Building Italeri's 1/32 F-104 G/S Starfighter: Part 1

That's right for all my professed love of Japanese WW2 aircraft, trucks of all eras and sci fi I am building a jet plane. What's up with that is right.

Downstairs, in the basement is my Hobby Room. Many modelers use the term "bunker" for their areas of meditation. The walls and ceiling of mine are rag rolled a sort of blue, which my wife likened to being submerged in a swimming pool (in a bad way, I think).  I had a lot of people tell me that the walls should be white, so as to not throw off my painting. I'm sure everyone has noticed that my models tend to be less blue. Who know's how many medals it has cost me to paint down in the swimming pool.

Here are my notes so far. #1) What is the level of building? I bought this on a total whim. My intention was "to build for fun", so no after market, no rebuilding landing gear struts or ejection seats. No, no, no. #2) Pick version. I thumbed through the instructions...a lot of Italian aircraft. Duh, I guess. One German and a couple of Canadian. OK, let's do the German one...maybe Canadian. I couldn't keep myself off the compy though. Oh look, there is one with Hinomaru's...  It is like being in a swimming pool sometimes. I vill do scheme C, za German von. "Two peanuts were walking down the strasse..."

#3) Remove parts. Using an old Testors Xuron cutter and the nicer Tamiya one, the good plastic is cut from the bad plastic. I go through and remove the parts that are extra and not for my version. This is a form of simplification to foster the Illusion Of Progress. Model building is like theater, if it doesn't look like something is happening, it is less fun. By getting rid of the unnecessary parts and grouping existing ones it makes it easier to break the project into smaller parts.

What a nice areoplane ! #4) Tape it together to figure out how to build, what is seen and what is easy to change. I only clean up the parts enough to get it together. By checking what can actually be seen you can eliminate the tedious clean up. Also, some parts are more visible than others and require more care. Things on the top and details that always draw scrutiny should get the red carpet treatment. In this case, the cockpit, intakes...probably the landing gear and exhaust nozzle. This is an older kit, so there are lots of panels that can be positioned open to see the cool guttyworks. I'm not a big fan of this, so all those panels need to be blended back into the surface to as to not call attention to themselves. The overall surface finish on the model is pleasing.

Really, building models is an excuse to listen to crap like this: the OST of Conan. It's so bad it's good. Mostly. It is interesting how listening to music has changed. As a youth I had my parents hand me down Hi-Fi and records. Then came cassette tapes, CD's. I skipped over the i-pod, but did digital music services. I digitized CD's onto my hard drive (seems like ages ago), then started Pandora. These days it's You Tube. 

Make sure you understand the instructions. I thought "For Version" meant the real life version, which mine is a "G" for the German one. That is not what those mean, the letters correspond to the version as  noted on the schemes, so the German one is version C, not G. Idiot!

To be continued...

On The Madness Of Rearranging Bits Of Plastic #1

New Nats Category: “Unfinished Models”

A small sample of "Works in Progress"

How cool would it be if at the Nationals there was a category for “Unfinished Kits”. Think about how the judging guidelines get really bent. Does a knock out mark or a fingerprint, count against the model? Is it judged on this moment of the build or what you imagine this kits future to be? Would it be held against you if too much of your model were painted? 

It is a shame that there would never be such a category. We all know it’s the end product that matters. Imagine the discussions these entries would spark. Admit it, we all love to see the model with all the work exposed. The winner(s) would have to be selected using a more subjective criteria. Hard to imagine something like this would ever happen.

What a colossally missed opportunity. The idea that we cannot point to hard evidence as to why one  incomplete model within this category is deemed superior to another would make a lot of people's heads melt. Forums would light up like the readouts at Three Mile Island and trolls would have to be hooked up intravenously because they would not have time to to eat.

OK, so what? Sans a verified winner of the category we would get actual discussion among the entrants, viewers and the public. There would be questions. Conversations about technique. As I recall, Tatlin’s Tower was never built and Michelangelo's Pieta never completed. Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon hung in progress for years inspiring debates that shaped modern art for decades. The overriding emphasis of the IPMS to overvalue “one way to be good at model building” is unfortunate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Demoiselles_d%27Avignon.jpg

This all popped into my head when I decided to pull out all of my “works in progress”. After I had filled up most of my workspace, it dawned on me that I had only scratched the surface. 

