1:35 Wood Stove

I have an upcoming diorama I am collecting items for and one thing I came up with was a wood stove for a checkpoint shack.

The items I used for this are :

Tamiya 1:35 Fuel Barrel, old credit or gift card, aluminum tubing and bits of sprue.

Pretty straightforward, Cut some tubing, drill a hole for the stove pipe. I cut up scrap plastic sprue for legs and the door hinges an handle. The door is a cut up gift card heated and bent to shape.

I painted this with Model Master Metalizer Exhaust brushed on. I will buff spots later and add some details to look like it was heated up before and finish the top of the stove pipe. It would easy enough to use barrels on their side for single and double barrel stoves. this one is going to a WW2 German checkpoint shack, just need to find a 1:35 coffee pot now.

• Hobby Dude

Barter Town

That is where I live, at least mentally and philosophically.

As a kid, I took my first trip to Barter Town with Hotwheels Cars. I never cared much for the Double Vision but Jeff Muxlow, a classmate liked it and was willing to part with his Red Baron in trade. From there it went to Football Cards, Yo-Yos and bicycle parts leading to a lifelong residence in Barter Town.

Take a look at most people's garages, basements, and closets and it is easy to say that interests and hobbies come and go at times. Check those roller blades you bought with all good intention during the Clinton administration, or telescope, skis or that Bedazzler Gun you bought late night on the home shopping network.

Amazingly enough, some of these things taking up that valuable closet real estate can be worth something to others and this is what Barter Town is all about. There are two types of people that live in Barter Town. First, you have the "NH's" which stands for "Near Hoarders" While having the appearance of hoarding there is actually an ebb and flow of stuff, they acquire, they trade. The second group, are the collectors. They very well may have just as much stuff as the NH's but it is organized and cataloged. When they acquire it is with an intent to fill a void in a collection or series etc.

My mother called me a "pack-rat" many times and while I will admit to being part of the evolution of collecting, that guilt just never stuck.  It is all subjective though as people may gaze upon your built and unbuilt models wondering about your priorities as they forget about the jet ski sitting their shed for the last 3 summers. I may have started off as a kid as a pack -rat but when you want something new as you open that closet and remnants of your past relationship with Ron Popeil are revealed it is time to take a trip to Bartertown.



Like any city I have my share of second hand and Goodwill thrift stores depending on the decade I have frequented many of these stores looking for diecast cars, vinyl records, guitars among many other things. A few years back I found an old CB radio in a goodwill marked $5  so I grabbed it to reuse the microphone in a ham radio project and maybe rob other parts. I took it home and hooked it to power and an antenna and it worked like it was 1977. The brand and model was a Pace 166 and after looking it up and finding 2 currently on sale for $300 and $500 on eBay it turned out this particular CB was the stock GM CB radio that came in the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am/Firebird/ Smokey and the Bandit Edition!  So not being greedy I put it up for an open auction and let the bidding begin. I ended up selling it for $350.  There have many finds that turned me some coin to toss at another interest.

There's a cool little retro type thrift store called "Time Bomb" near me I knew to have some models, he also has clothes, records, toys and lots of cool stuff from years ago. I trucked in there with some vinyl records to trade and came out with a cool pile of models.

I am excited to start the Patton Tank, especially since I scored so much to go with it.

Vietnam theme with a Mutt and resin figures from Verlinden to add to the M48A3.

Love the detail on resin and there are a few extra heads, weapons, etc. in these kits as well.

Also got a BMW R75 with a sidecar which I started already and will be posting it soon.

Lots to build until the spring rain and winds go away to inspire getting back to my RC plane project.

Back Soon.

• Hobby Dude

Revell 1/24 68 Volkswagen Beetle

I knew at some point I wanted to add a Bug to my shelf but was not really excited when I bought this kit, that is until I opened it. The mold I do believe is the same as the  Revell of Germany Police Bug kit. This kit is part of "California" Series which makes no sense since there wasn't flower decals or a surfboard in the kit.

If you want to compare the two different offering here are the manuals:

Revell USA VW

Revell Germany Police Bug

For my build, I used Tamiya Field Gray Lacquer which is this green color followed up with Tamiya semi-gloss clear. The interior is Model Master Fabric Tan Lacquer.



It is very nicely detailed build with build options. Very minimal sanding and most parts fitment was a snap fit which is typically only found on molds not made in China. This one was marked and inspected with sticking designating it came from Poland and hats off to the Poles for some nice plastic.

I can say if you are looking for a VW to build these can be found from $18 to $22 and it is well worth the price.

• Hobby Dude

Kit Quality vs. Price

I am convinced that 80% of the models made since the early seventies were and still are never built. If even half of them were built there might be more influence from builders seen in what lines the shelves today.

Sounds like I just threw a blanket over the entire modeling industry but I shall explain. I bought my first model in the early seventies and ran a hobby shop thirty years later and now just a Hobby Dude so I base my statement on observations over many years.

