Anyone out there using Tam Spray Lacquer for the majority of painting their models? I've started experimenting with these paints decanted and mixing colors instead of using acrylics. so far, the advantages are no need for primer since the lacquers seem to adhere to the plastic quite well by itself. I don't have to build up as many coats because the coverage is very good. It seems to provide a very smooth surface. I don't have to cover it in Future so the decals go on well. Washes go on easily too. I can only assume the paint has self levelers already in it. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thanks, Fred Matas

Here it is. Its a little rough in spots, but I'd wager it's one of only a few models of this failed prototype around.

This next build is a commissioned build of the Moebuis 1/35 scale Jupiter 2 from the TV show “Lost in Space” The client supplied the kit and all the accessories he would like added to the kit. The TV show ran from 1965 to 1968 and was produced by Irwin Allen. The premise of the show was the Robinson family set out look for other planets for space colonization. The ship was knocked off course and they were lost in space. There is a stack of accessory items that were supplied by the client. The first add-on id the Moebius Light Kit, this is a kit sold by the kit maker Moebius to illuminate the interior and provide the engine and external lights. The second add-on I will be using is the Starling sound board, this provides the sounds of the ships engine spinning up and running for about 20 seconds. A remote control system to operate the lights and sounds via a 4-button remote control is supplied by Tenacontrols. The next two add-ons are a full set of decals from TSDS and Green Strawberry’s 1/35 resin figures of the Robinson family. These figures will be placed in the cryo tubes that suspended the crew for the long journey into space. I will also be adding some other details to improve the appearance of the final kit. I started with the cleanup of the resin figures. The figures needed to be removed from the casting base and then I needed to clean up the areas between the legs and between the arms and body. The lower part of the ship was the next area I worked on. First the light kit has you drill a hole in a side wall of the landing gear bays to place a large LED. The actual lights portrayed in the show are on the topside of these bays. There are three lights that they have you paint two of them and drill out the third. These drilled out holes according to the light kit are for the power connector, interior light switch, and engine light control. Since the switch functions will be done remotely and I will be relocating the power connector. With that in mind I drilled out all three lights in all the bays and inserted a clear dome. Instead of one large LED sticking out of the wall I will be using three small LED’s to replicate what was seen in the show. Next I started working on the landing gear and entry stairs. The first problem I encountered is the kit molding is not the best. The stairs thickness is not even. The second issue is the side rails have many mold marks and when dry fitted to the stairs the bottom platform has lots of gaps. I started off sanding the top of each stair to make them an even thickness and then filling the gaps and mold marks with putty. I also did a check on the light kit which was recommended with the instructions. All the lights work fine. I also tested the remote controller and the sound board. I need to plan out how to hook the lights, sound, and controller board together. Since the three separate card use different voltages I will need to design a power divider board to accommodate them. You can see more photos and details in my build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-35-jupiter-2-lost-in-space/

I have always wanted to do this vehicle but could never work up the courage to make a start. Then along comes the 1/72 Roden Rolls Royce a/c kit and I decided to take the plunge. I could only find a total of two photos of the vehicle and no drawings and both photos, while from opposite sides, were from the front, so it was not possible to see what was going on behind the cab or see any real detail in the engine area. I posted a question to the automotive forum here and asked what would be the automotive guys' best guess as to what all those lines were that ran to the back of the cab and what would be back there. They had some good guesses and it did help, but there's still some "imagineering" used in this model. I started with the kit chassis and hood, but reshaped the radiator to look more like the Sizaire vehicle. The back fenders had their bottom rear part cut off and reversed so that it flared back and not down. An engine was cobbled together from various spare parts and the hoses and lines are aluminum and copper wire as is the prop guard. The cab is scratch from sheet plastic and the radiator grill is from the spares box. I have no idea what the prop is from, it was just in my spares box of leftover/salvaged props, but it had the right clipped off tips look. The Roden kit has solid wheels but the Wind Wagon had spoked ones, so I hollowed out the kit wheels and inserted some WW I aircraft wire wheel hubs from Eduard. There's a long way to go yet, but I think this is a good beginning.

