Faust

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

I can remember seeing silver painted ones at the London International Airshow back in the day a few times. I did see one white one at one of the couple Sarnia Airshows that Walsh put on (it might have been the same year as the Sea Fury crash, but I can't be sure). I've never seen a bare metal one, but I must be a wee babe, I guess, and they were before my time. 🙂

We all know that “retro modelling” is now a major force. We’ve seen the reissues and the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia have never been put to more use than now. There’s a lot of demand for repops of old, hard to get kits of weird, not-kitted-since subjects. I thought this was a new trend. I was surprised to find out just how “not new” it was when I got my big box of models in the mail from Alan. In that box, among all kinds of cool stuff, was a Hawk Hupmobile Runabout. This is certainly a subject you don’t find kitted today, and I wasn’t surprised to see it was from the mid ‘60

One of the hardest things about finally getting your hands on a “grail” kit is deciding if you’re good enough to build it. Well, at least that’s what I find. I used to always worry that I’d somehow screw it all up and be worse off than when I started. However, the more I model, the more I realize that grail kits are the ones I really should be building first. I mean, what’s the point in having something you’ve longed for if it’s just going to sit in a box, right? A perfect example is the Matchbox 1/76 LRDG set. I’ve wanted this Orange Range two-vehicle set since even before I beca

With all the travel restrictions and border closures, it’s not been easy to go on “hobby shop runs” this year. What with that, and there not being any model shows, and thus no vendor’s rooms, finding awesome old kits has proven to be a rather difficult sport since March. Thankfully, I have someone in my corner, it seems, as my good friend Alan emailed me that he was going to be sending me some kits he was sure I’d like. Well, he sure knows me well, because in the monstrous 4lb box-o-kits he send me were all kinds of great treasures! From Corvette Street Rods to biplanes and still

Oh man... Corolla-Nova flashback! I would kill for a kit of one of those. That may be among the saddest of the nameplate dustoffs... I'm not sure the Horizon is worse. Wait, yeah... you're right. It is. 🙂

Yeah, I'm thinking point defence is pretty much the name of the game. It's almost like a Jet Komet.... another conversion I did! Thanks for the compliments!

The fun part about modelling is that you can be as exacting or as imaginative as you want to be, depending on the subject. Normally, planes don’t lend themselves to much in the way of imagination, but there are plenty of niche types that offer some creative freedom. A perfect example of that is the realm of “Luft ‘46”. This umbrella covers real and conceptual aircraft that were being designed for the future Luftwaffe before the end of the War in 1945. Luft ’46 is one of my favourite subtopics, and in fact is the reason I got back into building plane models about 20 years ago. Early

As most of you know, when an old ‘70s kit gets repopped, I get pretty excited. That’s because, even though I love the old ones, they’re not easy to find, and I’d say about half of my “retro” car collection is reissues. However, sometimes I do get lucky, and I find an original, or an older reissue. That means that when the new repop comes along, I don’t have to worry about finding one, or at least finding one right away. 🙂 A perfect example is the Monogram (now Revell) 1/24 1978 El Camino. This was just reissued as a 3-in-1 kit, a repop of the “Lowriders” version, I believe. However

Everyone always gravitates to the cool, frontline equipment. It’s the fighters, the bombers and the tanks that get all the attention. However, there are a lot of other people and machines in the background doing what they have to in order to keep those “famous” guys going. A perfect example is the humble “gas truck” or “fuel tender”. In WWII, there was no aerial refuelling, and it was these guys that kept planes across the world gassed and ready to go. Sadly, despite their undisputed place in the hierarchy of logistical assets, they aren’t very widely known or even much thought ab

Oops! You would not believe (or, maybe you would!) the number of times I've mispelled "Flagon" in the last while! I'm amazed that was the only one that got through. Maybe it wasn't? Oh well, to be honest, it's not that far from a wooden outhouse...

It should come as no surprise to many reading this that I love obscure subject matter. From Gundams that almost no one has heard of to four-door vettes and planes that can barely get out of their own way, the odder it is, the better I like it. I also have a thing for two-seater variants of normally single-pilot aircraft. One of the lesser-known Russian planes of the Cold War is the Su-15 Flagon, despite its apparent penchant for shooting down airliners! As a typical “fast-and-pointy” ‘60s-era interceptor, it’s not really something I have a particular love for. However, if you talk

Man, I don't remember seeing kits in grocery stores. I do miss that you could pick up kits in what are now considered "weird" places. I miss being able to go to a department store and just seeing models out there as something for everyone. It's kinda sad. I know modern kits are way better, but it's nice to think there was a time when people were happy to try crafting something, even when it wasn't perfect.

I generally find that if a car has polarizing styling, and a lot of people find it weird or ugly, then I’ll be on the other side of the fence. A perfect example is the Mustang SVO – I love ‘em! I also have a thing for bug-eyed EXPs and 4-door Vettes, so take that for what it’s worth! One car I’ve always loved that fits in with these styling oddities is the Ford Sierra XR4i. We got them in North America as “Merkur XR4Ti”s, but they didn’t do very well. Still, I thought they looked awesome, and I haven’t changed my mind in the intervening decades. No surprise then that

As a big fan of older model kits, I have to say that I am a big fan of the retro-modelling craze that seems to be sweeping this great hobby of ours. I love that I can get repops (sometimes improved, sometimes not) of old stuff I missed out on. Sure, they’re not as great as a new kit, but they have their own charm. One kind of kit, though, that I never thought would fall into this “nostalgia boom” is the Gundam kit. Bandai has a penchant for “onwards and upwards”, constantly improving their Gundam kits so that there’s no need to get the old ones. However, it seems that there are ex

With all the sunny summer weather we’ve been having where I live, I’d sort of forgotten all about the grey, funeral skies of autumn and winter. However, thanks to the miracle of super-boring ‘80s interiors, I don’t have to worry about that anymore! I’ve been working on the Tamiya Sierra XR4i interior for the last bit, and it’s all finished up now. However, I can’t say it’s the world’s most exciting “front office”. When you compare it to the coloured interiors that some cars got in its time, the Sierra’s flood of grey-on-grey action is pretty bland. However, I did get to use more g

When it comes to armour, I prefer the smaller scale stuff. However, I assumed that meant 1/72 or 1/76! A few years ago, I ran across a two-pack of 1/144 tanks from Dragon. They reminded me of Micro Machines, and I thought they looked fun, so I bought them on impulse. I’ve been picking them up ever since, whenever I encounter them! Since there are no model shows this year (thanks, Covid…), and the Canada/US border is closed (in Ontario, at least), there’s no real chance to get “hauls” at shows or hobby shop runs. However, I decided to create a “pseudo haul” by getting all my 1/144 t

Well, to be honest Bill, let's face it; it would be two people going kinda fast-ish, or four people going slower. Those late '70s and early '80s Vettes weren't "Warp 9"-capable or anything like that. They were, like everything else, just boulevard cruisers. Of course, the America IS the boulevard, but that's besides the point, right? And yes... Chevy seems to be a good answer, or at least good enough for government work! WHAT?? Models in Kroger's? That's awesome! I remember them in the department stores like Woolco, Zellers and K-Mart, but I don't recall them in groc