Airfix 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero

One of the things people who recently subscribe to my Youtube channel will quickly learn is my enthusiasm for the Zero fighter. Though I really do love building and exploring WWII Japanese aircraft I've really got a soft spot for this bird. A few years ago I was greatly inspired by 2 modelers on the web here, "MakingModelsAgain" took Airfix's old tooled nightmare of a Zero and  Turned it into an award winning masterpiece. It blew my mind to think of what he had started with and the finished result. The second was Rob at "basicmodeling" He built Hasegawa's Zero and with a little added parts turned it into a little gem of a fighter. After these videos I was set and ready to build a Zero for myself. Around this time Airfix was releasing a completely new tooled kit. And it was fantastic. I'm pretty sure I Bought the first kit that came into my hobby store, and I couldn't wait to star building. However I ran into a few problems, I tried to make a wash but I hadn't learned how to do it properly. I used Acrylic paints and made the wash from Acrylics, it ruined my previous paint scheme. So I scrapped the paint off a month later and finished it up as best I could. I've built several other Zero's since then another being the other New tooled Airfix Zero, in a starter kit with Pearl Harbour decals. But I was still bothered by the fact that I couldn't get the Zero to look right the first time. At the time I thought I was only building one Zero, I hadn't planned to build a whole wing of them so I ignored certain colors, and painted a curved line instead of a wavy line on the fuselage.

Last Summer (2013) I had a friend of mine buy me a Zero from Amazon.com, It was the old tooled Zero Starter kit, and I desperately wanted the Saburo Sakai decals. I couldn't get it to Canada since it was a U.S. only thing so he ordered it, drove down to his U.S. post box and brought the kit back. What I got was the same Zero :(

Still it's a terrific kit, and I was happy to get it, but not as happy as I would have been with those "Sakai" decals I would be saving for a future project. So instead I kept it on the shelf , and in recent readings and new techniques I wanted to built this kit, Straight out of the box and more or less inspired by the boxart weathering, But I had way too much fun building this kit again! It was a blast to go back and build it the way I wanted it the first time.  Here is Part 1 of the build:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYJxWAv4BTQ&list=UU2cpe3DtJgg98EsJkTe2rJA 

Monogram Battlestar Galactica

When I was a kid I learned a lot of my Sci-fi from my older brother. And one of his favorites was Battlestar Galactica (BSG). And though it's really not one of the best put together shows/movie it's still a really fun journey and story idea. Thought the newer show may be superior in many ways the original still holds up. It brought many new and fantastic looking spaceships, like the Colonial Viper one of my all time favorite looking ships.  AMT model had the market on the Star Wars kits, so Monogram jumped on with all new Battlestar Galactica kits. Though they only made 4 kits (Battlestar Galactica, Colonial Viper, Cylon Raider & Cylon Basestar) They are still sought after and in 2005 were re-released in new packaging under the Revell name. At this time I bought the Viper, and got an A+ for it in my art class.  I saw the Cylon Raider and Basestar, but never the Galactica. I found out only a few years ago that Revell did produce the kit but in very small numbers for some reason :/

A few months ago I found an ad online from a seller close to where I live, selling an old AMT Excelsior. I went to get it and he asked if  I might be interested in seeing.buying some of the other kits he had built, that he wanted to get rid of.  Upon seeing the box the first kit that jumped at me was the Galactica. He told me that he had only built and painted it.  There were a few decals left on, and it needed a good cleaning but it was in other words great condition. I thought I would make and excellent Birthday gift for my older Brother a few months down the road. The fellow even found it's old display stand and I was set.

All it needed was some of the red parts repainted, and a good grey wash to accent the details, and you're left with a really nice looking model. I coated the Galactica decals with a few layers of future, as well as the red circle on top. After they dried for over a week I used a toothbrush to scrub the top of the model that had collected dust and dirt over the years. Afterwards I layered the entire model in several coats of Future. And mixed a light Grey was, and a Black wash to make it look dirtier. After I cleaned that up, all that was left was painting on the Blue and Red engines and the Darker Red stripes that use to be decals.

It was much more work than I had originally prepared for, but the results are worth it. I gave it to my brother and he was thrilled. I have to admit I was a bit sad to see it go, but the expression on his face made me realize he'd treasure it more than I would.

Thankfully the BSG licence has been picked up by Moebius, and they are releasing some completely new tooled and extremely awesome kits. So I think I'll pick up their new Galactica in the future. Still If I ever find any of these BSG or Buck Rogers Monogram kits, I'll be picking them up right away.

Here's a link to the video I made, on using Enamel washes:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqU_G29GWi8&list=UU2cpe3DtJgg98EsJkTe2rJA

Zvezda Samurai Battles

Zvezda has been a company a lot of people are watching lately. Over the years they have been releasing some really fantastic kits.  Their new tooled 1:48th scale Me 109 F has been high on my to buy list and they continue to surprise us with many more excellent kits. Lately they have been getting into miniature war-gaming. They have several sets Including a 1600's era Galleon Ship Battle set, a modern Army fighting set, and a popular WWII Fighting set. I've bought quite a few of their WWII small scale aircraft kits and a few tanks but the set that's stood out to me the most is their "Samurai Battles" kits.

Let's face it Samurai are cool, Darth Vader wouldn't be so cool if it weren't for the Samurai. Steve Mcqueen wouldn't have been so awesome (ok yah he'd still be awesome) if it weren't for Seven Samurai. And these Zvezda kits are really cool. They usually range around $5 Cdn, and you get quite a bit for you buck.  My favorite part is that they are a nice stiff grey plastic, and not the rubbery red, blue, green, mess we're all too familiar with. They have quite a bit of detail to them and most have several parts to them. They are snap kits designed for those who don't want to glue them together, and would rather just play the game. The Banner flags which are atatched to the back of the figures are molded in Yellow and Red plastic, this is to differ the two opposing armies. Again meant for the convenience of those who just want to play and not paint the figures. The characters are mounted on small display stands that fit into a larger display base, and come with 2 different clan decals, which applied very nicely with a little solvent.

Over the course of this page I will continue to keep updating each army as they are painted. With the help of my brother we hope to have the whole catalogue of figures painted and added to this page. We recently found and purchased the Starter kit "Samurai Battles, and will be releasing an unboxing video of that soon, but for now enjoy these:

Mounted Samurai Archers:  

Polar Lights 1:1000 NX-01 Enterprise Refit

I really enjoy Polar Lights kits, and was very sad when I heard the news that they were out of business. Thankfully they were picked up (along with many other company's) by Round 2. Slowly Polar Lights kits are making there way back to the stores. I've built quite a few of their kits, 1:350 Enterprise NCC-1701 Enterprise Refit, 1:1000 TOS Enterprise, 1:1000 NX-01 Enterprise, the Flying ship from "Star Trek Nemisis" whose name eludes me now, and the half finished 1:350 NX-01 Enterprise.

One of there more recent entry's is the 1:1000 NX-01 Refit, a great new entry to the Star Trek line. This was only available for a while as a resin upgrade kit. It's uses most of the same Molding as their original NX-01 but has a few new upgrades. My favorite part is that it can be built as both the standard NX class or the Refit. And still includes parts to build the NX-02 Columbia.

I've documented my build on my Youtube page, I didn't get to post and nice stills of the completed model. As many Star Trek  modelers know, the Enterprise is a hard subject to photograph. Every angle is a new pose, so hope that I covered them all. For the video build simply search "rebelsatcloudnine" on Youtube.