Big news for modelers who’ve been waiting on cross-border orders: Kit Mask is shipping to the United States again, and the process is finally simple, transparent, and predictable. We sit down with Kevin to unpack how tariffs forced a pause, why Canada Post’s suggested “solutions” came up short, and how Janelle engineered a multi-service workflow that calculates duties at checkout so there are no surprise bills after delivery.

We walk through the hard lessons of cross-border ecommerce: why unclear rules make risk management nearly impossible, how horror stories from carriers shaped the plan, and what it takes to test, refine, and relaunch without leaving customers guessing. Kevin shares early results from the reboot—clean deliveries, happy customers, and order volume ramping back to where it left off. We also talk openly about capacity, production catch-up, and the real people behind the scenes who keep a small brand moving.

Looking ahead, we’re gearing up for HeritageCon with full stock and on-the-ground support at the booth, plus a spotlight on One-Man Army products. As the exclusive Canadian dealer for new One-Man Army releases, Kit Mask will bring sought-after detail sets and precision tools directly to local builders. To celebrate the shipping comeback and ease the tariff sting, we’re rolling out a December-long sale with a clear promise: no panic, no rush, just fair prices and time to choose. Use the code MOJO30 for 30% off throughout December and get your bench ready for a strong finish to the year.

If you care about reliable shipping, transparent costs, and quality masking solutions that make paint work clean and fast, this conversation is for you.

Subscribe, share with a modeling friend, and leave a review to help more builders discover the show—and the savings.


KITMASX  - Use Discount Code MOJO30 for 30% off your order through the month of December

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

What’s Crack-a-Lack’n Modelgeeks! Welcome to Episode 114 of The Modelgeeks Podcast!
 
 In this episode, the Modelgeeks are joined by the one and only Jeremy Moore from Lehigh Valley Scale Modelers. The Geeks  take a lap in the pattern and say what is the latest and greatest in their model worlds. Jeremy introduces himself to the geeks and shares what he likes to build, his favorite subjects and gives a run down o how he does his amazing natural metal finishes. 

The Geeks run through the listener email and discuss their favorite listener gallery submissions. With this episode this will close out Season 5 of the MGPC and we can’t thank our listeners and sponsors enough, thank you guys! Be sure to keep the emails and gallery pics coming and we will keep updating the website during the break. Enjoy the holiday season with your friends and families and we look forward to seeing everyone next year! Out from the Geeks, Later! You can still 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

 

Jeremy Moore’s club page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=lehigh%20valley%20scale%20modelers

 

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.

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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.

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In this episode the boys are once again joined with Rob Riviezzo to talk about accessorising your armour model in a discussion that hits the mark now and again but certainly in a very entertaining way.

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

MiniArt combines the "early" 1/35th scale Raupenschlepper OST RSO/01 with the PAK.40 gun & crew in their latest all-in-one box. We look at the contents in our preview...Read on... »

The third issue of the new series by Plastic Invasion, "SCALE-IT!", featuring the best in reference, history, recreation & figure painting for the modeller & enthusiast. Volume #3 in our review today...Read on... »

What if the fastest way to level up your modeling wasn’t waiting to “get better,” but picking a fear and building straight through it? That’s the heart of this episode, where we sit down with Seattle modeler Tim Nelson to explore an intentional, cross-genre approach that turned anxiety into momentum. From smart starter ships and museum deadlines to vacform methods and CAD-assisted conversions, we share practical systems that help you finish more models and have more fun doing it.

We open with show travel, stash-thinning honesty, and some cottage-industry collabs that could turn obscure fasteners and conversions into real products. Then we dive into Tim’s roadmap for facing “big scary” subjects: choosing a stepping-stone container ship before tackling USS Tennessee, curating rotating Museum of Flight displays that reward clarity over micro-perfection, and using mentorship to demystify vacforms with repeatable techniques. You’ll hear how disasters are normal, how to hide mistakes well, and why museum quality and contest quality are different—in a good way.

There’s also a love letter to weird and wonderful subjects, like a 1/72 “Old Bill” London bus converted into a WWI pigeon loft, complete with delicate 3D-printed birds. Tim explains how small, story-rich builds strengthen composition, finishing, and research skills that transfer across aircraft, armor, ships, and figures. We round things out with a first foray into CAD and resin printing—a custom bullet nose for a Lockheed Vega—and big ambitions for RMS Olympic in dazzle camouflage. Along the way, we tackle club-building tips, listener mail from Bali to Terre Haute, and a few favorite new releases (plus a gentle rant on 3D-figure accuracy).

If you’re looking for a spark to get back to the bench—or permission to try something you’ve always wanted—this one’s for you. Hit play, subscribe, and share your next “fear target” with us. What bold build are you starting this week?

Northwest Scale Modelers
Museum of Flight
Tim's Old Bill Pigeon Loft

SQUADRON
Adding to the stash since 1968

Model Paint Solutions
Your source for Harder & Steenbeck Airbrushes and David Union Power Tools

Model Podcasts
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Bump Riffs Graciously Provided by Ed Baroth
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.

