Space Craft

We started this project towards the end of 2018. And yes, it has taken us over a year to finish!

“Well, what took you so long?” we hear an intrigued reader asks. We’re not sure either, but you see Rome wasn’t built in a day.

“Of course not! But you’re not building Rome, are you?” You must be the smartest person we’ve spoken with today because, yes, we have been building Rome!

Taking a welcome break from painting millions of minute Roman figures, we are building a Spitfire!

Our latest completed model is the Greek Hoplite – a common citizen-soldiers that can quickly take up arms to go to war. They are typically armed with a spear, shield, and sword.

1) Included in the kit are the sprues for the 1:16 figure, armour, weapons, decals and a base.

2) Here is the partially assembled model ready for priming.

3) The skirt was shaded with three colours, here is the finished outcome that we are particularly proud of.

4) This model came with some decals for the shield, but some details on the artwork are missing. For example the edge of the shield had to be drawn on and painted by hand.

5) Once all the parts were painted, they were varnished with a wash. Various shades were applied, for example, a flesh tone was applied to the skin and a purple/blue tone to the armour.

6) Another detail that was not included were the ropes inside the shield, lining the spear, and attached to the sword. To make the rope, we plaited together three threads (to add thickness) and glued onto the various parts using superglue.

7) Finally, we stuck the figure on to the base and added vegetation.

8) Here is our finished model:

Recently we worked on the Five-Story Pagoda from Microace. We don’t sell any Microace kits in the shop (sorry to disappoint), but it so nice that we had to show it off here.

This 1/250 kit consists of all you need to make your own mini Japanese garden. It comes with plastic sprues for the garden structures and seeds to grow the plants in the garden. In our built we decided against planting the seeds because keeping things alive, in general, isn’t one of our forte.

1) Included in the kit are: a base to hold the scenery, a pagoda, a bridge, the entrance and surrounding walls, and seeds.

2) We completed the main model as per the instructions. Instead of planting seeds in the area under bridge we decided to model a river.

3) To start off, we covered the river base with texture paint.

4) Next, we painted over the texture paint to create a realistic riverbed.

5) The riverbed was sealed with a layer of varnish then rocks and grass were added to the riverbank.

6) An even layer of Javis Simulated Water was poured onto the base and left to dry.

7) Here is the finished model.

Our latest build is the King Tiger from Meng World War Toons series – welcome to the world of cartoon tanks!

1) Included in the kit are the sprues, rubber tracks, and a small sheet of decal – which is a nice change from the Airbus A350.

2) This is a snap kit, the parts fitted nicely together but glue might handy for smaller parts.

3) The sprues come in grey, but we decided to prime it with a matt grey coat for a more realistic look. The finer details are picked out by hand.

4) In the final stage, decals are added. All the areas were nice and flat – no dramas here.

This is simple and straight forward kit, which can be built in an hour. The tank feels very sturdy, despite almost no glue was used.

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for some chibi cuteness. For in this project we are building an eggplane!

“Eggplane? You mean something that is edible and can be flown in?”

Well no….

“A vehicle that transports poultry away from the cruelty of mankind?”

What…? No!

“Please don’t tell me it’s just an egg-shaped plane?”

Without further ado, here is how we built our egg-shaped Mustang:

1. Inside the box, we were confronted with some chubby airplane parts.

2) The parts were cut out from the sprues and pieced together. We masked the canopy ready for priming.

3) We sprayed on an even coat of primer before we started painting.

4) Carefully we separated and painted the individual parts. Once all our parts were painted, we glued it back together and applied the decals.

5) Finally, the paint was sealed with a layer of varnish and our eggplane is ready to roll!

Best known for their role in the Battle of Britain, Spitfire Mk-I fought alongside the Hawker Hurricane to defend Britain against the Luftwaffe, and arguably changed the outcome of the war. Many variations of Spitfire were developed during WW2 to counter the ever-threatening German air force. Over 20,000 Spitfires were produced during the course of the war.

1. Included in the kit are:
   • Laser cut balsa parts
   • Plastic nose cowl, canopy, radiator, propeller, and wheels
   • Wire propeller shaft
   • Covering tissues
   • Decals

2. The frame was assembled using the building plan. Each basal piece was lined up with the drawing to ensure they were correctly placed.

3. Once the main pieces were glued together with wood glue, the stringers were cut to the required length and glued to the main frame. Here is the finished fuselage:

4. Building the wings was a slightly messy process. We made use of a few items available on hand to create the dihedral angle.

5. Here is the completed frame:

6. To cover the frame, the cover tissue was cut slightly large than each section and glued on with diluted wood glue. Finally, any excess tissue was trimmed off.

7. This is what it looked like after all the frames are covered, notice the winkles on the tissues:

8. We lightly sprayed water over it. Once dried, all the winkles are now removed. To protect the tissues, the frame was covered with a diluted layer of wood glue.

9. The plastic and additional parts are added. To make the rear windows, we used the paper and plastic film from an envelope. I’m told the plastic film from a tea cake box works well too, but can you imagine the awful process of eating the cakes inside?

10. The plane was painted with enamel.

11. Lastly, the decals and landing gears were added. Here is the finished plane: