Sam the Snowman

This time I just finished up Sam the Snowman from 1964's stop motion animation Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Sam was voiced and closely resembled by the Folk singer, Burl Ives. 

Sam was in my "To Do" pile for so long I no longer remember where I picked him up. An inscription of "Raven" is carved into the back of the sculpt. 

He was done with Vallejo and Army Painter paints. The toughest part of the research for him was what color was the back of his vest. I knew that most times the back of the vest was a different color than the front, so I knew I shouldn't paint it green. Finally I found a shot of the "puppet" from a 3/4 angle which showed a hint of a teal colored back.

All I have left to do is get him on a base. Thanks for looking. 

Moon Devil's Claude Kringle

I just finished up this little beauty. Moon Devil Studios just quietly released "Claude Kringle," the Werewolf Santa.  
Made to be an ornament and cast in a Christmas-sy minty green resin, it's very well done. I found one bubble in one of the upper fangs was was absolutely no problem to fill. Then it was on to painting. I hope you like - - 

Creating a Few Leaves

I was wandering around for some leaves for a diorama and saw a snow flake hole punch in Michaels Crafts. 
noticed that if I cut the "wings" from the center point of the snow flake it looks like an oak leaf. If I cut that in 1/2 it looks like a trident maple leaf. I got home and took some real leaves from the lawn and cut myself some snowflakes. Then I tried it with my kid's construction paper. While the real leaves look best the paper ones aren't that bad especially when they are dusted with a little weather powders. 
I think the 5/8 snowflakes are a little too small for 1:6 scale figures. But they should work for smaller scales.
Obviously if you want a ton of leaves you'd prolly go mad first. But for a few,  I think it fits the bill.  HTH.

Moondevil Studio's Yeti

Just a quick update. Been working on Yeti's face a bit. I did the inside of the mouth and glossed it all. I also got carried away and did the rest of the face. I then glossed the eyes (not sure it I like em) and  epoxied the face to the body.  Here he is so far - - 

Next, I'll be using the Aves and getting rid of the seam between the face and back of the head. 
More later. Thanks for looking. 

Hellboy Finished

Hey all, I had some time today so I finished up the Hellboy ornament. 

Basically from where I left off, I added VMC Beige to the the eyes and teeth and then lightened then with some VMC White. I did leave a little line of beige around the outsides of the eye, just for giggles.  Next I painted all his hair VMC Black and then added a little Prussian Blue for highlight. The image somehow makes the blue stand out a lot more than it is on the model.   Finally I coated the piece in VMC Carmine Red, making sure to leave what is supposed to be in shadow the VMC Cavalry Red color. On top of that I put glazes of Vermilion. Out of the bottle, it was a little too orange, so whats why I made it into a glaze. 

Afterward, I thought it looks too nice to drill a hole and set en eye screw in the back of his head. So I think I'll come up with some sort of base and keep him that way. 

Thanks for looking. 

The Hellboy Ornament

Back again, with Hellboy this time. This little sculpt was offered on The Clubhouse last year as an ornament. Being different, of course I had to jump on it right away. And then it sat... 
A few months ago I primed it, and it sat some more. High time to put some paint of it.  I started with a light coat of VMC Cavalry Red, and then when dry I put a coat of brighter Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Gory Red over it. This seemed to bright, co I gave it a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil. Here's where we are at - - 

More later.

Executioner Finished

He's finally all done. 
I could have probably tinkered with it til the end of time, but I had to just call it. 
Since the last time, the belt was finished in VMC Chocolate brown and the buckle in VMC Old Gold. The gold way *way* too bright so I hit the whole thing in a dark wash. While I had my metallics out I painted the little "jewelry" on his wrist in Bronze, again giving everything a dark wash. 
The axe part closest to the handle got a dark wash and then a little MIG Rust. 
Next I hit his cowl/hood with a flat topcoat, and attached the hands to the body with 5 min. epoxy.

Now I'm looking back at the Yeti, or then again I do have a Hellboy ornament from last year...

Executioner / Yeti Update

Well, a little one. The Executioner's face, cowl, hood and gauntlets have been base coated and washed. His face received the extra highlight.
The cowl/hood was based in Vallejo Model Color's (VMC) Flat Earth, and the gauntlets were based in VMC Chocolate Brown. There was two little "pouches" in the front and I painted them VMC Cavalry Brown, which is a reddish color for a little color variation.  Then the hood/cowl was washed in GW's Agrax Earthshade, and the gauntlets was washed in Nuln Oil. Originally the face was based in VMC Buff. I was looking for a tan color but as I was putting on the Buff it had a green tinge. So I just quickly put on VMC Ivory while the Buff was still wet, then washed in Nuln Oil. When that was dry it was just a dark mess. I dry brushed it again with the Ivory and to my eyes it looked better.

