Iron Modeler

On the Gustav Line

Howdy, all!

This is the article on the StuG IV project that took me a decade (!) to complete.  If you go back through the posts from the early days of this little slice o' the Internet, you'll see many references to the StuG project that finally got finished a few years ago.  Without further ado, here it is in all it's glory.

The StuG IV

The German assault gun known as the Sd.Kfz 167 Sturmgeschütz IV (StuG IV) was a result of the Krupp manufacturing firm’s desire to built assault guns for the Wehrmacht.  The vehicle was a lash-up of the late mark Panzerkampfwagen IV chassis and running gear topped with a modified StuG III Ausf. F superstructure.

At the time, the Panzer IV was being outperformed by the StuG III, and all Panzer IV production was scheduled to be shifted to building the Panzerjäger IV, a Pz.Kpfw IV/L70 “Lang” chassis and a fixed superstructure armed with a 7.5 cm/L70 gun, the same gun being installed on the Pz.Kpfw V (Panther).  However, Vomag also fitted a 7.5 cm/L48 gun to the vehicle, which became the Jadgpanzer IV Ausf. F. 

The Stug IV was beginning to fade into the files of “never built” vehicles until an air raid on the Alkett plant in November 1943 destroyed the StuG III production line.  Since the StuG IV could be placed into service faster than either the Jagdpanzer IV or the Panzerjäger IV, Krupp was authorized to begin producing them. 1,108 StuG IV’s were constructed, and an additional 31 were converted from damaged Pz.Kpfw IV chassis before production was ended by the German surrender.

Dispatched to the Eastern Front, the StuG IV became a proficient tank-killer.  It would be used on all fronts between 1943 and 1945, and some saw post-war use with the Syrians in their conflicts with Israel in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Four examples are known to survive, two in Poland, one in Latvia, and one in Australia.

Panzer-Abteilung 190

Panzer-Abteilung 190 was formed from the remnants of the first iteration of II./Panzer-Regiment 202 and sent to North Africa with 90. Leitche Afrika-Division.  Engaged in battles in the region, most of the unit’s vehicles were destroyed in the battles around Tunis in May 1943.  The remnants were then reformed with additional vehicles in July 1943 and attached to the 90. Panzer-Grenadier Division and garrisoned in Sardinia.  When the Allied attack began on Sicily, the unit was kept in reserve and later removed to the Italian mainland.  Initially posted to the area around Pisa, it would later take a place on the Gustav Line, one of the defensive lines around Anzio and Cassino.

The unit would ultimately see most of its war fighting ability again destroyed, and the few remaining vehicles would be re-distributed to other units.  The StuG IV’s of Panzer-Abteilung 190 would wind up going to the 34. Infanterie-Division in Northern Italy, where they would spend their final days.

The Project

Photo 1: The kit.

The project started as a “group build” project with the AMPS Central South Carolina “Wildcats” in late 2010, shortly after the Chapter formed--this coincidentally was a period in which I was laid off and only working part time, so I figured it would be an easy task.  The best laid plans and all that...

The group decided on the then-new (2009) Dragon “Early Production” StuG IV kit.  Along the way, Mike Roof did a lot of research on the kit, assembly sequence, and applicable features of the StuG IV, and provided the information to everyone in the group build.  The level of detail that Mike went into was incredible, and the fact that he broke down the various bits of the kit into what was used in which time frame, what parts could be kept, what could be tossed in the spares box…in short, it gave everyone a glimpse into Mike’s “style” when he builds a model.

Before I move forward, yes, this is another one of those models with very few in-progress photos.  Follow the text for the procedures I used.  Also, some of the sequences might be written in a different order in which I actually completed them.  Sorry, but this project stretched over nearly a decade…

Let’s get it on!

One of the first items to consider is zimmerit, the paste that the Germans applied to their vehicles to prevent magnetic anti-tank mines from sticking to the hull.  The early StuG IV’s got it, the later ones didn’t.  Since the model is an early vehicle, it needed to have it.  There are many ways to add it—textured acrylic gel, putty (either body putty or epoxy putty), photoetched brass, resin...and, of course, several months after this project started, Dragon issued a kit with molded-on zimmerit.  The aftermarket and kit alternatives are nice, but they tend to be too regular whereas the real thing was applied by hand, and one vehicle was different from another.  To get that “organic look”, the best thing to do is make it yourself with putty or another substance.

I tried the green putty route years ago, and it works, but you have to move quickly, before the putty skins over and becomes unworkable.  This time, I tried the acrylic gel method—apply the gel, then “comb” it out with a section of Campbell’s HO Scale corrugated siding.  It is easy enough to do, but after it dried it lacked depth and “sharpness” when compared to photos.  The corrugated siding left rounded ridges.  To address this, I had an old razor saw blade lying around, cut it into sections, and gave those a whirl.  I liked the profile, but the gel medium tended to relax as it dried, yielding sharper, but still rounded, peaks.

Looking around the workbench, I noticed a tube of Elmer’s Professional Wood Filler.  I tried a test swatch on some scrap Evergreen sheet, and it was promising.  It still wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked it, so on a whim I added a small amount of microballoons to the filler and gave it another test.  Bingo!  The rows were sharp, as were the peaks.  So, over the next few days I applied the wood filler and combed it out with the section of razor saw blade.  Hurdle number one, crossed…

If you’re a tool junkie, several companies offer zimmerit tools.  Trumpeter’s is a roller-style tool—apply the medium and roll it out—and Tamiya’s are photoetched “saw tooth” scrapers similar to a razor saw blade.  I actually acquired the Tamiya set through some wheeling and dealing a few years ago, so I believe I’m set for zimmerit tools for a while (not that I use them all that often, anyway).

I painted the inside of the engine compartment flat black to disguise the fact that it would be empty.  Some areas could be seen through the cooling louvers, so painting it black makes it less obvious that the area is empty.

Now we reach the part of the story where I went back to work in the corporate aviation world, complete with six-day, 16 hours a day work weeks.  The project languished.  I would peck at it every now and then, but for the most part it remained stalled in the “Projects in Limbo” cabinet.

I did develop several habits during the project.  The first was to remove all the parts I didn’t need from the trees and place them in the spares box.  I also used a highlighter to note which parts I was going to use on the instructions, and would cross them out with a pencil as I installed them on the model.  As you might know, Dragon’s kits are, as the Brits might say, “bitty”, with lots and lots of small parts—my take is that if the actual item consisted of four parts, Dragon will break it down into a dozen, no matter how teeny the parts will be.  By marking them out on the instructions—especially when you are picking up on the project after a week, month, or longer—helps keep track of what has been done and what still needs doing.  I figured this last one out after I spent the better part of an hour (!) figuring out where I left off after my last session on the model a few weeks prior.

As I pecked away, I continued to pre-paint some parts and subassemblies.  The superstructure interior was painted Testor Acryl Panzer Interior Buff and the details painted in their relevant colors.  I didn’t go whole hog here, since I was unsure whether I wanted to leave the hatches open—I did enough to make things convincing if it was seen through the hatches, and no more.

The wheels were given a coat of Panzer Yellow (PollyScale) and then assembled.  Road wheels were brush painted a few at a time with Acryl Aircraft Interior Black (it is a “scale black”, perfect for tires) until they were all complete and ready to be assembled to the suspension.  I kept them in a plastic cup until they were needed.

Be sure to follow the Prime Directive—make sure everything is straight, square, and plumb as you assemble it.  Nothing looks sillier than a model of what is nominally a 23-ton vehicle with half the road wheels floating up in the air.  I made a block for the lower hull—I set the hull on the block to hold it at the correct height, and then installed the suspension bogies.  As the glue dried, I checked to make sure it remained aligned properly.

When it comes to the tracks, I can offer several tips.  First, work on them throughout the process.  Clean the links up and place them into a container with a lid so that should it overturn you won’t be playing “Pick up the Links” for an hour.  The next tip is to assemble a few links at a time, even if that only consists of lining them up against a fixture and taping them in place.  It becomes less tedious by spreading the job out over several sessions.

Did I say fixture?  There are commercially available track alignment fixtures available, or you can go the DIY route.  I taped a section of square brass tubing to a picture frame glass.  The brass acts as a straightedge.  I would clean up a few links and lay them in place along the brass.  I used thin strips of tape to hold them together until I had the whole run completed.  I constructed the second run in the same manner.  Pay attention, since the Pz.Kpfw IV tracks were handed.  Dragon molded the links in slightly different values of gray to help out in this respect.  It may help to label them right and left to keep things organized.

When it came time to assemble them to the vehicle, I temporarily installed the road wheels, idler, and return rollers.  The sprocket was permanently attached and the glue was allowed to dry for a day or so.  This is important, since the final assembly will undergo a bit of tension—nowhere near as much as the old-school “rubber band” vinyl tracks, but there will be some tension on the sprockets because they attach to a raised boss and not an axle to lend stability.

Now, here’s how I ran the tracks—I doubt it is the best or most efficient way to do things, but it worked…

Apply some liquid cement to all the track joints and allow it to begin bonding the links.  Once the bond has firmed up but is still pliable, carefully wrap the run of tracks around the suspension.  Cement the loose ends together and use a small strip of tape to secure them, and repeat with the other side.  Set the vehicle on the glass surface and set some weight into the hull to keep it down.  The upper hull was taped into place, then I used cosmetic sponge wedges to set the sag between the fenders and upper run—simply cut a wedge and insert it between the road wheels.  Be gentle, since you don’t want to pull the track links apart.  Now, leave the model alone overnight—or longer.  The key to the whole operation is to allow the cement to cure fully and the plastic to re-set before handling the tracks.

Because the wheels were left loose, the wheels and assembled track runs can now be removed from the model.  Make sure you mark each track run so you don’t mix up left for right after you paint them.

The fenders were a bit fiddly, but with some careful fitting they got added to the hull.  The gun was assembled into the interior and the upper and lower hull was joined.  Once the major parts of the vehicle were together, it was a matter of assembling the smaller bits to it.  Use a good pair of tweezers, since some of the bits are tiny.  Some parts, like the tools and jack, were left off until they were individually painted.

When it came time to paint the thing, I was in a quandary.  I knew I wanted a vehicle that operated around Anzio.  My maternal grandmother’s family was from Naples, and some of them remembered watching as the abbey on Monte Cassino was bombed by the Allies.  I was meeting dead ends every time I looked.  I finally found an Italian website (http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/asp/n_main.asp) that gave some decent accounts of the battles in and around the Volturno River basin.  Since I still retain some of the Italian my relatives taught me, and since pictures are universal, I managed to pin down units and places in the area.

With an idea in my head, I began digging deeper, and eventually found a photograph of a StuG IV in an Allied salvage lot near Pontecorvo, about 8 miles southwest of Cassino.  Further digging turned up a link to the ADH Publishing book To The Last Bullet: Germany’s War On 3 Fronts (Part 2: Italy).  One of the photos of (supposedly) this vehicle shows General Albert Kesselring posing in the commander’s hatch before the battle, and others show it sitting derelict, although mostly intact, in the salvage yard with some U.S. dogfaces examining it.  Between the photos and color plates, I knew where I was heading…

Photo 2: The book.  If you have any interest at all in the land battles of the Italian Campaign, this is a must-have.

As I was researching, I noted that this vehicle was fitted with a cover where the mantlet meets the superstructure.  Apparently, the canvas cover leaked, so the crews would fabricate these covers from whatever they had at hand.  The cover that appears to have been installed on this vehicle appears to be either bent sheet metal or welded armor plate from a discarded section of Schürzen attached to the superstructure with hinges so it could elevate with the gun.  I fabbed a scale version up from an index card, soaked with CA, and attached with some quick non-functional hinges made from more CA-soaked index card and some fine wire.

Speaking of Schürzen, for some reason known only to Dragon engineers, the kit provides them in photoetched steel.  Attaching the brackets to them was an exercise in insanity.  The bond between the plastic hanging brackets and the steel panels kept coming loose.  Also, measure twice before you attach them or your panels will not hang correctly.  I omitted a few panels, as was commonly seen in photos.