It was fairly common that many of my friends built models at some point in our youth. Some were glue bombs and others a met flaming demise in the backyard, mine hung from 4lb. test fishing line from my ceiling. But, there were those other kids for whatever reason never built theirs and they usually received a ribbing from me "Come on man build that up" I would offer help, paints and my tools to no avail.  I am fairly sure a 64 Fairlane kit I had given a friend in the late eighties is still up on a shelf and my brother still has models I gave him in the nineties under four inches of sawdust in the garage.

At the hobby shop, I saw regular customers buy models for themselves in stacks and would ask them about their builds and a very large amount just collected kits. There were a number of times we bought out private collections, estates, etc. and resold them in the store. These collections were in high triple digit numbers, one buyout involved many trips in a box van. Now I could care less why someone buys or collects something, more power to them for whatever their quest, but all these stagnant kits influenced the quality.

My recent trip back into mainly automotive-themed modeling  I have formed some opinions and have me scratching my head on what I see available.  Last year I bought Revell's 68 Dodge Charger 2in1 and was very pleased. Next, I grabbed a Lindberg 66 Chevelle and was more impressed. Now on a roll, I grab an MPC 67 GTO thinking 'Hey this will be a nice start of muscle cars. The GTO still sits in a box. It was priced a little more than the Charger and less than Chevelle and silly me I thought it would be in the same ballpark for quality. I am one year older than the real size GTO and I would gamble I am in better shape than the mold that made this model.

Flash, Flash and more Flash. Can I recycle styrene?

I kept rolling the dice grabbing a couple MPC dragster kits, AMT 30's Fords and Chevy's and they are still in boxes at different stages with a ton of flash yet to be removed and chrome coated as thick as A Kardashian hipline. I resolved my building to better quality kits going forward but dang it Tamiya, Hasegawa, and Fujimi don't make a 48 Olds or a 37 Chevy.  If you have built any model be it aircraft, auto or military you are familiar with the quality and detail. Although there are quite a few imports I admire and want to build there are more domestic on my list. I have bought both the Tamiya Porsche 959 priced $17.95 and AMT's 37 Chevy Coupe priced $23.95 and it just leaves me thinking if Americans built more models rather than collected the demand for a better quality would happen. Box looks awesome but few know the kit is junk.

Tamiya Subaru $27.95 and excellent detail, clean, great tires, etc. A lot of quality that AMT/MPC do not have and if this example was a benchmark of the price most Revell USA kits would be less than $20.

Hats off still overall to Revell for being a decent kit consistently. Revell of Germany from what I have seen so far has been equal or surpassed Tamiya or Fujimi.  I picked up the Moebius Ventura and Catalina and I  have to say they have nailed the detail and I hope they put out new stuff regularly as there is great promise there.

I know some purists will always hold on to some romantic reverence for their first builds 60 years ago with lots of sanding and putty and tell me "That is just part of modeling". But I doubt those purists would be happy when they pay for the model and the cashier runs their card through the old mechanical card imprinter on carbon paper while they wait 20 minutes for the cashier to phone in for approval from their credit card company. "Just part of Cashiering"?

Well, stuff improves I say and someone at MPC needs to figure out how to cut a new mold because a 67 GTO does not have wheel skirts.

• Hobby Dude

Santa Drives a Brown Truck

Gift cards can be a bit generic and ordinary but a gift certificate to a major hobby distributor is perfect for a guy like me with all my coupon codes and deal hunting. The added benefit is Christmas keeps on giving!

Today Mr. Brown Shorts brought me:

1. Revell of Germany 65' Mustang - Love the wheels
2. Revell of Germany Mclaren 570S - Incredible detail and my foray into a supercar model
3. Revell Foose 68' Firebird - Of all the GM line I have always liked the Pontiacs most.
4. Moebius Models 61'  Pontiac Catalina - I have the Ventura from them and Moebius, from what I have seen are excellent detail and again I love the Pontiacs especially that bubble back window.
5. Revell 66' Shelby GT - Anything Carol Shelby is ok with me.

I will post as I build these.

• Hobby Dude

So Much Time Passes...

I realize how long it has been since I last posted but when I find the time that is void of back pain or numb hands I gravitate towards the paint and glue rather than the keyboard.

So a few updates:

Christmas was good to me and I hope for all of you as well. All my family was home and it was a holiday that returned us to the gift of time with each other rather than a mountain of wrapped boxes. Even with that said mine was still bountiful and model themed!

Tools and more employees to add to my garage. I mentioned in my last post I had my eye on a Tamiya "College Friends" kit with figures and a Vespa, well I returned to the store to look at it and I passed. It wasn't as detailed as I had come to expect with Tamiya. So now I have a number of mechanics for my garage with the addition of this Tamiya Rally crew kit. The detail is good but it is listed as 1/24, the same scale as my Testors kit but the Tamiya guys have amazingly small heads in comparison. It comes with very nice detail hand tools, Laptops with cases, and few other things great for a diorama The Fujimi Tool Kit is excellent. I have already built up a few of the tools and very pleased with quality and detail. My only complaint with Fujimi is Where the heck are the decals? For at least the A/C unit and engine analyzer. Luckily the Tamiya kit came with decals for the laptops and I have already scanned them to aid in detailing the Fujimi kit.

