Space Craft

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.

First introduced in 1972, the Mi-24 “flying tank” is the first Soviet helicopter capable of transporting cargo and troops without compromising its attack capabilities.

1) Included in the kit are:

2) The canopy was carefully masked over before brush-on primer was applied.

3) Individual parts were painted before assembling.

5) This is the assembled model with decals added:

6) To finish off, a layer of dark wash was applied to accentuate the panel lines and protect the 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.

The A350 is the first Airbus airliner with wings and fuselage made primarily from carbon fibre. Compared with traditional materials, carbon fibre is lighter and more robust. Thereby reduces fuel consumption and the cost of maintenance. Furthering fuel efficiency is the adaptive wing design. In mimicking the movement of birds, the wings can change shape whilst in flight to achieve maximum aerodynamic efficiency.

1) Included in this kit are:

2) The plastic components were pieced together to ensure everything fits. Test fitting the parts helps to work out which parts need painting and which are going to be covered up. This ensures that paints are not wasted and joints won’t be clot by layers of unnecessary paint.

4) Once the fuselage was glued together, the model was primed. Revell Color Stop was applied to mask out the windows before the primer was sprayed on. This is a white gel that turns clear when dried. After priming, the gel was peeled off.

5) Decals were added to the model before a layer of varnish was applied to protect the paint and blend in the decals.

6) Here is the finished plane: