CC's Edmontonia

This guy I've only had for a short while. It's Cretaceous Creations' Edmontonia in 1:18th scale.  The sculptor Shane Foulkes is a very talented guy. You can find him on his FACEBOOK PAGE, as well as his WEBSITE.
Here's a shot of the kit from his page --

This shows all the parts - not shown is a brand new base. 

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More of Muroc's AD-1

I've been tinkering with this one on and off for a few weeks now.  It's a fairly simple kit, and it all goes together nicely --

 until I come across my nemesis - the dreaded Vac form canopy!!

 This kit is no different. Measure and cut, measure and cut. Until I cut too much then it's filler time.  Well it's filler time. :-P 

The sucky part about that it that once you apply the filler which is the Tamiya putty this time, progress stops as you have to wait for the stuff to dry. So I ended up working on this model last night for a whole 10 minutes...

More later, 
Thanks for looking.

Composi-mold Try

So I found this stuff at the MicroMark site called Composi-mold. Since I saw it in their catalog, I've discovered they have their own Website. 

It comes in a tub of what looks like honey colored jello.  But once you've microwaved it for 30+ seconds it becomes a thick liquid and you can pour it over an object creating a mold.  

The beauty of this stuff is you can heat it to soften, make and use the mold. When you're done, cut the mold up with scissors, but it back in the tub - microwave it again and it melts back to it's original shape ready to be used again for the next mold. 
 



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Pics from The Columbus Nats 2015

Apologies for the delay. Since there was so man images, I decided to throw them all on Photobucket - 
Here's the pics from the R&D and Presdiential Hangar - 
http://s637.photobucket.com/user/kevtk135/slideshow/W-P%20USAF%20Museum%201

Here's the Aviation Hangars - 
http://s637.photobucket.com/user/kevtk135/slideshow/W-P%20USAF%20Museum%202

Pics from the Convention - 
http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/events/NATS2015/

Thanks for lookin'

Back From the Nats 2015

I'm back a few days now from Columbus, OH and the IPMS/USA Nationals 2015. It was a very nice time with terrific seminars, 2K+ models and it was a chance to meet up with old friends.  I'm a member of the Real Space Modelers Yahoo group. We use the Nats as a groups get together with either a lunch ordinance and a seminar. During the seminar a member or two of the group usually presents in what he has been working on. This year there was a short history of Vanguard from a member that scratch built a terrific Vanguard rocket. Another member also gave a double talk in the New Horizons he built as well as a new GK venture he's started.  His first kit will be a 1:24 scale Huygens probe to Titan.  He had a trial cast with him and it looks really great.  I can't wait for production to start. 

All the models were top notch. I really didn't envy the judge's job.  

Another feature for the Nats was a tour to Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.  This included the R&D and Presidential plane Hangars. It was amazing to see so much history in one room.  After we went to the Museum proper where they had 4 hangars with planes chronologically from the Wright flyer thru a mock middle silo and the aircraft after the Cold War. An amazing place. If you're anywhere near Columbus, OH, you have to stop by for at least a visit.  Oh yeah- get there early- there's a lot to see. 

Muroc AD-1

After finishing the New Horizons model, I was looking for something that I could get through quickly. 
Looking through my pile, I came across Muroc's AD-1 model. Muroc was a garage kit Co. that was based out of the gift shop of Edwards Air Force Base. They put out a number of kits before going into hiatus a year or so ago.
The AD-1 is a resin kit of an experimental variable wing aircraft . There were 79 flights between 1979 and 1982  which evaluated the basic pivot-wing concept and gathered information on handling qualities and aerodynamics at various speeds and degrees of pivot.

New Horizons in 1:5th scale

Been busy for a while. I was commissioned by a NJ Science Center to build a New Horizons (NH) probe. The only instructions I had was to make it as close to 24" as possible. Naturally I jumped at the project. 
The first thing I had to do was to get large sized plans of NH. I took the .pdf blue prints from the New Horizons site, printed them out and took them to my local Staples. what I got back fit the bill perfectly --

NH blueprint with an 18" ruler for scale.