A couple of changes That I did not mention in the build section. 1. There is armor plating on one side of the cockpit exterior wall. The kit supplied Armor was way too thick. I chose a much thinner sheet of plastic to fix it. 2. There are two radiator Inlet assemblies (One under each wing, towards the wing root). I cut all of the louvers out, added half rounded plastic sheet on both sides, and post them in the open position. 3. There is a radio transmitting seeker right underneath the rear guns. The one that was supplied with the kit looked pretty bad. I scratched built one out of plastic tube, and extra photo etch that I had. I used reference photos from the books my friend had loaned me on this build. 4. The drop tanks. I added brass tubing to the front of each tank going off of reference photos. 5. On each landing gear, there is a section that looks like an accordion. I used bare metal foil to replicate the canvas that is actually used on the real aircraft. 6. The huge air scoop under the front of the engine. Are used photo etch screen to more accurately represent the one on the actual aircraft. I also added louver adjustment arms on the right side. I don’t do many German aircraft. If anyone sees anything out of place, I welcome your comments. Chris

Here is a recently completed 75mm Georgi Stamov sculpt of Nanny Ogg, a character form the Discworld series of books. The figure comes with her cat, wine bottles, packs, banjo and broom, but no base. I used a Bayardi tree to anchor a brass rod support for the packs and thought the connection of the front of the broom might need additional support so I added an ancient Tamiya plastic sign and post roughed up to simulate wood grain. The smaller trees are Joe Fixx products. I added a Shapeways digitally printed barn owl. I used Photoshop’s “replace sky” function to include a shot of last September’s harvest moon for interest. The kit was painted primarily in acrylics.

My buddy and I made a swap of kits that we had purchased at the Cincinnati Model Show. I have always wanted a Stuka. It is my favorite German aircraft. The kit has some nice details. The cockpit instrument panel is sparse. It comes with kit supplied-decals for gauges. You can spruced up the cockpit and instrument panel with aftermarket photo etch I found on E-bay (Eduard 1/24th scale BF-109 cockpit gauges/placard‘s) I also purchased two sets of Eduard BF-109 seatbelts for both the front and back seat. Lastly, I was able to secure three figures from legend models. Two pilots and one mechanic. Construction is pretty straightforward. All of the parts go together really well. The canopy parts are crystal clear, and very thin. Probably the best I’ve ever seen in a Trumpeter kit. The decal are not good. I had to get an aftermarket sheet on eBay from Germany. They were pretty thick. I ended up have a friend make me some new ones. Prior to starting this one, I did some research online. I found out that the rear fuselage is 3 cm to long. Two modelers built this exact same kit. One was built without removing the 3 cm section. One was built with the section removed. Both were great builds, with amazing paint jobs along with some awesome canopy work. The longer fuselage was definitely noticeable. The best way that I decided to approach this is to use plastic strip that was staggered on the rear end of the fuselage. I added plastic sheet at the front of the cut, to reduce the step down, and added putty to the rear of the sheeting that I had added. Be prepared to do a lot of sanding. If you’re willing to tackle this issue, it will definitely be worth it in the end. This is the only hard thing about this build. Everything else just pretty much falls into place.

Here are a few pictures of my recently completed USS Choctaw from Flagship Models. I've been wanting a kit of this subject for quite a few years. I'm afraid I made a nuisance of myself asking Rusty and Flagship Models about doing one, repeatedly over a number of years!! It was a happy day when Rusty sent me an e mail saying it was finally ready!! I think this is the first one he sold!! I regularly posted in progress pics on the Blue and Gray Scale Modelers SIG Facebook page, and I know Rusty was following along with the build because of some of the e mails he sent commenting on various parts of the build. I offer mine and the condolences of the entire Blue and Gray Scale Modelers family to Rusty's family. It was a great kit to build and I added some extra detail here and there to enhance things a bit. The build took about 18 months to complete. I'm happy with the results, and the completed model looks great on the shelf with the other Civil War subjects I've done. To check out the in progress pics, or to check out our what's happening at a happening SIG home stop by and check us out!! We'd love to have you stop by and say hello!! Blue and Gray Scale Modelers, an IPMS/USA Special Interest Group (SIG) | Facebook

Just finished the Dragon Panzer IV A for the invasion of Poland. Used Fruilmodel 36 cm tracks which I’ve had since 2003. I actually started the kit in 2013. Time to finish it. The model is classic DML and not perfect by any means. The figure in the cupola is from a DML set and the standing guy is from Alpine. Paint scheme is the brown on grey. Tamiya paints with lacquer thinner were used. Dak

An interesting build... not one of my best but, still a fun build. Interesting subject.