For the Yeti, all I got to do was work on the seams where his arms met the body. For this I used my indispensable Aves Apoxy Sculpt.  I really enjoy filling seams of organic creatures much more than say planes etc... ;)

Came out like this - -

Next I'll need to prime and paint the Yeti's mouth b/c the lower part of the mouth is attached to the body and the face is a separate piece. That will need to be painted before I attach the face to the body. If I attached the face to the body first, there's no way I'll be able to paint all the detail in the mouth. Then I'll need to blend the seams between the face and neck.

Oh well, that's for another day. 

Working with Some of my Resintopia Finds

With the unboxed Shiflett Executioner on my desk staring at me, as well as the boxes with the two Moon Devil Studio cryptids not far away. I decided to dive into them. 
The Executioner you already saw in primer. I did the skin in the fashion of most miniatures. Colors were from Games Workshop - Bugman's Glow, with Cadian Flestone, and Kislev Flesh for the highlights. I followed it with Reikland Fleshtone for a wash. Apologies for the stark lighting ...

His arms aren't attached yet. Wanted to make sure the skin came out ok.

The hood and cowl next - -

Next I unboxed the Abominable snowman, and gave the resin a wash. The Snowman I gave a first coat of primer, and then realized that I got carried away and should have assembled him first. DOH! Too anxious!  So then next I drilled some holes for the 2 part epoxy. I saw another modeler's post that instead of adding pins to tabs he would drill holes into the tab as well as the corresponding female part. His theory was if you put enough epoxy into the female part then the epoxy will be forced into the drilled holes creating a well attached figure. It worked for him so I thought I would try it too.  I did include a pin in one of the feet (that had no tab) for extra stability. 

While I was priming I also primed the large base. The base is supposed to represent some rocks and snow. So I primed the rocks gray, and the snow - white. I will enhance the rocks with paint and then flock the snow part. But that's later. 

Here he is having his arms epoxied on. 

Here's a close up of the primed face.

Here's the base from the back so you can see more detail. One foot will go on the taller rock, another on the smaller.
Note the footprint in the snow...

More later...

Resintopia Part 2

Continuing around the vendor room, I spotted a kit I knew. It was on the Moon Devil Studios table and it was the Jersey Devil kit I bought earlier this year. I have been a Cryptid fan since seeing that first Bigfoot video as a kid all those years ago. I guess it was just a natural progression from my love of dinosaurs. From there I just kept reading all the folklore. But anyway, at his table were all three from his series of "Crypto Legends." There was a aforementioned Jersey Devil, and then the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman. My wife often teases me about all the Bigfoot shows I watch on TV, so in choosing a kit, I was going to leave the Yeti for another time and pick up Nessie - 

The owner/sculptor of Moon Devil studio is John Dennet. John is a very nice guy and once he knew I too was a cryptid fan, we had a long conversation including some of the other upcoming kits in the series. Two of them are Mokele-Mbembe which is an apparent apatosaur type animal that has been seen by generations of people in the Congo River Basin. The other is one of my top 5 - Mothman. Mothman is a creature that has been seen by witnesses in the area of tragedies before they happen. John is a very interesting guy and I look fwd to getting all the kits in his series.  Afterward, I leave to find the family with Nessie securely tucked under my arm.
But on my way out I saw a table staffed by the Shiflett Brothers. They have been described as to being to fantasy sculpture as to what Frank Frazetta was to painting. So there was no way I could leave without getting something from them. I didn't think I could get away with yet another full size kit, so I saw a bust they had available - The Executioner. This is a twp part kit - the head/body/plinth and then the giant axe with the hands attached. Here's a shot of mine after I washed and primed the kit (I'll have to post on my way to prime another time) - 

The figure is a Conan type muscle man with an executioner hood and cowl. The different part is that the part of the face exposed under the hood is a skull! Should be interesting to paint up! 

