Stikpusher

That was a year of beautiful builds! Very well done!

Mark, at my completion rate, that will be years before I complete the builds. And theoretically I could still use a few more support type vehicles that have been released, but have not yet purchased. But idea and challenge accepted, although technically the M110 and M271 should not be part of the same photo, as one type replaced the other in DIVARTY while I was there.

Thanks for looking in on these builds, and for your kind feedback gentlemen! Bob, that is too funny about the dog and the Sopwith!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣

That is quite a good year of builds! Very nice work on one and all!

2021 was a good year for me modeling wise. Surprisingly I built more aircraft than armor this last year. First up in aircraft, my Revell Germany 1/48 X-35 prototype Next is my Monogram 1/48 Sopwith Camel Hobbycraft 1/48 La-5, quick build for my great nephew AA 1/48 Chengdu F-7B (Chinese built and modified Mig-21), a long time shelf queen Hasegawa 1/48 A6M5 Zero, another multi year shelf queen And for armor… My AMPS 12 Hour Challenge build of the ESCI 1/35 Leopard 2A3 Testors/Italeri 1/35 M47 So an average of one completion every two months. Although I actually finished most at the beginning and end of the year, not in the middle. This next year I aim to increase my completions… Thanks for looking

Thank you Mark. I’m slowly chipping away at my old shelf queens… two last year, and two this year. Perhaps next year I can do three. So here it is in a proper all angles session, my last completion of 2021, Hasegawa’s 1982 vintage A6M5 Zero. I bought and started it in 2016, barely, then sidelined it for unknown reasons. I restarted it a bit over a month ago and wrapped it up on the 30th. I added a PE harness in the cockpit, and used some Aeromaster Hinomarus for the green outline types that the actual aircraft wore when it was captured on Saipan. I figured it must have had a decent pilot to survive the Marianas Turkey Shoot, as it was captured intact and in flying condition on Saipan after that battle. It was brought back to the US for evaluation. Today it is the only flying Zero still equipped with the original Sakae engine. All others still flying today have had their engines replaced by other types that fit the airframe. Decals aside from the Hinomarus are from the kit, and the paint colors are Tamiya. It’s nice to finish another old shelf queen. Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome.

John and Gil, thank you for your kind words. John I love the Eduard deck base. It’s kind of got me thinking about building more IJN carrier based types in the not too distant future. Gil, you are so right about feeling good resurrecting and finishing a doom build. That makes two this year, and both barely started. Gotta clean up that backlog! More next year!

Well, today I have wrapped up my Zero build. Another longtime sideliner completed! And posed on the Eduard Carrier Deck base that I’ve been working on during pauses in this build Farewell last project of 2021! I’ll get a proper walkaround batch of photos up tomorrow

This should be a good one to watch come together.

Nice finish John! So did the thrill of completion course through your body for long?

Thank you Gil. I think that doing the camo was the most fun part of the project.

I see that Hobby Lobby is now also carrying the Gundam paint pens, so I’ll go grab a few of those as well. They have an even finer tip.

You could actually coat one side of those cut out paper mask outlines with Micro Liquid Tape and turn them into masks. Or as suggested above use them to make proper size masks of Tamiya tape.

Two down? And with just under four days left? I think at least two more can be completed… 😏 Now where is the pot stirring emoji?

A new shop in Fullerton? That is excellent news. There are still a couple more here in the Phoenix area that I need to check out. I sure do miss Brookhurst.

My last acquisition for this year. (Yes honey, I won’t buy another kit this year) The final piece of equipment that I needed to complete my 5th ID Ft Polk collection. At least among the major pieces of ground equipment that we used during my time there. Until next year 😉

Thanks Mark! It is a simple and attractive looking camo scheme. Now I just need a sandbox to bury it in for a proper base… 😂 Oh yes, for anyone foolish enough to buy and build one of these kits, don’t forget to add weight in the nose… 🤨

Gil, Mark is a one man factory. After seeing him in action at club build nights, it is understandable how he does it all. Mark, I am sure that you’ll have several of these knocked out and over the finish line by Friday at midnite. 😉 Now get on it mister!

Thank you Chris. Not quite as good as I wanted, but it looks good enough.

This one is finally done. I originally started this probably 10 years ago or so, then sidelined it due to a couple of moves and not being happy with my original start results. I pulled it back out a couple of months back and decided not to get all wrapped up in the kit’s errors. It’s a Chinese company’s modified clone of the Academy Mig-21 kit. There are plenty of goofs in the basic kit, so if you come across one yourself, keep on looking for something else. I used some SuperScale decals for the Iraqi markings and swiped a pair of Matra Magic missiles from another kit in my stash. It’s not my best work, but I’m happy to get it off the shelf of doom and onto display. A little distance sure helps when viewing this one…

I’m sure that you’ll have fun with that M46 build Bob. So many awesome Korean War paint job possibilities! Well I’ve been nickel and dimming my wingy thingy additions over the past several weeks. First up I bought these 3-D decal US seat harnesses. I’ll be using them on a project that I’ll resume after the New Years. Then I picked up this replacement canopy for my long sidelined P-35 build. So that’s one I intend to pull off the sideline in 2022 And lastly I received a reduced price offer for this one on eBay, so I pulled the trigger on it

I’m southwest of Phoenix. I found the decals in my bin earlier this afternoon, so I still have them. I can’t guarantee if they will work, as I’ve had them since they were sent out with Volume 16 all those years ago. PM me your mailing address and I’ll start working on getting them sent out to you Paul.

I think I have still the set amongst my old decals. I don’t build 1/72 anymore, so you can have ‘em if I can find ‘em.

Every time I come across Bossk stuff, I think of this Robot Chicken clip… 🤣

I agree Bob. The Zero was a very sleek design. Since the kit’s stripe decals gave me some problems last week, I picked up these two extra fine point paint pens on Friday to deal with the problems Today I touched up the propeller stripes where needed with the yellow pen and then I added the no step wing area red stripes, since those decals had self destructed during the decalling session. The red is not a 100% match, but it’s better than nothing. Now on to the next steps…