90mm resin kit from "Government Issue" circa 2004, bought at a Noreastcon back then and started early this month.

Thanks to a busy Hobby Day weekend, I was able to finalize the construction and finish on the Trumpeter 1/700 scale USS Sacramento AOE-1. This isn't as well done as I'd hoped to make it, it just kept fighting me. I was constantly breaking off parts along the hull! I'm happy with the model as it is now. It sits well on my shelf of completed models: This model even came with a 1/700 scale forklift along with the two helicopters: That's all for now. I hope to get a few more ships launched this month, but it might not happen until another month or two. Thank you for looking in, comments are welcome.

Thanks to a busy Hobby Day weekend, I was able to bring this over the finish line. This is the 1/72 scale Roden kit. It is a tribute to Reed West, one of my friends and fellow modelers who passed away last year. This was one model he had started but never finished. This is the second FWD 3-ton carrier I've built, so this one is a convertible: It isn't as great as it would have been if he'd finished it but I'm thrilled to have brought one of his projects over the finish line and to life. It is a worthy addition to my collection. Thank you for looking in, comments are welcome.

Hi here is one one of my completed builds I did late last year. The base model is the MG RX 78-2 Gundam in the rollout color scheme. I have info relating to my build process linked here. There is a lot of info so linking it to my Instagram is much easier. Hope you enjoy the build https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck82CI8vJst/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yesterday I went with a friend out to Luke AFB and during our visit, took him by the Air Park display of aircraft types that have been flown at the base. They could use a few more types from the early years at Luke, but it is still a very nice collection.

After 7 years of politicking, proding and cajoling, the auto categories have true definitions for each category. You have no idea about how happy this makes me! IPMS owes the group that wrote them seven years ago, a big thank you!

This is my first completion of the year. I started it on December 28 so you can see it is a quick build. I was very impressed with the fit of the model and the only problem was getting the windscreen in place. paints used were mostly Tamiya with lacquer thinner. The decals went on ok but did need a setting solution. After dull coating, I found a few tiny silvering spots and fixed them with a drop of MEK. The figure is from Aero Bonus and was made to look a bit like Adolf Galland. The markings are for his aircraft in 1939 during the invasion of Poland. The scheme is the prewar RLM 61/62/63/65 splinter pattern. I recommend the kit. Dak

Wasn't sure where to put this query, but I think General Modelling is about as wrong as anywhere else..... Friend of mine in Britain recently started an Airfix 1/72 Puma helicopter kit. Inside was a cash receipt for a store named GJ's Hobbies & Crafts from 1982. There's a tax line on the receipt which precludes it being from the UK and our guess is that it's from the US. Searching the internet turns up a GJ's Hobbies in Endicott New York, which has since closed down. Is this the same store and does anyone have any thoughts or memories of a GJ's Hobbies & Crafts in the '80's?

Here's the complete collection of the Palmer Plastics/LifeLike/Encore artillery models. I'm sure the scales vary from gun to gun, but I think they are around 1/12. Kits are ancient, like 1959, primitive, rough, etc. I did them mostly OOTB but filled in open spaces, sanded off bulky detail, etc. etc. Interesting voyage into modeling history and something a bit different. From left to right they are a naval 24 pdr, revolutionary war cannon, civil war cannon, Gatling gun and WW I 77mm. The 24pdr is red because the Brits painted all their below deck guns red to hide possible blood, the revolutionary war gun is light blue because Washington decreed that all US artillery be painted that shade to honor their ally France, the civil war gun is bright green because there was no standard color and I had some on the shelf, the Gatling is white to simulate one I saw in a turn of the 19/20 century photo of a US battleship's deck that had one stowed on board probably for landing parties, and the 77mm WW I gun is in camo typical for that era.

Started this project in October of '21. Just started working on it again. These pics reflect the work so far since resuming.