Am posting for a friend who has an Italeri MBZ and an Italeri Opel Blitz that he is willing to give free for the asking. If you are interested call Jim at 909-335-3172. this is a land line so no texting, please. Kits are open but appear to be complete. Charlie IPMS 39729

Being half English, I have an affinity for English aircraft. I have loved the Bristol Beaufort ever since reading Torpedo Bomber by Ralph Barker many decades ago.

The Beaufort was developed from the Blenheim bomber to meet a tendered specification for a land-based, twin-engine torpedo bomber. Later on the wings and tail of the Beaufort were used to develop the Beaufighter. Decent mileage, in my opinion.

The Beaufort saw stellar service operating from the Home Islands, the Mediterranean, the Pacific and the Far East.

Airframe Detail No.10 follows the standard format Valiant Wings uses for this series, starting with a brief history which covers the areas of operations, the different countries who flew it, survivors and serial numbers.

This is the first Detail & Scale book I have ever read, and after this wonderful experience, it will not be my last. In fact, I may have to start a reference collection. Even more impressive is that I don’t identify as primarily an aircraft modeler, but the photographs, captions and background information are so well done and presented, that I may have to start looking for models of aircraft highlighted in these fabulous books.

From the Detail & Scale website,

Trumpeter's two kits of December – the USS Stevens & a 35th scale “ELEFANT” (with trailer). We have colours, decals & a built-up kit in our preview...Read on... »

Chipping is storytelling at its core, which is why we start our modeling journey developing these skills to foster a broad range of looks … Michael Rinaldi

TG/01 Chipping is the first book in a new series of technical guides by Michael Rinaldi in partnership with AMMO by MiG. The book is packed with excellent photos illustrating the weathering process of reductive chipping on scale models. Step by step photos illustrate the chipping process, and diagrams clearly describe the layering of paints.

Rinaldi Studio Press has announced a subsequent book in the series, TG/02 on Oil Paint Rendering (OPR).

Started and finished in the same calendar year! This is the Special Hobby kit, which is the basis of a bunch of Griffon-powered Spitfire kits. I took off the Seafire-specific features (the RATO attachments, primarily) and detailed the cockpit with Special Hobby's own photoetched set, plus a Barracuda Studios control column. The exhausts are from Quickboost and the wheels and from Barracuda Studios. I used the kit decals to build Roy Cruickshank's N0. 91 Squadron aircraft in which he was shot down by flak on April 10, 1945; he and his wingman were rescued by a USAAF OA-10 Catalina. Only 120 Mk. 21s were built - it debuted the new laminar flow wing, full wheel covers and a retractable tail wheel. The paints were ModelMaster dark green and ocean grey, with Floquil medium sea grey, all from my Museum of Extinct Paints (aka Evidence I Used to Habitually Overpurchase at the Hobby Shop). It was weathered with oils - I tried to keep it light since the plane didn't last more than three missions.

ICM continues to be prolific with both kits and paint sets. The Acrylic Paint Set for WWII RAF Coastal Command aircraft continues this trend and consists of six 12ml wide mouthed paint bottles. The front packaging includes a presentation of a Bristol Beaufort Mk.1A WWII British torpedo bomber. The back shows three left-profile views of Bristol Beauforts, including Mk.1.A DX 135 in Temperate Scheme (1940-44) of German Field Grey (Green) and Dark Grey over Sky (Kit No. 48315), Mk.1A LR906 Late Coastal Command (1944-45) Coastal White with Off White with Dark Grey on top of fuselage and wings (Kit No. 48315) in, and Mk.1 L4516 OA-W Temperate Land Scheme of Leather Brown and Extra Dark Green over Black (Kit No. 48310) with color callouts.

The colors include:

Hello all! These were finished at the beginning of the month, but I've had no chance to post them until now. Here are the latest ships to be launched from our Shipyards: Airfix 1/600 scale British heavy cruiser HMS Tiger: Trumpeter 1/700 scale French Battleship Jean Bart: And that's all for now. Hopefully more will be finished soon. Thank you for looking in and comments are welcome

MiniArt looks to fix some things with their latest set of four US repairmen from WWII in 35th scale. We take a look at them in our preview.Read on... »

Kagero has started a new series known as “References for Modelers”. This fifth issue is devoted to the Dewoitine D.520 C1. In particular, it covers both the early and late versions of this aircraft.

The references include a few period pictures (black and white) and covers mostly the French service, but there is one picture of the aircraft in Italian markings. There are a handful of color profiles (and 4-view images in some cases) for French service (1940) and two color profiles in Bulgarian markings, one during WW2 and another that is post-war.

