In March and April of this year (2023), things got bad. Life felt unrelenting, work was stressing me out, and I could feel myself bogging down on the Wild Weasels. And the AK FJ43. Every time I’d fire up a build and intend to just kinda plow through it, I’d fall into some kind of…
Category: Mishaps
3D Printing and Finding the Range
I’ve tried recording a video on this three times now, and each time it’s devolved into a rambling mess (even more so than usual!). So instead, I’m going to give words a go. 3D printing has a relatively steep learning curve. There are a slew of arcane rituals you have to sort out. Rituals that…
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 MLA). And…fuck. The thing looks like it’s standing on its tip-toes. Since I’m currently about 1700 miles away from my bench, I’ve been thinking about…
Once More Unto the Breach
I think there must be some kind of modeling corollary to Murphy’s Law that says “over the course of a build, something will go wrong”. Looking back, I feel like there’s been something with every kit I’ve built. Sometimes it’s been butterfingers – the time I spilled CA on the AccuMini Dauntless or sloshed neat…
Decals are Magic!
I’ve been in a decal state of mind lately. In part because I’m neck deep in the decal stage on my F-104, and in part because of some, let’s say heated discussion about the quality or lack thereof of certain decals. Perhaps more than any other aspect of modeling, decals seem prone to disclaimers of…
Stalling Out
The Combat Workshop asks an interesting question for the first Sprue Cutters’ Union of 2016: At what point of the build do you tend to stall? Well, shit. That’s not really an easy question for me to answer, since it tends to bounce around depending on what I’m building. So…I can potentially stall out at…
Fight the Future
Yesterday, I was doing a bit of bench cleanup… And came across my big, unwieldy bottle of Future. What to do about it? Well… When I posted this over on the Facebook page, it elicited some cheers, some laughs, some “but…why?!?” comments. As well as questions over what I use instead. And that little blog…
Okay, “NOT” on the Bench…
The past week or so have brought some unexpected changes to the bench lineup. First, the Airfix Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3. Back in the stash. I can’t explain why, but my interest in building a 1/48 109 just completely dried up right before I was about to break into the kit. Better to set it aside…
Of Wingscale, Wing XL, H-K Models and Big-Ass B-25s
Last year at this time, one of the hottest stories in the modeling world was Wingscale and the imminent release of their massive 1/32 B-25J Mitchell (and announcement of a ridiculous 1/32 B-17 Flying Fortress). It seemed too good to be true, and then in March of last year, all of the sudden is was….
Cyber-Hobby Panzer III Ausf.L Build Report 3: Markings, Weathering, and Suck-It
I mentally divide armor builds into three phases. Phase 1: Construction Phase 2: Painting Phase 3: The Fun Stuff Now that the Panzer III has been through paint, it’s time for the fun stuff! Markings I chose very early on to do the eye-catching Panzer Gray and whitewash camoflage of Panzer Abteilung 502 (Pz.Abt.502) operating…