YOUR WEEKEND WRAP-UP…

Though it’s not my usual fare (indeed, had it not been for TMMI, I doubt I would ever have built it…) I have so say that I’m really enjoying this little ambulance and the possibilities that is offering in terms of detail, and finish.

Morning everyone!

With the news breaking yesterday that Tamiya are going to release a brand-new 1/48 F-35A (an update on which you can read here) I didn’t really have the chance to wrap up this week’s shenanigans, so thought I’d better do it this morning!

I mentioned earlier this week that my focus over much of October would centre on the latest addition to my Century Series collection (Monogram’s F-100D) as well as the new Airfix K2Y Ambulance, a recent addition to their 1/35 range of WWII vehicles. Both of these builds are now in train, so I feel it’s okay to talk a little about them here, even if the discussion around the ambulance is abridged somewhat by its ‘review kit’ status.

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MONOGRAM F-100D SUPER SABRE: WORK BEGINS…

The week began with that F-100. Having already cleared its completion for a feature in an imminent edition of Model Airplane International magazine (done so, in case Brett wanted something else and I had to shelve the F-100 until his replacement choice was complete) I tackled some of the sub-assembly work. Being rather more traditional in places than its forbears, I could at least deal with items such as the interior parts, cockpit, wings, tanks and underwing stores and then give some thought to the fuselage breakdown and the tricky lateral seam that I discussed in the Century Series update penned earlier this week.

In the main, I was rather impressed with the fit of the parts, with only the awful silver plastic that the kit was moulded in, giving me cause for concern. The kit that sits on my bench was kindly gifted to me by my good friend Mike Reeves (he of Phase Hangar Resin Accessories) and as such, replicates one of the Thunderbirds jets. This being the case, it differed from the other two kits in my collection, one of which is moulded in dark green, the other in pale grey.

“So, my dear boy, why not use them instead?”

Well, simply put, I started both and they are not quite what I wanted for the feature, so using a clean slate to hopefully prepare this latest feast of jetty goodness, seemed like a good idea! But I can’t get past that plastic. I’ve never been a fan of silver plastic in any kit – as indeed have I not, black plastic for similar reasons – but in this one, the issues seem to be particularly egregious thanks to it’s overwhelming sheen you can see in the image below.

The parts are like mirrors, so it’s almost impossible to see if I’ve cleaned up edges, burrs and seams. Rubbing the parts down with Scotchbrite as above, has helped dull everything a little, but even with that preparatory step, frustrations remain. I’ll not really know how successful my clean-up has been until I apply some paint to the model, so in the meantime I’ll just have to put up and shut up and get on with things I can deal with, rather than worrying about things I can’t!

Parts prep aside, I will split the wing as discussed in that previous update, as will I, look at finishing the jet in sprayed aluminium lacquer rather that it being ‘natural metal’. Misgivings still persist in terms of the decals though, the quality of the Microscale sheet I’d planned to use, still not reassuring me enough to travel the path I’d initially considered. I may change my mind, but it’s looking more likely that I’ll build a Vietnam-era machine instead, Furball’s superb set of decals being my more than adequate fallback position, if Toliver’s ‘Triple Zilch’ doesn’t make it to the finishing line.

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AIRFIX 1/35 K2Y AMBULANCE: INITIAL THOUGHTS…

Having begun the week with thoughts of aggressive, supersonic fighter bombers, I ended it with a rather more pedestrian subject in the form of Airfix’s K2Y Ambulance, or rather more pithily: their Katy.

Announced some time ago and then held up thanks to such trifling matters as a global pandemic, this new kit is something that I’m building for an in-depth feature in Tamiya Model Magazine International. As such, I can’t really discuss it in detail here, but a few thoughts won’t do any harm, the rest of my appraisal and build being seen in the December 2022 edition of that magazine.

This is a very nice kit! Though it’s not my usual fare (indeed, had it not been for TMMI, I doubt I would ever have built it…) I have so say that I’m really enjoying this little ambulance and the possibilities that is offering in terms of detail, and finish. Detail is really well-done, moulding quality superb and in the main, the kit fits well and is easy to build. Sure, there are some, shall we say, interesting steps within the instructions that seem destined to make like harder rather than simplifying the process, but so far, so good.

As it stands, the model is completely built and everything is ready to paint. The kit includes decals that allow you to build four different machines, two in overall green, one in a ‘Caunter’ scheme and the final one in overall pale sand. Though I like the idea of the two North African vehicles, I really wanted to create a little vignette and as I have no figures from that theatre of operations and do have from Northern Europe, I consigned those to the ‘what might have been’ pile and decided on a late-war Katy bedecked in lots and I mean lots, of Red Cross markings.

In terms of finish, I’m planning to push the colours and details on this model much as I did with the Archer that you saw earlier this year. With thoughts of that little vignette in mind, I might once again paint it with a single point of light as the focus, pushing the highlights and shadows along the way as seen in my completed Archer diorama, below. It might not make too much sense to see the vehicle on its own like this, but hopefully my approach will come together as the surroundings are completed. All I can say is that I hope this works, as this model has to be finished by the 11th of this month, so that doesn’t give me much time for things to go wrong…

See you next time.

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