The StuG IV was painted in the typical German scheme of Panzer Yellow with a pattern of dark brown and dark green painted over it.  Using some of the last of my PollyScale paints, I used the photos and color plates as a rough guide to paint the model. 

While I don’t usually recommend the use of color plates as references (they are, after all, an artist’s conception of what the original itself looked like), the plates were used simply because the photos depict the vehicle coated in dust which obscured the camouflage.  I took it on faith that the color plate would be close to what the vehicle looked like.  Given that common wisdom had the green and brown applied in the field, and given photos of similar vehicles, I took the chance and am quite happy with the results.

Photo 3: Base coat of paint applied.

 

Photo 4:  Squiggles

 

Photo 5: More squiggles

The paint was allowed to dry, and the next day a coat of Future was applied and allowed to dry overnight.  The few decals required (notably, the crosses) went on with little trouble.  They were cleaned up after they dried, and a coat of semi-gloss clear was applied to the model.

I went full-on old school with weathering.  I used artists’ oils to not only do pin washes and flood washes, but also to drybrush the model.  The joy of oils is that they stay workable for a much longer time than hobby paints, so you can go back and re-blend an area until you are happy with the way it looks.  From start to finish, the oil weathering took all of an hour. 

Photo 6: Decals on, weathering in progress.

Photo 7: The rear of the StuG.

 

Photo 8: More decals, more oils...I keep my weathering understated.

I then applied a few dings and chips to the surface.  I may have been too restrained, but I like to err on the side of “not enough” rather than “too much”—even the photos show a relatively well-kept vehicle.  I used a “pigment wash” to apply the dust to the lower hull and Schürzen—I mixed various colors of artists’ dry pigments with distilled water into a slurry, then brushed it onto the model.  A wet brush was used to control the wash, and later, after the wash had dried, the brush was used to “tame” the area.  By washing off areas, you can simulate areas that have been “cleaned” by the crew climbing on the vehicle or the vehicle rubbing up against vegetation or other objects. 

The tracks were painted with Vallejo Track Primer, and then given a dark wash with oils.  The raised areas were rubbed with a flannel rag and some SNJ polishing powder—find a dark smudge on the cloth and use that to impart a shiny—but not sparkly!—look to the tracks.  Do the same where the wheels contact the tracks—the constant movement will wear the dirt and grime away. 

To install them, work slowly and carefully to get everything installed properly.  I found the best way to do it was to install several road wheels and the return rollers, then carefully maneuver the tracks on to the hull.  Then install the rest of the road wheels and the idler.  You’ll soon find out how well those sprockets are attached—one of mine broke loose, and a few harried moments ensued until I got it solidly re-attached.  The wheels and tracks were further weathered by drybrushing and the pigment wash method discussed above. 

I gave the model a coat of matt varnish to blend everything together.  The kit-supplied tow cables were cut to length and annealed with a butane torch—it makes the wire easier to work with, and it also imparts a realistic “used” look to it, no paint necessary.  Attach the tools and other bits, wrap the tow cables, and it is time to put the display together.

The base

The base starts with a craft store plaque that is sanded to remove the tooling marks and given a few coats of Minwax PolyShades.  Felt was glued to the bottom for a “finished” look. 

The terrain module was made up by stacking and gluing foam sheets.  I used the commonly-found packing foam (the stuff made up with little beads of Styrofoam), and it really isn’t good for this purpose since it is difficult to shape.  I did my best, and then coated the module with pumice textured acrylic gel medium (you can also use plaster).  Once dry, I started on the actual road where the vehicle would be displayed.  The model was set on the road bed, and the contact patches of the tracks were marked out.  Pieces of Evergreen sheet were cut just smaller that the dimension of the contact patches and glued to the module.  These would give a flat area to attach the vehicle without a lot of fuss.

The road surface was simulated with Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty mixed to a cookie dough consistency.  It was spread on the area and smoothed with a wet brush.  Blend it so that the Durham’s is faired in with the Evergreen strips.  When dry, it was painted in a nondescript ground color and left to dry.  The sides of the module were painted black using craft paint.

The landscaped areas were covered with Celluclay that I mixed with a good dollop of white glue so it would adhere better.  Once dry, it was painted a dark brown and left to dry.

To texture the road, I went out to my driveway (a gravel driveway) and collected a few paper cups full of various sizes of gravel.  Using a sieve, I separated the various sized of gravel, and used the smallest size to represent the gravel road on the base.  Woodlands Scenics Scenic Cement was used to lock the gravel into place.  Take care to blend and feather the road surface into the plastic strips added earlier.  Some various “gravel road” colors were used to create several washes to tone the road down and look to scale. 

The landscaped areas were covered with various shades and grades of Woodlands Scenics grass, weeds, and turf.  Some of the larger driveway gravel was placed here and there to represent rocky outcroppings.  When all was dry, the same washes were applied to again tone the area down and give it a “scale” look.

While researching the Italian website, I found a period photo of a sign on the road between Itri and Pontecorvo.  Jodie converted the photo into decal artwork, and had it custom printed with one of her projects.  The sign boards and sign post are Evergreen sheet and strip cut to shape.  The items were painted tan, and then streaked with oils to represent wood.  Then I “whitewashed” everything with a thin mix of white in the airbrush.  When dry, the barber pole stripe was masked and painted.  The decals were applied to the sign boards, the sign boards attached to the pole, and the pole was installed on the base.  The “8” was applied to a white disk; it identifies the road as Strada Provinciale 8, presently the main road between Pontecorvo and Cisterna.

To attach the model, I used white glue.  I also used a little of the driveway gravel to tie the vehicle in to the base, and gave it the same wash I did on the road itself.  Make sure the vehicle looks like it weighs 23 tons—mind the floating road wheels and tracks (which shouldn’t be a problem since you followed the Prime Directive, right?).  You’ll need to once again blend the road surface around the tracks to make sure there are no gaps between the road and the tracks.  Do a walk around, and touch up any areas that might need some wash, paint, or clear coat.

I started to assemble and paint figures from the Dragon Panzer Grenadiers set, and at least one will eventually be added to the base, but by the time I reached this point (in 2019, nearly a decade after the project started!), I decided to make up a placard, attach it and the module to the base, and call it a day…

Photo 9: Playing around with placement of the elements.  This was early in the game, I actually reversed everything for the final product.

 

Photo 10: The final configuration.  The figure is partially complete at this stage and the vehicle has yet to be treated with the pigment wash.

 

Photo 11: From the other side.

 

Photo 12: The finished project (minus the figure), only a decade after it began!  The pigment wash is subtle, yet effective.

New Year, New Stuff

New Year, New Stuff

Howdy, all! I trust you all had a safe, healthy, and happy holiday.

We’re looking forward to the New Year. With a New Year comes new promise, new adventures, and new things to get done.

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Speaking of getting things done, I am on the closing stretch on the trio of Vermont ANG F-16C’s. The paint is done, the decals are on, and I’ve begin final assembly. I still need to do the bases, and the in-flight model will take a little more work than normal since I have configured the landing gear to be shown in-transit. It should be a cool display…

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On the “New Toy” front, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Silhouette Cameo 4 at the beginning of December. I should have some time soon to get the beast set up and running. The intended purpose of the machine is to cut paint masks and stencils, but it can do so much more–creating styrene parts (one reason I opted for the Cameo over the Portrait), making vinyl stickers for displays, etc. Stay tuned…

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Speaking of New Stuff, here’s something I’ve been meaning to share for a while. Once the F-16’s are done, I’ll be starting a new project, and I thought it would be fun if I shared how I plan my projects. Not all of them go into this depth of research, but this should give you an idea how I do things (note, this is how I do things—your mileage may vary). Without further fanfare, here’s the dope...

Subject: A-10A, S/N 73-1669, C/N A10-0006
Time/Date: 8 June 1978
Place: Edwards AFB

The project will be to replicate the ejection of then-MAJ Francis C. “Rusty” Gideon, Jr. from the sixth preproduction A-10A when a gun propellant test caused a double engine flameout after a secondary gun gas ignition event robbed them of oxygen.

I want to show the airplane in flight, the canopy jettisoned, and the seat just starting to come out of the cockpit. So, that means that I won’t have to worry about detailing the landing gear wells or the cockpit.

So, where would you start?

I usually begin with the subject and drill down into the data. The basics usually result in the brief summation I started with above—What, Where, and When, and what configuration I want to display.

Next, I start to drill down into the available references. What are the particulars of the subject? Is this something I can do with an existing kit or kits, or will I need to do some scratchbuilding? If it can be done from a kit, which kit best fills the need? What modifications do I need to make to show it in the configuration I want to display? What about additional details? What do I need to know about the colors and markings?

Let’s look at these one at a time. We’ll start with the particulars…

First, you should note that several well-traveled internet sites refer to the preproduction A-10A’s (serial numbers 73-1663 through 73-1669) as a YA-10’s. This is incorrect—there were only two YA-10’s built, 71-1369 and 71-1370. These were the two airplanes that were in the “fly-off” for the A-X contract against the Northrop (note spelling—there’s no “u” in that word!) YA-9’s. These two also participated in the later “fly-off’ between the A-7 and the A-10. The two YA-10’s were quite a bit different from both the preproduction and production A-10A’s.

Here are the key things to consider:

• Ejection Seat: The A-10 was originally built with the Douglas 1E9 ESCAPAC ejection seat. Incidentally, events such as this one hastened the conversion from ESCAPAC to ACES II across the A-10 fleet.
  

• Leading edge slats, Ventral Strakes, and Trailing Edge Fairing: The YA-10’s had some issues with wing buffeting at high angles of attack (AoA, or “alpha”), particularly when the gun was fired. To combat this, leading edge slats were installed on the inboard section of the wings between the fuselage and landing gear sponsons, ventral strakes were added to the fuselage where the wing joined the fuselage, and a wing-to-fuselage fairing at the trailing edge junction. All the preproduction airplanes were so fitted.
  

• Flap guides: The original design for the YA-10 allowed the flaps to extend 40 degrees. The flap travel was later limited to 30 degrees on the preproduction ships, and finally limited to a maximum of 20 degrees on the production aircraft. The flap guides—those rails on the underside of the wings at the ends of the flaps—were altered accordingly. 73-1669, being a preproduction aircraft, was limited to 30 degrees.
  

• Gun: The YA-10’s were initially fitted with an M61 20mm Vulcan cannon because the GAU-8/A Avenger was still being developed. All the preproduction airframes had the Avenger from the outset, with the perforated sleeve at the muzzle end. The aft facing scoops covering the gun gas purge slots and fan were not present on the preproduction airplanes.
  

• Chaff/Flare dispensers: Chaff and flare dispensers were not initially fitted to the preproduction or early production airframes (think early DM or MB A-10’s in the various camouflage schemes before Euro I was standardized), they used pods instead. The production aircraft were fitted with streamlined boxes under the wingtip turndowns and the underside of the aft end of the landing gear sponsons. 73-1669 did not have the dispensers at the time of the incident.

The first thing most modelers consider are “which kit?” and “what scale?” Seems logical, right? In order to do this, let’s look at the data. We know we want to build a preproduction A-10A. Are there any kits out there that fill this bill?

The answer is yes: Monogram and Hasegawa in 1/72nd scale, and Tamiya and Revell in 1/48th scale.

They’re all older kits. Monogram’s dates back to 1977, as does Tamiya’s kit. Revell’s kit originated in 1979, and was later “retired” in favor of Monogram’s plastic (circa 1986) when Revell and Monogram merged. The easy way to tell them apart is to look at the box top—if the box top shows a photograph of a built-up model, it is the original Revell plastic. If it shows box art, it is Monogram plastic.

Hasegawa’s is the youngest of the quartet, arriving in 1982.

