Fiat G.55 Centauro Build Log, Pt. 4 – Everything Else

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | PART 4 Honestly, the overwhelming majority of the work on the Fiat G.55 came prior to and during painting. The small number of G.55s the Italians managed to build were kept in pretty solid condition, and since the historical photos show little evidence for it,…

Fiat G.55 Centauro Build Log, Pt. 3 – Painting

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | PART 3 The adventure that has been the Pacific Coast Models Fiat G.55 Centauro finally moves into the paint stage. In addition to the crazy splinter scheme, I’ve decided to use this build to really mess with some new preshading techniques.

P-47 Razorback Double-Build, Pt. 1 – Cockpits and Engines

Intro | PART 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Cockpits, Engines and Blast Tubes, Oh My One thing about the Tamiya Jug. While it’s a fantastic kit, it asks for quite a bit of work before you start to feel like you’re making progress. Cockpit bits have to be primed, and while we’re at it, why not the engine,…

Tamiya P-51D Mustang Build Report 1: Cockpit and Main Assembly

My original intention – to use Tamiya’s 1/48 P-51D as something of a decompression build between the Sopwith Pup and Spitfire Mk.VIII – has foundered somewhat on the twin rocks of advanced modeler’s syndrome and the sheer epicness of Tamiya’s big Spit. However, with the failure of willpower that culminated in my pre-order of Tamiya’s…

How To: Replace the Gun Tubes on Tamiya’s P-51D Mustang

Tamiya’s 1/48 P-51D Mustang is generally heralded as one of the best-engineered plastic injection kits in existence. It is the epitome of a “shake-n-bake” kit, with phenomenal fit and generally exceptional detail. However, it does have some areas of disappointment. One of these is its representation of the P-51’s .50 caliber gun tubes. While they…