From a friends estate that was missing instructions and decals so I painted the markings (Chose an easy squadron to do!). The kit still builds up well and has very few fit issues. Biggest one for me was the canopy that did not fit without a bit of elbow grease. May not be accurate but I'm happy with it.

On this episode the boys gather for the GunplaPaul's very first turn in hosting the podcast!

With GBWC on a well needed hiatus we talk on what they can do to truly improve the format of the world wide competition? How would we run something of this scale and magnitude? Lets dig in!

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Hosts:

• Julio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Clippinubs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Brian: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Bro_Builder⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Pabz: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Chris_Pabz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Kyle: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Clueless_Gunpla_Builder⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Z:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @The_Old_Ronin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Paul: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@GunplaPaul⁠⁠

Roden has two new interesting kits for sale next month – a big German prime mover from WWII & a provider on skis! See more about them and the kits in our preview...Read on... »

In the early 1970's, two submarines were modified to carry out covert missions to recover discarded Soviet missile pieces and to tap underwater cables in the Sea of Okhotsk. One of the submarines, Halibut, had a large hanger previously employed for Regulus Missiles. It was outfitted to tow and service a camera and sonar tow body, timed The Fish. It also received a saturation diving chamber on its stern to allow saturation divers to install cable taps and recover items at depths of 400-600 feet. A second submarine conversion was perfumed on USS Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine constructed by the United States.. Originally equipped with a liquid sodium cooled reactor (which had some unique problems), it was conveyed in the late 1950's to a pressurized water reactor. In the early 1970's, it became the second Special Operations submarine. In this case, the hull was cut forward of the sail, and a 52 foot hull "plug" installed. This section had both an internal saturation diving chamber as well as a compartment to service and launch towed body "Fish". The submarine also received fore and aft thrusters (installed between the upper deck plates and the pressure hull) and later a set of skids to enable it to sit on the ocean floor during cable tap operations. A prior incident in which the submarine had just "bottomed", ended up settling into the ocean floor, with sand and bottom creatures entering the reactor condenser seawater cooling openings. Hence the installation of the skids. Seawolf operated in this guise to 1986, sharing Projects duties with Halibut and later when Halibut was retired in 1976, with Parche, which received Halibut's saturation chamber. The 1/350 scale model is an Iron Shipwrights resin hull and 3-D parts kit which depicts Seawolf in her later configuration.

Learned that Model Motorcars Ltd was placed into voluntary dissolution on March 18th. The company traded for more than 25 years supplying CD instructional roms and books and a large range of after market items for builders of the 1/8th scale Pocher brand, both older Rivarossi and newer Hornby kits.I Marvin Meit the principal owner passed away in December 2025, probably triggering the eventual closure by any partnered left in the business.

New from AK Interactive, a book filled with great card cutouts – making boxes, signs, maps, money, newspapers & lots of other useful items. See the contents in our preview...Read on... »

The title says it all. This book is a comprehensive look at air campaign over Guadalcanal from November to December 1942. The text is organized into eleven chapters, conclusion three appendices, sources/acknowledgements and an index of names, ships, and military units.

MiniArt continues to expand on their 1/48th-scale accessories with this, their new set of British bombs from WWII-era. See what's inside in our preview...Read on... »

For a hobbyist like me, there’s nothing more exciting than opening the box from a new manufacturer. The anticipation of learning what they did differently, how the plastic cuts, what level of detail did they achieve and myriad others questions we all banter back and forth are answered when you open the box. The new Beacon Hobby multimedia ship kit of the Jack H. Lucas and their associated upgrade kit is the subject of these very questions. This appears to be Beacon Hobby’s first ship kit as far as I could see. They came out swinging with this release by not only launching the Arleigh Burke flight III ship, but an upgrade kit designed and produced by the manufacturer. This was really exciting for me because I expected everything to fit and be designed to mate up exactly. I can tell you that they did not disappoint me!

This is volume 2 of this series, Vol. 1 of which focused on the process of how the current Royal Army has evolved since WW II. The subject of this volume is the current and possible future structure and equipment of this army.

Episode 235 and the boys are joined by the Plastic Model Mojo crew for a daydream chat about what we would do if we won the lottery.

We also have the usual mailbag and of course the exciting Patreon wheel of fortune!

Don't forget to support the sponsor of our show Scott from the Scale Modellers Supply

https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/

Leave us a message, comment or even ask a question, we would love to hear from you! Write to Onthebench64@gmail.com.

If you would like to support our show please go to www.patreon.com/onthebench

The M1074 HEMTT PLS W/M1076 Trailer in 1/35th scale from I Love Kit is coming. Art, info & a built-up test kit to show you in our preview...Read on... »

Greetings my fellow ModelGeeks, and welcome to the MGPC Episode 121!  Nemo is your HAC for this episode, with a full house!  We chat about the latest and greatest in everyone's model world and get caught up with what's happening in the hobby.  

