Hobbying In Place #11 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

What Have I Learned?

Don't believe the hype. Everyone was constantly talking about how good the new Airfix kits are. They are good. But, there were things on this build that didn't and only found out once I was into the final assembly. Very sloppy on my part. Always, always, always check the fit of everything no matter what. If it doesn't fit, fix it so it does. This rule applies for all kits, Airfix, ICM and Tamiya.

Hobbying In Place #10 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

Blobs, Putty and Reality

I always think after all the building that painting will be easy. It only takes a moment after the first airbrush blast for reality to sink in like the cold hard kiss of a knuckle sandwich. So here is the big dumb plane, white on the bottom (self: easy), gray and green blobs on the top (self: easy). 

Hobbying In Place #9 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

Some mornings I wake up, I have energy to do something hobby related while I drink my coffee, but my eyes are not open enough to do real work. Lately the mornings have been longer. I'm not a big sitter arounder.

Hobbying In Place #8 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

I know why projects go onto the shelf of doom. It is about expectations.

My expectations were to slide a project out of my stash as a sort of snack. A "snacky" build, you know, one with a low reference impact, fun and that would go together easily. A project that I could just pop into my mouth and "viola" a finished model. A quickie between lunch and dinner. A little side jaunt, just like the one I saw at the Butch-Ohare show. But not white, I needed to do something different. You simply can't come to a party wearing the same dress as someone else.

Hobbying In Place #7 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

When Will I learn?

Hobbying In Place #6 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

A Tale of How Sanding Leads To Distraction

I have watched grown men pull their own heads off rather than build a kit with intakes. Because I am building for fun, because there may never ever be another judge or contest, because I simply need to build just to keep my frail sanity, because if I get stuck not finishing this, well, you know.

Hobbying In Place #5 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

More Ugg. But first a hunk of Junk:

I always work on multiple projects.

Hobbying In Place #4 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

More Finishing...Ugg.

This upper panel is a problem. Highly visible, unless the seam matches the other seams, it will be highly noticeable. I.e., it will look wrong. And this is a secret to quote good modeling unquote. Consistency.

Hobbying In Place #3 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

Welcome to the Dust Farm!

So, I am literally forced to use putty from time to time. When the the nice people appear to enforce this, I use Tamiya basic type. If it were not so expensive I would spread it on bagels and bathe in it. Let's move on.

Hobbying In Place #2 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

Building the 1/72nd Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2.

Today we are going to do a lot of fillink and sandink. Here was that big gap from part 1, now properly sanded flush. Pretty exciting.

Hobbying In Place #1 Building the Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2

Building the 1/72nd Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2.

Once more “Joy” springs up like a weed during this time of pandemic meltdown. So let's get down into the weeds and learn how this scale modeler practices the fine art of social distancing. This is an art form in which I am well schooled. Let’s begin.

Victor from Butch O'Hare Show

For the last couple of weeks I have been downstairs building the 1/72nd Airfix Handley Page Victor K2/SR.2. Typically I claim to build either Soviet or Japanese in 1/32nd scale. This is none of those.