What's on the bench ?

up to bat no.1 falcon from star wars, finally have a bench big enough to lay it all out on. no.2 the 76 impalla pro-modeller kit, i have been working on it off and on for a year now, it's my first use of stuff not found in the box ie: flocking for interior parts. it's working out pretty good. i am gathering all the revell tuner kits to build up to make a diaorama kind of like the "gathering" in fast& furious.

At the moment:
Studio size Moonbase Alpha Laser Defence Tank
1/32 Gabriel (Ford Model T )from 'The Secret Service'
'Moonraker' Space Shuttle, converted from the Revell full stack shuttle
Fireflash
Probably after the laser tank, I'll build a Helijet from Thunderbirds, based on the Mach 2 HH43 kit

I usually do 1/35 scale armor but have taken a break and just recently purchased some Williams Brothers kits: 1/32 scale Super Solution, Sparrowhawk, GEE BEE R-1 racer, Wendell Williams racer, 1/48 scale Ford Flivver, and a 1/53 scale Lockheed 10 Electra. This might be partly due to the fact that I recently subscribed to Kitplanes magazine and have been branching out in interest to all types of planes. I guess I am finally maturing! ( But not enuff to quit this great hobby of ours...).

Just finished a 120mm German Infantry Soldier from the Battle of Verdun and am looking at the box for the French Soldier of Verdun. I have the Tamiya 120mm Panzer Officer to do. I have two 54mm Napolenic soldiers of which 1 is partly done. I'm in the middle of building a M1A1 Abrams tank from Trumpter for a friend and have a F-15C in the wings for my co-worker. Hidden below the very small desk I own is a 1/35 H-13 gunship, 1/35 AH-64D, 1/48 AH-64A, 1/35 OH-58D, and 1/35 M557 Command Track. Being in the military and getting ready to move, I guess work is about to come to a quick stop and I'll have to start again. I'm living in Germany right now and don't live too close to any exceptional hobby shops.

I know that I have more than enough work to keep me busy but for some reason I keep buying kits even though I'll not be starting any of the new ones soon. Oh well.

v/r

Wade

Revell Fw 190 ( started ), Lindberg F-100 ( started ), Hasegawa Fw 190 1:32 ( midway

It's amazing how varied everyone's tastes are!!!! I am pretty much only after one scale, one category/era.
1940-50s single engine, fighters, in 1:48 scale. I do have the occasional bomber, and even a Lancaster, but solely, I collect British and American warbirds.
It being a dream of mine to fly one, a warbird, one day. I have 151 hours flight time and my PPL, working towards a Piper Cub rating inthe short term, and I have contacts locally who run a Harvard Warbird Syndicate, so, you never know what opportunities might come my way!!

Currently, I am doing a series of conversions on current models:

My favourite aircraft of all time, is the Spitfire, I have 9 examples in 1:48 scale.
I am converting a Mk VIIIc into a PR Mk X.

Just finished repainting my P-40E in Chinese markings.

Also just finished doing a re-paint of one of my Mk Vb Spitfires, into a Mk Vc Trop.

My Lancaster (That I built when I was 10 , I am 19 now), is receiving a brand new paint job, and a set of undercarriage as I built it with the wheels up.

Other such projects that are just finished, are 'Miss America', the P-51D of Reno, a Harvard called 'Miss Behavin' which I have painted as a Royal new Zealand Air Force trainer.

Just one question for jiminyc - How big is your bench??? And where can I get one like that? (Ok, that's 2 questions) :-)

Ray

M548A1 tracked firefighter, using an article in Wheels & Tracks from the late 80's. Anyone in the Fort Hood area of Texas able to take photos of the vehicle they have there? ... like to her from you!

QUOTE: Originally posted by markiii Can you post pictures of the A-10 when it is finished.? I have one myself, but my bench is way too crowded to even start it yet. Good luck on your build ! Mark

Mark, check the www.ipmsoc.org web site for an article on the A-10. One of our club members Brian Casteel did a build article on it.

Let's see:
A Mr. Norm's Ghost Charger
A Space Coupe
A Glencoe Moon Liner in flight
Two Spitfires (one 1/72, the other 1/144)
A Grumman S2F Tracker Hasagawa kit
A Curtiss Jenny Lindberg kit
the old Monogram Albatros seaplane (waiting to be placed into a diorama)
the original Revell Memphis Belle B-17 (put in full interior)
1/144 B-52, B-1B, and B-2 from the Revell kit
A Mirage Hiddensee patrol boat
A Tamiya 1/16 scale Tiger tank
Several German armored cars
an IJN Yamato
and a 1/8 scale Robby the Robot.
These are my current projects that I have done some work on in the last month. There are others that are on the back of the bench and I will bring them forward as my desires change.

djmodels,

Thanks for those addressess to do with the Ekranoplan. I'd never seen pictures of the white one with blue trim. I think I'll model that one. Too much plain gray airplanes out there these days.

I can't believe someone was actually able to pull enough reference material together to scratchbuilt one of those things, as big as 1/72 no less! Impressive!

Thanks again!

Right now I'm just finishing up the detailing and about to start painting Dragon's big ol' E-100 German heavy tank. Like almost every E-100 build I've seen, I'm doing a "what-if" 1946 version. Can't decide on the camo, though. Thought about ambush, maybe an "Afrika Korps '46" desert scheme, or even throwback German Gray. But I'm probably gonna do some kinda crazy 3-tone gray Bismark/Tirpitz splinter kinda thing.
Then it's on to Dragon' s even bigger ol' Maus!

