Faust

One kind of modelling that has always been near and dear to my heart is “What If” stuff. I love project aircraft (particularly Luft ’46, but others too) and weapons of all sorts. Of course, What If can encompass a whole range of things, from Nazi UFOs to simply applying some different markings to a particular vehicle to represent it in an alternative service or capacity in which it was never found. The one kind of What If that’s pretty hard to come by, though, is a “real” What If. In other words, hardware that was developed, but only barely made it into prototype or limited production but didn’t get used. One example of this is the Bachem Natter; the Ba-349 was produced in small numbers, and was deployed in Operation Krokus. However, Natters never saw action (much to their pilots’ relief, I’m sure) and while a few were captured, nothing ever became of them. To go along with such a rare “real” What If, Brengun made another “real” What If kit – the wooden trailer/launch rail that was supposed to be used for launching the Natter! This is a really weird kit, and is, very unusually for me, a resin model. However, since I do like Natters, I thought it would be cool to build it. Check it out at the link below, and you’ll see how you can probably imagine a couple of other uses for it too! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/brengun-1-72-natter-trailer-launcher/

I never think I'll leave empty handed, and I don't think I ever will! There's always something interesting there; books, kits, tools... too hard to pass up some of the deals! :)

Wow! Those are some impressive Scammels! See what I mean about the Dinky being a bit short on detail, but definitely good on heft?! I'm shocked there are so many who know the vehicle, actually!

Heck yeah! I'd say half my stash is from vendor rooms. Better than any hobby shop, since they'be usually got the full width and breadth of subjects and ages! Still one of my favourite places!

Man, that's some cruddy paint work! My dad's '76 Torino had to be repainted at least once or twice, I remember. Rusted like it was parked underwater. "Good old days" indeed! Sheesh...

Oh, was that one of the 80-81 T-birds? you know, the weird square ones? I know they weren't very popular for a number of reasons! Even though I'm not a huge truck guy, I do like the old '80s Broncos. Do you remember the colour of the interior on that one?

There’s nothing like a good Model Show vendor’s area to separate my money from my wallet! Last weekend (March 23) was the HeritageCon 13 in Hamilton, Ontario’s Warplane Heritage Museum. This is a great show, and there were lots of vendors there plying their wares. Of course, I managed to find the real treasures! Matchboxes and Snap Fit ‘80s trucks among others were filling my trunk on the way home. Check out my weekend’s take below, and try not to be too jealous! There’s a poll, to as to which one is your favourite. I might review the winner sooner than the others, so don’t forget to vote! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/heritagecon-13-haul-march-2019/

Nice! You sure did a lot of work on it! That kinda scares me, but hey.... what can you expect from an Mbox!? Congrats to making it to the end! :)

I think it will be a fun, and frustrating build, all at once. In other words, Pure Matchbox. Gotta love anyone who kits the RF-101B! Thanks, guys, for the compliments. As for seeing the box in stores, I don't really remember seeing too many Matchboxes in stores. In Ontario, there were a lot of Hobbycraft kits. However, a local store was (and still is!) owned by a British fellow, so there were lots of Airfix and Matchboxes to be had there!

During the early days of the jet age, there were some false starts and some real gems. Sometimes, those that didn’t get a chance to shine, like the McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo, got to take a second run at it. In the case of the “second” Voodoo, the F-101, it seemed that the stars had aligned and everything would be good to go. In fact, the Voodoo was only somewhat successful at a couple of its intended roles, really only finding a place as a recce bird. That design, however, created another, still different Voodoo; the F-101B was the interceptor model with two seats, more powerful engines/afterburners and even the Genie nuclear rocket! I personally like this form a lot better, as I can remember seeing Canadian Voodoos at airshows when I was a kid. They were loud and fast, and with all that fire out the back, it was a guaranteed hearing-loss-induced-fun kind of day on the airfield! Those who know me know I love Matchbox kits, so when I came across the Matchbox F-101F (two-holer trainer) that could also be built as a Canadian CF-101, I was ecstatic! Check out this questionably detailed, but undeniably epic kit below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-mcdonnel-douglas-f-101f-rf-101b-cf-101b-voodoo-out-of-box/

