I was flicking through social media the other lunchtime and specifically Facebook and was reading with not too much enthusiasm the news that Takom, or it could have been Meng or perhaps both announce the release of the Panther A family in 1/35 scale, please do not get me wrong I love a Panther it is a great looking tank, although I do prefer the G variant, I am digressing, of course it is just another model of just another tank that has been released before by someone else, now I am no real judge of the decisions made by model manufacturers as to what they should or should not release but please why do they need to recycle what has been done before when there are numerous subjects that have yet to see the light of day in plastic, and why oh why does one manufacturer announce a kit and low and behold someone else announces the same kit a week or so later, it smells of a lack of imagination from my point of view. During the same visit to the said social media platform I also noticed that Tamiya had announced a 1/35 British Archer SPG which raised a few social media eyebrows however from my point of view it is a far better choice than yet another model of yet another tank that has been released before, now I am aware that the Archer was released by Bronco a few years back however you can’t beat a new release from the big T.

I am playing devils advocate of course, when I started modelling in the early 90’s and back then when you visited the local model shop, we had no internet in those days you had very few choices to what you could see on those model shop shelves, Tamiya italeri Airfix Hasegawa and very early Dragon kits were all that you could spend your hard earned cash on and new kits were few and far between jump forward 25 years and the plethora of kits available is mind blowing in comparison we have never had it so good, so why is it when another new kit is announced we all groan with a lack of enthusiasm and excitement, we then start seeing the CAD rendered drawings being picked apart by the so called social media and forum dwelling ‘experts’, I have a theory on this we have become spoilt, spoilt by the amount of subjects being released, spoilt by the openness of kit manufacturers who are willing to share with us theses early rendered drawings and sprue shots and spoilt by our willingness to take to the internet and have a moan about yet another panzer Messerschmitt or Spitfire that will soon be hitting the model shop shelves.

Since the advent of mass internet access in the mid to late 90’s it has become quite normal to see a new kit announced and then see it being picked apart and the manufacturer criticized by forum and armchair experts as to their subject choice, we are not being made to buy what is being released, nobody is visiting your house in the middle of the night dragging you out of bed holding a gun to your head until you buy it, we all have a choice as to whether we buy this newly released kit or not. From a personal point of view when I see a new kit announced or released it either excites me or it doesn’t, I will either buy it or not, I do not see the point in criticizing it just for the sake of it, yet sadly there are those out there that do, those who just like to moan just for the sake of moaning picking new kits apart like they are some kind of rotting carcass by the modelling definition of vultures who are just waiting to do so.

Modelling in 2017 is a great place to be we are seeing kits being announced on a nearly weekly basis, and the subjects that are seeing the light of day are ones we could have only dreamed about 10/15 years ago, I can remember drooling over Accurate Armours selection of Scammel’s wishing that they would be available in plastic and low and behold this year we have seen them being released by Thunder and IBG models respectively, a definite golden age of modelling. Earlier this year Kittyhawk released the Sukhoi Fitter in 1/48 scale a kit that took quite a bit of negative press when it was released, now I will be honest it isn’t a kit that I am ever likely to build although when I saw a pair flying at RIAT in 2015 I may have been tempted however I have a huge amount of kits to build and I do not really need to add to them. There have been many negative comments littering the many internet forums about it’s alleged flaws and fit issues however I have also seen many positive comments and have seen one or two built up on the internet, I think this is a prime example of trial by internet and the way I see it is it is all opinion based. Now there is nothing wrong with voicing your opinion and after all we all like to do it however it does not help when all this opinion is not based on actual fact, I can’t say that the Kittyhawk Fitter is accurate easy to build and goes together like a dream as I do not have one and have not built it, what I do know is that there are those that are in a better position than I who have seen one, built it and these are the people who in my mind are the ones whose opinion we should be listening to and not those keyboard moaners who like nothing better than to moan, it also has a negative effect and puts off the newcomers to the hobby, there is nothing worse than seeing a kit of something you would love to build only to visit a forum to court opinion and all you see is negative comments and opinions, it’s not helpful one bit, although I believe the kitthawk Fitter is quite a complex kit and not an ideal kit for a beginner to cut there teeth on there are plenty of kits out there that are perfectly suited to this task, I personally would never reach for anything complex if I was to say change my area of modelling to say aircraft, I would love to build a wingnut wings aircraft they just look so beautiful built up and painted however I am well aware of my shortcomings and they are just to complex for my skills set for now, maybe soon but not just yet.

In this golden age of modelling with the large range of kits and accessories available to us, the huge amount of specialist tools paints and finishing products, the vast amount of specialist books and magazines, access to the internet and the many forums and meeting places to share information and research yet we still have the nerve to moan about this and moan about that like petulant spoilt children throwing a virtual tantrum every time a new kit is announced that is not to our liking. I can come to only one conclusion when I read internet threads bemoaning the fact that the next big release will be yet another non descript paper panzer and not something that we want personally and that is we have become very spoilt and very very very hard to please.

