As a modeler, I primarily stick to military vehicles, with the occasional detour into ridiculously OP city maintenance mechs. For 2020, I’m looking to branch way outside of my comfort zone and tackle something completely different. Figures. Why? In large part because my interest in history extends well beyond 20th and 21st century military vehicles….
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I’m Having…Fun?
Modeling is a hobby. And for me, it’s primarily a form of decompression. Years ago, I came across the idea of “western meditation”. Whereas eastern meditation is all about clearing the mind through intense focus on something internal, like breathing, western meditation uses intense focus on a task. When I’m “meditating” at the bench, focused…
The Vision Thing…
In my recent post digging into the various mental hangups and obstructions that have been screwing with my ability to get kits off the bench in a completed state, I touched on the idea of vision: Now, all of the issues listed above are very real issues. But are they causes, or just symptoms? Or…
Mind Games
I am a mess. It’s tempting to say that it’s just something that happens this time of year. Or to blame it on the heat (even though that’s abating now). But, I know better. The thing that’s fucking up my bench time, that has me turning in circles, second guessing myself, and generally not making…
Double Trouble
Recently, SMCGer Jon Bryon shared an interesting post about increasing his productivity at the bench. It’s a thought-provoking read, but one part in particular has stuck with me: Build in batches Now, that doesn’t mean just have multiple WIPs going on at once. I means building the same subject, and frequently the same kit, in…
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 little sidecar project – a 1/144 Bandai T-65 X-Wing. Why? A few reasons. First, the MiG-23 has been a slow, steady project, but one that’s…
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 wants a fresh start with the new house. If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet, you can guess where this went. Pearls…
The Perfect Black Backdrop
For the most part, I love the hell out of my photo table. Yes, it’s big and unwieldy and attracts bugs in the summer months, but the nice even lighting and the ability to use uplighting make it all worthwhile. It’s an excellent way to showcase my builds. But…I do miss the option to shoot…
There won’t be a second 1/32 Tamiya Mosquito
Back in April, I posted a lengthy analysis of Tamiya’s 1/32 release patterns (LINK). If you have’t read it yet, I highly recommend it to at least get a sense of what the precedents are. In that post, I put forward three predictions (among others): We would not see a new 1/32 Tamiya kit…
Bench Maneuvers
Benchtime is usually pretty sedentary, right? We sit. We maybe raise or lower our seat to get a better angle on certain tasks (I frequently lower my chair as far as it’ll go when I’m dealing with landing gear alignment fun-time). Well, last night, I found that wasn’t working. I’ve been taking my sweet time…