The mail bag was overflowing with over 20 emails, which is amazing!  We really appreciate the emails and love hearing from you all.  Also, thanks again for the listener gallery submissions.  Please keep the emails and gallery pics coming and we can't wait to see your work, discuss them on the podcast, and present them on our website.

For the main topic, we discuss the basics of mixing, applying, and removing washes.  We have to thank Nemo for the topic, since he goofed up using the Red Cap Ronsonol which stripped the Gunze Aqueous and Tamiya acrylic paint.  Rudy and LionHeart to the rescue!!  We discuss different types of washes, including our preferred methods of mixing, applying, and removing them.  It's a great topic so we hope you all give it a listen.

Please feel free to interact with us through social media, Facebook, Instagram, and email:  contact@modelgeekspodcast.com

Be sure to check out our website: www.modelgeekspodcast.com.

Make sure you check out our new group / community on Facebook, The ModelGeeks Model Shack

We also want to thank each of our sponsors for their support. We are very lucky to have their support. When you have the time, pay a visit to their web sites, and have a look at their fine products.

• Detail and Scale
• Furball Aero-Design
• Tamiya USA
• Bases by Bill
• LionHeart Hobby
• Hypersonic Models
• Matters of Scale
• Kotare Models
• Squadron

 
Also, if you're interested in the model shows, click the link below!
IPMS USA Events Page

We are very fortunate to be able to join the scale modeling podcast community and are in the company of several other really GREAT podcasts. Hopefully, someday we’ll earn our wings and be able to keep up with those guys!  Please check them all out at Scale Model Podcasts.

Blogs:
The Kit Box
Sprue Pie with Frets
Model Airplane Maker 

Well, that's it for this episode.  Thanks again for all your support and we hope to see you all this year.  Just remember, be excellent to each other, and get out there and build something!  Take care everyone, out from the Geeks!

Support the show

Model Geeks Podcast

It's that time again when Clayton Ockerby from Workbench Hobbies treats us to his top ten of upcoming releases that caught his eye this past month in his video preview...Read on... »

Staring at a perfectly organized workbench and still not touching plastic is a special kind of frustration. A listener writes to us after a 30 year break from scale modeling, and the problem is not motivation, it is overload: canopy masks, weathering trends, endless paint lines, 3D printing, and YouTube builds that look like museum pieces. We get it, and we map out how to start again without letting modern “best practices” crush the fun.

We dig into what has actually changed for the better in plastic model building, including why newer-tool model kits from the last 10 to 12 years can make your first comeback builds smoother and more rewarding. We talk practical choices like building out of the box first, using canopy masks to remove a major aircraft pain point, and picking an airbrush and paint system that fits your space and your health. We also hit real-world problems like CA glue fumes and sensitivities, plus how better ventilation and smarter workflow can help.

Then we tackle the mindset traps: clean models can still win, heavy weathering is not a rule, and comparing your early builds to top YouTubers is a fast path to burnout. We share simple accountability ideas like time tracking, writing down paint mixes, and keeping a project notebook in the box so nothing disappears onto the shelf of doom.

If you enjoyed this, subscribe, share the show with a modeling friend, and leave a top rating and review so more builders can find Plastic Model Mojo.

Here is Kentucky Dave's link mention for some great aircraft related items:

Scale Planes by Kevin Dittmann

Here are some links to projects utilizing image-2-STL AL processes to generate scale figures.

At LargeScalePlanes:

Me262A-2a/U2 - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

1/32 P.1101 at Oberammergau - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

1/32 Ju-87D Stuka - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

At LargeScaleModeller

Model Paint Solutions
Your source for Harder & Steenbeck Airbrushes, Mixing supplies, and great advice!

SQUADRON
Adding to the stash since 1968

Model Podcasts
Please check out the other pods in the modelsphere!

KitMasx
Custom Canopy Masks for the Scale Modeler

Bases By Bill
Your source for custom display bases, laser engraved airfield and carrier decks.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.  

This is a simple metal upgrade for Hasegawa’s early 1980’s/90’s release 1/32 radial-engine FW-190 kits, and their “Dora FW-190 kit." Out of the box, it’s a great and easy kit for almost anyone to make a decent Wulf… but this SAC gear adds the additional “peace of mind” when dealing with the long legs and (as on many plastic kits) “always waiting to be broken off” tail gear.

It’s an easy one-for-one replacement to install this gear, and the cool part is it can all be installed at the end of the build if desired. I show the model with the gear in place before painting the project, as this gear lends itself to such shenanigans…. Just like an Armor kit!