The Average Modeller.

 

 

 

 

The hardest part of modelling for me is getting the project across that finish line, when I find myself in the zone, which does not happen as often as I would like, I select the project which is usually inspired by a model I see in a magazine or online, do a bit of research source the kit or reach for one from the stash and start the building process, this of course has to fit into my stringent set of parameters, is it Tamiya, can it be built in a couple of weeks because if it doesn’t I am likely to lose interest, can it be painted in a single colour, if the answer to all of them are a resounding yes then on we go. Once the build starts I make my way through the instructions usually ignoring the parts that I don’t fancy plus the wheels and tracks which I tend to revisit bit by bit whilst doing the bits that I do like, it is something that works for me and helps me get those repetitive jobs done bit by bit and helps to hold my interest. There are occasions when I am building a tank when I will digress if I have trouble with the barrel or tracks or need some etched brass especially on an older kit and I will spend hours tracking replacements down on the internet when I should have really done this at the planning stage (not that I have much of a planning stage to be honest) and not when I am part of the way through, sadly I never seem to ever learn my lesson as it is a habit that I have repeated over and over again for as long as I can remember.

 

 

Once the build is completed as far as the construction phase is concerned this is where it goes a bit awry and where the wheels can begin to fall of my project, not literally of course however they may as well as this is the hurdle where most of my projects fail, the painting stage. I have read many articles and internet posts by some of the worlds top modellers who say that the building of the kit is the bit they least enjoy and that the painting is where they get the most enjoyment, for me it is the other way round I dread the painting I don’t quite understand it to be honest, it is possibly because this is where it can go spectacularly wrong and all that time building the kit can be messed up in a couple of minutes and I do have previous. I remember building Tamiya’s older Jagdtiger kit in about 1993 and in the painting guide it said that it could be painted in a lovely dark panzer grey with what I can only describe as lime green blobs, so after having an uneventful and enjoyable build, I even cut down the side skirts to replicate damage which showed how I was developing as a modeller, plus I used some etch brass for the first time in the shape of some mesh for the engine vents on the rear deck. Feeling very happy and accomplished with the build I reached for the airbrush, a tin of Humbrol 112 tarmac (think I read about it being a good likeness for Panzer grey in a magazine) thinned it and sprayed away, can you imagine my horror as all the paint just ran off the side of the tank like I was just giving it a random wash over of water, I was gutted and the tank was put to one side in a box, all my hard work down the drain in just a few moments of madness, that may of been the last time I airbrushed with enamels, and was probably the catalyst to my dislike of painting.

 

 

If my project is going to progress any further than just the building process this is the moment, the moment I start contemplating painting the damn thing. I do not know about anyone else I give my build a wash in the sink before I think about painting in some diluted screen wash, I don’t know if this does any good or not but I do it anyway, once it has been washed I pop it in my airing cupboard, (top shelf so it does not suffer from any damage due to a towel being dragged from underneath it) for a day or so until I can be sure it is dry then it is off to the shed for some primer, a bit like the bath it receives I am not sure why I do this but it is something that I have been doing as far back as I can remember. This is another instant where my project can stall, many projects are sitting in little plastic boxes primed in a lovely grey colour just waiting for me to take interest again and move it forward, I think that many of my projects stall here because at this point the airbrush needs to come out, yes I could paint them by hand and I know quite a few modellers still use this mode of painting however I am a bit of a perfectionist and I like the finish you get from using an airbrush so that is always my preferred choice and has been since I got my first ‘spray gun’ back in 1993. I have had quite a few airbrushes down the years, a badger 250-2 basic spray gun, a badger 200 which was my first proper airbrush, I then moved on to an Aztec A4709 which I just could not get on with at all, then it was Iwata time, the only time I have ever felt comfortable with using an airbrush, this of course has not been without it’s triumphs and disasters, I have ruined more paint jobs than I care to think about, badly mixed paint, too mush pressure, lack of concentration, interruptions, and most recently using the airbrush without the lid on the colour cup which enabled me to splash paint all over the place including onto the model I was painting, I have bent needles, split air hoses and sheered off the smallest of parts whilst cleaning the smallest of nozzles, airbrushes and me have a love hate relationship.