I have many. Too many. Or do I? Does it matter? Does Jay Leno lament that he can’t drive every car he owns? The prevailing thought is that unless a kit is completed it is wasted. There are no pics to upload onto “lookatmykoolmodel.com” or win an event. What if the goal was to not finish them? What if I dumped all the parts into a casserole dish and melted them together in the oven, does that count as finished? Or buying an almost finished kit and gluing on the last piece?  (By the way, I did put one of my tanks in the oven as a kid).

I used to let having all these un-built kits bother me. They showed that I didn’t have follow thru. That I was weak. Lay on top of this that they all need to be “winners”. That’s a lot of pressure. The more unfinished projects there were, the more behind I thought I was in the great race to completion. What a ridiculous race I allowed myself to be duped into!

Here’s where I think I’m at now. I build any way I want. Maybe just cut parts off the trees and organise them. Leave them in bags and resell on Ebay. Put it away and finish 8 years later. Or never. A hobby, by definition is something you do for fun. So, I don’t beat myself up over having too many unfinished hobby projects anymore. 

Belkits 1/24 Peugeot 207 S2000

Right now I’m focused on working on a Belkits Peugeot 207 S2000 Rally car. Last year I thought it would be a nice quick build, no researching widgets or scratch-building parts...something to build for fun. Everything went along just fine until I started putting the many, many large decals on the body. Total fail. It was refreshing to fail so spectacularly. I put it away. I found a new decal scheme from Coloradodecals based on a white bodied car. I’ve been tinkering on it for a few weeks, mainly because RL has been jam packed with work deadlines and travel. Among other things. 

Right after I took that picture, the mail carrier left a box on the porch, I had a 15% coupon on Ebay and snapped up Itelari’s 1/32 F-104. What’s up with that? I have already decided to “build it for fun” and have all the parts off the sprues and staged for assembly. Without thinking I went online to research other schemes and thought it would be cool to do a Japanese one....

Ready for.....STORAGE!!! WHOA BABY!

A few things regarding On The Madness Of Rearranging Bits Of Plastic:

On this blog you will mostly see two types of content. The first type is the usual stuff such as building tips, pictures of completed kits and reviews. The second type is less common, it’s the stuff that often pops up in forums or in a few editorial channels (like Dem Brudders in the Journal). As a long time Hobbyist my involvement is way more than just buying and building kits. OTMORBOP addresses the part of the iceberg below the surface of the water. There is so much more to the hobby experience than debating the exact shade of J3 Hairyokushoku or critiquing the shape of a particular manufactures rendition of a M-10’s turret.

Hopefully the stuff I write here will resonate with others. Constructive feedback is welcomed. If your a troll...hopefully your worth a lot of XP because baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Until next time.

Heat Bending Small Diameter Plastic Rod Stock

OMG, what a long crazy title. Well, it's after the Nat's, I've finally calmed down, so here is an update. Oh wait, let's identify the problem:

Heat bending thin stock wacks the plastic and all you get is trash. What is needed is a way to limit the amount of heat to get a perfect bend.

I took a sheet of thick brass and used a small band saw in my garage and cut a short slot. The sheet is positioned over a candle.

The slot reduces the overall heat and focuses the rest in a small area.

Roll the stock over the slot.

This will become a replacement bracket for a mirror on a rally car.

More updates will follow. After I go move my in-laws bed. Ug. Cheers.

Tupolev Tu-95 & Tu-142: A Quick Look at the New Book

I just got this off Amazon, this not a proper review, but a peek inside for those of you who love this aircraft. It was around $50 and its got around 550 pages and weighs a lot. 

This one probably won't be around long, so if your into this kinda thing...you know what to do.

Dune Factory Crawler Concept Model

A lot going on behind all the scenes, work especially and a big gaming event in which I needed to prepare a lot of new material. I know you are not interested in my paltry excuses, you are here to see models:

I am a big DUNE fan, I recall seeing the 1984 movie three times in the theater...undoubtedly a unique achievement. It wasn't until Waterworld came out that people stopped making fun of me (regarding Dune). I have done some other Dune fanboy things I'm not proud of (and shall not reveal, as they are killing words). And, of course, my last name also is the same of Fransesca, who played Paul's concubine mother. I digress. Did I say I had a stillsuit? Ok, good.

I know, shut up already! This model was built as a sketch, a maquette, or study. I sent these along to Agence Claude Girard which represents Denis Villeneuve in hopes to muscle my way into doing some concepting for the upcoming Dune film. 

No phone calls yet, if anyone out there knows Mr. Villeneuve, pass this along. My understanding is that for this new interpretation Mr. Villeneuve will steer far away from the 1984 offering. A wise choice.