I found the the family in the hallway, all nestled into one of the couches outside of the Vendor Room. I sit and show what I was able to get and the wife mentions "Oh I saw that table." and then with a sly smile says  "You didn't get the Bigfoot?"
Me: "No, because I didn't want to hear it all the way home."
Her: "Well, you can't leave without it."
Me: "How about you get it for me then?"
Her: "Let's go..."
So off we went back to the Moon Devil table and John and I talked some more while wifey was getting out her cash. The Snowman is in 5 parts - his body, 2 arms, face and base (this image is from John's table) - -

One interesting part about Moon Devil's kits is that John puts a little easter eggs in there relating to the monster. For Nessie there is an eel (which is what some people thing "the monster" really is, as well as a Celtic Cross lying in the slit. It had been said that some ancient priests had said prayers and tossed the crosses into the Loch to ward off the Monster. 

For The Snowman, who John says has always been seen with dark fur, and not light fur that has been made popular by newer TV shows, also has an easter egg. At the base of the rock by a foot, you'll find some Tibetan monk prayer beads. 

I'm going to have to open up my Jersey Devil to see whats hidden there! 

More later...

RESINTOPIA and some goodies

Resintopia was just a few weekends ago and what a show it was. It was quite a bit smaller than JerseyFest, and IMHO it wasn't really worth the $25/pp entry fee. I know they had "big" names in attendance, but...  
Anyway, I forgot to look at the talk/demo page of the website to see what was going on, so I missed out on that. The model contest was also lacking in entries. So, in the end it just ending up being a "kit buying" day for me. :-)

What I normally like to do is make a lap or two around the room to see what's what. With the room being pretty small, that didn't take long. Two kits caught my eye from Monz Designs. The first was an alien bust called Hammerhead. He was quite a unique design in probably 1/3 - 1/4 scale. The other was the Frog Warrior. 

The Hammered head was nicely done in one piece of white resin w/o and hints of flash or bubbles. The finished painted Frog image isn't mine, but garnered from the web. It as a kit were a bit different than Hammerhead. There was thin flash nearly everywhere, and the was a bubble on two of his toes - 

One cool aspect was that the base has been cast in a semi-clear glow in the dark resin. Having it under a light for a few minutes it glows VERY strongly. Cool! But then I noticed something wrong about the imprints of where the frog's feet go. Despite the frog having 4 toes on each foot, one imprint has 4 toes while the other has 3! I lined the frog's legs on the base and found out that one toe hangs off the edge. Why would you make a base where the is a little extra room in the front and back and then hang part of the foot off the edge? So I'm probably going to skip the glow in the dark base and create another that fits the figure correctly. 

Then I saw his mouth. There's a little part missing. Don't know what happened there. But having been in the hobby since the mid 90's, I remember many of the old kits back then needing a little TLC so I got pretty good at repairs. 

Upper image shows the missing part and then below with a little help of Aves Apoxie Sculpt, is repaired. A few slits with an xacto blade and I pressed some very coarse sandpaper into the drying epoxy putty and that mimicked the texture pretty well.

The rest of the tour and purchases later...

(Also I'll be back to work on the X-19 soon. )

Back Again and Moving Fwd.

     Hey gang (if there's anyone still there). I've been away because I finally got my hobby studio - not finished, but good enuff to work in. Then I had to gather up all my tools and kits, that eventually got spread around the house and set them up in the one spot. 
     Having just returned from the IPMS Nationals in Hampton, Va I got a renewed energy towards scale modelling. I only picked up 3 kits this time around. Military topics isn't really my thing ( and it's a huge part of the IPMS) and since sci-fi kits are few and far between, I look toward the X-planes. While yes the Luft '46 aircraft are military, if they have an odd enough configuration, I'll also get them. 
This time I got Anigrand's M2F2 Lifting body and Orbital sciences X-34 RLV  at the Rare Plane Detective table. Over at the MPM table I picked up Planet Models' Blohm and Voss P.170. Talking about an odd plane - this one is it. The links will show what I mean. I also picked up more tools. You can never have enough tools. 
When I got home, I found that the Bubble Ship from Oblivion was in the stack of mail. This kit is from Fantastic Plastic. At 1:48 scale it's not the typical scale I stick to, but chance of it being done in 1:72 are slim at best, and I really like the design. So this time I made an exception. ;)

     I got all my goodies home and went up to my studio. I had been working on the VZ, when I started working again on the room. So naturally that was the first thing back on my table. I have no idea what happened, but the two props for the plane are gone... gone, gone. No where to be found.  Not wanting to slow my newly refreshed enthusiasm and until the two props turn up, I looked at another Anigrand model I had in my stash - the Curtis Wright X-19. The X-19 was supposed to be the prototype for a vertical takeoff transport.
Testing was done in nearby Caldwell, NJ. The first flight of the X-19 took place in November 1963 (other sources give 26 June 1964). It was intended that the X-19 would be developed into a VTOL transport aircraft. However the first X-19 was destroyed in a crash on 25 August 1965, and the program was subsequently cancelled.
     From now on, instead of photographing every single step as before, which really slows me down, I'm choosing to build a number of sub-assemblies and then let you see.