 

 

Now if that is not enough to put me off painting and finishing what comes next most definitely is, once I have washed, primed, highlighted, although I am not sure why I add highlights as for most of my projects I get carried away and paint over them completely. Once the highlights are done, on goes the main base colour, normally either sand yellow dark grey brown or varying shades of green, once this is done and dry I paint all the bits that do not need to be this boring monotonous colour by hand and I have to admit it is not a part I enjoy,  using a paint brush adds more danger to my project as it is so easy to slip and mess up the base coat. If I could find a kit that needs to be the same colour all over with no wheels, tracks tow cables and tools I would be a happy man. That is if, and it is a big if the project gets this far and has not fallen at some hurdle way down the line. When and if we get this far it is time for a gloss coat, I have dabbled with several gloss coats over  the years from Johnsons Klear to Vallejo gloss varnish however when I built my Tamiya MKIV last year I used a tip from esteemed and highly respected modeller Spencer Pollard and mixed some Tamiya X22 and Mr Color levelling thinner which gave me the best finish I have ever found for decaling and weathering. Now this is definitely a hurdle I would avoid if I could, I hate decaling with a passion, I have reached this stage with many models only to come up short and drag a disaster from an odds on triumph, I admire these finished models with their perfect looking decals, luckily tanks and military vehicles have few in comparison to their flying companions, I have used all the decal setting solutions however I have yet to find one that does the decaling for you. Once the decaling is done I return to the airbrush and spray over some more of that gloss finish and the weathering can begin. Now if I have reached this stage and the project has survived the building, washing, priming, highlighting, base coating, detail painting, the glossing the decaling the glossing again the chances are that it may actual stand a good chance of being finished, now I won’t bore you all with how and with what I weather the thing with as it is always a bit hit and miss and I tend to make it up as I go along until I like what I look at and as I have only finished one kit in living memory that does not happen very often. Once I am happy with what I see I go back to the airbrush and give it a couple of coats of matt varnish, then voila it is done, I could say I then add numerous figures and put it on a base but I would be lying, it is something I really need to look at as a next step however getting projects finished is what I am working on achieving at this moment in time.

 

 

The process that starts the moment you snip off that first piece of plastic with the sidecutters is a lengthy one and is always fraught with danger and far too many opportunities for things to go wrong and the project go to the dogs. I can admit that my approach to modelling is in a way very haphazard, could do with a bit of organising and I give away far too many opportunities for things to go wrong. There is a very true statement that says practice makes perfect, I need to take time to practise and perhaps find a way that I feel is more me when it comes to finishing off projects as far too many stall at the many stages along the way for far too many reasons. Over the years that I have been modelling it has become far too easy for myself to become bogged down while trying to copy how other modellers approach the hobby, maybe what I need to do is find my own approach, work out my own ways of over coming the problems that I face whether that be in the building painting decaling or presenting my models, I certainly need to change something as I need to get more projects over that most vaulted of places the finish line.

The Average Modeller.

As I sit here at the keyboard thinking about modelling in general and the state of my own little corner of the hobby, the fact that I have not written a blog post for what seems like an absolute age, the forthcoming summer break and whether or not I will get any modelling time in, the end of year model shows in Farnborough Folkestone and of course the biggie in Telford and how on earth I am going to find the time to build paint and finish all those kits that are sitting waiting for me to get round to doing exactly that. Time, it’s an odd perception isn’t it?, I sometimes wonder how I ever get the time to do anything other than work and the numerous household chores that demand my attention, it could be that I am just no good at time management or it may be that I am a lazy bugger and spend too much time procrastinating that by the time I decide that’s what I am going to do the opportunity is gone and it’s either back to work, time for bed or chore time.

When I look at the fantastic models that I see on Facebook web forums and in magazines it is often with a sense of wonder not just at the amazing work that has gone into these mini masterpieces or the obvious talent that these modellers have it is also the fact that these guys have the time to sit down and actually complete these lovely models. Where do they find this time, I know it’s a hobby for most of us and you find the time where you can however I just seem to fail miserably at this, I could blame it on a demanding job, a slightly complicated home life, too many half started projects,  a lack of focus the weather the price of potatoes the list could be endless however the problem lays within my own  make up, in my inability to concentrate for very long and definitely my inability to prioritise to get things over the finish line. I think the mere fact that I have finished 1 kit, yes one singular kit in 5/6 years tells it’s own story, and to be honest it is quite a sad little story, just 1 completed kit, I feel ashamed, very very ashamed. I started modelling back in the cold winter of 1992 and my finished model count is nothing close to an average of 3/4 kits a year more like one every 4/5 years a very dismal return it is true and one I am very ashamed of, my school report would say must do better, much much better in fact, I definitely have room for improvement.

Now as I sit here with 68 days to go until my next model show at Farnborough which will need me to display about half to three quarters of a table full of models and I am not quite sure how that will occur and there is nobody else to blame but myself. It is not as if this has been thrust upon me as I have known that this will be the case for quite a while. I have put off and procrastinated over it for as long as I have known and to be honest I am not getting any closer to having anything ready for it than I was 2/3 months ago when I told my good friend Andy Langridge that he was not to  was worry about having to fill 2 tables on his own as me and my partner in crime and fellow modeller Kerry Carter would be there to share his burden and help fill the tables, in Kerry’s defence she has finished several pieces of work to my none and she stands a better chance at this point of filling our side of the bargain than myself. So I have now reached a point of having just over 2 months to get my act together so that I do not end up looking like a complete failure and have something to share with the modelling world plus I cannot be letting Andy or Kerry down come September 16th.

