedents are. In that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kits that Need to Happen
I know I’ve written something like this before. But some recent subject-hunting has pissed me off all over again. So here are some kits that should exist (or exist in a higher quality tooling than the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1/35 Takom Type 69-II – Part 1 – The Build Up
My taste in armor subjects has evolved substantially since I got back into the hobby – away from World War II and toward the tail end of the Cold War. Judging by the kits that have been arriving on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tamiya’s Next 1/32 Subject – New Factors Emerge
It’s always great fun to dig into Tamiya’s release patterns and try to make some predictions about where we might be heading. I’ve written on this topic plenty of times before – most recently HERE –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tamiya’s New Tomcat – Not the Second Coming
Since the first test shots emerged, Tamiya’s new 1/48 F-14A Tomcat has been praised to the heavens. Reviews have been almost universally glowing. And to be sure, it’s a fine kit. But now that I’m a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No.
It seems to pop up every so often. Sometimes it carries the bland formality of a form letter. “Dear sir or madam”. Or a concerned older person worried there might have been some kind of accident. Or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Contributor-Funded Kit Reviews: Round 3 Selection Time!
I know, I know. It’s been a little while since Round 2. There are lots of reasons – like laziness, work, wanting to actually build things – but I also wanted to give a bit of time for new releases to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
And the Winner Is…
2016 is definitely a year of, uh, unexpected elections. Let’s just leave that at that. The Contributor-Funded Kit Reviews Round 3 vote, it seems, is no exception. After the Round 1 and 2 votes saw the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Gunze Mr. Airbrush PS-770
A few years ago, I found a screaming deal on a gently used Iwata CM-B Custom Micron. Did I need it? Not really. But I’d been hearing Custom Microns talked about in reverent tones and was curious if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Perfect Black Backdrop
For the most part, I love the hell out of my photo table. Yes, it’s big and unwieldy and attracts bugs in the summer months, but the nice even lighting and the ability to use uplighting make it all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Once More Unto the Breach
I think there must be some kind of modeling corollary to Murphy’s Law that says “over the course of a build, something will go wrong”. Looking back, I feel like there’s been something with every kit...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Judging kits and the judges who judge them
Kitty Hawk’s new 1/48 Su-17 has hit the market, and now that the plastic’s in the hands of various reviewers, thoughts are starting to trickle out. My own copy – destined to be the third subject in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Talking with Tanmodel – 1/32 Su-33 Sea Flanker Edition
Back in the fall of 2015, I conducted an interview with Baris Tansoy, founder of the then-largely-unknown Tanmodel. This was just as they were starting to really share details of their RF-84F...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: 1/48 Kitty Hawk Su-17M3/M4 Fitter
Welcome to the third entry in the Contributor-Funded Kit Review series! This time out, the subject is Kitty Hawk’s new-tool 1/48 Su-17M3/M4 Fitter. Want to skip all the pesky words and just head over...
View Article