SPA Modeler

Thanks Carlos!

Stikpusher wrote:Ah yes... opposable thumbs. We take them for granted, and don't realize hoe important and special they are until they are taken out of the equation. Get well quick my friend.

Yeah what he said

Thanks Johnny!

I tend to get overwhelmed with multiple projects are going on...how do you keep your bench organized??

CallSignOWL wrote:I tend to get overwhelmed with multiple projects are going on...how do you keep your bench organized??

In effect, I have two benches: one I work off of, and another that I stack my in-progress models on. I place everything that fits back in the original box along with the instructions and decals; the rest goes on shelving above the bench. The box gets closed and placed on the second bench where I pull out the next one to work on. Once I have seven or eight models staged for painting, I'll pull out the airbrush, turn on the compressor and start painting everything one by one with whatever color is first needed. Then I clean the brush and move on to the second color if possible. Then I clearcoat. After I have everything ready for weathering; I'll pull out the powders and airbrush colors for weathering and go to town to finish everything.

Above my bench I have the arm of a light fixture that crosses over the top. That is where I clip my instruction sheets with clamps. Keeps them off the bench and easily readable.


And then there's Hobby Day. I have plenty of room to stretch out over there, but the majority of my work is construction and hand painting. Same principle though; I just put the closed boxes back in my carrying box before pulling out another kit.

I hope this helps. Now after describing this so much, I am eager to get into the Hobby Room and see if I can actually do anything.

Stay tuned.

Okay, now that my hand is feeling a little better, and before I temporarily lose the use of it again after my surgery; I wanted to show some of the progress I've made.

I'll start with the RA-5C Vigilante I'm doing for Hippy Ed. I attempted a new way of doing the exhaust nozzles. I'm not too thrilled with the way they turned out:



Next I added the canopy parts so I could mask them off for painting:



Finally I decided to permanently attach the wings:



That's as far as I got with that one, except for a little sanding and fiddling with it. Later on, I masked the clear parts. When it was dry, I shot white where it's supposed to go. No pics of that as you can't really see in the pics where the white ends and the bare plastic begins.



Moving along, I also filled and sanded smooth the Leopold gun barrel and then added the rest of the gun carriage parts. It's not much, but it's a little bit of something. I set it next to an Exacto knife so you can see how big this gun is:





While that was set aside to dry, I spent several days trying to get these three German vehicles finished. Starting with the Fuchs, all I needed to do was add the two sections of outer wheel (which I'd glued together earlier). Turns out I glued the middle pieces on backwards due to the poor illustration on the instruction sheet, so I had to cut out part of the center sections like so:




It worked. I was able to put all the Fuch's wheels on and they all still turn. I then added all the final detail parts to this so I could finally weather it and call it done:



Meanwhile, I did the same to the Boxer APC. I got the remaining wheels on and also added some additional detail parts to this:





Finally, I added the last detail bits on this so I could finish the touch-up painting and get this finished:



Since I was also working on the Boxer command vehicle, I finished off the wheels on this vehicle, as well as added all the remaining detail pieces so I could get this finished at the same time as the Boxer APC:



After awhile, I was able to call all three of these vehicles done. You can see them in the Armored Forums. Feel free to check them out.

To "celebrate" my finished models, I decided to put together all the mules for the Borax Mule Team. Yes, there are twenty in this kit, feel free to count them:



The 'skinner' or driver is in the pic sitting on one of the mules and the 'swamper' or assistant is laying down in the left front of the pic. He is supposed to go on the rear wagon.


Okay, that is all I have right now for this week. I know it is a small update, but I'm only effectively using one and a half hands. I might be able to get more done depending on how long it will be before the surgery. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I have a couple pies to bake....



Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

Okay, after seeing the surgeon, he determined that I won't need surgery! He said to continue exercising the thumb and use it often. The metal fragments inside will be "walled off" by my body eventually.

So, I went into the kitchen to exercise my thumb by working on these:



They are for my church's Christmas Boutique and Bake Sale. Maybe later today I'll be able to get to my other workbench.

Are those 1/1 scale with complete interiors?

Stikpusher wrote:Are those 1/1 scale with complete interiors?

And can I decal them with Cool Whip

Duke Maddog wrote:Okay, after seeing the surgeon, he determined that I won't need surgery! He said to continue exercising the thumb and use it often. The metal fragments inside will be "walled off" by my body eventually.

So, I went into the kitchen to exercise my thumb by working on these:



They are for my church's Christmas Boutique and Bake Sale. Maybe later today I'll be able to get to my other workbench.

Uh, I think you just got a box of goodies.....should be worth a pie. Or two. Or three.