This set replaces part of the landing gear in the Trumpeter A-4 Skyhawk kit #02266). The kit already includes metal main gear legs so the main advantage of this set is the nose gear. The Trumpeter nose gear is cast as a single strut, fork and wheel.

In 1/32 scale, this is not a good look, especially considering how prominent the Skyhawks nose gear is. This set separates the nose gear tire from the forks that hold it. You will still need to use the kit parts #F-1,5,51 to complete the nose gear.

The soft metal SAC uses tends to get bent in the package but is easily straightened out. The fork assembly is cast separate from the main gear leg and requires drilling out to fit. The one advantage I’ve always liked about SAC gear is the ability to polish the metal to represent the strut oleos.

I make no claims to being an airbrushing expert. I own three brushes (an Iwata, an HP, and an inexpensive “no-name” unit) and while on some days, the airbrushing gods smile down upon me, there are other times that despite my best efforts, I’d be better off using a toothbrush and poster paints. I had heard a lot about this brand and jumped at the chance to do the review.

My first impressions were highly favorable - a very nicely packaged product. Two things that jumped out at me were the exploded parts diagram on the bottom of the box (see below) and a nice bag of spare bushings and O-ring seals. I was a bit surprised to see how many discrete O-rings are used I the construction of the airbrush but time will tell if this means better performance, easier, or more complicated maintenance.

