Yes this is the current month’s model. No it probably won’t get finished but I’ll get stuck in anyway.
It’s the Trumpeter missiles in a shipping container kit.
This kit comes with one missile to display whereas the 40 foot container has no missiles so isn’t interesting to me. The missiles tunes certainly have plenty of mould pins to clean up!
The instructions are a little confusing so be careful or maybe that’s just the Covid speaking.
It’s got plenty of decals and a small etched brass fret so nothing too complicated at least. It comes in at over 220 parts so there is plenty to do.
The only difficulty so far has been getting the %^$## cabin to go together- three straight pieces with edge contact only has made this a fun exercise. After a few attempts it is now secured. I need to fit out the cabin and then onto the joy of the undercarriage/ sorry I meant tracks but I need to watch a video on how this is done as they really do dangle a bit off the main body.
It’s been a month so here’s some Expo photos starting with the Swap and Sell crowd. Felt more like the old not so good days. For Covid conditions it seemed quite crowded.
The above is the arcade to Flinders Station that usually hard an ad hoc art exhibit and a great coffee shop.
First port of call after getting the tickets was off to Swap and Sell. This was more like the days of old with too many people in too small a space but this arrangement was supposedly Covid compliant.
I bought a tiny model car kit.
I never make cars but even with AMS it shouldn’t take too long and for $5 it was cheap.
There was a good range of kits etc but nothing I desperately had to have.
Next stop was the traders downstairs and here I just got two books and a display stand for that Jap amphibious tank if I manage to finish it.
The first is an updated version of the NUTs & Bolts book on German AA Panzer IVs. It’s much thicker with lots more pictures and a modelling section.
The second book is the Ammo book on German armour in Italy which has quite a bit on the Panther and has lots of photos.
And lastly is the diorama base.
Next up is the actual models. I expected that given there was a two year hiatus there would be lots but some sections were still quite sparse. Perhaps others suffered my problem of lots of building but very little finished.
Customer numbers were reported as down on Saturday and I’m not sure making it mandatory to get kits in for judging on Friday really helped.
I suspect they will go back to the Queens birthday long weekend next year if at all possible.
I visited Hearns on Friday and didn’t buy anything as I often don’t. They seem to be moving more into Gundam and DnD areas with other areas especially model railways diminishing.
I know all the trendy modellers finished lot of kits during lockdown but being contrarian I worked on lots of kits up to paint ready stage but managed to not finish a thing.
About 2 weeks ago I finally finished something being the 8 barrel flak gun kit from Das Werk. It’s mounted on a small Ikea photo base with some DAS ground work topped with brown weathering powder mixed with PVA to give a flexible slightly cracked surface.
Grass and some Flowers from Gamer’s Grass rounded out the base work. As usual artistic advice from my wife ensured it looked random and natural.
The diorama/vignette is based on photos in a NUTs and Bolts book with photos of this and other Flak guns etc from a Moscow outdoor museum taken back on the 80s or 90s. More recent photos on the net
show a bit more care being taken now but I prefer the rawness of the original photos.
I’ve had today off work so a little modelling time was possible. Due to the wet weather YET AGAIN I decided to work on the eight barrelled flak gun and got some if the ground work done. It’s not finished but with help from my art consultant SWMBO I’ve made good progress. It’s still a little way from finished but at least it’s possible.
The main body of the submarine is now together with Milliput in the gaps after some fettling. The tanks have now been identified via Google as air tanks
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