MODELMAKER’S LIFE: RESIN KITS, A LACK OF PATIENCE AND MEMORIES OF DAYS LONG GONE…

Maybe I’m just having one of these days and maybe tomorrow, my patience will return. I just can’t help but wonder if I was asked to carry the load that I did back in the Nineties – even if I was that age once more – whether or not I would do so with the enthusiasm that I once had.

24th February 2025

An up and down day today that has swung from dealing with the Anson article that is now in Brett Green’s inbox, through to work on the Resin Scales Centurion AX and all points in between. I even had to deal with another upcoming blood test which is playing on my mind a little, but that can wait until another day…

Today has been something of a collection of memories, most of which have been driven by my music choices. Wistful reminders of warm summer days in 1994 have been drifting around my brain as I tried to complete the more mundane tasks that today threw up. I was also reminded of the work that I carried out back then, both as a young author trying to find my feet in the world of professional modelmaking and then, from 1997 onwards, as the editor of Military in Scale, the magazine that I helped steer, until its demise in 2012. But what was it that sparked those memories? Resin kits, that’s what. 

Back in the day, it was not unusual for me to build resin kits for MIS. In fact, during those first few years, I built way more resin kits that standard plastic offerings, the then editor Ian Young, often asking if I would tackle this that or the other, full resin or mixed-media armour kit. I must have built dozens of them. And I was quick as well. They often seemed to take pretty much the same amount of time as any other build, the smaller number of parts that many contained helping to get projects quickly over the finishing line, so that monthly pages could be filled up as needed.

Though memories fade as mists of time fill in blanks that were not there to begin with, I’m sure I enjoyed them as well. I can’t imagine taking them on with such frequency if that was not the case. Of course pennies were exchanged for the work, so that might have helped to smooth a path to my acceptance of yet another resin, white metal and etched kit, even when there may have been easier offerings on the table. So yeah, I’m sure I enjoyed them. I no doubt liked as well, the kudos that came with being able to build and keep model kits that I had zero chance of being able to afford, were I not building them for MIS. Yeah, I liked that as well.

Time though has somewhat dulled my enthusiasm for such things and my patience, overflowing as a twenty-something, is now, as a man in his mid-fifties, in rather shorter supply. Fun armour kits in resin are now nowhere near as easy and straightforward to me, as they once were.

In theory though, I should like full resin kits. I use a lot of this material as part of other builds, so it’s not like I don’t have the wherewithal to get the best from them. They are though, shall we say, less straightforward and I’m all for an easy life. Building a plastic kit is easy. Cut the parts away from the runners, clean them up a little, dab on some glue, drop the parts in place. All done. With mixed media kits, that ease of assembly is replaced with the need to clean up parts, cover yourself in dust and then use adhesives rather than solvents, superglues and epoxy, replacing Extra Thin Cement. Sure, the detail is often higher and complexity greater, but these days I feel that offset in complexity and pleasure, not really worth it.

Maybe I’m just having one of these days and maybe tomorrow, my patience will return. I just can’t help but wonder if I was asked to carry the load that I did back in the Nineties – even if I was that age once more – whether or not I would do so with the enthusiasm that I once had. Would I want to build another Accurate Armour Scammell Commander? Would I be happy to construct two Conquerers in one month? Would that 1/48 Scammell Pioneer, loaded with a Sherman Firefly, ever have been finished? We’ll never know, but it’s fun to reminisce over such things and wonder if in 30 years from now, I’ll look back on today with all of the changes that our hobby will no-doubt undergo, and wonder the same things all over again.

See you tomorrow. 

TODAY’S MUSIC CHOICES…

Cud: Showbiz

The Family Cat: Magic Happens

Revolver: Cold Water Flat

• A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: STILL UNWELL…
• A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: LURGY, LEGO AND A TAMIYA TOMCAT…
• A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: UNWELL…
• A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: SNOW DAY AND FAMILY…
• A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: STUDIO REBUILDS AND WHY I CANNOT WORK IN A MESS…

1. 

   Hope you feel better soon!

2. 

   My home in Sweden this evening. 25-30 cm snow, all within 24 hours.

3. 

   That certainly resonated with me Spencer, my work area is invariably a tip and also working on one kit at…

4. 

   With respect, disappointment is when you get beaten when a victory was on the cards. It’s known as supporting Brentford…

5. 

   Ah… where the magic happens! Looking really great Spence; mine is overdue a good looking at.