I thought it might be worth doing a belated rundown of my builds for the last year, not least because as I looked through some pictures I realised that I’d forgotten what I’d actually built!
- Meng Panther
I got this kit for Christmas and couldn’t resist building it. I based the build on a vehicle captured by the Soviets with a repainted turret and lots of damage to the zimmerit, tools and side skirts. I had a fabulous time painting it and the contrast between the red oxide primer, zimmerit and paint works really well. I am also reasonably pleased with the camo scheme, I really desaturated the colours, particularly the yellow, which produced quite a pleasing result. I suspect this might be the easiest way to approach German 3 colour schemes, although getting the pattern ‘right’ is still challenging.
2. Eduard Spitfire IXc
This was a commission intended to replicate an aircraft flown by the (now owner’s) father. It was a pleasure to build (despite some faffing around to get the wings to fit) and I really enjoyed trying some of the techniques on the Luftraum/72 blog/insta page. It was my first attempt at a green/grey scheme and I built up layers of colours and shades to produce the final effect which worked well. I also had a good play with oils whilst weathering.
3. Bandai X-Wing
I’d wanted to try a Bandai X-Wing for ages and took the plunge in March (the kit was a present to myself for surviving Covid). It was a pleasure to build and paint, my one issue was that when I used white spirit to clean up oil and enamel weathering the plastic cracked which was pretty concerning and has put me off starting any new Bandai projects. I went for a Blue Squadron colour scheme and will almost certainly do another X-Wing at some point.
4. Anzac
Part of my figure painting mission, the figure is a little primitive but was a pleasure to paint. I did most of the face during a painting afternoon at a friend’s house and it was the first time I really got to grips with thinning paint properly and building up layers. Not bad for a first attempt with lots of room for improvement.
5. ERY supply truck
I found a set of figures representing WW1 British troops in Palestine on e-bay and couldn’t resist, they are meant to be ANZACS but with new heads and appropriately coloured puggarees work well for East Riding Yeomanry troops out in the desert in 1917 ish. I’m pretty pleased with how the vignette turned out although the figures look rather primitive now (I may try to improve them), the layout works and was a nice way to display the figures. That said, they are posed pretty much as they came so I can’t take much credit for that. I would like to try something similar, maybe using a ‘wedgie’ or something similar in the new year.
6. Trumpeter S-Tank
Another commission, I used the trumpeter kit which, whilst not perfect, was fun to build. The paint job posed a number of challenges but I managed to make up masks using my silhouette cutter. These provided the basis for the paint scheme which I then went over with tape to tidy/modify until I was happy. I’m tempted to do another one of these.
7. AFV Club CVR(t) Scimitar
This was a bit of a labour of love. An army reserve colleague I’ve known for a long time was retiring and I wanted to make something special. Our regiment used CVR(t) when we joined so I decided to try to build a vehicle and crew at the end of an exercise waiting at a well known landmark on Catterick training area. The kit itself was fine although whilst building I noticed a number of things that needed modifying and purchased a number of aftermarket bits from Scorpion, including the front decks and the beautiful tow ropes.
8. Airfix Jackal
At about the same time another colleague retired, he had spent the last years of his career instructing on driving courses so I thought I’d try to make a model of a Jackal moving around the driver training area. I tried adding water for the first time which wasn’t a complete success but it was fun and the final piece works I think.
9. Franken-Panzer
I wanted to do something different and interesting, I had an old Tamiya Panzer IV kit, a Tamiya Pak 40 I bought 20 years ago and then one day I found a photograph of a PAK mounted on a Panzer IV chassis (brukenlager IV in fact). I couldn’t resist trying something similar and this was the result. I had a great time painting and finishing the project, particularly playing with oils to give a really filthy, grimy look.
10. Warhammer thing
After watching Rick Lawler do a warhammer build I thought I might try something similar. I picked up some cheap bits on e-bay, most of which were already built and painted, and tried to make something interesting. I experimented with water which didn’t set properly between layers which I think caused a couple of problems, I also used some greenstuff luminous pigment which was a pain to apply and isn’t easy to see even in pitch darkness. Otherwise it was a fun build and a neat little diorama.
11. Tommy’s War Tommy
A friend did me a favour and I wanted to make something to say thank you, this figure from Tommy’s War was the answer. The paint job is not bad, again though the face is a bit primitive. The figure is lovely and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who fancied giving WW1 figures a go.
