This is the Hasagawa (HAI!) 1/48 Ki-44 Tojo kit. I built this just for my shelf mainly to get 1 model built before getting ready to go the Nats. This is a very nice kit with plenty of detail, so I built it OOTB except for some PE belts added to the kit seat. Since the finished cockpit could be added into the fuselage from the bottom and the fit was so good between the major components (the tail planes are just sitting in their slots here) I decided to take the unusual path of painting the wings and tail planes separately from the fuselage. I also decided to paint ALL of the markings, using no decals, cutting my own masks from tape using the decals as a guide. Painting things separately really simplified masking off around the tail plane roots as well as the leading edges of the wings. There's lots of little "buggers" here and there on this one, but they're due to my working fast and not showing as much care as needed if this was meant to be a contest model. Still, it's a very colorful scheme for my shelf and I've finally replaced the old Otaki Tojo that I built decades ago and had bit the dust some time ago. Comments, questions, and critiques welcome as always! Gil

Having a few collections to complete I decided that Childs from the 1982 movie The Thing was desk on the table. He is part of the Childs/McReady controversy in that who was the Thing at the end... The kit came in 7 parts - the bust, base, gloved hand, whiskey bottle, and 3 appendages. The likeness is spot on and the casting as usual with Gillman is nearly flawless. With this piece, the Yagher, the sculptor, gives away two of his ideas of how things ended. Number one the base is created to look like a generator, which answers McReady's question :How's the generator," and Garry answers "It's gone, MacReady!" As a sidebar Garry was his last name. On the character list he was M.T. Garry. The Yagher also gives his opinion of whether Childs or McReady, neither or both were infected. From the front Child's portrait is spot on. But from the back you see his head is split open and all sort's of gooey things are emerging. As usual I start with the portrait. I don't get to do dark skin all that much so I was glad I picked up a number of Army Painter skin double triads (6 colors that all blend) . I started withe the darkest one, and then I really didn't like many of the companion colors as they seemed too desaturated. I had seen another painter use oranges to highlight the skin, so I turned to my set of rust paints. A few different layers and I was liking what I had so far. Turning to the back of the head I added various reds and oranges to make the wound. My thoughts on wounds and blood is that a little goes a long way. I went too far, so I got some Agrax Earthshade to darken down the crevices and ended my session there. Coming back to it the next day to see disaster struck. I had angled the bust face down at an angle so the wash would dry in all the recesses. What it did was to rundown the head and then gravity would take it around to the bottom which from that angle was the face. I now had this dark stripe running across the face and down to the chin where it dried. I tried lightly getting it off. It didn't really work that well. So I got out the paints and had Take 2 of doing the portrait. After getting it fixed, I sprayed it with a matte clear to protect the new paint (which I didn't do the first time). Tragedy struck again as the matte clear coat instantly frosted. I had heard that if you quickly spray it with a gloss, the frost goes away. The frost did go away - mostly. Disgusted, I chose to walk away rather than whip it off the wall. With everything that happened I was so disgusted that I forgot to take WIP pics, so all I have left is the finale shots. Thanks for looking.

Hi ! Here another project I have built in the past , of course it's SCRATCH ..if you like to view more pics, Just follow this Google link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3nTShbbboiZmwKkC8 Enjoy ! Jmarc

This month I was able to finally get another Shelf Queen off the Shelf of Doom. Three years after it was started, the 1/600 scale Academy USS Enterprise was launched: Now she's off for her shakedown cruise. Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Like my good friend here Mark Duke Maddog, I am going to start an all subject build thread here to keep on rolling with whatever my ongoing project(s) will be. I’m gonna lead off with this one My latest resurrection project from the Shelf of Doom… I started this for a So.Cal AMPS Panzer IV GB about 10 years ago I was going to replace the kit tracks with some AM tracks and eventually settled on some Modelkasten indy links Since I wanted to do a DAK Panzer I decided to replace the crew figures with a set from Verlinden and the kit decals are replaced by a set from Bison I got most of the basic assembly finished, but then hit a snag when I tried to fit the AM tracks to the kit sprockets. The sprockets were too wide as engineered. So I put it onto the shelf of doom after getting this much completed So yesterday I decided to pull this one off the shelf and tackled the reason for the stop first. I cut the sprockets in half, sanded away some of the middle section until they would fit the MK tracks, then glued them back together. Then a test fit onto the lower hull This won’t be my main project, but I will be chipping away at it for the next while until it is finished.