Here, I added the weight to the nose so the plane wont be a tail sitter, and added the wing pylons. I put the fuselage halves together and assembled the props to the nacelles.  
     If you look at the pic closely you you can still see bubbles on the props. This must have been an old kit from an old mould. The parts are chock full of bubbles, slipped moulds and "gouges" that need to be fixed.  When I was taking bonsai lessons, my Sensei once said "Don't ruin a good tree trying to make it great." So I'm going my this logic for this plane. I'm not going to sand and fill every single bubble - I've already been working on filling and sanding for hours and hours each session. Who knows how long I could keep going. So I will fill and sand the ones that really stick out, and then I'm calling it a day. 
     More soon. 

Doak VZ Session 6

After priming, I mentioned last time that a seam line stood out. Looking closer there were two small gouges on the bottom of the fuselage as well. 

The seam on top was was taken care of with one additional shot of primer and a little wet sanding. Here's a pic before the final priming.

The little gouges on the bottom (arrow indicated) took two additional primings and wet sanding before it came smooth.

This image shows the two areas that were giving me the trouble.

Now with all this done, I can really start moving. Next up is to mask off the part of the plane that's to be painted olive drab, and then the front of the plane which will get a red paint job.  More soon...

Doak VZ Session 5

I have a small update for tonight. It starts off with me re-masking the canopy so the back part and also the bottom rail  that's going to get the fuselage color is exposed. It went a lot easier than the previous masking job. It was also a lot less complex. ;) 
With the masking on I then attached the canopy in place over the cockpit. I touched the canopy in a few spots with liquid super glue just to get the thing in place then I was going to glue down the rest. But the fit wasn't the best. So I got out my LOCKTITE GEL super glue. This stuff is the best and you have to squeeze the side panels to get the glue out, so when you release the panels, the glue is sucked back into the tube and doesn't stay in the nozzle. With a tooth pick I filled in the open areas - 

In the image you will see a line of filler, that  line will come back to haunt me.  After hitting it with a light coat of Tamiya primer, that seam line shows up. :-/ Odd, since running my finger over the joint I felt nothing. But the primer doesn't lie. I'll give the primer a full day to dry and then I'll go back and make that seam disappear. I'll have a shot of the primer stage when It's all dry.

Finally to end this post, while I was in my LHS letting my son get a model or two (he's into WW2 armor now...) I saw a model that was one of the first models I ever built back in the mid- 60's. It's the US Moon Ship.  Back then IIRC Hawk was the manufacturer. This time it's Lindburgh. So another model get added to my To Do pile, and hopefully this time it'll look better than how a 7 year old did it. Haha :) - 

More later...

Doak VZ- Session 4a, and a little Warhammer

Okay, back to the build. Once the paint on the canopy was dry I removed all the masking and here it is - -

Not bad IMHO. I'm over in a few spots and there was a little bleed, which I gently scraped off. But all in all I'm happy. At the back of the canopy you'll see the Vallejo primer I brushed on. as long as the brush is dry and you don't keep going over and over the same spot, the primer dries smooth.
A few images shows the Doak with the back canopy part painted in, a few others show it clear. Being that on this model the back part slips into what's supposedly looks like a duct I've decided to paint that part.

While all this was going on my young son decided that he wanted to build something. when he was in his "robot phase" he received a GAMES WORKSHOP Dreadnought for Christmas.  Being that 1/72 is on the miniature size, I watch a number of miniature how-to videos on You Tube. As I said YT has an endless supply of terrific modeling videos. I've watched a number of Dreadnought paint-ups but was shocked at the amount of detail these sculptors put into these little kits. My son did all the building himself, and nearly all the painting. I just did enuff to show him how to use the CITADEL WASHES. These are a fantastic time saver and recommend everyone get a set of these washes. I also showed him how to drybrush. I think his results were excellent. what do you all think?

Finally I have another new tool to offer up. I recently bought a set of "sanding pencils" from my LHS. A set comes with coarse, medium and fine grits, and they make getting in to tight little corners a breeze. Highly recommended. 