So this phantom modelling time that everyone else seems to have in abundance and I have zero of needs to come from somewhere, but where??, that’s the burning question. Maybe it is not the fact that I am a lazy modeller or one lacking enthusiasm and drive, or that any modelling time I get somehow gets watered down by procrastination and the necessity that my workbench is neat tidy and clean nor is it the time I take to decide which of the numerous part built ‘shelf queens’ need to be finished first, nor is the need for me to spend hours trawling the internet for my next purchase. Now I am no professor who has spent years studying at school college and university, neither am I an expert in time and motion however it does not take a genius to work out where my modelling time disappears to as it is quite obvious and here in black and white for all to see, my problem now is to take all that wasted time put it all together and get my lazy arse back to the workbench and finish something off and decreasing my stash the shelf queen pile and in the process get the creative juices flowing and have some kits finished off for Farnborough. Practice makes perfect they tell us, you will never be any good if you do not apply yourself and I guess they are right and it is all so very true if I ever want to be seen as anything other than just an average modeller.

The Average Modeller

 

 

I was sitting at the workbench this afternoon just looking around the room which to be honest is a favourite past time of mine, no wonder I never get anything started built painted or finished, and I was looking at the many boxes that crowd the many shelves and as I looked over into the farthest corner where I keep the numerous boxes of magazines and books that I keep just incase I ever need them, nestled amongst them are several boxes full to the brim of spares, you know those bits you get left over after a build and you safely pop them in a box just in case you ever feel like building another. Sets of Sherman wheels, tracks you have replaced with better aftermarket sets, limbs and heads from badly postured tank crews and soldiers, spare vehicle tools, spare aircraft props, undetailed cockpit seats the list goes on, why do we keep them?  what is the point of keeping a set of poorly moulded badly detailed 1970’s 1/35 Tamiya Panzer IV rubber band tracks??? I myself have no idea, it may be the million pound question however I have several sets just waiting never to be used, so why do we keep this stuff??, I have a theory we just cannot throw things away.

I remember some years back when I first  discovered the internet and especially ebay, the ‘marketplace’ where you can buy virtually anything. My Dad once said to me what is the point of going to a car boot sale, I have no need to buy other peoples rubbish, I guess he had a point and ebay can be a bit like that, especially when I noticed somebody was flogging off their spares box at a reasonable starting price. I watched the item and bid on it as it was ending which of course is the best course of action and low behold a couple of days or maybe weeks later several boxes of what I can only describe as stuff you would not really want to keep came through the door. I cannot criticize the seller of this spares box as it was quite obviously chock full of stuff he or she did not have the heart to throw away, I can’t lie there was some useful stuff contained within those boxes a lot of which I have passed on to other modellers, you know those posts you see on forums and more recently Facebook where someone has lost or mislaid something vital like a Panther A road wheel some plastic Italeri zimmerit a 72nd scale Harrier cockpit and pilot or a set of Tamiya Panzer IV rubber tracks – I knew keeping them was a good idea and somebody would one day require a set. Anyway none of this spares box I purchased have been used by myself other than some ammo boxes and a Tamiya Brummbar that I practised zimmerit on, and quite badly at that.

Maybe it is a bit of an obsession this keeping of parts we may probably ever need let alone use and in this day and age with the plethora of items made of etch and resin available to buy and use maybe the spares box is just becoming a thing of the past, a burden on the valuable available space in the workroom. I did something a few years ago that I could blame on OCD if I had it, I bought some storage boxes for my spares box so that each kit that I had spares left over from could have their own little compartment, a little square home of their own. I spent hours days and maybe even weeks sorting through the many boxes of unused items that I had accumulated plus of course the many items that I had bought from ebay a few years earlier. Now I will not lie to you all it was most definitely a labour of love and quite therapeutic spending hours sorting through the many minute pieces of plastic trying to remember which kit that each and every piece had come from however I felt quite accomplished once it was done. Now those boxes are very rarely opened, I have from time to time needed to look for a spare Tamiya Polly cap but apart from that the boxes stay unopened over in the farthest corner of the workroom in amongst the boxes of books and magazines that I keep just incase I ever need them.

I think that there is a moral to this story and to me as a modeller on the whole, my modelling time is short and maybe if I had not spent much of that time sorting cleaning arranging and tidying my blog may have been called something else, the accomplished modeller maybe……..

The average modeller.