The pros and cons: In 1/72nd scale, Monogram’s kit is nicely done except for the engine nacelles—they’re egg-shaped. You can fix them, graft nacelles from another kit onto the Monogram fuselage, or built it as is and be happy. The pilot figure in Monogram’s kit is superb. While we’re speaking of such things, it appears that Gideon was wearing the blaze orange CWU-1/P or K-2B flight suit, as opposed to the sage green standard issue suits of the day.

The initial issue of Hasegawa’s 1/72nd scale kit did not feature the chaff and flare boxes under the wingtips and sponsons, but all subsequent reissues had them. Removing them is a rather easy task, so don’t sweat it. Hasegawa kits issued in 2014 or later have started to add the additional bits (or modified parts) to depict the LASTE and more modern configurations, so these are more bits you will have to delete.

In 1/48th scale, both Tamiya and Revell’s kits are great kits for their time. The nose of the landing gear sponsons on the Tamiya kit are a little square. Also, in subsequent reissues, Tamiya added the chaff and flare dispensers, so if you get a later issue of the kit you’ll need to remove these.

The engine fans on the Revell kit sit too close to the inlet and the compressor blades turn the wrong way. I would think that any of the available resin fan sets would be a good start—they probably won’t be an exact fit, so you’ll have to exercise your modeling skills. Frankly, I wouldn’t worry about it...

If you don’t like “ancient plastic”, you certainly could backdate any of the currently available kits—any production A-10 kit can be backdated to preproduction configuration, if you want to do the work. Depending on the kit, you may need to remove the LASTE humps and bumps, use an ESCAPAC seat, and delete the scoops over the gun purge slots, delete the modern antenna fits, and installing the earlier pattern bits.

If you work in 1/32nd scale, you have one choice: Trumpeter’s 2001-vintage kit, and it will need to be backdated.

Now, let’s look at some photos. The entire ejection sequence was caught on film by the chase aircraft, so we can determine a lot from stills taken from the recordings. As with all A-10’s, the aileron trim tabs were deflected a bit (both the fixed and adjustable tabs), so a little cutting and repositioning will be in order. Also, the flaps seem to be extended to some extent, so again, you’ll need to break out the razor saw and cut the flaps loose. Unfortunately, I know of no aftermarket flap sets for the A-10 in any scale. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong on this point.

As mentioned earlier, there is really no need to go hog wild on detailing the cockpit or gear wells. So save those photoetched and resin doo-dads for a project where they will be seen.

Ordnance, too, is no concern, as the airplane wasn’t carrying any. The wing pylons on Stations 1 through 4 and 8 through 11 were fitted, but I have yet to see a good photo of the underside of the fuselage, so I’ll assume the pylons were fitted to Stations 5, 6, and 7 as well. The PAVE PENNY pylon was not installed, the photos and videos clearly show this.

Colors and markings are interesting. This was one of the early experimental paint schemes that featured a black undercoat with varying numbers of coats of white paint on top. As the white paint eroded, it resulted in a mottled gray finish. The rudders and wingtips were red.

When it comes to decals, there are a few options. In 1/48th scale, the Tamiya kit features the basic markings for 73-1669, but the camouflage color notes are vague. Microscale (the OLD Microscale) offered sheet 48-69 back in the day that featured 73-1669 and most of the other preproduction airframes.

In 1/72nd scale, Microscale’s sheet 72-313 will take care of you. You’re on your own in 1/32nd scale...

As far as goes a good guide to the interesting minefield that is early A-10A camouflage, I can’t recommend a better reference than Dana Bell’s Colors and Markings of the A-10 Warthog (C&M Vol. 24) from the folks at Detail and Scale (ISBN 0890242247). A real good photo of 1669 appears on page 7, showing how the scheme looked before the white was allowed to erode, exposing more of the black undercoat.

Likewise, Dana’s A-10 Warthog In Detail and Scale (D&S Vol. 19, ISBN 0816850305) is a good source for information.

The last consideration that needs to be made concerns the display itself. How will the airplane be suspended “in flight”? For the VTANG F-16C, I plan to use a length of acrylic rod inserted into the tailpipe of the jet and plugged into a hole in a display base. Given the airplane was depicted just taking off, this was an easy choice. But the A-10 was at 2,000 feet AGL when MAJ Gideon pulled the handles, so the acrylic rod plugged into the base might not work. I’m still in the “thinking” phase on this one.

That’s where I am on the project to date. I don’t plan to start this project until the VTANG F-16’s are complete, but I thought it would be interesting if I shared some of my methods with you.

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That’s all I have at the moment. Take care of yourselves, and be good to one another. As always, I bid you Peace.

“I Can’t”

Howdy, all!

I’m going to discuss something I have noticed more and more over the past few years.  My discussion (as usual) will pertain to the hobby of scale modeling, but I see it elsewhere, too.

It usually begins like this—someone displays their model at a club meeting, online, or at a show.  As people file by and look at the work, I hear the comments: “I could never do that.”

Why is that?  What is preventing anyone from doing similar work? 

For the tl;dr crowd, my reaction towards this attitude can be summed up thusly:  When you say “I can’t”, it usually translates to “I won’t”.

Let’s get back to the discussion.  In many cases, the answer comes down to curiosity, time, budget, and the desire to do what it takes.

Lets look at several categories:

“I do not have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do that.”  There’s no crime in this.  Take the time you need to learn the techniques and skills to “do that”, whatever “that” is.  Learn basic scratchbuilding.  Take time to perfect your assembly skills.  Practice using the airbrush wherever you can.  Be curious.  Be willing to try new stuff.

“I don’t want to spend the time it takes to do that.”  Fair enough.  I know a good many modelers who simply do not want to fool around with advanced techniques, and most of them are happy to knock kits together in a few nights, apply basic paint jobs, and use the kit decals.  That’s fine.  The issue I have comes when someone verbalizes their desire to make their models better but refuses to acknowledge that it does take additional time, both practicing the technique and applying it to the model.

“I don’t want to spend the money to do that.”  Again, this is a fair comment.  Some modelers lack the financial wherewithal to go and buy ready-made detail sets.  However, there’s always a way.  When I started adding details to my models, the materials came from stuff lying around the house.  My mother’s sewing box provided thread and other “soft” materials.  Dad’s workbench provided scraps of wood and metal.  Packaging provided thin plastic sheet.  When the Bell South guys did work on the lines, we could usually talk them out of scrap wire.  Add to these paper clips, staples, foil pie pans, and other stuff that was usually thrown away, and you have a trove of stuff to make details from.  The garden provided dirt and gravel for groundwork (for as often as I did groundwork—which was almost never).  So, you don’t have to dump a ton of dough on special stuff—look around.

When it comes to assembly materials, instead of buying dedicated “hobby” putty, there are alternatives.  I learned early that I could use Hot Stuff (our standby CA back in the day) and baking soda as filler.  In fact, I still use CA—but not the baking soda.  Instead of forking over a few bucks for a 2 oz tube of Squadron Green Putty, for a few dollars more I could buy a tube of automotive scratch filler that was twice the size for a buck more.  I could buy those little tubes of Krazy Glue for a buck, and it worked the same as Hot Stuff.

The two areas I didn’t skimp on were paint and cement.  I would be wise in what I bought--$2 for a 2oz bottle of Plastic Weld vs. $1.98 for 1oz of Micro Weld—and I would do my best to make sure it didn’t get wasted.

Oh yeah—if I wanted something, I’d save my money.  I knew that there was no such thing as instant gratification.  My parents would chip in from time to time, but only to an extent.  So, yeah, I learned to plan and budget.

“I don’t want to be criticized/shown up/embarrassed.”  Aha!  Now we’re getting closer to the truth. 

I have only once in 45 years witnessed someone belittling someone else’s work.  Modelers are generally helpful people.  Ask a dozen modelers a question; you are likely to receive a dozen equally valid answers to that question.  We all want to be told we’ve done a good job.  We all want acceptance.  But with that territory comes being counseled.  Most modelers I know want to help you, and my best advice is to listen.  If you ask a question, listen, then take the advice to heart and try the techniques you’ve been taught.  That’s how we learn.  Making mistakes is part and parcel of everything we do…how we deal with those mistakes is what can encourage or discourage.

“I don’t want to.”  The truth for a lot of this is that some folks simply do not want to vary their routine or get out of their personal rut.  They love looking at the results of these techniques on other people's models, but they don’t want to make the investment in time, practice, and learning to apply it to theirs.  Which is fine—again, there are as many ways to enjoy the hobby as there are people enjoying it.

Notice I said “investment”—that’s what one needs to make in any endeavor.  Decide what it is you want to do, take some time to learn and practice until you get where you want to be.  As you achieve each goal, find new goals.  They need not be huge goals—in fact, small steps are more desirable than major goals.  Write them down.  And know this—some of these goals will take some time to achieve and may stretch over several projects.

Perhaps the one goal I cannot stress enough—Finish the model you are working on.  Don’t worry that there are issues with it.  Why?  Finishing a project is a goal in and of itself.  And honestly, many of the issues you know exists on the model will probably not be seen by most other modelers.  I’ve seen several instances of someone going back and forth on one model for years, reworking minor issues so many times that they become large issues.  Do your best, and move on.  Do better on the next project.

By all means, if (more like “when”—I make mistakes on my models all the time) you make a mistake, take some time to analyze what went wrong, what you need to do to fix it, and make an attempt at rectifying the problem.  Tossing a model into the wastebasket teaches you nothing.  Yes, there are times when the solution to the problem is to bin the model and start fresh.  But don’t automatically think that is the solution.  Set the model aside.  Let it sit for a week.  Then take a look at the model.  You might be surprised at how easy the fix is.

As I tell folks in Model Building 101, there isn’t a whole lot you can mess up that cannot be fixed.  You simply need to be willing to be patient and spend the time it takes to do the job.  There are no secrets—most techniques you will learn are out there in the world, in magazines, books, online articles, YouTube videos, at the local hobby shop (if you are fortunate enough to have a good one), and at club meetings.

Most of what we do—in any endeavor—is fairly simple.  It just takes a little curiosity, small investments in time and money, and the desire to make it happen.

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Work continues on the F-16’s.  I’ve spent the last few weeks working on the 1/32^nd Hasegawa kit.  It has some issues—most of them stem from the fact that the basic molds date back to 1978.  The cockpit tub is probably the worst example of the kit’s problems—the consoles are way too short, and short of replacing the cockpit, you have to deal with what you get.  Going back to what I said earlier, I used scrap plastic to fix things to the best of my availability without having to resort to a complete re-build.

I also cut out the trailing edge flaps so they can be shown in the lowered position, and cut the leading edge flaps to show them in the +2° position as shown in F-16’s on the ground. 

Some of the small bits were missing, and some weren’t provided.  I scratchbuilt the beer can antennas on the leading edge of the wing and the two antenna fairings on the nose from scraps of Evergreen styrene.  I also reconfigured the gun covers to better match photos.  I also had to revise the way the gun barrels got installed—revising the covers required the rework.  I think I got everything looking good…

The kit canopy was missing the aft fixed portion, and someone had thrown in a spare Tamiya canopy (at least I think it is Tamiya).  I did a little work to revise the hinge area and fit the Tamiya parts to the Hasegawa kit.  The result will be a lot better than the original kit canopy.  It is another one of those areas Hasegawa didn’t quite get right back in the late 1970’s.

Next up will be revising the bomb’s fuses.  The kit parts look like they have the transport suspension plugs installed.  I think some Evergreen rod and sheet will fill that bill.  Photos are out there, and I think I can do a creditable job.

The two 1/48^th scale F-16’s are ready for paint, and the 1/32^nd scale kit will be to that point soon.

I’m still trying to figure out if the decals I have for the 1/32^nd scale kit will be viable, or if I should finally pull the trigger on a plotter/cutter and design paint masks. 

Stay tuned.

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The shadows and the sun’s angle in the sky are changing.  The temperatures are starting to moderate.  I believe autumn has arrived.  I’ve always loved this time of year.  I can’t explain why—maybe the change of temperature, I dunno.  But I’m enjoying it.

That’s all I have this time.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

Reunion Ramblings, Part One

Hello, all!

To quote the late, great Cajun chef, safety engineer, philosopher, and raconteur Justin Wilson, “How y’all are?  I’m so glad for you to see me some more, I ga-ron-tee!”

I've told you several times about my upcoming high school class reunion.  Well, it happened this past weekend.  I have so many stories, so many memories…

One development that came about a month or so before the event was that Lisa, our lovely and talented chairperson, elevated me to co-chair.  So I have that going for me.  Which is nice…

I suppose I’ll cover things in several separate posts.  I’ve started to write a post several times.  However, each time, it started to enter into “writing for me” territory and began to verge on some stuff I wasn't comfortable sharing publicly.  Oh, I’ll probably share them with the individuals involved, but I’ll only share them publicly if they tell me it is okay to do so.  Otherwise, it stays between us as a special memory.  Fair enough?

I have to say this up front—South Carolina, you should be embarrassed by the absolutely horrible condition of I-95.  If I had to get a urinalysis after the drive down or the drive back, I’m sure there would have been blood in my urine due to the pounding my kidneys took.  Traffic was backed up on my way down around Walterboro—they were patching, yet again, the cracked and broken concrete.  Oh, and it is 20 years beyond the point where it needed to be widened to three lanes each way…just sayin'.

I won’t even touch on how bad I-26 is between I-95 and where I live.  It is under construction, sure, but what they’re doing now will be obsolete by the time it is finished.

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The trip was a double dose of “You can’t go home again.”

I stopped in Daytona Beach for the night last Wednesday—I’ve taken to splitting my trips to South Florida this way, since it breaks up the trip and allows me some time to look around at my “other home town”.  I was last there in 2015 on my way to a trade meeting.  And it was quite different from the previous visit in 2008.  As Florida goes, things don’t stand still for too long before they erect scaffolding, roll bulldozers, and plow whatever it is under—only for a new something to spring up in its place…

My landmarks are gone.  The Barnes and Noble book store across from the Speedway is gone.  We used to park behind it when we would go to see the Rolex 24 every year.  Replacing it is a sort of shopping village anchored by a Bass Pro Shops.  Across from Turn 4 used to stand a Holiday Inn (later rebranded as a Ramada) with a neat little restaurant, Dr. BJ’s (later a Pizzeria Uno).  I told you about some of this a long time ago.  Well, those are also long gone, replaced by a group of eateries that includes a Bahama Breeze, an IHOP, and a Cheddar’s.  Even the Olive Garden next to the Hampton Inn is gone, replaced by a Houligan’s—I knew about this one, since it was under construction in 2015.  The old Casa Gallardo/Rio Bravo Cantina has been replaced by an Outback Steakhouse.  At least the Hampton—built in the early-mid 1990’s—remained much the same as it was every other time I stayed there…

I stopped by the Embry-Riddle campus.  As I drove around looking for a Visitor parking spot, I got so turned around that I got lost.  Three times.  I used to call this campus home, but only three structures—the pool, the racquetball court, and one of the original dorms—are the last structures I recognize.  Everything else is long gone, replaced by new structures…

I finally found a visitor’s spot, went inside the new Student Union (which is a phenomenal structure, but lacks the charm of the old John Paul Riddle University Center, the UC), and obtained a visitor pass.  I was headed to the Alumni Engagement Office.  It is across Clyde Morris Boulevard, next to the ROTC center.  This is another new area of the campus for me, but after a short search, I found the office.  I got a chance to chat with some of the folks there, but was reminded that most of the others were in Oshkosh for the EAA Fly-In.  Oh, well, I did what I wanted to do…

A short drive around the immediate area made me glad I didn’t live there these days.  It seems Florida is home of the 10-minute traffic light cycle.  I spent a lot of time sitting at red lights…

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Did I mention that Florida is now Wawa territory?  I didn’t stop in at the Daytona location, but I did stop at one of the Jacksonville and the Ft. Pierce locations.  I’ll have to compare them to the QuickTrip stores that are popping up around here…

Oh, yeah--Daytona Beach also has a Buc-ee's.  When I drove by, I figured you needed a full tank of gas to drive around in circles until a fuel pump became available.  Interesting concept, and once the new is worn off it ought to be fun to visit.  (For my SC peeps, there's also one on I-95 up towards Florence...)

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I exchanged text messages with Lisa, who lives nearby, once I left campus.  She had to rent a van to haul a lot of the decorations.  She asked for a cargo van, but got a 16-foot box truck.  I asked if she needed help loading, but she said her husband was almost done and that she would see me the next day in Ft. Lauderdale.  Free to roam, I did a quick trip down to the beach—it is every bit a concrete canyon that Miami is.  Hungry, I was trying to decide whether a visit to The Oyster Pub or Ocean Deck was in order, but after the day’s drive I settled on another Florida favorite, Pollo Tropical.  Chicken and black beans and rice are a nice recharge, especially when the chicken is *that* good.

The next morning, I had breakfast at the hotel—and I don’t recall Hampton Inn ever doing breakfast like this in the past.  It was good--if they had those killer cinnamon rolls, I would have mistaken it for a Holiday Inn Express.  Eggs, sausage, potatoes, juice, waffles, and danishes were on the menu.  Not too bad.  Some eggs and sausage were enough to hold me until lunch.  After touching base with Lisa, I got back on I-95 South…

I had not been south of Daytona Beach since 2013.  I already knew what I would see—more construction and houses butting right up to the Interstate.  These stretches of road used to be wide open, nothing to see but the occasional group of cattle grazing.  Now?  All along the highway was nothing but one housing development after another, more examples of the zero lot line neighborhoods that seem to be pervasive throughout Florida.  As I got further south, I realized that my landmarks down there were gone, too…

I had a lunch date with some friends.  We chose a South Florida standard—Lester’s Diner by the airport in Ft. Lauderdale.  That place is a bit of a time capsule.  The food is still very good, and it wouldn’t be the only time this visit where Lester’s would provide the sustenance…

As I passed by on the way to Lester's, I noticed that the old Runway 84 had been gutted.  Supposedly, they're updating it and it will re-open.  They had great food back in the day.  Along those same lines, the Pier 66 hotel was likewise an empty shell.  I'm told they hope to reopen in the next year or so.  That's a common theme, too--the hotel where the reunion was centered, the B Ocean Resort, used to be the Yankee Clipper.  Built in 1956, the ownership changes hands--in the 1990's, it was a Sheraton property.  I only experienced the ballroom, but it appears that a good deal of renovation and modernization has taken place.  My friends who stayed there can add their experiences it they wish...

I had hoped to be able to stop by the airport to see some old friends, but the reunion duties called…

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I may pick the story up here the next time we meet.  For you tl;dr folks out there, it goes like this:  When you are on an event committee, two things to remember—don’t expect much spare/"me" time, and everything you have planned and scheduled takes at least half again (if not twice) as long as you planned.  But a key point to remember is that you need to organize a great bunch of volunteers to spread the work out among many hands.  All of you who volunteered, I cannot thank you enough.  I know, I know, I thanked you profusely during the reunion, but you earned my undying affection.  You guys and gals rock!

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Speaking of thanks--I have to once again thank Lisa for planning a surprise for me on Friday evening.  The parties involved know who they are, and they all know how appreciative I am—even though it was a mean, dirty trick.  You almost (almost!) made me cry. 

To be sure, I did my fair share of laughing and crying over the space of the two days we were all together.  And I'd do it all over again tomorrow.  And the day after that, and the day after that.  I love all you guys, whether I got to spend 10 minutes or 10 seconds with you.  And I missed everyone who, for whatever reason, was not in attendance.   

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I think I’ve said this before, but for 99% of the people I saw last weekend, it was the first time I saw them in person in at least 40 years.  That’s far too long.  While we can’t have a blowout like we did last week all the time, we can get together individually or in smaller groups.  I know some plans for some gatherings are already afoot, and I hope they pan out.  And in case anyone asks, I am more than happy to lend any assistance I can. 

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For my usual readers, I don’t have much to report.  The reunion planning and the regular job took up most of my time since I last made a report from the bench/studio (or whatever else you want to call the place where I hack plastic).

The VTANG F-16’s are still underway.  The two 1/48^th scale models are ready for the paint shop—more on that later.  I still need to buy some 5/16” acrylic rod for the one being displayed in flight, and I still need to start working on a base.  This one will call for something more substantial than the EPS foam and basswood sheeting that I’ve been fond of for the last year or so.  I’m thinking plywood, at the very least, with an appropriate veneered edge.  It should be an interesting project-within-a-project. 

The 1/32^nd scale kit has had the panel lines re-scribed on the fuselage and vertical tail.  The wings and horizontals are next on the hit parade, and that shouldn’t take long.  I am debating whether or not I should drop the flaperons and bump the leading edge flaps to the +2° position, the standard configuration for an F-16 on the ground.  Knowing me, I’ll do it, because, well, why not? 

The rest of the 1/32^nd scale kit parts are in various stages of prep/cleaning, and will be installed in short order.  I imagine it won’t be too much longer before it is also ready for finish.

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As far as the paint hunt goes, the last time we talked about it I was pretty much settled on Tamiya—and will probably still go that way.  But I love the convenience of grabbing a “ready-mix” color off the shelf.  The answer to my particular need, again, is the Mr. Hobby (formerly GSI/Creos, formerly Gunze Sangyo) Aqueous line.  But my attempts to get the H-3XX line in the States has come up empty, and I really don’t feel like paying the freight to get some from overseas.  The current U.S. importer is the former Bluefin Distributors (now Bandai Namco), and it doesn’t appear that they particularly care about the paint end of things.  Unless one of the other distributors (Mega Hobby, Andy’s Hobby HQ, Free Time Hobbies, Douglas Models/Sprue Brothers, the new Squadron, Spraygunner, etc.) decides to step up, it seems we’re stuck.  So, I guess I’ll dash off an order for a few dozen pots of Tamiya acrylics in the next day or so.

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That’s all I have for now.  Thanks for reading, everyone. 

If you’re new to the blog, browse around.  As I said a year ago, the original intent was to have a place for all sorts of topics, but I am an airplane and scale model guy.  It’s what I do, it’s what I’ve done since I was a kid.  “Write about what you know”, you are constantly told.  So, it should come as no shock that my little corner of the interwebs is largely skewed towards those topics.  I’m doing better at opening up and writing about other things, so stick around.

Be good to one another.  As always, I bid you Peace.

“I’ll take ‘Potpourri’ for One-Thousand, Alex…”

Howdy, all…

Summer has once again reached the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere—days are topping out near 100° Fahrenheit, with humidity levels to match.  And it’s been buggy—more so than usual.  Every week, I have to clean out the screen in the primary water filter stage, and every week I come back inside with at least a dozen bites.  Oh, well, it comes with the territory...

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My 40^th High School Class reunion is coming up in a few weeks.  Somehow, I found myself on the committee, and have been volunteered to organize the volunteers.  How that happened, I have no clue—I volunteered my services to be a Facebook moderator, but here I am.  I’m not complaining, mind you.  Planning for this is much like the planning I have done for any number of scale model shows, so I’m walking familiar ground.

I’m also curious to just how much Ft. Lauderdale has changed since I was last there in 2013.  Nothing is allowed to stand still around there, I know…

Speaking of change, the reunion will give me a change to stop by the Embry-Riddle campus for a little while.  I’ll be interested to see how much it has changed since 2015, the last time I had time to look around.  I think there are now only three structures on campus that were there when I initially moved into what was known then as Dorm 2 (later named McKay Hall, it was bulldozed in 2019) back in August of 1982.  Everything else exists only in photos and memories…

The adage “You can’t go home again” echoes in my head.  We’ll see just how true it is…

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My experiment with Mission Models Paint is over.

I will say this—I’m sure it is a great product.  However, I have done trial runs several times using their exact materials and procedures.  In each one, things looked good until I tried to apply a water-slide decal.  A few drops of water caused the paint to run, as if it were a watercolor.  I have followed their instructions to a “T”.  I use their primer, their reducer, their paint, their Poly Intermix, their clear coats.  I maintain the recommended pressures and distance from the surface.  I let things dry/cure per their instructions.  And I get the same result every time.  For me, this is too much fussing about. 