The model: It's around 1/200th scale, or around 100 meters in length. In the book they are described as "Factory Crawlers". I read through the book and kept careful notes on characters and tech. Herbert does an amazing job with so little, almost nothing in the book is described by more than a few sentences. Amazing.

This model is made from faom core, paper and wood dowels. I used Illy to create the track and parasol shield patterns.

My sketches are OK, I'd rather build up in 3D. This is the drawing I started from, you can the things I kept and the things that were transformed by going from 2D to 3D. One major change is the elimination of the spice removal proboscis. In the lower part of the drawing you see the carryall that would come down to evac the factory once a worm is spotted. I have the thopter tech here using rotors, not sure I'm in love with that.

The factory is like a big dumb bug, I imagine the tracks to be quite flexible, as shown here. This would also allow it to traverse the deserts of Arrakis.

I don't think the factory crawlers are Fremen, more likely a combination of local Imperial and Ixian construction. Due to the harsh conditions and expense to get any sort of replacement parts, it seemed to me everything should be designed to be as practical as possible. In our world the Russians are the masters of this. Flat surfaces that can be easily repaired, or folded down to use as a repair stands. Off the shelf parts for transmissions, wheels and hinges. On Arrakis being able to make field repairs would be a necessity.

Here are some pics during construction.

You can see how 3D materials affect the design process. Plus you can't cheat as much, like in a drawing.

The segmentation is meant to allow for flexibility (like a steamboat pulling itself over a snag) and cooling. The frame becomes an accessible hard point in which other units can be easily attached.

Notice on the top there is a large slipper tank. I imagined this is where the melange would go, in the event of a close call with a worm, the carryall could collect the spice tank sans crawler.

Here the parasols start to get positioned on the frame. They would be movable and basically shield the factory from the sun. This would also allow for the factory to have an ungainly appearance, depending on the parasols positions relative to the sun. I tried to capture this in the pics of the finished model.

The stark patterning is also purposeful. The alternating black and white ares act as a heat engine and create paths of air movement along the panels for cooling. Like the stripes on a zebra and a Crookes radiometer. It also makes it look more like a beetle.

A quick shot to show scale. Maybe this will turn into a real model. Thinking on it.

Cheers!

Bronco Chih Yuan in 1/144 Scale

So, I must be living under a rock. I came across this model recently and thought it was new, the sprues are embossed "2015". The Chih Yuan is turn of the century Yalu river combatant and was sunk in 1894. Typing in Chih Yuan brings you to a Wiki entry "Chinese Cruiser Zhiyuan", being somewhat illiterate on this subject, I finally realized that this is the same vessel. There are several english versions of the Chinese name. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool and at around $100 a good deal.

Here is my take on this kit, call it a review. It comes in a nice sturdy box, good instructions with basic color call outs. There are two schemes, the white (above) and a grey, in which the white is replaced by grey.

What was especially appealing to me was the one piece molded hull. Very nicely done.

Here is the ramming end of the hull. As you can see, very nicely done. Dragon is a nice touch, the model is essentially "steampunk".

Parts details are well done and consistent throughout. The railings can be made in plastic or etched brass. Personally, I'd use the plastic, it's very thin and looks better than the flat brass.

Main guns (in open turrets) are slide molded.

Here are the air vent thingies, notice they are molded as one part, which will contribute immensely to my joy.

Here are those PE sheets and the plastic railings. All in all I am looking forward to the building. This kit is well done, not overly complex and an interesting subject. My only complaint is a lack of figures. There is some aftermarket (wood deck and turned guns), we shall see if I fall victim to this or not at a future date.

Here is the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cruiser_Zhiyuan

A full sized (working?) replica was also built in China.

Idiot!

So, I am like totally, building Tamiya's 1/350th Yukikaze. It has these raised things molded on the deck...they look like grossly out of scale tread plate. Why would Mr. Tamiya put those on there? Who is he trying to fool? So I thought I would be a smart guy and chisel them off.

The left deck is my masterpiece, the other deck is the replacement deck sent by my nice friends at Tamiya America.

Here is a pic of the Yukikaze. Oops. Large wooden slats. Yup. Idiot. I'm sorry Mr. Tamiya, I will never doubt you again! Here let me get your slippers.

Time to get to work. First, grind opening in old deck.

Then use pliers to carefully rip the deck sections out while constantly reminding myself of all the wasted effort...

Main deck is next. Actually, I like grinding. Very manly. (coughs).

New decks. Time to start again. Thank you for your  time.
And don't be an Idiot.
Trust Mr. Tamiya.