Air-to-air missiles (AAMs) are a part of almost every tactical aircraft and some helicopters these days. If you’re anything like me, they tend to be part of the finishing bits we grind through at the end of a build. Perhaps a deeper understanding of these weapons and their integral connection to the aircraft we build will make finishing those missiles a bit easier. This is the first of six volumes dedicated to the history of air-to-air missiles (AAM). In this first volume, the author, Bill Norton, a former Air Force officer and flight test engineer with 40 years of experience, introduces us to a comprehensive history—in six volumes of these weapons.

While I'm on my "Canberra kick" and since it's been a while since I posted a full build ride-a-long, I thought I'd show how this model was being thrown together. The Falcon vac Canberra kit was made @1984, long before the Classic Airframe and Airfix kits were available. It's actually designed so you can build an RB-57B with the "fishbowl canopy" (my plan, and as shown in the drawing) or a B-57B with the tandem seating and traditional long canopy. In this pic the parts have already been removed from their backings and sanded down. Also, on the far left you can see that I had to stack and superglue two concentric cones together to make the engine intakes for each wing. The smaller parts with a "E" on them are the exhaust fairings for each wing. There was one unplanned complication due to this kit sitting in my stash for almost 40yrs..... The parts were on 3 sheets of plastic. It seems that the one sheet that faced out and was exposed to the most light through its plastic baggy turned a bit brown and also became somewhat brittle after all those years! If you look very closely at the wing bottom (2nd from the left) you can see a crack where the it broke in two while I was trying to flex it off of the backing. There were also smaller cracks along the edges that have complicated the build more than anticipated, but nothing superglue cannot overcome! The 2 pics above show a couple of interior circular bulkheads added to strengthen things as well as the wing spars made to make the wing attachment more secure. The tail spar is simply a piece of sheet plastic bent to shape. The thin strips of sheet plastic added under the long fuselage seams in an alternating manner can also be seen. These enable the fuselage to be fitted together and prevent the thin edges from sliding under each other. The resin nose gear well is from an aftermarket set made for the Airfix kit. I've also roughed out the opening for the fishbowl canopy and sawed off the solid nose in prep for the clear recon nose. These 2 pics show the test fitting of the assembled wings and tail planes to the fuselage as well as checking the sit of the model on its gear. The resin gear bays in the wings are aftermarket parts with some modification to the main gear leg holes so that my scratchbuilt gear legs will fit into them. At this point the gear legs are just basic parts without any of their detailing or actuators added yet. And yes.... the is a HUGE nose weight sitting in the fuselage to get that model to balance on its gear! Time to start working on the cockpit! Interestingly, the RB-57A was either a 3 seat arrangement (when designed and used by the Brits) or a 2 seat arrangement after being bought by the USAF in the late 1950s. Also, after some research, it seems that the USAF RB-57As COULD have a small window on each fuselage side behind the pilot or it might not, and it appears to be entirely random and arbitrary. So..... why cut and add windows if I don't have to? Also, why build anything behind the pilot's cockpit if it can't be seen anyway? On to the pics! The RB-57A appears to have had some sort of lining inside the fuselage, so I grabbed some fabric from my spares box and cut it to fit in each fuselage half. I used some sheet plastic and spare resin and plastic parts to add some detailing here and there. The wiring is all lead solder wire. Note the large fishing sinker that has been flattened with a hammer and added for nose weight as well as the support for the cockpit floor. The cockpit floor was made from sheet plastic. Its shape was attained through some judicious measuring as well as simple trial and error until I got what was wanted and needed. Note that the side console, main instrument panel, and other details are all spare resin parts. I cut and bent the main IP to give it the RB-57A's distinctive bend. I also added punched plastic discs for the instrument housings on the back of the panel as well as their cables made from more lead wire that was twisted together and routed over and down out of the way; all of which is visible from above through that big fishbowl canopy. Spare PE panels flesh out the side console. The rest of the cockpit parts are all from the spares box, as is the resin ejection seat. And last, note that the entire cockpit is offset to the left to allow for passage from the rear cockpit area all the way into the nose. Test fitting it all into the fuselage....... This should be enough to satisfy any prying pen light once it's all painted, although it's technically incomplete (without the rear cockpit section) and only "ballpark" accurate! This pic shows the addition of the engine intake housings and the exhaust fairings to the wings. As you might expect, their fit was marginal requiring some epoxy putty (Apoxysculp) to blend them in and eliminate steps. There's a home cast engine fan face in the rear of each intake and you can see the separate shock cones made for each one, designed so they can be added at the end of the build. The shock cones came from the spares box, but I did have to shorten them and use Apoxysculpt to give them their "bullet" noses. The exhausts each have some plastic hypo-tubing to give them some depth as well as a spare parts flame dampener up inside each; again just to satisfy any probing pen lights! Except for having primed the wings, that's where things stand as of today. Next up is to paint the cockpit parts and then assemble the fuselage, which I hope to have done by the end of the week. More pics when more significant progress has been made. Questions, comments, and critiques welcome, as always! Gil

MiniArt's M3 Stuart light tank series continues with the M3 Stuart Hybrid Tank. We have the CADs & features of the kit in our preview...Read on... »