And yeah, I know guys who have tinkered with adding Future, etc., to the mix and have apparently achieved good results, but recent news out of Johnson and Johnson indicated that Future may not be around much longer.  I decided that I have to find a paint that gives near foolproof results without having to chant incantations over the mixing cup every time I use it.

If you recall, this search for new paint has been going on for a while now—since Testors discontinued Acryl.  I have tried several paints in the meantime, including Vallejo.  Now, once I cracked the code on airbrushing Vallejo, I rather liked it.  However, what I have found is that shelf life on bottles that have been partially used is not great—I can go back to a bottle I used tow projects ago, and it is now thick and stringy—and it is a 50/50 chance that some additional thinner can cure the issue.  Note that I *never* return thinned paint to the main container—I learned this in my Polly-S days.  No, if I have an excess of thinned paint, I save it in a separate bottle or jar. 

The other issue with Vallejo is color fidelity.  I’m not one of those who waves his Federal Standard fan deck at every paint and criticizes each for the perceived “inaccuracies” they exhibit, but I do want a bottle of paint that claims to match a particular standard to be at least *close* to that color.  Vallejo is very much hit and miss in that respect.  If I have to mix a paint, I’d like to have one that retains usability for a long time, yields a durable film, and intermiscible with other lines. 

I tried Lifecolor on the Fujimi Sea King.  I liked the way it behaved so much that I bought the colors I will need on my early Air Superiority Blue-painted F-15A.  And it is still in the running for a #2 or #3 tier paint for me.  But availability can be spotty, and it has been known to be temperamental.

The British Phantoms reacquainted me with the GSI/Creos Aqueous line.  I had used this in the past, and for whatever reason my results were only satisfactory, nothing exemplary about them.  Well, I guess 25 years removed, I’ve allowed some things to seep into my head, and found them to be easy to use this time around.  I’d love to adopt them as my #1.  However, their U.S. importer is BlueFin.  Most every reseller of these paints has the colors from H-1 to H-94 or H-96.  So what’s the hang-up?  The modern colors (modern RAL, BS, and FS colors) are in the H-300 and H-400 range.  It seems that BlueFin either cannot or will not import them.  Indeed, the only US-based online retailer who even shows the 300 and 400 ranges is Scalehobbyist, and they show them as “Coming Soon”.  They’ve shown them as “Coming Soon” for some time now.  HobbyLink Japan doesn’t show them. Some of the UK-based shops list them, but again show them as “out of stock”.  I contacted GSI/Creos, and they say they still make the colors in question, but don’t even list them on their website…

I looked at the AK Interactive 3^rd Gen acrylics and Real Color paint, and may well use some of them.  But I’m also looking for something that I might be able to procure locally if I run out—you know, common colors like black, white, red, yellow, etc.  We have one shop close that carries some of the 3^rd Gen line in the gaming colors.  I am not aware of anyone local who carries Real Colors.  So…

I’ve finally come back around to Tamiya Acrylics.  With the demise of Testors, they seem the likely line to assume the crown.  Most hobby shops stock them.  They have a wide range of colors.  They can be mixed with Tamiya’s new Lacquer Paints, Real Color paints, GSI Aqueous Hobby Colors, and GSI’s Mr. Color line.  They can be thinned with water, isopropyl alcohol, or lacquer thinner.  These features are what make them the choice of a great many modelers around the world.

The one drawback?   Lack of “spec” colors.  Even more so than any other line, Tamiya does not offer pre-mixed colors that match any of the standards.  But a friend of mine brought up something interesting: Like artists’ colors, Tamiya offers a range of colors that seem to be almost purposefully designed for mixing.  Tamiya themselves offer mixing ratios in their kit instructions.  And really, mixing colors is not alchemy; it is actually rather easy to do. 

There are several Tamiya mixing charts online.  One of the issues with this is that there are literally a dozen different places to find mixes, and many of them don’t agree with each other.  Now, that’s fine.  Different people have different opinions on the “proper” shade of any given color.  But wouldn’t it be nice if all these recipes could be found in one place?

Some friends and I are going to try to do just that.  Stay tuned.

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The latest iteration of the South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show was held on 18 June.  It went well, by most accounts, and the committee will be meeting soon to make some decisions on the next edition.  Again, stay tuned.

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One of the Mega Show’s special awards was “Old School”.  The eligibility rules were basically this—use any kit you wish, but any added details had to be made from scratch using raw materials (Evergreen styrene sheet and rod, wire, foil, etc.)—no pre-made detail sets could be used.

At about the same time we announced our award, one of the Hyperscale forums started an Old School Group Build (OSGB).  The moderator on that forum spelled out a bunch of rules—the kit had to be of a certain vintage, the paints used must have been available “back in the day”, hairy stick application was preferred (as opposed to airbrush), etc.  Now, the participants agreed to these rules, and that’s fine.  They can call it “Fred” if they want to—they laid out the rules and agreed to hold to them

However, I think there is a bit of confusion between “Old School” and “Nostalgia”.  In my mind, the Hyperscale group is hosting a Nostalgia build—each participant builds the same kits as they did back in the day, using the same methods and products.    

To me, though, “Old School” modeling is a frame of mind that transcends manufacturers, eras, and products.  What we call “old school" today was called “scratchbuilding” back then, and it was the only way to get added details before the advent of photoetched metal, cast metal, cast resin and prefabricated details like wired distributors.

For instance, I offer up my 1/35^th scale AFV Club Wiesel 1/TOW.  I used Evergreen sheet and wire to cobble up an interior.  That’s “old school”.  There are—or were—resin interiors made for the kit, using them would take the “old school” aspect away from the project. 

I sponsored the Old School award.  I wanted to inspire this generation of modelers to realize that not everything needs to be pre-packaged in order to add it to their models.  I hope the idea stuck with the folks who participated…

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That’s all I have for this installment.  As always, be good to one another.  Thanks for reading, and I bid you Peace.

Dispelling the Myths of Scale Modeling--My Take

Howdy, all…

After I’m through working for the day, I have found myself watching some of the online scale model channels on YouTube.  This is a bonus benefit of finally having high-speed fiber optic internet service—that’s right, no more HughesNet dish in the front yard! 

Some are better than others—the channels that bring good model building content (educational content as opposed to ASMR artistry) are the ones I enjoy the most.  However, I see some of the channels still repeat a lot of those modeling myths and misconceptions that have been part of the hobby for many years.  In an effort to dispel some of them, allow me to take a few moments and comment.

Myth #1:  You need great artistic talent to build models.

If this were the case, I’d never get anything completed.  All you really need is time and repetition. 

What is talent, anyway?  Merriam and Webster define it as “a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude”, insinuating that it must be innate, part of a being’s personality.  I understand that different people excel in different things, but to ascribe it completely to luck of the draw in the genetic lottery doesn’t sit well with me.

I think of it in the same vein as TV artist Bob Ross thought of it: “Talent is a pursued interest.”  You are interested in something, and as you pursue that interest your skills and knowledge increase with time.

In the Spring 1982 “Test” issue of FineScale Modeler, ship modeler Les Wilkins outlined a few concepts he used to use to produce great models.  They were:

• Start simple
• Work methodically
• Standardize techniques
• Display effectively

Notice that Les never said that you must be artistically inclined or a master craftsman in order to build models.  Shep Paine, Bob Steinbrunn, Paul Budzik, and many other long-time modelers will tell you—time and practice is all you need.

Myth #2:  In order to produce quality models, you need a workshop full of fancy machinery and precision tools.

For most of my modeling career, I have used nothing more than a #1 handle with a #11 blade, a razor saw, a set of drills and a pin vise, some tweezers, sanding sticks and files, a handful of paint brushes, and  an airbrush.  Oh, I own a motor tool (a Foredom flexible shaft model), but rarely use it. 

This is not to say that those who do possess these tools don’t get great results from them, it just stands that they are not a requirement to building a quality model.  Simple hand tools will get you to the same destination, it just might take longer.

As for the need for expensive “specialized” tools, Master leather carver Jim Linnell said this:  “How much you spend on the tool in your hand doesn’t affect the work you do as much as the amount of experience the hand has using that tool.”

The next few myths have been floating around for decades, yet they still get trotted out as fact.

Myth #3: All acrylic model paints are water-based.
Myth #3a:  All acrylic paints are non-toxic.

There have been volumes written about paint chemistry.  The tl;dr version is this:  There are water-borne acrylics, acrylic enamels, and acrylic lacquers.  Some are soluble in water, alcohol, and lacquer thinner, others are not.  The best bet:  Use the thinner suggested by the paint manufacturer.

I still find it curious that a modeler would spend a lot of money on kits, aftermarket parts, specialized paint, and decals only to then play Home Chemist with the paint thinners.

As for the toxicity of paint, all paints, when sprayed, produce droplets.  Paints contain resins, hardeners, and plasticizers that are designed to create a durable coating.  When those materials enter your lungs, it is no different than when they coat a surface and cure.  Protect your lungs with a respirator (NOT a simple dust mask!) with organic vapor filters and use an exhaust fan, regardless of what you’re spraying.

Myth #4:  Alpha Cyanoacrylate Adhesives (aka CA, ACC, or superglue) give off toxic fumes (cyanide gas) as it cures.

Nope.

If it did, we would all be dead.  Cyanide is not a cumulative poison like arsenic—exposure to cyanide creates an immediate (and usually lethal) reaction from the human body.

While it is not toxic, it can be an irritant.  Work in a well-ventilated space, and use a respirator if the fumes bother you. 

Myth #5:  Resin dust is carcinogenic.

Sanding and grinding cured resin creates a fine dust.  However, studies have shown that polyurethane or epoxy resin dust does not necessarily possess any inherent carcinogenic properties.  In some studies, it is classified as a “nuisance irritant”. 

However, think about this—if you inhale the dust, and it gets deep into your lungs, what problems can it cause?  It is an irritant, yes, and there really haven’t been studies to see what the effect of breathing these dusts has caused over time.  So whether or not it is carcinogenic is still open to debate, but as with the acrylic paint situation, it is best to protect yourself—in this case, with a properly fitted N95 or KN95 dust mask.

Myth #6:  You need to smear putty over every seam and gap. 

Nope.  You certainly can do that, but you would be wasting time and money.

I see this often—rather than sanding the seams when the glue dries, I see folks immediately reach for the tube of putty.  What I do is sand first—get everything dressed and level.  Then, if you see gaps and steps, take some time to figure out what to fill them with.  In some cases, a few more minutes with sandpaper will take care of things.  In other cases, a small chip of Evergreen strip will fill the gap with little work. 

When I need filler “putty”, my tools of choice are epoxy putty (Apoxie Clay or Apoxie Sculpt), Evergreen styrene, Vallejo plastic putty, or CA (aka superglue).  I don’t use any other fillers—I have a half-used tube of the old (original formula) Squadron White Putty on the workbench that I haven’t checked on—it is probably as hard as stone by now.  My tube of Perfect Plastic Putty is likewise starting to solidify.

Oh, and I’d use a dust mask if you sand these fillers dry, too. 

Myth #7:  You need to use a primer under all acrylic paint.

For years, I would paint on to the bare plastic with all types of acrylics and never had an issue.  I never had paint peel, lift, or misbehave.  I would do a good job of cleaning the surface before I painted—a good wipe with Isopropyl Alcohol is all it takes.

These days, I prime more as part of the entire finishing process and use it as much to add depth and tone the finish as I do to unify the surface.

Use of a primer is optional.  One thing that is not optional is having a clean surface.  Before you apply any paint, you need to make sure the surface is clean and free from oils and other contaminants that can affect paint adhesion.  As I said, wipe the model down with alcohol right before you paint, and all should be good.

Myth #8: Future floor finish is garbage and shouldn’t be used.

