2022 Builds

For me, scale modeling in 2022 had some highs and lows, but mostly highs. It was one of my most productive years—13 kits (15 if you count some figures thrown in). I finished more kits in 2020 by doing a lot of no-frills Covid shutdown builds from my stash. This past year I tried some new approaches and acquired some valuable insights.
The year began with a great Tamiya 48th scale T-55. This is my preferred scale for armor even though the variety of offerings is more limited than 35th. This was gem of a kit of a historic tank.

Next came another wonderful kit—ARMA Hobby’s P-51B/C in 72d scale. This build was very fun and it filled in a missing piece of my Mustang collection. ARMA is a relatively new company that has released some marvelous kits that are clearly equal to those of older companies like Tamiya and Eduard. If you haven’t tried on, I highly encourage you to do so.

Next came a kit that furthered a project of mine to build iconic fighting vehicles in 72, 48 and 35 scales. This Tamiya 1:48 Jagdpanther filled the slot between my 1/72 Dragon Jagdpanther and the Meng 1:35 Jagdpanther Ausf. G1.

Another quarter scale kit, Tamiya’s Tiger 1, allowed me to stretch my wings by emulating the weathering and detailing often seen on outstanding 1/35 masterpieces by some truly gifted and noteworthy modelers.

Wanting a break from tanks and planes led me to a noteworthy soft skin subject; General Patton's Command Car in 1/35 by Skybow.

Next came the first diorama I’d done in years. This one in 1/35 scale used a Tamiya vehicle and Dragon and Miniart figures. My objective was to cram as much content in as small a space as I could.

On a trip I picked up this Tamiya 1/35 M-51 kit for nostalgic purposes. Many years ago, I built a kit bashed M51 from Tamiya and Italeri kits and a fair amount of scratch building. This was a lot easier.

This was followed by a comparison build of Airfix’s newly retooled and previous 1:72 Mosquito kits.

I learned of the challenges posed by Classic Airframes kits by building their 1/48 P6E Hawk.

Learned a similar lesson by building ICM’s 1/72 Ghost of Kyiv. That camo looks cool but applying the decals they come on were challenging.

Had a much better experience building Academy’s 1/144 CH-47 in RAF livery. A really nice little kit.

I ended the year with a superb kit—Eduard’s 1/72 Avia S-199 in IAF markings. It’s the Profipack kit with all the bells and whistles.