I just finished the classic 1/32 Hasagawa Hellcat, first released back in the early '70s. I built it as an F6F-3 on the Princeton and "shot the works" detailing and correcting parts of it. BUT.... the main accomplishment was PAINTING the cat-mouth artwork on the cowling. The interior is a combination of Verlinden resin parts for the floor and side panels and HodgePodge PE parts for the main instrument panel (with film instruments), the seat, and side wall detailing. I also scratchbuilt the engine water injection storage tank behind the cockpit since it would be visable through the -3 side windows. The rudder pedals are HP PE parts (with Grumman on them!) but I had to scratchbuild their frames. The kit only had a hole for the tail wheel, so I scratchbuilt a well for it. The main gear bay detailing mysteriously stopped half-way back in the tire well, so the rear half of each of them needed to be detailed with strip plastic. The wells also needed to be closed off at the rear and their outlines around the tire wells corrected so that there was a curve along their inside edges along the top. You can also see the HP PE gear up-lock hooks added in each well. The kit's aileron hinges were solid blobs so they were cut off and replaced with HP PE actuators that have the proper see-through underside to them. The kit engine is almost a kit in itself and VERY complete for its age. All I did was add plug wire receptacles and ignition cables made from solder wire. The cat-mouth artwork is a combination of masking and painting for the eye and mouth outlines and teeth along with detailing for and around them added using black and red very fine point Sharpie pens. The hardest part wasn't the artwork itself as much as making sure the masking for both sides was even and symmetrical from all angles! The approach light in the leading edge of the wing was added using an MV lens with a clear cover made from packing tape. I scratchbuilt a Mk.VIII gun sight (8 parts!) and also added the bullet proof glass panel behind the windshield that the kit omitted. The dropped flaps and open cowl flaps are a kit option. The kit has indented scribing on the wings and forward fuselage, but I had to scribe in all of rest of the main fuselage and tail panel lines using a razor saw. I added position lights to the rear fuselage above the tail hook and on the fuselage spine. Also note the blue formation light that was drilled, painted, and given a UV cured resin lens top on the outer part of each top wing. The wingtip lights are drilled and painted clear plastic that was then sanded and polished to shape. I also used aftermarket brass .50 gun barrels, each one cut to its proper length. I added brake lines and gear actuator struts to each of the landing gear and also drilled out their scissors links. The tires are aftermarket resin. I also added MV lens IFF lights under the rear fuselage bottom and the -3 landing light under the left wing. All in all this was a fun build that only took me about 3 weeks. It was also nostalgic as I originally built it back in the late '70s. Now I have to figure out if I can get one more built before the Nats! Critiques, comments, and questions welcome as always! Gil

My latest project was a vinyl kit, the Pegasus Triceratops. Even though I've been building models since the mid 1950's (not a typo) this is my first vinyl kit. It was a very enjoyable build!

This is for the real old-timers. In an episode of the old “ Sky King” adventure series, the one entitled “Sky Robbers,” Penny flies a small, single engine, low wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. She wins the Lady’s Pylon Race in it. Can anyone identify what that aircraft is? Thanks. (I hope this is the correct place for this thread!) Nick Filippone

HI ! Here another project I have done in the past , if you like to view more pics , just follow this GOOGLE link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/oY8cW5E3w14HXcSQ6 Enjoy ! Jmarc

The Silicon Valley Scale Modelers had a contest called "Build Your Name." Unlike Frank Babbitt (who did a Ki-84) or Eugenie Ray (whose pre-marriage initials were E.T., hence her little spaceship), I had no obvious options. I built the plane flown by Robert C. Buchholz of the Fourth Fighter Group (you can read his full story here: https://obscureco.wordpress.com/2026/04/12/metronymic-mustang-building-lt-robert-buchholz-p-51d-10-from-the-eduard-172-kit/ ) who was not a close relation (although his name is spelled like my family's was before they immigrated from Hamburg in the 1880s). The Eduard kit is a step up in detail and accuracy from the Tamiya kit, but a step down in ease of construction. The surface is detail is... well, a bit overdone. Some areas of construction, like the instrument panel/rudder/windscreen, don't fit very well. The 108-gallon tanks in the kit don't fit particularly well; with Eduard's Brassin line, one could be cynical and say there was a reason for that. Different variants need you to scribe or fill lines; pay particular attention if you do a D-5 with a fillet. All that said, the cockpit looks great, they give you tank options we've never had before, and a bit of modeling is rewarded. I used True North paint for the red and white trim and Alclad II for the fuselage. The wings were puttied, sanded and painted with Floquil old silver.

