Once upon a time, I built armor on a regular basis, often side-by-side with an aircraft build as a way of switching things up. In the nine months or so this went on, I managed to knock out a Tamiya M4 Sherman, AFV Club Achilles IIc, Dragon Panzer IV Ausf.G and a Cyber-Hobby Panzer III…
Category: Metal Barrels
1/48 Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U4 Part IV – Finish Out
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV With the main scheme laid down, I moved on to gloss “Wilma Jeanne” ahead of decal work and immediately ran into problems. I’ve never been able to find a clear gloss that I without reservation love. And yes, I’ve tried almost all of them….
1/48 Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U4 Part III – Paint
Part I | Part II | PART III | Part IV The 262’s turn at the airbrush came at a frustrating time for me. On the one hand, I’ve been increasingly falling in love with Gunze paints and their excellent spraying characteristics. On the other hand, issues with paint peeling have massively undermined my trust…
1/48 Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U4 Part II – Construction
Part I | PART II | Part III | Part IV Sometimes kits just fall together. I normally associate them with Tamiya, Wingnut Wings and a few other select manufacturers. Trumpeter – and by extension Hobby Boss – have never really fit into that hallowed league, at least in my experience. The two early Wildcats…
1/48 Hobby Boss Me 262A-1a/U4 Part I – Cockpit
PART I | Part II | Part III | Part IV Before diving into the cockpit, I decided to kick off the 262 by cutting off the barrel of the kit’s 50mm cannon and make sure the Master replacement fit. It did! And it’s such a massive leap over the kit parts – more on…
On the Bench: 1/48 Hobby Boss Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a/U4
For the new year, the Scale Plastic & Rail forums are hosting a Messerschmitt group build that’s been gaining some crazy interest. My first thought, as I started pondering which Bf 109 I was going to build, was “there goes my resolution” – as for 2013 I’m planning to step back from World War II…
On the Bench: 1/32 Hasegawa P-47D-27 in French Service
On October 1, Scale Plastic & Rail kicked off its second group build, “In Foreign Colours”. I’m still in the home stretch on my stealth build, but I’m already casting my glance toward what’s next. I’d first aimed for Trumpeter’s 1/48 MiG-15bis, until I found it wasn’t going to be anything like a walk in…
On the Bench: 1/32 HK Models B-25J Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell was a hard-ridden workhorse of World War II that gained instant fame in early 1942 as the plane that carried out the daring Doolittle Raid over Tokyo. I won’t bother recounting the versatile bomber’s history here – suffice to say it served in a variety…
On the Bench: 1/350 BB-56 USS Washington
The USS Washington – BB-56 Guadalcanal is usually associated with Marines and bonzai charges, but it was the Navy that bore the brunt of the casualties in the waters off the island. And it didn’t go especially well. Thanks to Marine control of Henderson Field, and the heroic efforts of the Cactus Air Force, the…
On the Bench – A Fine Pair of Jugs
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt What can I say about the P-47 that hasn’t already been said? It’s my favorite plane. It’s a bruiser of an aircraft, with eight .50 cal machine guns and a staggering capacity for absorbing damage and staying in the air. It’s been too long since I’ve built a Jug, so how…
Doogs Models 