12. Academy M10 Tank Destroyer
I painted this up in the colours of the Northumberland Hussars in Normandy shortly after D-Day. This was the first time I tried 3d printing tracks for myself and, frankly, they were a right pain. In order to get them to fit the model I had to scale them down a fair bit and that left the pins far too thin so they kept breaking, the tracks are mostly held together with superglue and optimism. Otherwise the kit turned out alright.
13. Academy F86 Sabre
A nice kit of my favourite jet. I had a few problems with the natural metal finish, resulting in an uneven finish across the aircraft. Next time I’ll need to pay more care and attention to base coating and polishing.
14. 3D Printed Viking
Part of my figure mission, the main thing I learned with this figure was that it’s a lot easier to paint faces if the figure has a beard and half face helmet. Painting the fur on the cloak was also fun and I’m wondering if the same technique would work on an animal such as a horse.
15. Armahobby Grumman Martlet
I’ve wanted to try an Armahobby kit for a while now, this one was a pleasure to build even if 1/72 is tiny! Painted with AK realcolours and weathered with oils. I’m definitely going to pick up another of their kits at some point soon.
16. ICM FCM Marder
ICM are an incredibly reliable brand. I really enjoyed building this kit and had a great idea for a diorama of the marder in the ditch with two mechanics looking down trying to work out how to get it out. Unfortunately reality got in the way of that and this is how it ended up. The figures are by The Bodi.
17. Maschinen Krieger Vignette
Most of the pieces in this vignette are by Joram Van Loenen (https://joramvanloenen.gumroad.com/) and were 3d printed. I really enjoy making foam scenery and decided to have a play one night, this is what I came up with. I think I’ll try the same paint scheme on something bigger at some point in the future.
18. Eduard BF109 G
A Messerschmitt themed group build in Twitter gave me the excuse I needed to haul this one out of the stash. I struggled to find a 109 paint scheme for a G that interested me and then I saw some pictures of Finnish aircraft and decided to give it a go. The markings are mostly stencils cut on my silhouette machine apart from the stencils and warning markings.
19. Duke of Wellington
I found the 3D print file for this on My Mini Factory and couldn’t resist. It was a bit fragile and I had do re-print several parts but once I got it together it was great fun to pain, I learned a lot.
20. Tamiya Comet
The new Comet kit was one of Tamiya’s biggest announcements this year and I was keen to pick it up from the start, then I was approached about building one as a commission which made it irresistible. It’s a classic Tamiya kit, easy to build, well detailed and beautifully engineered, it compares well with the Bronco kit (Bronco is probably more detailed but the engineering is lacking) and was a pleasure to put together. The final piece is in the markings of a vehicle of the East Riding Yeomanry on exercise circa 1950.
21. Meng Rolls Royce Armoured Car
Another commission, this one for an RRAC in the colours of the East Riding Yeomanry around 1930. I’d already built one of these, it’s a lovely kit although not perfect and I enjoyed doing it in a different colour scheme. The figure is from Copper State Models who have a great range of WW1 figures, there were originally two that I was going to pose with their hands on the rear hatch but unfortunately there was no way to fit them on the vehicle without them holding hands.
22. WW1 Trench scene
When I heard the news that Tommy’s War were going to cease trading I (and many others) went online and bought a selection of figures. One of them was this neat Seaforth Highlander, painting him was a joy and I think the first time I felt genuinely happy with a figure’s face. I had recently acquired Andy Beasley’s excellent book on WW1 dioramas, after flicking through it I couldn’t resist having a go at some of the techniques he described and this was the result.
23. Airfix Hetzer
I needed a simple armour build and this seemed like a good option. I had been toying with all kinds of diorama ideas but in the end I decided to have a bash at a battered white wash camo scheme. It was an easy build, no major pitfalls as one might expect of an Academy re-box. Painting posed challenges, it took 2 attempts to produce a scheme I was happy with, although once it was done I was very satisfied. The white wash posed it’s own challenges but I learned a lot and hope to put the techniques into effect on a build at some point in the not too distant future.
That’s most of 2022, there were actually a couple of other builds, a Humber armoured car I didn’t get a chance to photograph before sending way, some figures I’m not really happy with and other bits and pieces. I must confess that in the last little while I’ve been struggling a bit with Mojo, a combination of illness and work sapping my desire to do anything I suspect (I’m thinking about a blog post on this topic at some point soon). Part of it was a nagging feeling that my modelling wasn’t improving. I’m not sure if that is the case or not but the nice thing about making a list like this is that it reminds me of how well some of my projects this year have turned out which, in itself, is good encouragement for the future.
Anyway, I’ll leave this here, I hope you’ve enjoyed my rambling review and fingers crossed for more modelling fun (and blogs) in the next year.
Warhammer Adjacent 