Jake, Author at build.

Austin Scale Modeler’s Society 2013 Show

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Austin Scale Modeler's Society annual scale model show here in Austin. It was a fun show for both me and my 6 year old daughter. In addition to the girl, I brought along my new Nikon D600 to shoot some of the models. Since interior light at shows like this is notoriously bad, I thought I'd just grab a few shots to use as future build inspiration. Turns out, the claims from Nikon about the low light performance was no joke! Check out the images, and keep in mind these were all shot on the go, without a tripod, flash, or any other modifier. The show was great, and we had a lot of fun. Even walked home with a few raffle winnings...although I'm sure how to work in either 1/24 scale or 1/100 scale! Anyway, check out the photos below. Sorry I didn't [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00October 6th, 2013|Events|1 Comment

Days like this…

This is hilarious! We've all had days like this. (And wow, what a fantastic model!)

By Jake|2013-10-01T02:07:12-05:00October 1st, 2013|Fun Finds|0 Comments

World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together – The Daily Beast

This sounds like the setup for a very interesting new book, "The Last Battle". The battle for the fairytale, 13th century Castle Itter was the only time in WWII that American and German troops joined forces in combat, and it was also the only time in American history that U.S. troops defended a medieval castle against sustained attack by enemy forces. via World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together - The Daily Beast.

By Jake|2013-09-22T16:12:42-05:00September 22nd, 2013|Fun Finds|0 Comments

Austin Armor Builders Society – Annual Show 2013

This weekend, I headed to the local armor builders annual show. There was some great stuff there... sadly I walked off without my camera. I managed to get a few decent shots with my iPhone. There was a ton of great stuff, but two things stood out to me in particular. (Full gallery at the bottom of this post) This fantastic destroyed truck and amazingly detailed engine: This impressive diorama. It's not just the build quality (which is great), but it's the amazing story it tells: [fancygallery id="2" album="2"]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 21st, 2013|Random thoughts|0 Comments

GLORY. The largest archive of german WWII images’ Photostream

In case you build German armor and haven't seen this archive, head over there ASAP! Great, great collection of photos! Flickr: GLORY. The largest archive of german WWII images' Photostream

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 15th, 2013|Fun Finds|0 Comments

The Combat Workshop: Scale Modeling: Wrecked Imperial Walker – Finished!

Excellent diorama! The Combat Workshop: Scale Modeling: Wrecked Imperial Walker - Finished!

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 15th, 2013|Fun Finds|0 Comments

Yoda in the Hood

Hilarious! The Combat Workshop: Scale Modeling: Yoda in the Hood.

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 13th, 2013|Fun Finds|0 Comments

Sprue Cutters Union #7: My Significant Other

This week's Sprue Cutter's Union asks: How does your spouse (significant other) view your hobby? Quite simply, she's very supportive. She listens politely when I tell her intricate stories about how I managed to properly sand resin casting plugs without damaging the detail next to it. She has lovingly supported me taking over the office room and turning it into the modeling room. She doesn't get too irritated when I wait until she falls asleep so I can head back to the workbench. Hell, she even helped my daughter buy me a cool kit for Father's Day. Best of all, she doesn't tease me about this, the nerdiest of pursuits! I can't talk about how my wife thinks about the hobby without publicly thanking her for her loving support. She's far too good to me. --- Here's the rest of the Sprue Cutter's Union crew: Kermit's Bench David Knight's Weblog Mattblackgod's [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 12th, 2013|Sprue Cutters Union|0 Comments

I hate braille scale.

For Father's Day, my wife and daughter gave me a 1:72 scale Dragon Sd. Kfz. 263. It's a WWII German armored vehicle, so I was excited to start building it. I build exclusively 1:35 scale, so stepping out of my comfort zone was going to be fun experiment. Plus, I've been reading many articles about cool new 1:72 releases lately. In particular, I really want to build the Opel Omnibus, and since it's only produced in 1:72 scale right now, I had to dig in and learn something new. You know how sometimes a great theory turns out to be a frustrating reality? Yeah, I don't think I'm a 1:72 scale (also affectionally known as "braille scale") modeler. I was about halfway through this fun experiment when I realized that I wanted to turn in my xacto knife! The parts were small and lacked detail, the small part build was incredibly [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:35-05:00September 12th, 2013|Modeling thoughts|1 Comment