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15 Articles

FROM THE EDITOR

Making time for the workbench As you look over the table of contents above, you’ll notice that Tim Kidwell and I have how to stories in this issue. While it’s not unusual for our bylines to appear, it’s been a couple of years since either of us has finished a project and taken you guys through the process. This isn’t the way we want it. We enjoy time at the workbench and are both working on personal projects. Part of the problem has been finding time, and I’m sure we aren’t alone in balancing family and/or work with spending time on our latest model. Yes, even though it’s part of our job, it can be a struggle to build as much as we want. How do you do it? Let me know your tricks…

FROM THE EDITOR

Yamato’s finish based on photos In response to Clinton Gaskill’s letter (“What a dirty, dirty ship,” Scale Talk, January/February 2024) about the finish on my model, here’s a photo of “dirty little Yamato” taken in late 1942 or early 1943. It’s clear that it is streaked and stained. While modeling is an art, the line of subjectivity plays into our interpretations when it comes to our desire to replicate the real steel. Mine are always done to my best abilities based on photos rather than subjective commentary on what it “should have been like.” – Harvey Low Toronto, Canada Oh no, they really are that dirty I read Clinton Gaskill’s comments about extreme weathering being nice, but not realistic; I have to respectfully disagree. I served in several mechanized infantry battalions and can state with a high…

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AT FINESCALE.COM

2023 ACME Southern Nationals photo gallery ACME Southern Nationals has risen to prominence as a model car event to attend, moving into a new, larger venue, and playing host to more than 1,000 models at its latest show this past November — its biggest tally ever! If you want to see scale model gassers, muscle cars, pickups, dragsters, motorcycles, plus tons more — and you know you do — visit FineScale.com/show-galleries to see a photo gallery chock full of delectable delights! FineScale Modeler Weekly is back! Don’t miss an episode of FineScale Modeler Weekly! FSM opens the latest kits from scale model manufacturers, shows you new tools or some that you might have forgotten about, and shares the love of the hobby with show footage, build updates, and behind-the-scenes videos you won’t get…

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AT FINESCALE.COM

AIRCRAFT 1/32 SCALE Westland Whirlwind FB MK.I Fighter-Bomber from Special Hobby, No. SH32088, $152.99. 1/48 SCALE Fiat B.R.20 Cicogna “Bomber over Two Continents” from Special Hobby, No. SH48229, $49.99. Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II from Tamiya, No. 61125, $115. WBR A6M2-N Rufe from Eduard, ProfiPack, No. 82219, $49.95. A6M3 Zero Type 32 from Eduard, Weekend Edition, No. 84191, $34.95. FM-2 Wilder Cat from Eduard, ProfiPack, No. 11175, $49.95. Bf 110G-4 from Eduard, Weekend Edition, No. 8405, $49.95. Mighty Eighth 66th Fighter Wing from Eduard, Limited Edition, No. 11174, $54.95. Ki-21-Ib Sally Japanese heavy bomber from ICM, No. 48195, $121.99. WBR USN T-34B Mentor VT-5 Training Air Wing from Academy, No. 12361, $24. Grumman FM-1 Wildcat/Martlet Mk.V from Tamiya, No. 61126, $40. Republic P-47C Thunderbolt with ferry tank from Dora Wings, No. DW48054, $49.99. Russian MiG-29K from HobbyBoss, No. 81786, $119.99. 1/72 SCALE Wünderschone Neue Maschinen (Bf 109F-2…

OLD KIT, modern techniques, and a challenge

Starting with this article, I’m kicking off the AMT Annual Kit Challenge. What is that? I’m glad you asked. First, it’s not a yearly thing (although maybe it should be!). Rather, every fall from 1958 to 1977, AMT produced 1/25 scale 3-in-1 customizing “annual” kits for the latest cars and trucks that filled dealership showrooms. While some of these annuals have been reissued (and Round 2 is now duplicating them with all-new tooling), many remain one-off products that were never offered again once that year’s run sold out. For the uninitiated, annual kits lay somewhere between simplified curbside or snap-together kits and fully detailed kits with multipiece chassis, suspension, interiors, and engine compartments. Generally revered for accurate body proportions and crisp molding, they often also included era-correct customization and race options.…

OLD KIT, modern techniques, and a challenge

AIRBRUSHING FAQ

Few skills improve the appearance of models as much as airbrushing, but it can also be one of the harder tools to master. Not only are there different kinds of brushes and air supplies to consider at the outset, but there are also multiple variables that will affect how paint moves through the brush and how it hits the model. For the uninitiated, this can be an overwhelming amount of info that can keep them locked into using paintbrushes and spray cans. Fear not! I’m going to answer many of those questions. If you are considering picking up an airbrush or have one but you aren’t sure where to start, hopefully, this will take the mystery out of this versatile tool. Even if you have been airbrushing for years, consider this…

AIRBRUSHING FAQ

HERE THEY COME!

Star Wars has provided no end of unmistakable ship designs, from the colossal Star Destroyer and hammer-headed Corellian corvette to letter-designated star fighters and an improbable disk with loading arms and an offset cockpit. Now, Round 2, from its AMT brand, has produced a 1/32 scale version of another exceedingly identifiable Star Wars starship, the Imperial TIE fighter (No. AMT1341/60). A model this large begs to be lighted, and Round 2 engineered the kit with that in mind. If you’ve never put lights in a kit before, this one is perfect for a first attempt, not despite its size but because of it. Right off, you’ll need LEDs, a power supply, and a switch — you don’t want to have to keep connecting and disconnecting a power lead. I visited Evan Designs (evandesigns.com)…

HERE THEY COME!