I think Merlin V1650 has just diagnosed at least half of us with his definition of MADD! I would suggest we have the scientific community look into this syndrome, but I'm kind of afraid of what they might find. . .

Upnorth,

have you seen those..?

http://www.flankerman.fsnet.co.uk/modl_ekrano.htm

http://jpcolliat.free.fr/ekra/ekraA.html

Domi

Just bought, in a set of two, the BULLGUARD racing Harvard of Reno 'Miss Behavin', and it came with Miss America, the P-51D, from Revell. I couldn't resist, to for the price of one!
I am painting the Mustang from the box, and doing the Harvard in yellow, with the markings for a New Zealand trainer (where I am from).

Haven't bought any others that are on my list, too expensive at hte moment.

I believe the term for what this malady is that so many of us seem to be experiencing is Modeling Attention Deficit Disorder or MADD.
I build models the same way I read books, about 3 at a time and sometimes only finish one of them. The only thing with a book is I can always skip to the end to see how it ends up....If only I could do that with a model!....but I guess that would strip the fun out of it.

It is very heartening to see also that I am not the only one who can count the number of seasons it took to finish a project ,rather than hours...Every time I read a kit review in FSM that ends up something like.... " It took me about 9 hours to finish this kit, much longer than I had anticipated because I had to scratchbuild the landing gear."...............I just stare at the accompanying photograph of the completed masterpiece and think "What in the world is wrong with me? I spend that long just taking the pieces out of the box! "

I swore to myself that the A-10 I mentioned on the last page would be my last kit for a while.... Well.... I thought it would be... ;-)

One of the hobby shops around here is shutting down and having a clearance sale. The good little voice in my head says: "You made a promise to yourself with the last kit, don't break it now". The bad little voice says: "Oh, come on now, Its 50% off, you don't see deals like this too often. Just one more, then you can stop for a while".

Anyway....

My new "last model for a while" is Revell Germany's 1/144 Ekranoplan A-90 Orljonok. For someone like me who's drawn to the obscure and unusual, it was totally irresistable and even more so at 50% off.

I'm currently working on the Trumpeter AS-90, which is about half finished. After this is done I plan on building the Tamiya T-72 in the East German 3 tone camo scheme. I also hope to complete a DML T-34 with the Aber "bedsprings" p/e set before the Region 4 convention in April.

Hey Jim and Upnorth, your projects both sound interesting. I like to do different things like that myself. Happy modeling !

Mark

I just picked up a 1/72 A-10 Warthog (Academy) and am planning a conversion for it.

A while back I read a few articles on the net that some water bomber companies were looking to replace some of their more elderly aircraft with something more current and were trying to secure some surplus A-10s from U.S. Airforce storage at Davis -Monthan AFB to modify for the fire killer role. If I recall correctly, the air force wasn't too keen on the idea.

There were some computer composite images on the sites but I thought it would be a blast to try to come up with a three dimensional representation of one for my shelf.

Looks like it should be a pretty simple conversion.

Tamiya's Jeep Cherokee, which I'm converting to a tornado chase vehicle. I'm going to open up a couple of doors, remove the left 60% of the back seat and replace it with a table that will hold a computer, VCR and radio amplifier. In the cargo bay, I'm planning on adding cameras (both still and video), plus another video camera in the windshield. I would even like to put in a NASCAR-style roll cage. I've got the engine and chassis finished (built those assemblies more-or-less out of the box as a time-saver) and now I'm almost ready to start fooling with the interior. I've even got a second Cherokee kit for practice and experimentation--there's going to be a lot of cutting and scratchbuilding on this puppy!

Two cars:
An 80% complete 69 Mustang Boss 429
A 30% Nascar Monte Carlo; Dale Earnhardt

One armor:
A 30% complete Tamiya M113, it has been there for 2 yrs now, I just can't find motivation to build armor. I am such a poor armor weatherer, and this one is for my dad, a Vietnam Vet so I want it to be perfect.

One aircraft:
A new Tamiya 1/72 Me-109 trop. It was my Valentines present. (I know, I know, you should be jealous)

Revell Top fuel dragster, and next is ferrari f1 2000. I dont know how you guys do more than one at a time. I like to put all of my attention to one model at a time!

1/48 F-18C only thing going on right now

Just finishing up Tamiya's Mosquito....

Up next--

Tamiya's FW-190
Hasegawa's Val dive bomber
An I-16 Rata
Me-163

All 1:48 scale...

QUOTE: Originally posted by berny13 Revell 1/32 MIG-21MF 75% completed. Revell 1/32 MIG-21PF 50% completed. Revell 1/32 F-4E. Working on the intakes. 20% complered. Tamiya 1/32 F-4D. 5% completed Hobbycraft 1/48 RT-33/ Monogram 1/48 F-80, converting to a RF-80A. 95% completed.

That is alot of large aircraft on your bench ! Just like me.

Mark

Revell 1/32 MIG-21MF 75% completed.
Revell 1/32 MIG-21PF 50% completed.
Revell 1/32 F-4E. Working on the intakes. 20% complered.
Tamiya 1/32 F-4D. 5% completed
Hobbycraft 1/48 RT-33/ Monogram 1/48 F-80, converting to a RF-80A. 95% completed.