Here it is finally finished, my build of the Academy M3A1 Stuart Light Tank, in the markings of the USMC 3rd Tank Battalion on Bougainville in late 1943. The kit comes with a fairly comprehensive interior, but I added some missing details in there, as well as some on the external extra fuel tanks and some reinforcement iron bars on the rear fenders that photos showed. I replaced the kit headlight brush guards with some 3D printed ones and an engine exhaust screen that I printed up from files that I bought off of Cults3D. Paints are primarily AK Real Colors, along with AK, Vallejo, and Humbrol acrylics. I used the kit decals, and surprisingly they did not cause any problems as Academy decals often are reputed to do. And just for some size comparisons, this thing is pretty small… Bigger than a jeep Much smaller than an Easy 8 Sherman and pretty close in size to WC-51 3/4 ton truck… Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome…

Hi ! Here a project I have done in the past using the MONOGRAM kit , if you like to view more pics, Just follow this link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/5ujTjFCJ6F9YiyTn6 Enjoy ! Jmarc

These four I just got done with two days ago; two helicopters and two gliders from WWII D-Day invasion. First is the USAAF Waco glider by Italeri: Next is the British Horsa Glider by Italeri: Next are the two helicopters, starting with this Italian Chinook by Revell: Finally the last one is the Israeli CH-53 by Italeri: And that's all for now. We;ll see what next month brings. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome!

Finally after a long hard fight I managed to complete this Vespid Models Buffalo A2 MPCV which stands for "Mine Protected Clearance Vehicle". It is not complete as at least a third of the parts for the robot arm are missing due to breakage and just general flipping into Oblivion. I got to built with the remaining parts and it is done! I made this one a Marine Corps Vehicle: Now I can breathe again and work on something a bit less annoying and frustrating! Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.

A nice little kit I built OOB.

Started this kit to do a fun build of something outside my normal builds. It was a quick build, pretty much built in under 2 hours. Unfortunately, I will be needing to do lots of putty and sanding but I am still happy with it and looking forward to seeing it finished.

HI ! Here another project I have completed in the past , if you like to vierw more pics, just follow this link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FwAUKo6UHKx1ixt86 Enjoy ! Jmarc

Anyone recognize the manufacturer of this Triceratops? It's not injection molded and the parts are not hollow....very solid.

This is the 1/48 Revell(ogram) F-89C Scorpion. It's a relatively simple and straight forward kit with very good detail inside and out giving you very good "bang for your buck". I opted to add a Black Box resin interior which only needs the addition of some plastic to act as floor supports and the removal of the molded-in interior side fuselage cockpit detailing in order to fit the resin side panels in place. The kit interior is actually quite good though the rein seats with their harnesses molded in are a real step up from the kit seats. The rest of the build is OOTB except for the addition of sheet plastic wing tank fins that were commonly added to the plane later in its life. This kit does come with raised panel line detailing so I did rescribe 90% of the lines on the kit using a razor saw. I used Tamiya TS-30 Silver leaf as the overall NMF sprayed over an undercoat of Gloss Black. I then masked some areas and used both Alclad and AK Metallics for the varying panels on the model as well as Steel, Titanium, and Jet exhaust for the exhaust area. These are the kit markings and they gave me fits, tending to curl up at the edges badly. No amount of solvent would make them lie down, not even my strongest stuff so I resorted to "painting/plastering" some of them in place with some Future, which sucked them down in place when dry. I actually had to paint the black background for the tip tank stars as the black decals just wouldn't lie down and the edges frayed while trying to press them in place repeatedly. I also had to replace the nose numbers with black dry transfer rub on decals and use stars/bars and USAF decals from the spares box.. Except for the decaling phase, this was an easy build that took just 9 days. Now on to the next! Gil

HI ! Here another project I have done in the past , of course it's scratch , You can view the WIP on this GOOGLE page : https://photos.app.goo.gl/1aQYVACsXQoBYDGB8 Enjoy ! Jmarc