When I started my model site, The Sprue Lagoon, I didn’t really know what it was going to be like, or how long I’d stay at it. As a result of the site, though, I’ve managed to make all kinds of new connections, and it’s really become an important part of how I model. I take great pride in finding and reviewing both interesting, and completely oddball, subjects. One thing I’ve found since I started it back in 2012 is that I now often think “Would that be a fun kit to review?” before I even think of “Would that be a fun kit to build?” I have changed the way I think to try and take what everybody out there in “internet land” might like to see or find interesting. As it turns out, this has led me down a number of interesting roads, and continues to do so. Seven years after starting the website, I have reached a milestone I didn’t even think was possible – 250,000 hits. That’s big for a site just made by one dude and his model stash, I think. I wanted to have a bit of a celebration for it; do something special, something a bit bigger than usual. Well, thankfully, I found just the thing! A couple of years ago, I managed to get my hands on what is still the biggest car kit in my inventory, a 1/16 Street Van called “Movin’ Out”. It is a wild, wild “big rig show van” in the most overdone tradition of both the late ‘70s Vannin’ craze, AND the late ‘70s taste for humungous pieces of styrene! I thought that it would be a fitting thing to present at this milestone occasion; a big review of a big kit on a big day. Check it out at the link below. Thanks, to everybody, who’s helped make my site successful, and has made my modelling far more fun and interesting than I’d have ever thought possible. Just like this van, you all rock! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/revell-1-16-movin-out-big-rig-street-van-oob/

Wow! Now I want to bust out my K-8! Actually, I sought out the K-8 specifically to do the light blue/dark grey cammo. I don't know if it will help, but I think I'm going to just make custom decals with a Testor's Ink Jet kit when I get to it (whenever that is). You can download graphics for most airforce roundels, and then just find a font that's close for call-numbers and print them out. Even if it's not perfect, it's what I will do when the time comes. A lot of decal companies are missing the boat when it comes to making insignia/number sets for some of these more esoteric subjects and little-seen air forces. Sadly, I don't know of a good commercial source, either.

Sometimes you get it… sometimes you don’t. We’ve all had off days, but it’s one thing to mess up on a model, and another to mess up creating the actual subject in real life! Well, despite their success with the Schneider Trophy races and the immortality of the Spitfire, it seems that, after WWII, the good folks at Supermarine just kind of threw in the towel. They went from creating some of the world’s fastest aircraft to creating one of the slower, more lacklustre and undeniably more porcine jets. Early jets, of course, weren’t all successes, but the straight-winged, tail dragging, chubby-boddied Attacker is one of the most prevalent losers of the immediate post-war jet cohort. Of course, because it’s such a substandard loser, I love it! It’s not just loser cars that get me going, total failures of aeronautics also make me smile! That’s why I was glad to get my hands on the Trumpeter Attacker! At the time, there was no good 1/72, so I was even willing to go up a scale and out of my normal comfort zone to build one! Check out the 1/48 Trumpeter Attacker at the link below, and let me know what you think! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/trumpeter-1-48-supermarine-attacker-f-1/

Don't weep for me. It could be way worse! :) At least it's a different subject you don't often see. I'd rather that than a tri-chevvy or a gasser; too many of those if you ask me. Now, is it going to be a pain? Yeah, I'm sure it will be! Will it tempt me to fling it against a wall? Sure will... several times, likely. Is it going to be awesome to have my own welfare-Nova in the collection of Dark Ages losermobiles? Hell's yeah!

When it comes to the Automotive Dark Ages, there are a few certainties you can almost always rely on. One of those is that it was a bad time to be a storied nameplate, because the chances of you surviving with your name intact was pretty much nil. That’s why I love that era, from about 1973 to about 1987 so much; the cars in it were so lacklustre and neutered that people can’t help but want to forget them. One good example is the Nova. While most people will choose to remember the late ‘60s and early ‘70s muscle-era pocket rockets, the truth is the Nova died a long and slow death, wasting away until replaced by the exciting, modern and much-ballyhooed Citation! (Nevermind it’s resurrection as a badge engineered Corolla…) For me, the thrill isn’t the early Novas that everyone remembers. Nope, it’s the cruddy, wheezy late models, the shadows of their former selves, that turns my crank. For that reason, I was very excited to finally be able to get my hands on a copy of Round 2’s version of the MPC 1979 Nova – Squad Rod! As if the last Nova wasn’t sad enough, the MPC attempt to create a Police Hot Rod is just, well… disquieting. Check out this loserly last stand at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mpc-1-25-1979-nova-squad-rod-out-of-box/