I was interested in knowing if you like to or are willing to build a model kit or use a model kit in an unconventional way. Occasionally for whatever reason I will do something unconventional with a model. I know I’m not the only one who will do this because I’ve seen some really cool ideas at model conventions.
I have a few examples I could post, so I will start here. I was at a model convention and I saw a Dragon 1/6 scale American 37mm anti-tank gun kit for a very nice price. I’ve always been curious about build something large. The problem I ran into is that I would not have any space in the apartment to display it, so I decided it needed to go outside. With this in mind I also decided to make it look like a plastic army men style toy. This scale consumed a lot of my olive drab paint! I topped it off with a thick coat of Rustolem spray can varnish to withstand the weather. I’m blessed because my wife is cool and likes to do artsy things and thought it would be great to display it with her plant pots. She just had to add a personal touch of fake flowers in the barrel.
The diorama I created here is the AT gun is guarding the crossroads because as quoted by the master of strategy Odd Ball from Kelly’s Heros; “We are here in reserve just in case the krauts throw a counter offensive that threatens somewhere like New York and we will move in and stop them. Woof Woof!!!”
Another example of an unconventional model I recently built was the old 1971 tool Tamiya Panzer II tank. I did this kit when I was a kid and I found it really cheap, so why not do it again. I forgot how I didn’t really like the kit, it has flash problems, molding problems, fitting issues, lacks detail that Tamiya would have just a few years later, the rubber tracks are so tight they will pull inward the sprocket and idler wheel, but the DAK figures look decent to me. When I finished building the tank I just couldn’t take it serious enough to spend the time and effort to make it realistic. My wife has a large supply of cheap neon and glitter acrylic paint and she also got the really cool Vallejo Acrylic Shifter paints. So, Wella! I created a Caribbean Night Club tank to display outside with my wife’s plants. Topped it off with extra decals “Pueblo” from the IBG 1/72 Swedish Stridsvagn m/40k which was exported to the Dominican Republic. Again I topped it off with a coat of Rustoleum spray can varnish.
Those Vallejo shifter paints are really cool, photos don’t do justice for them. I had a blast not worrying about details and slapping color all over it, very therapeutic!
Back in August of '05, we lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. After salvaging would we could from the house, I started trying to salvage what we could from the model shop. I have several fully rigged ship models, one was the Revell Cutty Sark. Although it was badly damaged, I figured I could do a hurricane scene
After I started cleaning it up, I figured why not make a “Bow Section”, so I cut off 2/3rds.,m cleaned all the parts, repainted and re-rigged. I won a 1st. place and a special award for Out of the Ashes at a local IPMS show.
Thank you for sharing that story. I can only imagine what it must have been like cleaning up after Katrina and seeing everything that had been damaged. I think I would have been tempted to simply throw a broken model like that away along with everything else, so the fact that you saved it and eventually found a way to give it a second life makes it pretty special.
And looking at the finished model gave me another thought. That would make a fantastic bookend. You could deliberately build the bow and stern sections of a ship as a matching pair.
For somebody with a collection of books about ships, you could even do different ships to go with different sections of the collection. That could be a really interesting modeling project all by itself.
I like dioramas, it’s a bit hard to come up with something different, other than the model getting dusty, I’d have to figure out a case. Did you see the forum topics for the other builts?
Wow that is a really interesting and challenging kit. I’ve never heard of the lengths you have gone to glue it together. What kind of plastic is that? The owl looks really good! The topic is cool, and I honestly can’t say that I have ever seen wildlife plastic models except for the Tamiya farm animals and dinosaurs. I’ve been stuck on tanks and planes since I was a kid but maybe I’m going to put wildlife on my radar. My wife picked up the Tamiya dinosaurs and I quickly realized that painting wildlife is very challenging the way colors blend and such so I wasn’t much help for her. Thank you for sharing.
Airfix did a series of birds that were pretty nicely molded. There was a guy that did a hammerhead that I built and painted that was beautiful. Couple unconventional models I’ve done.
That last one is some seriously impressive 3D printing and weathering/painting job. The detail is incredible. I honestly would have thought it was a real Cup Noodle.
Hello! Thanks a lot for your comment! As for the plastic - as far as I can tell its pretty regular styrene. For material that is close to 50 years old it’s not even too brittle. It’s just that the fit of the parts is pretty iffy. That’s because the model is unconventional. On most models parts mate along surfaces that are parts of planes (using that as a geometric term). On the owl the mating surfaces are complex surfaces, that don’t really match - so to glue them I had to do a lot of fitting some sanding, some bending and importantly - some creative clamping to let the solvent glue dry. Without that clamping - in some cases wiring - I can see how the parts can unglue themselves and frustrate the modellers working on that kit. As with almost all challenges where you can finally prevail, it was pretty satisfying in the end.
A few years ago my daughter was home on summer break from college. I guess she was bored, and out of the blue she asked me if she could build one of my kits. I said sure. She picked the Tamiya 1/35 Sherman “Easy Eight” out of my stash. I showed her where all my finishing supplies were, gave her access to my spare decals, and left her alone. This is what she produced. I think it was a great job considering it was her first model kit. I love the creativity that comes from being unencumbered by any historical references
Here’s one I picked up a few weeks ago after seeing a friend build it. Only took about 4 hours to assemble. The wings and tail are motorized and has lights that flash.
Fun Kit. Might have to get some of the other ones they offer!
“Shoryouma”. The real things are made during a festival called Obon, where deceased relatives return home to visit. They are meant to transport the spirits of the deceased back to the world of the afterlife when Obon is over.
Although I never made them when I was a kid, I was kind of chuffed to see a plastic model come out. So, I of course had to immediately buy one!
And if you like the pain of indie-link tracks in armor kits, step right up and try out a sushi kit, complete with indie-grain rice and individual fish eggs!
Stiil hungry for more? How about a bowl of ramen or perhaps some spaghetti?
Or maybe some paper craft with an anime theme?
Or how about an anime figure kit that comes with a tiny piece of gum?
I have been informed that in Japan, if you package a model kit with even a tiny piece of gum or candy, it is considered a food item and taxed differently. But these “candy toys” are becoming pretty expensive! I have seen some elaborate ones go for well over $40!
I love this. It just looks exactly like what it should be. It looks like the kind of tank she might actually keep in her bedroom and display proudly.
And I have to say, if teenage girls fought wars, I’m pretty sure this is what all the vehicles would look like.
There’s something really fun about seeing what somebody does with a model when they aren’t burdened with all of our ideas about what the colors and markings are “supposed” to be.