A LIFELONG MODELER

Bill Jenkins 1965 Plymouth A990 ‘Black Arrow’ This is a replica of Bill Jenkin’s first NHRA win at the season opening Winter nationals 1965. A Moebius Models 1/25 scale kit serves as the base for the model, but a lot of kitbashing went into this project, including additional engine details. The body wears Tamiya paint, Bare-Metal Foil, and Slixx decals. Jim Kampmann remembers his first model: an AMT 1/43 sale Barracuda given to him by his father in 1968. That same year, Jim’s father and grandfather took him to the races at the Donnybrooke Road Course in Brainerd, Minnesota, and the rest is, as they say, history. “I was always attached to cars and trucks as a boy, so when I was introduced to plastic models by my dad, I was hooked!” Jim said. Although…

A LIFELONG MODELER

Brush out a WARTHOG

The 174th Tactical Fighter Group, a unit of the New York Air National Guard, began transitioning to the Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II (affectionately known as the Warthog or Hog) close air-support fighter in 1979. With the Hog’s arrival, the Guard changed the 174th’s status from fighter group to tactical fighter wing (TFW). Known as the “Boys from Syracuse,” I wanted to commemorate the switch with a Warthog of my own and began research and planning. Digging into my stash, I found a Tamiya 1/48 scale A-10A (No. 61028). Originally released in the late 1970s, followed up with a new box in the early ’80s, and re-released in the ’90s with new decals, I wasn’t surprised by the raised surface elements and lack of detail — the antithesis of Tamiya’s current…

Brush out a WARTHOG

To the moon, ARTEMIS!

With NASA focused on sending astronauts to the moon and ultimately to Mars, the agency has a new rocket — imaginatively named the Space Launch System. When an SLS lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2022, carrying the Orion spacecraft to its eventual lunar flyby, I wondered how long it would be until a kit depicting the Artemis I mission appeared. Not long apparently. Within a few months, Round 2 announced a 1/200 scale kit of the vehicle under its AMT label (No. AMT1423), which matches the scale of the brand’s other spacecraft. Let’s face it, rockets make relatively simple models — AMT’s Artemis I is a bunch of cylinders split in half with separate caps and details. It doesn’t take a rocket…

To the moon, ARTEMIS!

Hit the ground in a STURMI

In the January/February 2024 FSM, I showed how to convert a Dragon 1/35 scale StuG III Ausf G into one of the vehicles sent to Finland in 1944. With the conversion of a Dragon StuG III to a Finnish Sturmi assault gun complete, it needed a base. Groundwork helps put a model in context and implies action, especially when combined with figures. The aim is to produce something simple, but effective. Let’s get started. Cut a section of 40mm (approximately 1½-inch) thick insulation foam measuring 21cm x 14cm (811/32 inches x 5½ inches) and cover the edges with 2mm (.08-inch) sheet styrene filling gaps at the corners with putty. Mark the vehicle’s position on the foam. Keeping it simple, cover the foam with Ammo by Mig Jimenez (Ammo) Acrylic Mud Dry Earth…

Hit the ground in a STURMI

Arma Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIC

For several years, I’ve listened to friends with better eyesight than mine rave about the quality of Arma Hobby’s 1/72 scale kits, but now I get to see that quality for myself with its 1/48 scale Hurricane Mk.IIC kit. In addition to beautiful plastic parts, you also get die-cut masks, three marking options, and stencils on a single decal sheet. Bombs, drop tanks, two types of cannon barrels, and two canopies (open or closed) are included. Sprue gates are more numerous and larger than most other manufacturers, so it can be difficult to determine where the gate ends and the part begins. Decide your marking scheme before building. The instructions and a small errata sheet show modifications unique to each scheme that need to be made to surface details and holes…

Arma Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIC

AMT 2021 Ford Bronco

The AMT 1/25 scale 2021 Ford Bronco First Edition kit, a newly tooled model of Ford’s reimagined and updated legendary SUV, has nicely molded parts, although there is a little more flash than I expected, considering it is new. The fill points off the runners are also a bit heavy, so expect a little more cleanup after clipping them off. I found that a photo-etched metal saw works very well to remove them and made cleanup easier. The parts fit well, with the plastic tending toward the soft side, which makes cutting and sanding easy. Assembly went quickly because many of the parts fit almost like a snap-together kit. The smoke-colored tinted windows seem more fragile than the other clear parts. I recommend using a razor saw or similar tool to remove…

AMT 2021 Ford Bronco

Fujimi Ferrari 288 GTO

Nearly 40 years ago, Fujimi shocked the scale model car hobby with its introduction of a series of 10 Enthusiast Model Porsche 911 kits. With an asking price roughly two-and-a-half times that of the average domestic 1/24 and 1/25 scale kits and a part count twice that of its competitors, Fujimi’s kits were a bold stroke targeted at an emerging market of accomplished adult model builders. (See Scale Auto, December 2014, for more on this). Less noticed at the time, however, was that the Enthusiast Model series presaged a time when multiple, product-correct, kit variations, sometimes 10 or more in number, could be made based on a single tooling set. An anomaly back then, this multiple-release capability is now a topline consideration for newly tooled kits, with the Moebius Models 1950s…

Fujimi Ferrari 288 GTO

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