Back to the Doak VZ shortly ...

Doak VZ Session 4

Been busier building the model (ok not that busy) than writing the posts so I'm playing a little bit of catch up.

First off let me start with the Vallejo Plastic Putty (VPP). It didn't work out for me. When I sanded, the putty just started coming off in little sheets and/or left little holes - 

OK, their paints are terrific, why is the putty such crap? Doing a little more investigation online I found reviews that ranged from "It works fine" to "Do yourself a favor and just throw it away." There had to be a work around for this. Finally I found a guy (sorry forgot his name) that did a review of a number of puttys  for the International Scale Modeler channel on You Tube (ISM).  Here he mentions that the putty has porcelain dust in it and since it's water based it cannot be sanded when dry. 
So what has to be done is put the putty where you need it, and with a *damp* Q-tip/or cotton bud remove the excess to make it smooth -- and then leave it! That's it, don't work it anymore.  I'll give the correct technique a try ASAP and let you know what happens.. 

Before I get too far afield let me say that the ISM Channel is excellent one to subscribe. Beside how-tos, they have reviews of kits and tools, and results of group builds from their website. each episode is very entertaining. So subscribe. ;)

Now back to the build, the next thing I did was prime and paint the landing gear, and also masked off the canopy. You Tube, IMHO, is the best "book" for how-to techniques, and I found a VIDEO from Genessis Models on how to do it. The reason I like it is that Bobby has nice close-ups and keeps the subject in camera. ;) The thing with this Channel is that it's the free side of a subscription website. So you only get an episode or two of a model build, and other little tidbits. You're expected to subscribe for the rest of the content. The guy IS good but IIRC it would come out to $60+ a year. Too expensive for me (especially if you hunt around on YT there are other model channels willing to give you how-to video for free. So anyway, he was masking a 1/48 jet. My plane is 1/72, so even tho I have the 6mm Tamiya tape I had to cut it in 3rds, only using the straight edge sides. He gets around the tight curves by making little cuts in the tape. I've illustrated the cuts on a larger piece of tape so you can see - - 

After I got masked, I had something that looked like this, including my little handle - -

Next I hand primed it with Vallejo gray primer. Yes, it can be brushed on provided that the brush is dry. Then I brushed on some Vallejo silver paint. I'll let you see in a minute...

Doak VZ Session 3

Back again for another session. Time and I haven't been the best of friends lately so I'm getting just a short while per session. Tonight I installed the seat, control stick and instrument panel. Doh, I never took a pic of this step. I did wash the cockpit in Citadel Green wash. The CITADEL WASHES are a very thin paint, almost like and ink, that fills areas an easily creates shadows and other areas you want darker than the base coat. Citadel has about 7 or 8 different washes in various colors from black thru yellow. I've seen a number of tutorials on YouTube and felt it was definitely worth the $5 per jar for the "set."
Next on the list was to install the canopy. THANKFULLY  it was made of clear resin vs. the vac formed canopy. I don't know what it is about those vac form canopies, but I always get the chills when I start cutting them into shape.The first thing I have to do is give the canopy a bath in Future Floor Polish. Well, at least it was called Future when I bought my two bottles. Now it's called Pledge Floor Care Finish in the US. It has other names in other countries.  Swanny has a a whole page on Future, and you can find it HERE.
So anyway I dipped the canopy, pulled it out and it smoothed any imperfections out with just two dips. Looks great - 

What I did then was I just touched the canopy to a paper towel to draw the extra liquid off, and placed it to dry. what I also got in a habit of doing was to place a cup over it to keep any dust from landing and sticking to it. After it's dry I can then mask off the windows with Tamiya tape and get ready to paint to canopy frames.
Lastly I made another purchase to try a product. This time it's Vallejo Plastic Putty.

I love the paint so I thought I'd try the putty. The tube simply says "Putty for models in lead, resin, Plaster of Paris etc. Non toxic, non flammable. Water cleanup." Not much as far as directions.
First thing you notice is that it goes on like a smooth cream. I tried first to spread the putty along a seam and then with an old, wet, paint brush. Immediately the putty almost dissolves away. The other thing was that it skins over and the outside starts drying equally as fast. So I re-wet the brush and went it and cleaned up the seam. I then reapplied the putty and this time just let it sit. with the thin needle-like applicator there is very little excess so I just left it and will go back for a look when it completely dries - 

Then I will either take a damp (this time) brush to it again, or just sand away. More soon.