I hear this a lot, yet over the years many modelers have used this product with no problems.  I have used it for years with only one disappointment that I can ascribe more to the decals than the Future.  However, this argument appears to be moot, since it appears that SC Johnson might be discontinuing the product.

Myth #9:  You don’t need a clear gloss under decals.

Now, there is actually some truth to this. 

All decals really need is a smooth surface, and most of the modern paints—even those labeled “Matte” or “Flat”—do a great job of laying down a smooth finish.  Apply the decals with a good solvent/setting agent, and they should lie down and look like they were painted on.

Back in the day, though, flat paints yielded a very rough surface, even to the naked eye.  So, you needed to take one of the following routes to a smooth surface:  use gloss paint, which back in the day was rather thick or took forever to fully cure; polish the surface; or apply a coat of a clear gloss (it was reasoned that a coat of clear gloss was better than multiple coats of glossy paint). The clear gloss was the option many modelers took, and still take, to get decals to behave.

These days, one of the best arguments out there for using clear gloss over the paint concerns the finish enhancement techniques (“weathering”) modelers use.  What happens when you apply decals to a painted finish, and then use an oil wash over it?  I’ll tell you what happens—the oil wash will stain the paint slightly, but the paint under the decal film is protected, and therefore won’t “take” the wash, and stands out like the proverbial sore thumb.  By protecting the entire surface with the clear gloss, you ensure the wash is absorbed (or repelled) from the paint surface equally.

If you want to forego the clear coat, then do your enhancements (“weathering”) before you apply the decals, and once the decals have dried overnight, go back and apply the same techniques to the decals and you’ll be set.

Myth #10:  Contest judges are (your complaint here).

I find it interesting how many times a contest judge is slammed for some reason or other, especially by people who never bother to help judge a contest.

When you go to a contest, why not step up and volunteer to judge?  You might find that you’ll learn a thing or two, and possibly might get more enjoyment out of the show!

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As last year seemed to be The Year of the Phantom, this year is shaping up to be The Year of the Viper…

It started when I pulled the two 1/72^nd scale Hasegawa F-16’s out of the rescue pile.  There are the last two of the kits my friend Rick gave me in 2006 that had been started that were still complete and could be completed.  They’re nothing fancy—the same Hasegawa F-16’s we’ve all known and loved since the mid-1980’s.  I scrounged some decals from the decal stash to build the F-16A as a Block 10 jet from the South Carolina Air National Guard, and the F-16C was built to depict a jet that was based at Shaw AFB and deployed for Operation Desert Storm.

I also tried a new paint.  When Testors began to drop colors from the Acryl range, I started using Vallejo.  Now, Vallejo is good paint, both for airbrush and hairy stick, but I have found that the shelf life isn’t all it is cracked up to be.  And even though I’m no color purist, I’d at least like to start with a color that’s in the ballpark—on some of my last projects with Vallejo, I found I had to do more color tinkering than I am used to just to get the color close to the standard.  I’ll still keep some colors around for the brush work, but decided to search for a new paint line to match the camouflage colors.

I’ll probably tell the story another time, but I tired the soup-to-nuts Mission Models paint line—primer, color, and clears.  I have mixed feelings, but before I make a final decision I need to try it a few more times to make sure it was actually the product and not my technique.  As the TV shows used to say, “Stay Tuned for More”…

The next batch of F-16’s are all F-16C’s—two in 1/48^th scale (using the sublime Tamiya kit, of course!) and one 1/32^nd scale kit from Hasegawa’s veteran release.  Two of the three are for a friend (who also provided the 1/32^nd scale kit) who worked with the Vermont ANG.  His 1/48^th scale model will be shown just after takeoff with the gear in transit.  I have two thirds of the landing gear work complete, and it will be a cool display—if I don’t say so myself…

The other 1/48^th scale model will be added to my collection, also wearing VT ANG colors.  After the two smaller ones are done, I’ll finish the 1/32^nd scale kit in decals my friend provided to build “Lethal Lady” (a Block 25 F-16C).  The actual airframe had over 7,200 hours on the clock when it was retired as a gate guard at Burlington ANGB.  Plans are for the airplane to eventually be handed to the National Air and Space Museum.  Memorializing it in polystyrene is a fair tribute to the airplane, don't you think?

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That’s all I have for now.  As always, be good to one another.  I bid you Peace.

Another year in the books…

Howdy!

Is it really the end of January, 2022?  That went quick…

As I write this, I have supper cooking in the air fryer and the 60^th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on the TV.  This year, 61 cars across five classes took the green flag—a massive field!  I was swapping Facebook messages with a few friends, and remembered that the last race we saw in person was in 2009.  While I miss the sounds and smells of “being there”, I find that I’m much more comfortable on my couch that I was sitting and freezing in the stands…

With the IMSA/ACO cooperation agreements in place, things are looking different—and will be next year as well.  I like the direction things are headed so far.  The race so far has been close, with a few unfortunate incidents that have taken some cars out of the race, but hey, that’s how it goes.  I just looked—it is right at the time where the sun has retreated to the west and there’s a neat purple-orange glow in the skies, the time when day turns to night.  As the darkness settles in and the blackness envelops the Speedway, all sorts of things could happen.  This is why I love sports car endurance racing.
  
On other fronts, the weather has been goofy here in the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere.  Two weeks ago, we were hit with an ice storm.  We only had about a tenth of an inch, but that tenth of an inch caused all sorts of issues.  We were without power for 17 hours that Sunday—I went to bed at 10, couldn’t sleep (it was cold, and I don’t do well all bundled up), and sometime around 11 heard the chain saws as the electric cooperative attended to the problem.  By 1:15 AM on Monday, we had power.  We were some of the lucky ones--some folks didn't get power back until late Monday.

Last weekend, we had snow, about 2 inches’ worth.  Fortunately, it was on a Saturday—as I’ve said before, 2 inches may as well be 20 feet in this neck of the woods.  This morning, we had heavy frost, but as I ventured out to buy groceries I noticed that several areas received a dusting of snow.  Yep.  January in South Carolina…

We’re six months away from my 40^th high school class reunion.  It has been so much fun catching up with people, and even more fun when we see they have bought a ticket to attend.  With that fun comes the sadness when we hear of yet another classmate who is no longer with us.  As I told our reunion chair, it is sad knowing they are gone, but sadder still when we realize many of them passed years ago, and we’re just now finding out.

And, of course, it is sad when a classmate tells us they won’t attend.  Some have valid reasons—a few have cited COVID-19, which I fully understand.  Some will be traveling, some can’t get away from work, and others have kids who are entering college, so they need to be around for that.  And, to be fair, there are some who can’t afford it—which I totally get, too.  Unfortunately, stuff costs what it costs—we’re not making a profit off this, and it is happening in South Florida, on the beach (literally), in July.

Some are still on the fence, so the committee has started to directly contact them to see what’s going on.  Hopefully, we can convince more than a few to come and join us.

On the plastic front, I had cleaned out the “Back Burner” projects except one—a Reheat 120mm figure of Neil Armstrong on the moon.  In the meantime, I have brought the aforementioned 1/72^nd scale A-7 and F-16’s out for completion.  Being 1/72^nd scale kits, I can get them finished in short order if I want to.  And I do want to…

As they sit now, the A-7 has had paint applied, and will get a clear coat in a day or so.  This kit was curious—the wings had been assembled, complete with the pylons, and at one time were attached to the fuselage.  I guess when Rick needed to move, he carefully broke the wings back off so the kit would fit in the box.  Also in the box were a bunch of Mk 82 Snakeyes, a few Shrikes, a couple of TER’s (the center wing pylons had already been fitted with MER’s), and a bunch of Sidewinders.  He had also thrown the elements for a VA-147 A-7A in the box, and a initially considered using them.  On close inspection, I was not sure they would work, so I went looking for different options.  My wife handed me a Hannants’ Xtradecal sheet with an A-7B from VA-155 that she had in her decal cabinet, so that’s where I’m headed.  I had an old Microscale sheet with a similar option, as well as another with a VA-215 “Barn Owls” scheme, but again I had doubts as to whether they would work or fall apart.  I took the safe route…

The two F-16’s were more or less still in kit form.  Rick had painted the cockpits and started to add a photoetch set to the C model. I decided to remove the PE parts and close the canopies on both—honestly, in 1/72^nd scale, you can’t see much anyway and to me the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.  At this moment, the fuselages are assembled and waiting to have the seams dressed. 

The bigger challenge was to figure out what direction Rick was headed with them.  There were no decals or notes, so I wasn’t sure.  I dredged through the decal stash and found some options.  For the F-16A, I settled on a Block 10 aircraft in South Carolina Air National Guard colors.  That led to a decision—the kit is a Block 15 with the enlarged horizontal stabs.  I could cut them down and re-contour them, but in the end I think I’ll avail myself of a set of Quickboost items instead.

Originally, I wanted to do the F-16C as the Aviano jet with the commemorative USAF 50^th Anniversary scheme, and intended to do just that.  However, a little voice in the back of my noggin kept saying “Block number!  Check the Block number, dummy!”  And, sure enough, the Aviano jet was a Block 40 (GE power, etc.), something the Hasegawa kit can’t do.  So, I went back through the decals and found decals for a Shaw AFB-based Block 25 jet attached to the 363^rd TFW.  The decals are from the “not quite crap, but certainly not gems!” period for Microscale, which means I may try to find an alternate—but I figure I’ll make the pair a South Carolina themed mini-collection.

Last time, I told you how I all but emptied the Back Burner cabinet.  Here’s some eye candy for you…

The Aeroclub 1/48th scale Gloster Gamecock.  This was before I added the serials using decals--at this point, all the color you see on the model is paint.  It is built as a machine from the RAF's No. 43 Squadron circa 1926.
Hasegawa's 1/72nd scale F-4N kit with Microscale decals to depict "Old Nick 200" from VF-111 circa 1974.

Another Hasegawa Phantom in 1/72nd scale, this time an F-4B dressed up as the CVW-15 CAG jet from VF-51, the airplane known as the Supersonic Can Opener

This is one of the busts that DML included in their 1/48th scale airplane kits--this is Ernst Udet.

Another 43 Squadron airplane--this is is Fujimi's 1/72nd scale Phantom FG.1.

AFV Club's 1/35th scale Wiesel 1 with TOW missile was built as a group build--the base was provided with the instructions to build a model and landscape the base.

This is a completed Bluejacket Shipcrafters 1/192nd scale kit of the USS Monitor.


Here is another project long in hibernation:  Reheat Model's 120mm U-2/SR-71/Shuttle pilot figure.

Authentic Airliners' 1/144th scale Convair 440 and Vintage Flyer decals were used to build this model on N4826C in her Delta Air Lines delivery colors.  An earlier post I wrote in 2011 has photos of her in 1990...

That's all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one other, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

 

More Hangar Talk, and the so-called "Shelf of Doom"

Howdy, again!

The leaves on the dogwoods are turning, the mornings have become cool and crisp, and that tells me that the seasons are again changing.  I love this time of year.  It was especially nice when I worked in the hangar, as it meant that the sweltering furnace days of summer were once again departing for a while…

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About 15 years ago (and it seems like yesterday!), the shop I was working for gained a new technician.  The boss called us all into the office to let us know what was going on.  See, the new technician was a woman.  He wanted to remind us to be on our best behavior.  As the line from the commercial goes, he wanted “no fussin’, no cussin’, and no backtalkin’”...

When she started, I asked her about her experience.  And boy, did she have a lot of aviation experience—I think she held most every certificate that was available.  She held an A&P IA, DME, pilot commercial multi-engine, both land and seaplane, sailplanes, you name it.  She owned her own shop for a while, too.  She was also very cool—she fully realized she was a lady in a man’s world, but that didn’t faze her.  She was put on one of the install teams initially, working on Cessna Citations back in the day when we were retrofitting them to comply with the Reduced Vertical Separations Minimums (RVSM) requirements.  The mods were simple, really—we replaced the air data computers, re-certified the pitot-static systems, and did flight tests after the fact.  Like me when I started at this shop, she had a lot of rust to knock off, but once she did, she was working at the same pace as the rest of us.

