SPA Modeler

John, this is the most outstanding 1/72 scale model I've seen to date! I seriously cannot see where you had any lack of expertise in anything! I wish I had your "lack" of expertise! The comparison shot with the larger one is surely proof, it looks the same stunning quality as the larger one. Nice job shooting the two together. I am so glad you do not compete in contests; especially in my chosen scale. I barely have any chance of winning anything already with all the Masters here; this would surely knock me out of contention every time. You seriously have no reason to doubt your skills and abilities; they work perfectly in ANY scale!

What Mark said. Big times!

tempestjohnny wrote:John what you did in this scale is incredible. The paint work is museum quality. Seeing your work in this scale is humbling and also motivating at the same time

Thank you Johnny! One of the things that happened on this build was the utilization of what I first considered a mistake. For example, the paint repair area on the starboard side next to the fuselage cross was done in a few steps. Because my application of gloss coat over the decals was not consistent, the pastel wash caused some irregular stains. I rubbed out most of it and then further lessened the stain by spraying a very light coat of the base color over it. The stain remains but it now looks more "integrated" into the overall weathering. I would even say that the area of paint repair looks more authentic because of my mishap.


The resultant "layering" effect using stains and slight color mismatches is interesting to me and something that I may incorporate more regularly into my builds in the future.

Medicman71 wrote:Absolutely incredible work!!!

Thanks Doc! I appreciate it!

Duke Maddog wrote:John, this is the most outstanding 1/72 scale model I've seen to date! I seriously cannot see where you had any lack of expertise in anything! I wish I had your "lack" of expertise! The comparison shot with the larger one is surely proof, it looks the same stunning quality as the larger one. Nice job shooting the two together. I am so glad you do not compete in contests; especially in my chosen scale. I barely have any chance of winning anything already with all the Masters here; this would surely knock me out of contention every time. You seriously have no reason to doubt your skills and abilities; they work perfectly in ANY scale!

Thanks Duke! I really appreciate your positive comments and it motivates me to do even better. More than actual modeling skills, I believe that the most important thing that drives my work is passion. I want to be passionate about what I am doing. If the passion is not there, I cannot sit at the work bench and crank out model after model. It comes to a screeching halt when I lose that drive.

No model contests for me. Honestly, I'm not really attached to the models after they are finished. It's all about the process. And I document that process with photos and take nice quality shots of the model after I'm done. So I don't feel a need to keep these models. The commission arrangement was initially motivated by a desire to get rid of my finished models.

mostrich wrote:
What Mark said. Big times!

Thank you Torben! Always appreciate your support!

John, your passion shows in all you do. I'd even venture that it screams out loud. And the explanation of the stain repair once again shows your overwhelming expertise and capabilities, even when it is a mistake. And yeah, I'm glad that you don't compete; it gives us mediocre guys a bit more faint hope! LOL!

I don't think you've got any kicks coming with that one John. Whether it's not in your normal realm or not you did a bang up job on the painting, weathering and detailing in my book. It's just a shame that you couldn't show us what's under the hood of that bad boy.

Man, that's nice work John! Beautifully done in any scale!

mustang1989 wrote:I don't think you've got any kicks coming with that one John. Whether it's not in your normal realm or not you did a bang up job on the painting, weathering and detailing in my book. It's just a shame that you couldn't show us what's under the hood of that bad boy.

Yeah, that would have been possible. I've seen other guys add resin engines that were detailed to the nines in this scale. Still, that does not take away from this outstanding Masterpiece!

Duke Maddog wrote:John, your passion shows in all you do. I'd even venture that it screams out loud. And the explanation of the stain repair once again shows your overwhelming expertise and capabilities, even when it is a mistake. And yeah, I'm glad that you don't compete; it gives us mediocre guys a bit more faint hope! LOL!

Thanks Duke!

mustang1989 wrote:I don't think you've got any kicks coming with that one John. Whether it's not in your normal realm or not you did a bang up job on the painting, weathering and detailing in my book. It's just a shame that you couldn't show us what's under the hood of that bad boy.

Technically, there IS a Jumo engine in there. I don't think I would've exercised it even if it were available but IBG offers no option of open engine panels. So the engine simply functions as a fancy mount for the exhausts.

Gary Brantley wrote:Man, that's nice work John! Beautifully done in any scale!

Thank you Gary! I appreciate it!

Duke Maddog wrote:Yeah, that would have been possible. I've seen other guys add resin engines that were detailed to the nines in this scale. Still, that does not take away from this outstanding Masterpiece!

Now that would be CRAZY to see! I'm going to satisfy the exposed engine bug on my Tempest build but it is at a more manageable 1/32 scale.

Yeah it was crazy! I wish I still remembered which of the other four Forums I frequent that had his build log. Gee, I can't even remember what his screen name was! Still, the work he did is burned into my memory.