Restarting Modeling

It's been at least thirty years since I actively picked up a model kit and did anything with it. I've carried a dozen or so around with me for the past forty years or so with never any time to get around to making any of them. In the meantime, the hobby moved on in many ways, with finishing techniques taking the forefront lately, along with photo etch detail parts (fiddly!), canopy masks (also fiddly!) lots of custom decals (they were always fiddly). I never even had an airbrush before, so that was a big step too. I played around with a couple of old kits I'd been carrying around, but they were both pretty awful fits (hello, Novo/ex-Frog Morane Saulnier 406) and ended up more as practice mules.

I started following modelers on twitter and facebook and found half a dozen podcasts that helped me get up to speed. One of my twitter follows in the UK started a charity kit build, and that seemed like a reasonable kick to try something. The only rule was "something under 20 pounds (about $28). I looked around and found a Ju 87-G Stuka at a local hobby shop. I'm not normally a fan of Luftwaffe planes, but I had just read James Holland's Battle of Britain book and Stukas had figured prominently in the run up. Work on it was sporadic due to various degrees of busyness around our place and with the kids. I never did get the Stuka fully finished before the end of the charity build, but I was quite happy with how it has turned out so far. Still a little finishing to do (removing the canopy masks will be fun), but overall, pleased with it.

But what's next? My overall goal is to get better first, then concentrate on early jet fighters - from the first ones that appeared in WW2 to the amazing variety of designs that were designed, produced and (mostly) went into service in the forties, fifties and sixties. Oh, and historic airliners from the same period.

So what does getting better mean? It means making models to really learn all the different techniques that I want to master. One way I have found for generating ideas for what to build is to peruse the group build opportunities on various model forums - my favorite being Britmodeller (yes, it gets confusing with the single or double l's depending on whether you're in the UK or US). The first one that caught my eye was the French Fancy group build, and again, having recently read the Battle of Britain, which featured a long run-up, including the very ill-fated Battle of France, I was motivated to pick out the Dewoitine 520 - essentially a French parallel to the Spitfire. So that's coming right up. An added bonus is that it comes with a Citroen staff car and a few figures, which is something I think would be a fun learning experience.

Another group build that caught my eye is a "High Wing" build. Anything, as long as the wing is at the top of the body or higher. Lots of possibilities, from WW1 biplanes and triplanes to most seaplanes to many modern fighters. The one I ended up choosing was the Boeing 314 Clipper - one of the most iconic Boeing products ever, which is odd because only 12 were ever made. Then again the Concorde was also a limited edition too. I have a few months to get these built, so stay tuned. There might even be a detour or two along the way.

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