At the moment, I’m building the new Stuart for Tamiya Model Magazine, the kit being offered to me because I appear to have a something of a penchant for kits in this scale, especially those bedecked with tracks rather than wings.
Tamiya’s Stuart and why gluing everything in place before painting, might not have been a very smart idea…
13th January 2025
As part of my overwhelming desire to be noticed liked or relevant, I’ve decided to keep a daily diary during this year to give you good folks a better understanding, if indeed you actually give a flying monkey’s, of my daily routine and approach to my work.
I got up. Had coffee. Played some music. Weathered my new Tamiya 1/48 M5.
That’s it. That was my day.
Actually, it was slightly more involved than that. At the moment, I’m building the new Stuart for Tamiya Model Magazine, the kit being offered to me because I appear to have a something of a penchant for kits in this scale, especially those bedecked with tracks rather than wings. As such, I spent some time over Christmas putting the thing together, adding detail courtesy of Hauler, my spares’ box and various overflowing Tamiya accessory kits that seemed to only contain parts of little use after I’d used all the good bits for pervious builds. No matter, I am sure that the 150 jerry cans and 100 50 gallon oil drums will eventually come in handy, if I ever decide to build a fuel depot in 1/48.
Today was all about painting, a task made slightly more problematic thanks to my desire to glue everything in place, thus creating a single-part turret, hull and commander figure. Why I thought that was a good idea is anybody’s guess. Suffice to say that painting the wheels and tracks in place and hoping to get the paintwork to look like it was applied by a professional and not a squirrel armed with a yard broom, proved just a little taxing. Yes, I’d used this approach in years gone by, but I was younger then, my hands were steadier and my eyesight more up to the task of dealing with such tiny parts. Given my issues with painting this morning, I can now see why older modellers are starting to feel that 1/16 is less a one-off decision, and more a lifestyle choice going forward…
As it stands I have a painted model, now glossed, ready for the decals that I need to add to create a rather bland, anonymous vehicle, rather than something a little more specific. Gloss was of course applied because I enjoy the brickbats that fly my way every time I mention it, compounded of course by the use of Tamiya decals that cause similar levels of consternation. Maybe, I’ve just had good luck with them, or maybe, just maybe, they are perfectly fine when used correctly. There I go again…
Anyhoo.
Before singing off, I’ve had a day of music listening as well, the following albums thrilling my ears over the last few hours.
Tears for Fears: The Hurting, Sowing The Seeds Of Love & The Tipping Point
The Police: Zenyatta Modatta
Simple Minds: New Gold Dream.
See you tomorrow…
SPENCER POLLARD'S KIT BOX 
still looks brilliant Spencer.
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Must admit I was looking at this one in my local model shop a couple of weeks ago 🙂
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Good for u Spencer enjoy the music… certainly like some of yr selections… but Queen has to be my go to… when the old 68 yr eyesight can no longer focus on a zillion part 48scale cockpit or wheelwell… hello Eduard 😁
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It’s a lovely kit…. here’s my version….Sent from my Galaxy
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Hi,
Can you tell me if my copy of “Harrier; modelling an icon” is already shipped?
I ordered it on December 9th, you told me it was ready to ship on December 10th, but you suggested to hold it until after Christmas for the risk of it getting lost in between al the
Christmas mail and gifts.
I haven’t heard anything since then.
Kit was payed for with Paypal, transaction ID# 2D354300W54821344
I am very curious about it.
Kind regards,
Lex Zwetsloot
The Neterlands
+31(0)6 – 55 39 53 77
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Nice work, Spencer…and good choice of music. I’ve decided to listen to music more at the bench this year. See if it helps with my dismal production.
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My choices in music tend to run to classical genres of different periods, but music can sooth the savage beast….. This is a nice little kit – I bought two and I have two M8 Scott HMCs. For future reference, Djiti’s Production in France makes a very nice set of the T36E6 steel cleat tracks on the original 2nd AD M5A1 your model represents. It is an easy way to “customize” a model. As for the hands and eyes, welcome to my world, though you no doubt have very far to go to match my general level of decrepitude. I have no 3D depth perception close-up, which makes detail painting so much more interesting….. I like 1/48, but likely I won’t be doing interiors with all the tiny gadgets and details that need detail painting. When I do aircraft these days Yahu and Quinta Studios are my friends…..:-) I can build the suckers – just can’t paint them. I know you’ll pull this off and my hat is off to you for assembling the beast before painting. I have never ever considered doing that because the one time I did do it (on a ship model) it went into the bin….. I learned that I can paint ship models if they are “considerably larger” than 1/700. You give me inspiration in pressing on and I expect top be nailing kits together for some time – I’m 84 but Mom hit 99, so it’s full speed ahead.
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I will look forward to reading your daily thoughts. Thank you for sharing your space with us.
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Nice read. Just the ticket to get my day going.
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