New Model Army

I've always been a 1:72/1:76 modeller, this was, because of space and cost, much more appealing to me.  Plus there is a lot of choice from many manufacturers, especially in the aircraft ranges.  So for 3 years I have happily glued away creating hundreds of  small models which I have been really happy with.  Ok one or 2 were not the best detailed or didn't have the most accurate parts but with them being so small I was quite happy with them.  Don't get me wrong, I like an accurate model, if it doesn't look right I will not be happy with it but for the most part I have been happy.

I was then tasked with producing a 1:48 Sea Vixen (the new Airfix kit available here http://www.ehattons.com/36930/Airfix_A11002_Hawker_Siddeley_Sea_Vixen_with_RNAS_marking_transfers/StockDetail.aspx) for display in Hatton's.  This was my first foray into another scale but I have to say I enjoyed it immensely! I still have not quite finished the transfers but that is for another blog.  I was then also tempted by the 1:48 Seafire, the folding wings being the biggest draw, and I bought one, and again it is sitting half finished.  But that was it for the larger scales for the time being.  But then I saw a 1:35 Tiger Tank......

Well that was about 2 months ago and since then I have built up a small stash of 1:35 models.  The Tiger was followed by a Kettenkrad and a BMW R.75, then a SdKfz 251 all Tamiya.  Next came some Academy figures and finally I have some more Tamiya figures and a Panzer II.  I was very surprised when I first opened the Tiger to find a figure inside.  I have had a few figures in 1:72 kits but they have been bundles and not a standard issue.  But of course I jumped straight in and built most of the tiger.  Another first for me was the use of brass overlays on the outside.  This was to represent Zimmerit (anti magnetic) coating present on these late Tigers.

It was a bit of hit and miss but the brass went on fine.  It was me rather than the overlays that were the dodgy part!

So this has been sprayed in yellow and had the wheels attached, these have been painted fully on the sprue so they look better when added.  But of course my interest soon turned to the other models I had bought, namely the Kettenkrad and the BMW R75.  They were fully painted on the sprue before construction as painting things like the engine when they were constructed would have meant lots of masking.  They went together like a dream and I was massively impressed with the result.

The R75 and Kettenkrad, both still need weathering and some tiny transfers but are completely painted and detailed.

The Kettenkrad was made up with the driver and this was my first figure for 1:35.  I loved the fact he was built up from parts rather than one moulding as this meant he could be made to go exactly into the unit rather than having to chop away to make him fit.  Being a lager scale it was also very easy to paint him!  From this I also decided to move on to some of the other figures I had.  I wanted some who were not in battle poses but either standing or walking.  I found these in the Kettenkrad and Academy sets I had and these are the results.

L-R Tamiya, Academy x2, Tamiya x2

The Academy figures in the greatcoats were easy to paint and detail.  I do not mask any of my figures and all detailing is done on the sprue before adding.  This stops paint bleeding onto other parts and spoiling the overall look of the figure.  Again these need to be weathered but this will come later.  The 2 figures in the Splinter A camouflage were by far the hardest to paint so far, they required 5 different colours and a bit of artistic licence but I think the overall effect looks good and will look even beter after a quick weather and wash.

So 1:35 looks set to be my new modelling line for military.  I will still do other things and no doubt another new line will come along soon to change my direction again but for now I'm happy increasing my piles of plastic with slightly bigger lumps than usual!