Faust

Even seeing their faces? 🙂

It’s not a surprise when companies try to associate themselves with what’s “new” and “cool”. While modelling in the 2020’s might not be quite so fixated on this, there was a time when modelling was a more general hobby and companies did try to ride the coat tails of profitable and hoped-to-be profitable enterprises. There are lots of kits of vehicles from famous TV shows produced from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, so it really comes as no surprise that Monogram also decided to produce a kit from the much-hyped “New Monkees” TV show that aired in 1987. Sadly, Monogram’s bet didn’t pay off

I agree with you both as far as the boxes go. There are some Matchbox subjects I don't really care about, but I wanted the box art, and it was worth it. The He-111 is a perfect example. That kit is garbage, but the art... well worth the $14 it ended up costing me. 🙂 I wondered about the Shinden Kai - I'd never seen one before. I am very lucky to have snagged it, yeah. It'll look good with my Katsudoris and my Ki-100-II with the turbocharger. Did you see, Janman, my Matchobx tank collection (which has since grown) and articles on my site? I agree, those tanks are fantast

If there’s one thing I love about going to hobby shops, it’s seeing some of the old stuff that’s for sale there. Most shops carry the newest and shiniest, but a lot of them also have a section for old collections that have been bought, and that’s where I love to hang out. With all the current travel restrictions, hobby shop runs have been off the table for a while, but thankfully, a local shop came to the rescue with a buy of 1,200-odd old kits!!! Of course, my heart leapt at the prospect, and I wasn’t disappointed! Among these time-travelers were boxes of Matchbox ki

Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for old kits and obscure subjects. However, I also have a thing for cool robots, and if you stick a cannon on its shoulder or a beam shield on its arm, chances are good I’m going to buy it. Now… what if you have an old kit, that also has a beam shield??? Yeah, you KNOW that’s going to get me excited! And, it just so happens Bandai must have known that too, since they reissued a bunch of F-91 and Silhouette F-91 kits a couple of years ago. The first one I had a chance to get to the bench was the 1/100 Cluster Gundam. This has a special place

If it’s one thing I normally don’t associate my modelling interests with it’s 1/35 armour. I’m just not that big into armour that I want to spend the time and money on large-scale tank kits. Normally, I just get the COBI (Polish Lego) tanks and build them if I want a big tank. They’re fun and easy. I’m also not super-attached to or enthralled by any armoured vehicles. Well, okay, there are a couple, but they’re darned few . One, however, that I definitely have a thing for is the South African G6 Rhino SP Gun. I love things with six wheels, I love oddballs, and what is odder than the

Some kits are a lot more work than you think they’re going to be. Sometimes, it turns out to be worth it, and other times it turns into a bloody nightmare you can’t wait to be done. Then, just once in a while, both happen, and a nightmarish kit turns out okay in the end. A perfect example of that is the 1/72 Zvezda Mig-29SMT. It’s a beautifully detailed kit, but it’s shockingly overengineered, and like Dio says in “The Devil Cried”, it’s not “smart, just clever”. It fought me almost from the get-go, but I will say that, now that it’s done, it does look pretty darned good.

Interwar military vehicles are not something that a lot of model makers pay much attention to. Unless they saw action in WWII, the various transitional armoured and mechanized vehicles of the Pre-WWII period are pretty much forgotten. In many cases, modellers can’t even get kits of these types of vehicles. A perfect example is the awesome Morris Commercial D/CD. This half-car, half-truck six-wheeler was used as a staff car by the British from the late ‘20s, but is virtually unknown today. As a result, if you want a replica of this cool, but obscure, vehicle, you’re somewhat out of

Thanks, Roym. I was surprised to find how much these Tamiya Sierras are. I hope you can find an affordable Cossie! Best of luck! I wish Tamiya would just reissue these Sierra kits, since they're reissuing a lot of other old stuff.

Sometimes, it’s the ones that you least expect that surprise you the most. After years of trying to create “BMW Fighters” in the form of the abortive Mustang SVO and Merkur XR4Ti and even Taurus SHO, Ford finally got a hit with the tenth-generation Thunderbird Super Coupes. With slick styling, legitimate (for the day) performance and advanced suspension, the T-Bird SC was as close as any of the Big Three ever really got to competing with Germany and Japan back in the day. Just like how the T-Bird surprised its rivals, I was blown away that the Revell 1992 T-Bird SC beat out things

With Christmas truly over, all the decorations long down and the new year proving to be not yet much better than the last, I thought it would be fun to show that it wasn’t all bad news. I thought it might be nice to see that even in the midst of some of the worst times something simple like model kits can bring a lot of people together, even if they can’t be right there. What better way to do that than to show you guys the rather eclectic mix of models that I got for Christmas, and for you to help decide which one you want to get reviewed first. Check out my haul of ca

Thanks JackMan, I appreciate it! I sometimes wonder when I talk about box art if I'm the only one that cares, but it's nice to know that others do too!

I gave up trying to go for accuracy. I mean, the kit IS a total dog. I'm just going for a roughly correct outline that is Flagon G shaped. I really don't care about ram air inlets, rivet patterns, etc. F that noise. This kit is tough enough as it is. I'm just trying to get something that people will see it's an Su-15UM and I'm good with it. The intakes, though... those HAD to be corrected.

Thanks man! I wouldn't recommend it to others! 🙂

So, as for most of us, I’ve pretty much had it with the dumpster-fire that is 2020. It’s been exhausting and worrisome and just plain stupid, and I’m more or less over it. It is fine for it to pizz right off and never make its kind known again. Of course, I’m sure it’ll only get worse from here, but that kind of positivity is something for another day. In the spirit of 2020, that Grand Conjunction of Murphy’s Law and Sisyphus’ landscaping chores, I thought it was a perfect time to show how the Pioneer 2 Flagon G was coming. If there’s any project that really wallows in the spirit