For my next project, I chose the 1/48 Tamiya kit of the Douglas F4D-1 Skyray, colloquially known as the 'Ford'. Like many, I was surprised (and elated!) when in 1998 Tamiya released a kit of this relatively obscure late-fifties Navy aircraft. But I've always loved the look of this jet, with its' sleek, futuristic lines. The Skyray, and its' contemporary, The Vought F7U Cutlass, were perhaps the most radical aircraft designs to enter full production. It's a shame that engine problems (with the Cutlass) and control/stability issues (with the Skyray) prevented these innovative designs from realizing their full potential. For a jet with a short service career, there are a number of excellent references. The ones I used were: Warpaint Series No. 117, Douglas F4D/F-6 Skyray & F5D Skylancer, By Tony Butler; Killer Rays - Story of the Douglas F4D Skyray and F5D Skylancer, by Mark Frankel; Naval Fighters Number 13 - Douglas F4D Skyray, by Steve Ginter; US Naval Air Superiority - Development of Shipborne Jet Fighters 1943-1962, by Tommy Thomason. I also purchased Modelers Airguide 20, Douglas F4D Skyray, by Any Evans, and I must say, for the price, it was a huge disappointment. It's beautifully printed, on high-quality paper, but with just 38 pages, and with only one or two photos on most pages, there isn't much bang for your buck. And none of the photos have captions. You'd think a publication geared specifically toward modelers would have photos or drawings of the cockpit and other details, and at least have captions for the photos, but nope. This was my first purchase of an Airmark/Modelers' Airguide publication, so I don't know if this is typical of their products. But for $30, I felt cheated after buying it. Construction began with the cockpit. I used the Cutting Edge resin F4D cockpit set, which is an improvement over the kit parts, especially the cockpit coaming and instrument panel. I assembled and painted both the kit cockpit and the resin set, just in case I had issues fitting the resin cockpit in the fuselage. Both cockpits were airbrushed Model Master Dark Gull Grey, with side consoles painted Tamiya Semi-Gloos Black, and details picked out with dry-brushing and colored pencils. The instrument panels were detailed with individual instrument decals by Airscale. To be clear, once painted, the kit cockpit, which comes with the original Douglas ejection seat, looks fine. But it's very simplified compared to the real thing, and is missing a lot of details, mainly in the instrument panel coaming. The kit coaming is featureless, with just a hole in the top for the gunsight reflector glass. The actual coaming is open on top, through which you can see the back of the instrument panel, and the top of the gunsight mechanism and reflector. The Cutting Edge set replicates this very nicely. Late in their service careers, many F4D's had the Douglas-designed ejection seat replaced by a Martin Baker Mk V seat. The jet I was building had this upgrade, so I substituted the factory seat with a proper Martin Baker Mk V seat I had in my spares box. It was airbrushed Tamiya Acrylic NATO Black, with cushions various shades of green and drab, and seatbelts painted light grey. The ejection seat pull handles were from a pre-painted set by Eduard. Before closing up the nose halves, I glued a lead fishing weight in the tip of the nose to keep the kit on its gear. The kit engine exhaust is simplified, and lacks an afterburner nozzle. I added a photo-etched flame holder from an Eduard detail set, and used a spare exhaust nozzle from a Revell F-18 Super Hornet to fashion an afterburner nozzle.The rear fuselage and exhaust shroud and nozzle were sprayed Tamiya Titanium Sliver. I then over-sprayed the nozzle and exhaust interior with Tamiya Metallic Grey. There is no intake ducting, so I just painted everything inside white and moved on. The landing gear was assembled as per instructions, and detailed with brake and hydraulic lines made of wire. They were sprayed Tamiya Acrylic White, and gloss-coated with Future. A wash of Tamiya black Panel Line Accent Color was applied, which really popped out the nice detail on the struts and wheel hubs. Like its' cousin, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, the Skyray was designed with leading edge slats, which deployed automatically based on dynamic air pressure. On all Skyhawks, the area under these slats was painted Insignia Red. But on the Skyray, photos indicate this wasn't usually the case. Very few squadrons had red under the slats. The few photos I could find of Fords in the markings I wanted to use seemed to indicate that the area under the slats was painted Gull Grey, instead of Red, so that how I painted mine. The drop tanks were painted white, with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black noses. This color is a good match with the black on the Cutting Edge decals I used. The kit also provides a NavPac, a pod containing VHF navigation and low-frequency marker-beacon gear. It was painted white, with a radome tan nose section. This pod was carried only when squadrons were land-based, and were usually not used when deployed aboard a carrier. Once the nose section was glued to the upper and lower fuselage halves, the topside was sprayed with some of the last of my dwindling supply of Model Master Acryl Flat Gull Grey, and the underside was left in Tamiya white Fine Surface Primer. The underside primer was polished with a cloth to give it a nice glossy sheen. There were a few seams that needed filling and sanding on the leading edges of the wings. The nose radome and fin tip was sprayed Tamiya Semi Gloss Black, and the anti-glare panel was masked off and sprayed Tamiya NATO Black. Skyrays had the leading edges of their wings and pylons finished in Corroguard, a metallic grey-ish protective coating, so these areas were masked off and sprayed Tamiya Titanium Silver. The vertical fin, however lacked this coating. Once painting was complete, the landing gear, tanks, pylons, Sidewinders and NavPac were attached. The distinctive yellow and black 'barber-pole' markings on the drop tank refueling probe were made by first spraying the probe Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black, then wrapping a thin strip of masking tape around the probe, followed by spraying it Tamiya Flat Yellow. The kit provides three markings schemes: two Marine Fords, from VMF (AW) 114 and 115, and a Navy jet with the very elaborate markings of VF(AW)-3, the Blue Nemesis. Instead, I went the aftermarket route and chose a jet in the eye-catching scheme of VF-162, The Hunters, Bureau Number 134757. My references had several photos of this jet during various periods of its attachment to VF-162. The decals came from several sources: most of the markings, including the black with yellow stars decals on the elevons and rudder, came from Cutting Edge Decals sheet #48089, F4D Skyray Pt 1. The national insignias, intake warnings, and stencils came from SuperScale sheet #48336. I used very few of the stencils, because all the photos in my references showed little to no stenciling. Since I included the NavPac on my model, I had to alter the decals slightly to reflect when the squadron was land-based at Cecil Field, Florida in 1960, before it deployed aboard USS Intrepid for three cruises. To do this, I had to change the nose number from 1xx-series to 2xx series, and change the air wing code letters from AF to AH. An AeroMaster letters and numbers sheet provided the necessary markings to make the changes. Like all my model aircraft, I like to display them with an open canopy, to show off the detail. The kit is designed to be built with a closed canopy, but fortunately, it's an easy job to pose it open. The Cutting Edge cockpit set comes with the hydraulic cylinder used to open and close the canopy, so the only real difficulty is in placing it properly. If the Cutting edge instructions are correct, this cylinder is slightly right of centerline, but I could find no photos to conform this. I also added the vertical metal bars seen inside each side panel of the canopy, and a compass at the upper right edge of the canopy. This was made of scrap plastic, with a decal instrument placed on the front. Two rearview mirrors were also added to each side of the canopy bow. The boarding ladder came from one of the 1/48 Hasegawa A-4 Skyhawk kits I have in my stash. It was modified to look more like those used on the Skyray by shortening it, adding wheels and other details to match pictures in my references. It was painted Tamiya Red, and dry-brushed with Tamiya Flat Aluminum paint, then weathered with Tamiya dark grey Panel Line Accent color. The ladder was then attached to the model with white glue. Tamiya's 1/48 F4D-1 Skyray is an outstanding kit despite its'age, with precise fit and sensible engineering. The only real drawback is a lack of intake ducting. With care, it builds easily into a beautiful replica of this radical, delta-winged Navy interceptor.

The next Gecko Models release is this 1/35th scale "British GS Truck 30CWT 4X2 Bedford OXD (metal cargo body)". See more about the kit in our preview...Read on... »