Jake, Author at build.

Replicating metal tracks on plastic

While scratchbuilding may make you feel like a god, making plastic look like real metal is a sign of reaching all-powerful status. Dramatic? Yes. Well deserved? Yes. Or at least I think so... I'm working on the Takom Mk. 1 Male and am about to start painting the hull. But with the house up for sale and me spending a lot of time at the fiance's house, smaller bite size projects tend to take precedent. Such was the case this weekend when I started working on painting and weathering the tracks. (Very nice click tracks, by the way) Step 1: Primer I sprayed my standard Touch n' Tone on the tracks and left them to dry and cure for a few days. Step 2: Airbrush base color Using my airbrush, I sprayed a haphazard pattern across the entire run of tracks (repeating all the rest of the steps for right and left [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00October 3rd, 2016|Random thoughts|0 Comments

Working away….

Modeling makes my mind calm. There's several types of activities that help me pull my brain out of the haze and stress of daily life... photography, video games, etc. But there's something about modeling that's different, I think because it results in a physical creation. I've been working on the Alliance Modelworks FAMO mit Flak conversion for a couple months now, and I banged out the construction of the Takom Mk. 1 Male and Takom Big Bertha kit over the summer. My house is staged for house showings (it's for sale and on the market), so having a spray booth/painting setup in the model room has been near impossible. Or at least highly inconvenient. So I've not done much painting lately. But that all changed over the weekend. I actually finished construction on the FAMO and primed and rust/primer basecoated the FAMO and Mk. 1. I never really realized how dang many [...]

By Jake|2016-10-03T21:57:48-05:00October 3rd, 2016|Random thoughts|0 Comments

Scratchbuilding makes you feel like a god

In my modeling career, I've not done a ton of scratchbuilding. The occasional fix or replacement part here and there, but not full blow scratchbuilding of full units. But this week, I've spent several evenings playing around with replacing the poorly molded bench seats for my Sd. Kfz 9 FAMO mit Flak build. It's not perfect, and I may rebuild this one to get the spacing of the slats better, but I'm feeling pretty great. It's surprising how creating something out of nothing makes you feel like a modeling god! My only disappointment is that try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to get the "wave" in the bench seat, so I just made it flat instead. (By "wave", I mean that if you look at it from the side, it's an S shape) And so I can remember in the future, I used Evergreen strip and rod in [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00September 17th, 2016|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

Friday Finds: September 16, 2016

It’s been a while, so stand by! Tutorial: Creating realistic metal pipes Photo studio upgrade The world’s largest model railroad Take a ride on 9 of the world’s best model railroads Build log of an amazing project: Faun L900 6x4 tank transporter (with some great reference photos!)

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00September 16th, 2016|Fun Finds|0 Comments

Lost in Shangri-La [VIDEO]

Another fun find! Lost in Shangri-La: A Story of Survival and Rescue during World War II from Virginia Historical Society on Vimeo.

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00September 15th, 2016|Fun Finds|0 Comments

Where in the hell did that stash come from?

Yeah, it was bound to happen sooner or later... my stash is out of control. Given that I've only been back in the hobby for 4 years, it seems ludicrous that I've gotten to this point. I travel regularly, and it's too damn easy to stop in the local hobby shops and check out the deals. Add to that purchasing another modeler's stash... and BAM! Big stash! I think I'm going to have to start clearing things out, especially considering I'm moving in a few months. But that process sounds even worse than packing up and moving extra stuff.

By Jake|2022-10-24T10:45:59-05:00September 13th, 2016|Random thoughts|0 Comments

Monday giveaway: BMW R75 German Motorcycle

UPDATE: Given the minimal response, I'm extending through the weekend! It's been a while, but I'm back with another Monday Giveaway! This time I'm giving away a Tamiya BMW R75 German Motorcycle with Side Car. Here's the rules for this time around: Share your favorite tip/trick related to scale modeling Points for the quality of the tip (depth, detail, etc.) and uniqueness of the tip You have to post in the comments of this post by Wednesday midnight CST. I'll pick a winner shortly after that and send out the kit. Be sure to leave your email address so can contact you if you win! Good luck!

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00September 12th, 2016|Contests|4 Comments

Interviewing Jake

This is a bit strange, but I’m going to try it anyway. I’ve seen this interviewing technique done elsewhere and it always seemed fun. So here we go… Jake interviewing Jake. 1. How long have you been modeling and what got you into the hobby? I started when I was in middle school, some 25+ years ago. I did most of my “first round” building in high school. I even entered (and placed, as a junior) in a number of shows. This was back when materials were mainly what you found or repurposed, after market kits almost all came from Verlinden and a small number of cottage industry companies. My “dark ages” story is pretty typical: went to college, had a roommate, limited space, time, and interest in things other than girls and grades. In 2000, I went to work for LEGO doing Web development and fan relations. (I worked with [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00September 11th, 2016|Random thoughts|0 Comments

That time I drove a FAMO (or pretended to)

Jealous?

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00September 10th, 2016|Random thoughts|0 Comments

Great new cutters for metal track assembly

Friul tracks are great… the metal weight shows just the right amount of sag, the details are super realistic, and the way you can naturally “rust” the metal makes them fantastic. But assembly can be … tedious and often troublesome. I wrote a long how-to article about this topic a while back. But one of the things I’ve struggled with is cutting the pins that bind each track link together. Each type of track is much different in design. A modern track link is much different than a German WWII Sd Kfz 9 is much different than a German Sd Kfz 11. Because of that, I’ve found that a strong brass wire can be better than a softer spooled wire like Friul included with the tracks. But either way, there’s a challenge to assembling the tracks: how do you cut a bunch of precise length pins? Some people put a longer [...]

By Jake|2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00September 10th, 2016|Reviews|0 Comments

sink

About Jake