While I was at the beach, I brought this along for those days when it was too hot to sit outside. I built it inside a 21 ft travel trailer, at a small table, with only basic tools, kind of a throwback to years ago. Once home I finished a couple of small bits and painted, applied the kit decals and weathered, all in a couple of afternoons, making this the quickest built I’ve done in over 20 years, other than a Meng toon-tank last year. In a nut shell, I had a blast. It’s almost OOB, the only added bits being some tool straps from masking tape. The only problem I had was the yellow stripe decals: they were nearly translucent, so after a flat sealer coat, I went beck with some Vallejo yellow and darkened them in a few spots. Some of the bulkier plastic parts were thinned, but that’s it. I used the kit figure’s torso and head, with different arms, not because I flt it was an improvemant but because since I have a little extra time, I’l trying to do figs for ALL the finished and in progress models I have that have an open hatch or two and I got mixed up. I used the kit tow cable ends after fillling the “slots” and drilling the ends and spare soft wire for the cable.
I normally take a couple kits on vacation so I can clean up road wheels etc while sitting in the motel room in the evenings. But never built and painted an entire model!
It looks good, the old Tamiya kits still build nicely.
I used to take a small Walmart tackle box that I put a few small Testors paints, a minimal amount of tools and a small 1/72 scale armor kit and aircraft kit (without boxes) when I traveled.
It was my “TDY” (army speak for temporary duty) travel set. I would be traveling to some school or conference and work on a kit in the hotel room or unaccompanied personal housing apartment they assign us.
I still have it. I know there is an Airfix Gnat (some sort of jet trainer) and a Matchbox 1/76 scale German armored car of some type partially built in the box still.
That looks like the new Tamiya kit, not the fun Stuart that came out in the 70’s. Of course their new kit is fun as well. I really like all Tamiya models. Nice work on yours.
Thanks all. This brought me back to when I had to do all my building on a table in the den and clean it all up after I was “done”. I kept all my stuff in a plastic storage box and had to stash it in a cabinet in the trailer to get it out of the way (not much space in a 21 ft travel trailer) and then still be able to get it out in a few minutes later on. I probably spent two or three hours on it during the three days my wife went into Brownsville to work out of their office there, otherwise the “work space” was covered in computers and monitors.
There have been a couple of other times I’ve brought kits on longer vacations, but usually just sand roadwheels or something, waiting until I’m home to do the “real” work, but I used this trip as an excuse to just do some simple modeling, and it did the trick.
Rob, it’s the new Tamiya kit, a much better kit than the original in many ways, most notably the accurate tracks. I’m already thinking about some kit bashing options though, so don’t worry Anthony, while it was something of a struggle to build something nearly OOB, I have ideas… [:D]
Rob: all new tool. I’ll be looking for one or two of the old ones though, for the turret. Also, I may yet tone down the end connectors, probably with a little dust.
You’re right: sometimes it’s good to do something simple, start to finish, and move on, just what I’ve done here. Now it’s back to the two Magachs in progress, and maybe something else too…
IMG_1340 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_1342 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_1343 by Russel Baer, on Flickr