All the while, we were careful to mind our p’s and q’s.  We tempered our language—we kept a pretty “clean” shop as it was, but every now and then someone would utter an expletive.  We also tried to mind our manners—no rude noises, etc.  So far, things were going well.

About three or four months into her stint with us, we brought a Citation in for more than just the RVSM mods—we were also going to update the ancient radios with new Garmin units, which meant a lot more work.  Unlike most shops in the region, we removed the old wiring that wasn’t going to be retained (usually, that meant the output wiring to the navigation indicators and the autopilot), and that meant some tedious picking and choosing, looking at wire numbers that were less than 1/16” tall on small gauge (22 American Wire Gauge—AWG), so it takes some time.  At first, you feel as if you are walking in mud, but once you get the hang of it, it moves quicker.

There are pitfalls.  One of the other technicians dared to remove all the bundle ties on a bundle, and then started tugging wires out of it.  That creates some chaos—like putting the toothpaste back in the tube, it sometimes becomes difficult.  Sure, all the wires came out of that bundle, but the bundle was tied on a harness board, so all the wires weren’t necessarily the same length.  He got the bundle re-tied, but in the process, the bundle was shortened.  He did his best to re-connect it to the bulkhead feed-through connector. 

Our new girl started to do the next phase of the work.  She asked us to come and help her find landmarks, and as we were standing there looking at the feed through panel, she noticed the re-tied bundle.  Now, she was all of five-feet nothing, and very quiet and polite.  Until now.  She looked at the bundle (which was tight as a banjo string), looked at each of us in turn, then pointed at it and exclaimed “What in the fuck do you call this?!?”

After that, the gloves were off.  We found out her father was a Marine, and that she could cuss better than all the rest of us combined.  We all got along famously after that.

She became the shop crew chief in 2004, and briefly managed the shop.  I loved working with her, because she worked as hard as we did.  If we were working overtime, she’d be there with us (unlike the manager she replaced, a guy who had no clue what avionics were let alone how they worked).  More times than not, when we were required to work weekends, she would make breakfast for the crew.  When I say she would make breakfast, I mean exactly that—she would cook breakfast in her own kitchen and bring it to us.  No sack of Egg McMuffins or Bojangle’s biscuits would do, not from her…and she would go far over and above.  For four technicians, she’d have pancakes, waffles, fruit, toast, omelets, grits, and some form of juice.  Like my mother, she would make five times as much as she actually needed.

I think the push from upper management created too much stress (I found this to be true when I managed the same shop after she left), so she resigned when the FAA offered her a Safety Inspector position.  She’s been working for the FAA since 2006.

Speaking of ladies in the hangar and rude noises, I’m reminded of a more recent story, which I may tell you at some point…
 

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The new job is going swimmingly.  Of course, it has created a need—I need a new computer.  And there is nothing I hate more than buying a new computer.  Why?  Because I know the machine I buy that is state-of-the-art today will be obsolescent in a month…

Like buying a new car, you go into the deal knowing that the model you pay out big bucks for today will not be worth a tenth of that in a week.  Oh, well, it is a necessity, and I think I have found a decent machine that will do what I need.  Of course, I also need to get a couple of large displays to make my life easier, too, and I think I found a pair that fit the bill. 

I’ll probably pull the trigger later this week.  Then comes the joy of configuring it and getting it to gee and haw with the remote desktop

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On the model front, the majority of the backlog cabinet is done.  Some call this the "Shelf of Doom" for some odd reason--I simply look at it as a collection of models that needed some time to percolate while I solved problems.  In other cases, they were long-term projects from the start--vac-form kits, especially, tend to need more thought and engineering than a standard injection-molded plastic or cast resin kit.  Rather than push the issue, I merely put them aside to give me time to hash out the details.

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The Aeroclub 1/48^th scale Gloster Gamecock is in need of serial numbers, a final clear coat, and some small details.  It was a fun project—my first vac-form kit since 2001, my first rigged airplane since 2000, and my first biplane model since 1995.  Frankly, I wasn’t real happy with it before I rigged it and started adding all the little bits and bobs to add detail.  I’m actually now quite pleased with the result.  Is it accurate?  I don’t know, maybe 97%.  Is it to scale?  Hell, no, but that’s always the way—we make certain trade-offs in order to make a model look right in the end analysis.

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Also complete is a Reheat Models 120mm SR-71/U-2 pilot, a figure that was sitting in the display case three-quarters of the way done, has been finished.  Honestly, all I needed to do was add the completed air conditioner pack, some hoses and small details (photoetched bits, some fine wire, and paint), and do some minor touch-ups.  I don’t recall what the hold-up was—perhaps the flag?  That was perhaps the easiest part—I used a decal from an old Liveries Unlimited sheet…

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I also dusted off a Bluejacket Shipcrafters’ 1/192^nd scale USS Monitor.  I shelved it a few years ago when the turret did not come out the way I had hoped.  I tried to salvage it, but in the end, I decided to scratchbuild one.  I also used .020” styrene sheet, suitably scribed, to replicate the deck, and will use varying thicknesses of primer to do the same for the hull plates.  I also have some good photos of the actual turret under restoration, so I want to add some of the more prominent details there.

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The 1/12^th scale Ernst Udet bust I started as a face painting demonstration is also finished.  Again, a few hours with some paint, and it was done.  It had been sitting on the bench for several years, and I would pick at it every now and then.  Funny how that works. 

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The last one in the queue is a Reheat 120mm figure of Neil Armstrong on the moon.  I had assembled it when I lived in Florida, and it had been sitting ever since.  In the interceding time, I learned of some discrepancies on the figure, especially some of the details of the A7-L suit Neil wore.  The more I looked, the more I found.  Fortunately, they were all fixable

The legs are particularly bad-Reheat modeled four cargo pockets on the suit.  Rather large cargo pockets.  On the Apollo 11 A7-L suits, the shins had no pockets, only reinforcement panels.  The right thigh had a flap that covered the Urine Collection Device and medical ports.  And the left thigh had a flat pouch for checklists.  The fix?  Sand and cut away all the fictitious things and replace them.  In this case, all but the left thigh pockets were sanded flush—I tried to retain as much of the fold/crease detail as I could.  The left thigh pocket was sanded down, but not totally away.  Then, I broke out the Apoxie Scuplt epoxy putty. 

The putty was mixed and rolled thin between sheets of wax paper.  The sheet of epoxy putty was then cut into shapes and placed onto the figure.  Some pressure from my fingers pushed the putty into shape, then a toothpick and a scribe were used to work the various shapes onto the figure and to continue the fold/crease detailing.  Water was used to keep the putty pliable and to prevent it from sticking to the tools.  Once everything was as I liked it, I used a brush and some Aves Safety Solvent to smooth everything out.  After curing overnight, the figure was buffed with a Scotchbrite pad and primed. 

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****
That leaves only one model in work, and it will remain is stasis for the time being.  It is a 1999-issue of the Minicraft Models 1/144^th scale C-32 (Boeing 757-200) that I initially began as part of a decal review.  The more I looked, and the more the airliner modeling community examined the kit, massive issues came to light.  The trailing edges were too thick, the vertical tail was too short, and the wings were misaligned—one sat higher than the other by a not inconsiderable margin.  I had started to thin the trailing edges and figure out a solution to the misalignment when I lost interest in the project.  However, in recent months Zvesda from Ukraine has produced a gorgeous new kit of the airplane, and rather than practice bleed using the Minicraft kit, I will build the Zvesda example.  Whether I use the decals I was initially reviewing is still up in the air, but at this point the Minicraft kit will become a paint mule…

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****

Of course, I still have my buddy Rick’s SIDNA kits (a Fujimi A-7B and a pair of Hasegawa F-16's in 1/72nd scale) that are in various stages of construction, and I have pondered dragging them out after these few remaining kits are checked off the list.  But the fact that my personal backlog is empty (or nearly so) is a big deal—at one point, I counted a dozen projects in work, and this was over and above the projects for the RIPCORD diorama…

That’s all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, look after one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.

Some Insight

Howdy, all!

Last time out, I made a comment that my hobby of scale modeling led to my career/vocation paths.  To refresh your memory, they were (in no particular order) history, aviation, research, writing, and hanging out at the hobby shop.

This is one of those "about me for myself" pieces I talked about last time, but I thought this one might be fun to share.

When my father brought home a Revell 1/32 scale Wildcat model kit, I don't think he realized the vast worlds he was opening up to me. 

I was an early reader.  I've been told that I could read before I was four years old.  As I got older, I loved to read.  I would read pretty much anything I could get my hands on.  When we started building that model, I was only concerned about the three-dimensional puzzle in the box.  However, one night, as I waited for Dad to come to the table for our modeling session, I started to read the side of the box.  Then I noticed that the instruction sheet contained more than just how to get the parts together—the front page had a capsule history of the airplane and its exploits during WWII.  Before I read it, I just thought the little pudgy airplane looked neat, but as I read about how it was the Navy’s front line fighter airplane in the early days of the war, and how it was flying against faster, more maneuverable enemy airplanes, my interest grew.  I looked for books in the school library about the war, and learned about the Battles of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, Wake Island, and the Solomons.  Each new discovery led me to learn more.  I’d find one nugget that would lead me to three more. 

That’s research, kids.  I do a lot of research to this day—most of what I do uses what are known as secondary sources, so it is technically “Research Lite” (Less Filling!  Tastes Great!), although I did start to use primary sources when we were up to our necks in the Fire Support Base RIPCORD project a year or so ago.  What’s the difference?  Primary sources are from either official accounts from the units involved or from the guys who were actually there and participated.  SITREPS, diaries, After Action reports, first hand witnesses—those are all primary source materials.  Secondary sources are what you find on the shelves at the local Barnes and Noble—books written about events where the author may (or may not) have used primary sources.  (As “true” researchers know, you take all secondary sources with a grain of salt…)

As I researched things, I’d write about them.  I wrote a lot of book reports, sure, but sometimes I’d write just for myself.  They were more a collection of notes, but every now and then I would collect those thoughts into an article for the local modeling club newsletter.  I laid off writing for a while, but with the COVID shutdown I’ve managed to get a little of my groove back, and have once again been pumping out modeling articles, and they’re now being published in the national organizations’ magazines. 

The more models I built, the more I wanted to build.  Unfortunately, like most things, it takes money to acquire and build models.  By the time I hit high school, I was at the age where I started to take my modeling more seriously.  A long-time modeler and author, Roscoe Creed, made mention of it when he “wondered where all the cracks went?” in one of his books  a book that I still refer to from time to time. 

I wanted to get rid of the seam lines.  I wanted to make it look like the pictures of the actual item.  As I learned of such things, I began using putty, decal setting solutions, these new-fangled super glues, and an airbrush.  Like the kits themselves, that stuff isn’t free.  More experience led me to discover the then-emerging world of the aftermarket—decals were the first thing I think most modelers encounter from the aftermarket, but later things like photoetched brass details, white metal and resin parts, vac-form kits, and other additions and conversions also became part of my repertoire.

Of course, by doing so, I was honing my skills as a craftsman and, dare I say, artist.  I was learning how to solve problems.  I developed a sense of spatial relationships--how stuff goes together.  It goes without saying that I developed a good eye for small details. 

After I graduated from college, I started to visit the local shop more frequently.  I became a regular, and eventually I was asked if I wanted to do some fill-in work.  Before long, I was a regular part-time employee, and would remain so until I moved out of state.  During a layoff period about 10 years later, I got a job at the local hobby shop here.  I was only there for a few months, but when my next full-time employer picked up and left, I went to work for the shop again. 

What helped me get the job, I think, is that I was familiar with all the stuff one needed to complete a model.  I was also interested in going the extra mile when I built my models, and I knew what that took, so I could guide others when they came looking for hobby stuff.  Many see retail sales as a drag, but I saw it as a chance to get paid while playing with toys.  Hence, my days hanging out at the hobby shop...

