2018: A year in review.

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
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With another year coming to an end, and the likelihood of me finishing another build this year, It’s time to look back on my builds for 2018.

First finished for 2018 was the 1/32 Academy F/A-18-B, A21-103 3 Squadron RAAF. MAnaged to pick up a Commendation at Model Expo with this one which was a welcome surprise. Homemade stencils for the 3 Squadron markings and serial numbers. Ronin Decals for everything else. I may have gotten the colours a little too dark on this one but I think it still looks great.

Next up was my Tamiya 1/100 Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102. This one won Best Real Space Model at Model Expo, which considering the competition was a complete honour. OOB build with a mixture of kit and home made decals, as well as the awesome tile decals from Warbird Decals. The tripod was from eBay.

Third and fourth completed for 2018 were my two Airfix 1/48 Meteor F.8’s. They look alright, but I am not 100% happy with them. Little mistakes were made on both and the fit of the nose was disappointing. I’d like to come back and do another one in the future, and I’d certainly like to do one in 1/32 some day.

A77-867 as she is seen today, though now I understand flying in New Zealand.

A77-851 Hale Storm as flown during the Korean War.

Time for a little-civilised aviation modelling. Zvezda 1/144 Boeing 737-800 QANTAS Retro Roo II. A great, easy to build little kit completed with decals from Hawkeye Models.

Last off the bench for 2018 was my Trumpeter 1/35 CH-46D Chinook A15-104 ‘Crux Australis’ or as she’s better known as “Dusty Blonde”. A lot of work and dollars went into this one. Big Ed conversion set for the cockpit, cabin seating and external photo-etch details, combined with scratch built CSAR hoist and Satcom antenna. Decals are mainly by Ronin graphics, with some additional extras from Werner wings.

Still on the bench, I have an AFV Club 1/35 M101 A1 105mm Howitzer and the Meng 1/35 Leopard AS1. Both will now be given my full attention.

How has your year been?

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I only managed to fill up the bench with 1/2 completed kit’s

My Monogram Slingster

As you can see, it’s STILL on the bench.

Right next to it, is my 1965 Chevell wagon.

Also still sitting in it’s box, My "Revelgram P-61. ( I got as far as painting some of the cockpit.)

I know,… I’m lame . A whole year, and that’s as far as I got ???

I’n my “Defence”, my wife decided that I should spend more time working on getting our house finished… so technically I’m working on a 1/1 scale wood kit…

( havent gotten verry far on it either …)

I’m pretty sure, the house will be done,before I get back to anything model related.

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Well…the house looks good. I always reward my supers for a cleaned up job site.

This is always fun.

Travelair Mystery Ship “Pancho Barnes”. Hawk 1/48.

Doolittle Curtiss racer. Hawk 1/48.

“Matson” Boeing clipper. Minicraft 1/144 with custom decals.

Schoenfield “Firecracker”. Williams 1/32.

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This is fun!

S-2T Turbo Tracker - Cal-fire. Big conversion

Jabara’s F-86F-30

Mini Cooper S JCW

Trump 757

USPS 727-200

Kawasaki Ninja

Jim Cushman Plymouth Duster

Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid R/T

The nightmare build - ESCI KFIR

Ducati 1199 Panigale S

Still on the bench: Hasegawa 1/200 DC-3, Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat, 1/48 Roden T-28B Trojan, Minicraft 1/144 EC-121R - and I have some time off coming!

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Some beautifull builds here. Here is my humble 2018 collection

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I was in this same boat for about three years. We bought a 1895 Victorian the plaster was all in bad shape so I tore her down to the studs, ran new plumbing, rewired, insulated, add fire breaks, drywalled, tore the front porch off that had bad decking and the main support beam for the porch roof was also rotted and rebuilt it back to the way it was. So I know what your going through and I wish you luck.

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Congrads guys!!! Some beautiful work!

I on the other hand did not finish a single model all year. I think that makes the first year in 20-30 years I haven’t finished a single darn thing. I tried to work a little on some stuff over the weekend but ended up spending hours searching for a few missing parts and getting ticked off and just watching TV…

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I had a pretty good year building all Axis warbird subjects.

Started the year off with Tamiya’s 1/32 A6M5 Zero and ended the year with Tamiya’s 1/48 A6M5/5a Zero, along with Monogram’s old A6M5 Zero and Hasegawa’s D3A1 Val and B5N2 Kate.

Tamiya 1/32 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter “Zeke”

Monogram Pro-Modeler 1/48 Arado Ar234C-3/4

Tamiya 1/48 Dornier Do335A Pfeil

Tamiya 1/48 Nakajima Hayate “Frank” with Kurogane

Special Hobby 1/48 Heinkel He115B

Hobby Boss 1/48 Blohm und Voss Bv141

Tamiya 1/48 Macchi MC.200 Saetta

Hasegawa 1/48 Macchi MC.202 Folgore

Tamiya 1/48 Nakajima Night Fighter Gekko Type 11 Late Production “Irving”

ICM 1/48 Dornier Do215B-5

Monogram 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf110E-1

Monogram 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero

Hasegawa 1/48 Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber “Kate” Model 3

Hasegawa 1/48 Aichi D3A1 Type 99 Carrier Dive Bomber “Val” Model 11

Tamiya 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5/5a Zero Fighter “Zeke”

I had a plan to book-end this year with these Japanese builds. My dad passed while I was wrapping up that 32nd scale Zero, and it took a bit more time to finish her up and begin the Arado than I had expected. It was a tough year for me in this regard, losing my hero, my dad, such as I did. But I moved on always with my eye on December 7, and did manage to finish the Monogram Zero and both the actual Pearl Harbor attackers, Val and Kate, on the 7th of December. In between was a lot of Nazi subjects, a couple of Italians, and some Japanese birds. Many of these involved complicated paint schemes, and three involved a bunch of scratch-building - the He115, where I drilled a bunch of holes to install mounting brackets for those huge pontoons (Special Hobby seems to think that a tiny nub is going to hold those things to the fuselage), and the Bf110 and Monogram Zero got upgraded cockpits.