The MiG-23 Landing Gear Pickle
Last week, I finally got to the point of installing the gear struts on my 1/32 Trumpeter MiG-23MLA (the kit is technically the MLD, but being built as a Bulgarian…
Photography: Focal Length
When we're shooting photos of our models, there are a lot of factors to consider. Lighting. Proper white balance. Aperture. But there's one factor that is often overlooked, and that…
X-Winging It
Saturday, October 7, 2017. My big 1/32 Trumpeter MiG-23 had been plodding along, and was nearly at the painting stage. But I decided to take a week off for a…
Tamiya’s New 1/48 Bf 109G-6 – Quick Thoughts
Every time a Shizouka Hobby Show or All-Japan Model & Hobby Show roll around, the modeling community gets all pins and needles in anticipation of the latest Tamiya release. There…
It’s My Model
Earlier today, a modeler posted a video to a Facebook group. A video of most of his completed builds making a trip into the trash can. He's moving, see, and…
Does It Fit – 1/32 Academy F-16 Edition
Resin aftermarket often seems to exist in some weird fog, where you can't find good, high-res photos or instructions online, much less actual thoughts from people who've used them. Even…
Does It Fit – 1/32 MiG-23 Edition
Last night, I was scouring the interwebs investigating my aftermarket options for a potential project, and I kept coming up against the same basic image, repeated over and over again,…
The Academy Curse
There are plenty of modelers out there who will start a project and, no matter how shitty or dispiriting it proves to be, will see it through to the bitter end.
I have a healthy respect for those who do…but it’s not something I particularly excel at. For me, modeling is a hobby. And while I like challenges, there comes a point where the enjoyment slips away and the bench sessions become drudgery.
And for some reason, Academy kits always seem to drag me into that drudgery.
I’d hoped that the F-4C Phantom would be a way to break the curse, but alas, here I am, teetering at the edge.
Why? Not because of anything big. Not because the kit has “defeated” me. But rather, because compounding annoyances have worn me down, and because of swirlings in the larger market.
Let’s go through those annoyances first…
The Cockpit is Bullshit
My first annoyance with the Academy F-4C was the laughably spartan cockpit. After reading the horror stories of the Aires cockpit set for this kit, I stayed well away, but maybe I should have taken the plunge, or at the very least used the resin to create a hybrid cockpit of sorts. I mean…the kit pit has no sidewall detail. At all.
Aside from the absent sidewall detail, the side consoles and IPs are no great shakes, either.
Seriously – the old Hasegawa and even Revellogram F-4s put it to shame.
Strike one.
The Surface Texture
The entire surface of the Academy F-4 is covered in a slightly gritty texture that has to be sanded away. And I thought I had, but well into the painting process, it keeps popping up in places. UGH. (more…)
WIP – 1/48 Academy F-4C Phantom II, Pt 1
It’s weird how ideas can snowball. That’s exactly what happened when Jimmy D proposed an informal F-4 buddy build over in SMCG. What started as “huh” quickly gathered steam, and suddenly the start date for this informal affair was bumped up to July 4th.
I was just coming off Bandai’s A-Wing and a rather epic bench cleaning and reorganization, and uncommitted to any particular project.
So I decided “fuck it, I’m game”.
My kit of choice? Academy’s 1/48 F-4C Phantom II. With some goodies.
6 reasons 1/16 scale is just the worst
For years, I've lamented that we're pretty much stuck with 1/35 scale when it comes to armor. No, not because of cross-display issues with 1/32 or anything like that. Rather,…