Holy shit we made it to 2021!
Since I’ve already gone and done a 2020 wrap video, I’m not going to belabor everything by typing it out again.
If you’re in a TL;DW mood, here’s the gist.
- Five completions this year – the P-47M Thunderbolt, A-6E Intruder, Eduard P-51D-5 Mustang, Tamiya F-51D Mustang, and Rye Field T-34/85
- Two kits that just didn’t get wrapped up in time for the new year – Trumpeter’s P-40F and ICM’s Panhard 178
- Several WFHWIP armor builds are in a sort of pre-primer limbo with no immediate next step in sight. It’s too bad that slapping together armor kits is a great way to let my brain chew on work challenges – it means I’m building kits way faster than I can move them into the paint stage.
- Figures are hard. I’ve started four this year and two are still actively in progress.
What’s on tap for 2021?
I’ve got big plans for 2021. Probably bigger than I’ll be able to actually pull off. But we’ll see!
Finish the P-40. It’s close. It’s in weathering. It should (fingers crossed) be done by the end of January.
Undisclosed quick-turn build. Stay tuned.
Lightning time. One the P-40 wraps, Tamiya’s P-38F is the next aircraft hitting my bench. But there will also be a guest appearance by Trumpeter’s 1/32 P-38L. I’ll be using it for a build review of Red Fox Studio’s new Quick Set Instrument Panel upgrade set. Not sure whether I’ll carry through to the entire kit or not – it really depends on how I’m feeling when I get to that point.
Figuring out figures. I’ve got two in-progress that I don’t hate. But I could be much better. I want to spend part of 2021 getting to a point of at least Dunning-Kruger levels of confidence about my abilities with figure work.
Doogs Models 3D. This will be the year that I finally get off my ass to figure out at least the basics of 3D printing. And designing parts. I gave it a very half-hearted go in 2020 and it was a total bust. This year it needs more discipline behind it and could be a good project for that summertime heat.
Armor experiments. The RFM T-34/85 really revealed a lot of my bad habits and deficiencies in armor building (or rather – painting and weathering). In 2021, I’m going to be tearing down my approach and rebuilding it piece by piece, getting out of my comfort zone and into several techniques I’ve never really given a fair shake. This one’s extremely ambitious and already pretty highly structured – details to come soon. I think it’ll be fun!
Better bench video. I’m replacing my dying Panasonic V770 with a Fujifilm X-S10 mirrorless number. A better camera doesn’t automatically make for better video, but the larger sensor with a better dynamic range should let me capture subtle tonal variations that the V770 is missing. And I’ll have the ability to flex to 4K if I want. And I may well do so, when the subject calls for it.
That’s…a lot. Stay tuned! It’s going to be an active year.
Doogs Models 
Doog,
I admire your skill, your dedication to the hobby; and your sharing with the modellers your insights into the kits, the approach to the challenges of each kit.
Dedicated and motivated. Your builds are both instructive and inspiring.
I look forward to seeing what you can do with the 1/32 P-38.
You are probably aware of this but beware the alignment of one boom as it has a decided effect on the other side.
Yeah, ask me how I know.
Happy New Years.
I have enjoyed your vids and might have even learned a thing or two….no promises.
Cheers
Hey mate. Looking forward to see the imparting of your knowledge and your honest appraisals of the kits you encounter.
I’ll be glad to see the P-40 finished. Your weathering gets more refined and I’ve got a 1/32 ICM Gladiator that will want camo pretty similar to the P-40. I followed the bouncing ball on your online build of the Tamiya Corsair and got – in my terms – a very sweet Tamiya Wildcat. I’ll do the same with the Gladiator using the P-40 as the muse.
Have you ever looked at Adam Wilder’s 27 episode build of a KV-1? It’s about 3 hours. This was done a few years back. That said, Wilder to my eyes is up there with Rinaldi in the model tank world. I did a T-34 using most of the techniques employed. It did take a while, but the finished product had a very deep multi-layered weathering that gave it a very unique look. Certainly my best tank.
The U-boat should be a fun break. Subs got utterly pounded by the elements and if one wishes you can let fly with weathering. I have a full set of the hard to find “Color of War” series that showed on HC some years back. Each episode – all US subjects – was filmed with color film and the quality is very good. (The narration is exceptional – far beyond normal HC standards.) One episode deals with subs. They have flicks of a sub leaving for patrol and, a while later, of a sub coming back. The departing boat is spick and span – the returning boat a total mess. I can see why Das Werk chose the U-9: the extraordinary sinking of 3 armored cruisers in as many hours changed naval warfare as profoundly as the Monitor’s turret in 1862. But it’s too bad it wasn’t U-35 commanded by Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière in the Mediterranean from 1915-18. Periere sunk 193 ships at about 450,000 tons – that made him the most productive sub commander in history. In WWII Otto Kretschmer was credited with 275,000 tons – much the largest U-boat total. We think the redoubtable Richard O’Kane in Tang had the most tonnage with 116,000. And to add spice, la Periere sunk most of his ships with his deck gun and usually allowed the crew to evacuate – cushy world with no real threat from aircraft – and economical as U-35 (as U-9) only had six torpedoes.