I opted to cut some basswood and convert the tire rack into some shelves since I already have a tire rack. Built up a few of the other items to populate the garage. The poster seen there is not in the kit, I had printed out some vintage scale posters and wanted to try my hand and making some for the garage. I used basswood as a base, washed it brown(stain) and used acrylic clear (60% gloss+40% flat) to adhere the printed image to the wood panel. Worked out well I plan to make more.

The jack stands are adjustable, I tossed the little plastic pins and made some from a hard wire. There are shelves inside the bench cabinet and the door opens and closes!

So progress is good and soon  I will have a lot more to update as far as my garage project, new Christmas models coming!

I hope everyone's start of Modeling in 2018 I starting as fun as mine!

-Hobby Dude]]

REVELL 1:25 57 CHEVY BLACK WIDOW 2 IN 1 - PT. 2

This kit comes with one single bench seat and since I was not doing a race car I wanted to do something different with interior without the roll bar and bench seat. I dug through some parts and found some 67 GTO bucket seats I chose instead. I also went thru metal scraps for some interior detail ideas.

The seats have headrests I have yet to paint. I made some Sub-woofer boxes out of basswood for the back. I wanted to move to a floor shifter with the buckets and found this strip of metal to add to the top of a console I would need to make. I came up with some tiny chrome air cleaners and other metal bits for some speaker grills. I used Plastruct strips to make and shape a console.



I used Testors Fabric Tan and Tamiya Racing White(aged/off-white) on the seats then used some red sewing thread and acrylic clear to hold it in place to add piping detail to the seats.

Still more detail to be dome on the seats and a final flat clear on the tan and gloss on the white. I used the same Fabric tan on the speaker boxes and interior floor followed with Sand Brown flocking.

A top of a Pringles gave me some clear plastic to simulate the clear acrylic used on sub boxes. I found a couple spares Raspberry Pi heatsinks I sanded the black off the fins and used the red sharpie on to make a couple of power amps for the subs. Little metal detail to add to detail I will mount these above boxes and add wiring later. I still have the door panels and dash to get busy with.

These are the colors I used so far (all lacquers):

• Tamiya fine surface primer
• Model Master Fabric Tan
• Model Master AMC Sterling Silver
• Model Master Gloss clear
• Tamiya  TS-7 Racing White
• Tamiya TS-65 Pearl Clear
• Tamiya TS-74 Clear Red

Now on to the body... I pulled the body out of the other kit just to show a comparison of how much I chopped this.

After primer, I started with few light coats of the AMC Sterling Silver Metallic 3D. Once I was satisfied with a base coat I locked it down with Model Master Clear Gloss, then onto few light coats of Tamiya Pearl Clear to start off with some depth to the paint right off.

I started adding light coats of the Red Clear alternating it with light coats of Pearl Clear getting deeper looking paint as I went along buffing between each coat.

For some reason the digital images make it look somewhat orange peeled but I think it is the pearl creating an illusion as it doesn't look that way in person I hoping finished shot maybe in real sunlight might be different than the collection of LED spectrum I have on it here on the bench. More coats and more buffing to go then onto the engine... So far I am having fun with this kit.

• Hobby Dude

Revell 1:25 Ford Bronco

I have few kits going and a couple of others finished but one of my teen sons talked me into building this one. This is a late 60's to early 70's Bronco Revell did and they did a nice job with it. I am still in progress, but very pleased with the kit.



The kit is Skill Level: 5 with 137 parts, I like the higher level kits, nothing really harder than a skill level 2 just more options. Going through a few other kits there is something to say about the quality of molding her the body parts are excellent and the rest of the parts follow along in quality.

I went with Tamiya TS-16 Yellow and Model Master Classic White for the body color, both spray-can lacquers. I stripped the bumpers and grill in Windex and painted with same white.  Model master Metalizers were used on engine, suspension and exhaust parts to simulate as much real metal as possible. I had some Moroso decals for the valve covers and Magnaflow ones for the exhaust system to dress it up a bit. The Molotow Chrome pen is what I am using for chrome parts.

There was minimal flash to file off and I appreciated the separate chassis. The engine was fun to build, I went with the '73 302 version.

I used the stock seat and door panel decals, they were a bit of a challenge to look decent, some Tamiya "Mark Fit Strong" decal set helped lay them down into the texture better. I added some grey flocking for carpet.

I am Ham Radio Operator so I cobbled together a mobile radio with Mic and Whip antenna for it. Mounted under the dash with a bent strip of metal. Still, some detail todo to the whip antenna. There is also an added Am radio antenna on the front left fender.

Still in Progress as I haven't added the windshield frame or any of the glass. Few wires are still on deck for the battery and brake lines, sidelights and lots more detail I want to do as well as a clear coat is needed for the body. I will post when finished.

 -Hobby Dude