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Building models since age 7 (except for a short respite in my military years). Enjoying it now more than ever. I build across the spectrum but am biased towards towards historical miniatures and military vehicles.

Tamiya 1:48 T-55

Another Tamiya quarter scale gem. I wanted a short term project so I did this OOB and also did limited the weathering. One error I ran into was that the instructions have you make the cables a little too long. The finished product is [...]

Some Interesting Projects in 2021

I completed fewer kits in 2021 than during the prior Covid-lockdown year. I tried some new things though--a comparison side-by-side build of Bf-109 kits, my first 1/48 scale aircraft in years (with extensive weathering to boot), my first [...]

Academy AH-6J & Live Resin SOF Helicopter Assault Team 1/35

This long term project began when I saw a pre-release article on this Live Resin 6-figure set. I'd built a fantastic Live Resin figure a few years earlier so I was confident that they would be great figures. I had also been wanting to [...]

IDF Orev 1/35 AFV Club

I have a love/hate relationship with soft skin military vehicle kits. On the plus side, there are some very unique and interesting subjects that aren't seen too often, such as this 1/4 ton IDF anti-tank missile vehicle. On the other [...]

Tamiya P-38H Lightning 1/48

In a great September 14, 2020 iModeler review of this kit Tom Cleaver said "The kit is a marvel of production design" that successfully deals with traditional shortcomings of P-38 kits and is “modeler-friendly.” I couldn't [...]

Tamiya 1/48 Panzer III Ausf. L

If you're an armor modeler that really looks forward to the painting and weathering stage, you can never go wrong with Tamiya's 1/48 scale kits--hiqh quality, low parts count and detail that compares to larger scale kits. After doing some [...]

Review: Gustav v. Gustav – Hasegawa vs. Tamiya 1/72 Bf 109G-6

The Bf109g series was the most produced variant of the Bf109 fighter. It has been a popular subject in scale modeling. Scalemates lists 256 kits--126 in 1:72 scale--starting with a 1959 Airfix kit. I thought it would be interesting do a [...]

Trumpeter 1:72 Soviet T-28 Medium Tank

I took a detour from a couple of long-term in-progress projects to build up this multi-turret 'land battleship.' It is a nice little kit of an interesting subject. But given the small scale, there are some delicate fiddly parts, [...]

1:72 ARMA Hobby FM-2 Wildcat

Another really nice kit from ARMA Hobby and another fun project. This kit has an abundance of detail for its scale. This Expert Set version comes with PE, painting masks, and decals and color guides for 6 options. The fit was terrific [...]

R35 French Light Tank Tamiya 1:35

My first wholly 2021 build--bought, started and finished this year. This is another great Tamiya kit. What more to say? I included Monsieur Le Commandant de Char to give a sense of the size of this petite 2-man tank. The peculiar [...]