Modeling thoughts

2023 Recap: A productive year!

It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done any sort of blog/social media “year in recap” of my modeling work. Like a really long time. Mainly because my productivity and completed output has been, let’s say, minimal. But 2023 was a bang up year for finishing shit. At least by my standards. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, getting on Zoloft and quieting the inner voice of harsh personal criticism was a huge reasons for the productivity. As was finding new friends in the hobby and really spending time in the SMCG Facebook group. It was a perfect storm that came together to make some good things happen. 2023 was the Year of the Diorama for me… I finished one that had been in the works for several years, started and finished another for an existing unmounted model, banged out a cool vignette in record time, and made significant [...]

By |2023-12-29T19:44:16-06:00December 29th, 2023|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

The value of contests

I recently posted pictures of my high school era models. I noticed that several of them had ribbons/trophies next to them and it reminded me how much I loved the contests. They really had an impact on me. I wasn't trophy hunting for the sake of collecting, I was working hard to learn and grow and create something that would be recognized. It wasn't about the ribbon or the plaque, it was about the validation that what I was proud of was something that other people, talented modelers recognized as something "good". This meant a lot to me. I still remember the period of time where I didn't want to win in the Junior category, I wanted to compete (and almost certainly lose) in the main categories. With all the kerfuffle happening with the IPMS and judging and so many grumpy old men saying "it's just a plastic toy why are you [...]

By |2023-10-10T22:41:44-05:00October 10th, 2023|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

Building a digital stash and the future of model kit buying

Before my iPhone had immediate access to any song I wanted thanks to the iTunes store and my Apple Music subscription, before the iPod allowed me to turn my own CDs into portable music, there was Napster and my shiny new iRiver MP3 player. Finding and downloading music, ensuring it was a quality file (and actually the music I was expecting it to be), and getting it transferred to my device was a huge, massive pain in the ass. But I could see through the cracks in the clusterfuckery juuuuust enough to know that something cool was going to happen. For years before the iPhone and Apple Music, I kept saying to myself "one day this is going to be so damn easy I won't ever have to stop and think about it, it'll all just be there when I'm ready to listen". We're seeing through the cracks with 3D printing [...]

By |2023-10-06T13:02:05-05:00October 3rd, 2023|Modeling thoughts|2 Comments

My local hobby shop (King's Hobby) here in Austin recently had a sidewalk sale. I picked up a box of Tamiya M36 parts, including three top hulls. I'm actually pretty excited about these.... they're going to make great paint hulks to test and practice airbrushing on before they hit the real models. And the best part? They fit perfectly over a can of primer. So using empty primer cans as a holder, I can paint all to live long day. Yeah, it's the little things...

By |2016-10-03T22:54:35-05:00October 3rd, 2016|Modeling 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 |2016-10-29T19:09:30-05:00September 17th, 2016|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

My portable build studio

In the last few months, I’ve been spending more and more time at my finance’s house. I don’t have a dedicated workspace there, so I’ve created a portable build kit that I’m pretty damn proud of. I thought I’d share! I started with what I believed was the bare minimum footprint of tools and materials to be able to build a kit out of the box... not paint, weather, convert, etc. I’ve added items that were missing or that I found myself really needing for regular usage. It’s surprised me how much I can also remove (or re-org, as you’ll see) as well. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve discovered that whether in this portable build studio, or in my portable paint studio, the works starts in finding the right single transportation device for your necessary materials. Portability goes out the window if you’ve collected up a series of small [...]

By |2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00August 20th, 2016|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

Gorilla Glue Gel is Great

Holy mother of pearl, have I found something amazing. Gorilla Glue Gel. Have you tried it? No? Stop reading this and go order/buy/steal some of this stuff. It’s OK, I’ll wait.  My go to CA (super) glue has always been the Zap-a-Gap line. Whether the green thin, yellow thick, or even the purple foam, I’ve used them all. But as I’ve been working on the building the Alliance Modelworks FAMO mit Flak 88 conversion, the Zap products just weren’t working on the resin they’d used. (NOTE: Check back here shortly, I’m going to post some thoughts on that conversion kit) A while back, I’d grabbed several various brands of super glues at Lowe’s and they’d been sitting on the shelf. Out of frustration with the Zap, I grabbed the Gorilla Glue gel and BAM! Magic. Here’s why:  It worked. Whether resin to plastic, resin to resin, or resin to PE brass, [...]

By |2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00August 19th, 2016|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

It’s time to pay attention to Pinterest

When was the last time you found yourself on Pinterest.com? I’ve followed the rise of Pinterest for the last several years as it related to my job and personal interests around online social connection and networking. And my wife has been an avid user for some time now. But I never really thought much of the site for my personal interests, and certainly not as it related to scale modeling. Pinterest has held a reputation from the beginning as a “female oriented social network”, and until recently, this was a reputation with some amount of merit. After all, if you want to find cooking instruction, fingernail art, or scrapbooking content, for instance, there is no better place to look. Scale modeling content? Not much there for much of Pinterest’s life… until now. If you aren’t paying attention to Pinterest, you’re missing out. The next time you have a few extra minutes… [...]

By |2016-10-29T19:09:31-05:00August 18th, 2014|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

Interview: Jose Rodriguez of MiG Productions

Nearly a year ago, I connected with Jose Rodriguez of MiG Productions via email. I asked him to answer a few questions for the blog, and he kindly agreed. Interesting stuff, and I’m sure you’ll agree.  Thanks, Jose! Sorry it took me so long to get this published! --- Jake: Tell me about yourself...how did you come to start MIG Productions.  Jose: I was born in Havana, Cuba in 1962 and immigrated first to Madrid Spain, moved to Barcelona a year latter and then came to the USA in the Summer of 1974.  I have been a modeler since I came to this country, and started building the big Monogram 1/32 scale bombers.  I started my Tiger Productions Diorama Products cottage industry company back in 1993 to try and fill voids in the scenery market.  I started first with only plaster based products such as buildings, cobble stone streets, rubble and [...]

By |2016-10-29T19:09:34-05:00July 28th, 2014|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments

What I’ve learned about painting figures

I've had the luck (and the pleasure) of having met Bob Bethea, a local and amazing figure painter, at my local club meeting. Bob has been incredibly kind and generous with his time as he teaches me the fine art of figuring painting. I recently republished an article Bob had written for our local club newsletter sharing some of his tips on getting start with figuring painting, and if you haven't read it, it's well worth the time. I thought I'd also share the newbie viewpoint on what I've learned. Often, the things that screw up the newbies don't even registered on the minds of the experienced folks. So in no particular order, here's a few of my tips. And remember, this only applies to acrylic paints! Wet palette Don't use the paint trays with small recesses, buy or make a wet palette. Google it for more info, but basically, a [...]

By |2016-10-29T19:09:34-05:00July 24th, 2014|Modeling thoughts|0 Comments
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