Doak VZ session 2

Had a few minutes to work on the Doak again.  As I may have mentioned last time, in my zeal to get the fuselage closed, I forgot to drill out holes and install pins for the wings. So rather than to try and fabricate something (and take the chance of ruining it) I just butt jointed the wings to the fuselage with Lock-Tite Super Glue Gel. I really like this stuff b/c it really is gel not just a thick liquid. A few drops of the kicker and it's on there. I decided instead of fiddle-farting with the parts, I'm just putting it together. So next the horizontal stabilizer went on. I took care to make sure it was as straight as I could get it from the top and the front. It looks ok. The vertical stabilizer is just sitting in it's slot. It still has to be glued in place. Here we have it so far - 

Here it is so far with the wings and stabilizers installed.

More next time ...

Hirokazu Tokugawa's Paleo Sculpture: Sinomegaceros yabei （2014）

Another excellent sculpt by Tokugawa

Hirokazu Tokugawa's Paleo Sculpture: Sinomegaceros yabei （2014）: Sinomegaceros yabei length 35cm scale about 1/8 Sinomegaceros yabei was a kind of giant elk discovered in Japan. In Japan,there...

Doak VZ-4

It's a new year and I'm on to a new aircraft (hopefully one of many). Anigrand has always been a reputable Co., IMHO, so I thought I start out with something relatively easy. So I'm starting out with their Doak VZ-4.

The Doak Model 16 was the world's first aircraft to demonstrate the tilting duct VTOL concept. In 1956, the concept led to U.S. Army interesting, and bought a prototype, desiganted VZ-4DA. The configuration was the tilting duct blower where located at each wing tip, pointing vertical for take off & landing, and rotated to the horizontal for forward flight. Engine exhaust was deflected at the fuselage rear for pitch control. To limit the development costs, it used many old parts, such as the landing gear from the Cessna 182, seats from the F-51, duct actuators from T-33 electric flap motors, and the rudder mechanism from other Doak aircraft. The first flight was performed in 1958. After a year of tests, US Army accepted the VZ-4 and passed it to NASA for further tests. In 1961, Doak ended his business and sold all the patent rights and engineering files to Douglas Aircraft. Although Douglas had ideas to improve the VZ-4, but without proposed well to the Army. VZ-4 remained in NASA until 1972. Then it was transferred to the US Army Transportation Command Museum.

On to the model -> 

Parts for the Doak VZ - from Anigrand.

After opening the box and looking at the parts, the only think that seems to be missing is the control stick. No big deal as that can easily be made up form scratch. The cockpit only has the seat, the control stick and the instrument panel. After the parts were washed, I gave the parts a shot of primer. There was no paint call out for the interior of the plane, so I just gave it a coat of zinc chromate green. A typical interior color back then. After that I then joined thw two halves of the fuselage together. In retrospect I should have jioned the two small wings at this point so I could pin the wing to the fuselage half. I didn't do that. So now I will have to think of another way to attach the wings. 
But since I did attach the fuselage halves together there was a bit of a gap. Even with sanding the edges to get them flat, there were gaps.

As a bit of a sidebar since all my models are either in 1/144 or 1/72, I've been watching quite a few of the painting tutorials dealing with miniatures (since a pilot in a 1/72 craft is definitel miniature). :)  These painters are definitely top notch dealing with small details, light source, etc.  Also with all the robots they do it can transfer over to the instrumentation of the aircraft.

While looking at these miniature tutorials I kept seeing this product call Liquid Green Stuff. Green Stuff is like a two part epoxy type material. You mix even parts yellow and blue material, and when it's completely green (hence the name) it's ready to use. The Liquid Green stuff is already premixed to a tooth paste like consistency. My only problem with it is the manufacturer. It's made my Games Workshop (GW). They seem to keep a strangle hold on their products. You can only buy them from a GW store or the GW website. I ordered it from their website and also picked up a few washes as well. When it arrived it seemed too dry, according to tutorials. A few drops of water and some mixing got it to the toothpaste texture. I was warned in a video that it shrinks a little - and it did. So after two layers dried, it sanded super smooth. Now I'm ready to move to the next step.
More later.

Every Time

Every time I get a little gusto to get back to model building something comes along to deflate my enthusiasm. This time it was health matters. But with that hopefully behind me, I'm ready to start going again.
I put the Unicraft kit away. It's just going to take too much work, and with me doing zero to one kit a year- I want to get a few more kits under my belt before I tackle something that needs that much work.  Back in a minute with a new project.