Now, how about the aviation thing…

I have no idea what first got me hooked on airplanes.  Perhaps it was the Wildcat model.  More likely, it was reading of the exploits of the men who flew them in the war; the Wildcat model was merely the first step on the path.  For many years, I wasn’t interested in a book if (A) it was not related to aviation; or (B) the word “fiction” was not preceded by “non”.  I have to believe it was that—the more I read, the more I learned, and the more I wanted to be part of that world.  Interestingly, I never really wanted to be a pilot.  I can’t say why, I just never saw that as where I would be.  More on that shortly…

In my day, teachers were almost always matronly ladies in their late 30’s to early 50’s.  However, my fourth grade teacher was an exception.  I guess she was in her late 20’s--I seem to recall she had only recently received her teaching credentials at that time.  She was a pretty, petite, energetic lady, blonde with a deep tan, and was always smiling.  Her name was Miss Gerstle (Nancy, if I recall correctly).  Her last name rhymes with the chocolate company’s name, and we often called her “Miss Nestlé-Gerstle”.  From the little bit I managed to gather on her by listening to her, she lived with a few roommates and they all worked on the weekends as flight attendants (we called them “stewardesses” back in the day) for Mackey Airlines, a small scheduled airline that flew from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas, in order to earn a little extra money. 

I don’t know if she lined it up, but one day we took a field trip to Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and got to walk around some airplanes.  I seem to recall a Mackey airplane, maybe a DC-6, and it sat next to an Eastern Airlines (IIRC) 727 which was powered up, and we could walk through it.  We spent a few hours walking around the airplanes, asking questions, and talking with the pilots and “stews”.  I loved it.

An interesting tidbit—when I graduated from college and landed my first “adult” job, I worked from that same ramp, by that time occupied by the National Jets/Florida Aircraft Leasing facilities.  Small world, right? 

I don’t know what happened to Miss Gerstle, but wherever she is, I hope she is still smiling brightly and doing well.  She was a breath of fresh air for me…

Later, while going through the steps to earn my Aviation merit badge, somehow I got what we call today a “Discovery Flight”.  We went to the airport bright and early, got the whole briefing, got to do the preflight on the airplane, then we went out for a flight over Ft. Lauderdale.  Sitting in the pilot seat, I couldn’t see over the glareshield! I enjoyed the flight, but decided that while it looked like fun, I wasn't interested in being a pilot. 

As I started high school, I was shunted into what we would call a STEM program—back in those days, it didn’t have a name, but it put me on a track that emphasized math and science.  We only had to take two science and two math classes over four years, but I had four of each.  Somewhere along the line, it was intimated that I should become an aeronautical engineer, but as I related a long time ago, that didn’t work out so well.  But I never abandoned my interest, and eventually went back to school and earned two degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that said I had what it took to be a genuine wire stringer, smoke wrangler, electron herder, and spark chaser—I became an avionics technician.

For most of my 30+ years chasing sparks, I worked in the world of corporate aviation—Learjets were my bread and butter, along with Hawkers and Citations.  From time to time, I also worked on General Aviation craft—the little Cessna and Piper “puddle jumpers” that you see at your local airport—and business class turboprops like the Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Conquest families.

It was a demanding career, to be sure.  I worked in 100+ degree heat and 20 degree cold.  I worked in the sun, the rain, and sometimes even snow.  Many times, we worked from “can” to “can’t”—we did what we needed to do to keep ‘em flying.  It was hot, dirty, demanding work at times—especially at my last stop, where I was also the airframe electrician.  If something provided electrical power or had a wire or air data line leading to it, it was in my wheelhouse.

I was always acutely aware that if I failed in my job, people could be injured or killed in a most loud and grotesque manner.  I accepted the challenge.  Not everybody is cut out for such a critical job, and as I began to supervise others, that would be my first question to them.  If they were cavalier or flip, I wouldn’t hire them.  If you wanted to work with me, you had to not only be aware of the consequences of your actions, you had to accept that any little deviation, a nanosecond of inattention, and you could possibly kill someone…

Incidentally, I don’t really like to fly.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that 95% of the flying I have done in my lifetime has been done because I *had* to in the line of duty.  Flying for me was almost a mandatory thing, and much like running on a treadmill—we made a lot of noise and expended a lot of effort to basically go nowhere--it quickly became work. 

For most folks, flying is a way to get from what you know to an unexplored exotic location on the other side of the globe, some sort of personal adventure, and flying is merely a gateway to that adventure.  It is quite different when you know how the sausage is made and have to do it every day.

When the folks I was working for picked up stakes and left in 2016, I stayed put.  I decided that my days of crawling around on hard hangar floors or cramming myself into ever smaller spaces were behind me.  Since I had done a lot of the documentation that aircraft modifications required, I decided to use my writing skills and my avionics knowledge to start down the path to being a Technical Writer.  My mother, who taught Latin, always said that I had technical hands and a liberal arts brain, and this seemed to be the best of both worlds.

And that’s how scale modeling made me who I am today.  A gift from my father awakened an interest in history, and also fed my reading and research habit.  What I learned through my reading led to an interest in aviation, helped along by a teacher and a merit badge.  The technical aspects of the hobby sharpened my problem solving skills, helped me develop good hand-eye coordination and spurred me to develop a keen eye for small details and a sense of craftsmanship and artistry.  The marriage of all this led to where I am right now. 

And it started with a model airplane.

Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and look after each other.  As always, I Bid you Peace.

Model Contests Revisited…Again

Howdy, everyone!

Well, the 2021 edition of the South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show is in the books.  As with most larger events, we experienced the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  In no particular order:

The Good

We developed a new format for the show this year—well, actually we developed it last year when it appeared we would postpone from June until August, but the COVID shutdowns resulted in our show’s cancellation.  Since we had been moving in this direction and eventually wanted to alter the show’s format anyway, we pulled what we had done out of the box and set upon refining it.

I could write a long description and intent piece, but for that, go to the show’s website and read about it:  https://scmegashow.com

Our show format was developed using the best parts of several available show formats, systems, and methodology.  In a nutshell, we combined the field judging and scoring system from AMPS, employed the judging methodology from IPMS for the "big" awards (Class and Best of Show), and coupled it to the exhibition and display format espoused by the Military Miniatures Society of Illinois. 

At the end of the day (a very long day, indeed!), we believe this system has merit.  We had our share of rocks in the road, to be sure, and will work on removing them, and we’ll try it again next year.

The Bad 

Using a new system requires some intense training, more so than a “normal” model show.  As a result of COVID, our ideal method—in-person dry runs—wasn’t possible.  We did host a judges training session and simulcast it via Zoom, but there was much more that needed to be learned outside of the judging method.

As a result, problems began at the registration table, and these problems were transmitted down the line.  A mistake at registration affected the scoring team, which affected the judging teams, which resulted in delays.  Judging was slated to begin at 9:30, but didn’t begin until nearly 11.  By a lot of hard work, that margin—90 minutes—remained more or less steady.  The awards program, scheduled for 3, began right around 4:30, and the venue was cleared by 7—compared to previous shows, this wasn’t too far off what we were accustomed to.

But it may have seemed much longer than 90 minutes—the venue’s HVAC failed, and I don’t think I need to tell anyone what June in Columbia, South Carolina is like.  It was hot.  It was humid.  It was stuffy.  It was something we as the show hosts had zero control over, so we had to no choice but to grin and bear it.

The Ugly

When it comes to model shows, The Ugly usually shows up after the fact.  To wit:

We’ve discovered several anomalies in registration that resulted in some confusing awards packages (the wrong score sheets, etc.)—we’re working to rectify that over the next few days. 

We have seen one case of a person badmouthing the show due to a perceived slight to one of his buddy’s models.  You know the drill—“He was robbed!  It should have won Best in Class AND Best of Show!  This show is shit and the judging is questionable!”

Now, we always take claims of sketchy judging seriously--any model show is only as good as the contest's integrity.  However, we also temper those claims by reviewing our records, and when someone whines about our judging being "questionable" but didn't bother to get up off his fourth point of contact and lend a hand when the calls for judging volunteers went out, we tend to dismiss the claims as sour grapes.

Incidentally, this guy isn’t registering his complaints through any of the show’s official communications channels—we have our website, complete with e-mail and telephone numbers, and a Facebook page where we are able to communicate via Facebook Messenger.  No, he’s on a private Facebook page that is visible only to its members.  He’s been given the opportunity to engage with us privately, so far he has not done so.

I also find it interesting that we have heard nothing from the entrant himself.

Now, was he “robbed”?  If he was, he did it to himself.  See, as the day wore on, people began packing up and heading to the doors.  Several announcements were made, reminding folks that the judging was still in progress, and they should leave their models on the tables.  Can you see where this is going?

Yep, the entrant packed up his model and went home.  The sad part?  The model in question was indeed in the running for Best in Class, and most likely would have taken that award as well as the Best of Show.  Had he heeded the announcements and stuck around, he would have been King of the Show.  But we can’t force people to stick around, and most people who enter model shows understand that if you leave before the show is over, you stand to forfeit any awards your model might earn.

The moral of the story?  Hang around until the bitter end.  Yeah, I know, people want to go home.  I get that.  But if you want to "get what's coming to you", you need to be there, and your model needs to be available throughout the entire judging process.

Yeah, we had some issues.  Tell me about a single large event that doesn’t.  Add into the equation our new, untried, untested format, and yeah, shit happens.  But we will take what we learned on Saturday and learn from our mistakes.  I can assure you that they will all be addressed and rectified before our next show.

So, why use a new format?  Why reinvent the wheel?

If you’ve stuck with me for any length of time, you know that I’m not a fan of what IPMS/USA calls “healthy competition” (which over the years has become closer to a WWE "Hell in a Cell" Hard-Core Death Match than the friendly contest than I have to believe was the original intent) when it comes to scale modeling.  People debate me on whether we engage in art or craft, but we all agree that what we do is fueled by our individual creativity.  How do you say that one person’s creativity is “better” than another person's creativity?

I would much rather host a straight, no-competition, scale model exhibition than a head-to-head contest.  In our new format, the contest is there simply because people seem to have an aversion to showing their work without the ability to take home a big shiny something for their efforts.  We’re trying to give folks the best of both worlds, and with a little refinement we believe it will work.  We’ll face a bit of a challenge next time, as we’ll have to conquer the small amount of “See, we told you that your cockamamie scheme wouldn’t work” sentiment that will be out in the world, but we think we’re on the right track. 

Come by next year and see for yourself.

In other news, I have had not one, but two of my models featured in the IPMS/USA Journal.  One of them is the Sea King, the other is a 1/72^nd scale F-4J(UK) built from the Academy kit.  Coupled with the FSB RIPCORD article, I’ve become quite prolific (he says with a chuckle)…

An article on the Monogram 1/72^nd scale F-82 project will be appearing in a future issue of the Journal, and as long as they ask, I’ll keep providing articles.  Along with my efforts to teach Model Building 101, the articles are my way to “give back” to the hobby, a hobby that has been a major part of my life since I was seven years old, taught me so many life lessons, and introduced me not only to a bunch of super people—including my wife!—but also opened the way to my careers in history, aviation, research, writing, and hanging out at the hobby shop. 

That’s a funny, that last one, in case you were curious…

Along with all the model articles I’ve been batting out, I’ve been engaged in some other writing projects, projects that are for me and me alone.  I’ve been battling a little bit of writer’s block on some “serious” projects, so as a way to get back into the groove I’ve been writing to myself about myself—as they say, if you don’t know what to write, write about what you know.  In this case, it is as much about the part of myself that I know as it is discovering the “me” that I didn’t realize was there. 

Call it a diary, a journal, or a retrospective, I’m finding it to be refreshing, interesting, revealing, embarrassing, sad, funny, and, well, satisfying.  You should try it sometime.

That’s all I have for now.  It has been a while since we saw each other, and I hope all of you are well.  If you are inclined to do so, get vaccinated.  The only way we’re going to get past COVID and back to some semblance of normal is through science…

Until next we meet, be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.