$512 a Gallon Paint

Would you pay $512 for a gallon of paint? Sure you would and you do. I’m looking at a half-ounce bottle of Testor Model Master medium green paint. The price tag is $1.99. For the sake of argument lets round that to two dollars and forget the sales tax. Let’s see there is 128 ounces in a gallon. So that would be 256 half-ounces and at $2.00 a bottle that comes out to $512.00. So it is not really the $50 to $75 kits or the money spent on resin bits, photo etch parts, decal sheets, or reference books that keep a modeler broke. It’s the paint! One can’t get along without paint and it seems that each new project calls for several colors that are not already in one’s stockpile. It’s such a bad situation that I even know of one modeler who is forced to use recycled plastic cement to save on cost.

My original intent with this blog was to have a journal of my model building activities. Luckily I titled it “Ramblings” as lately I have been posting about model-related topics but not my building. Of course the spotty posts of 2005 based on my spotty building is a good indication of why I have strayed.

Remember, it is better to have entered a model contest and lost than to have collected stamps.

Tamiya 1/48 Scale Armor

In a previous post I mentioned extending my personal definition of small-scale armor to now include the 1/48 scale lines of Tamiya and Bandai. Although Bandai is not currently producing their line the kits are still obtainable on eBay. Meanwhile Tamiya is going hot and heavy in this scale. Current kits in 1/48 being produced by Tamiya are:

Citroen 11CV Staff Car
Hetzer
Jagdpanther (late version)
Kettenkrad with Cart & Goliath
Kuebelwagen
Kuebelwagen Type 82 - Africa
M10 tank destroyer (mid production)
M4 Sherman
M4A1 Sherman
PzKpfw III ausf L
PzKpfw IV ausf J
PzKpfw V Panther ausf G
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (early production)
Schwimmwagen Type 166
Sturmgeshutz III ausf B
Sturmgeshutz III ausf G

Su-122
T-34/76
Universal Carrier MkII

A check of their Web site shows some more kits “Coming Soon”. [Do I have to tell you to click the link on the title of this post to get there?] Listed forth coming (but no dates posted – which is a smart move on their part) kits are:

Cromwell
Kettenkraftrad with Aircraft Power Supply Unit
Krupp Protze
Kv-1
PzKpfw VI (King) Tiger II
PzKpfw VI Tiger I (Afrika Corps)
Sherman Ic Firefly
Volkswagen Type 82E

Now if you haven't seen any of these don't confuse them with Tamiya's older offerings of "motorized" 1/48 scale armor kits. These are really nice offerings. And for those of you who can't build just from the box there is a plethora of aftermarket photoetch sets from Lionroar/Voyager and Eduard and resin add-ons from Verlinden.

I appreciate Tamiya's entry into this scale for armor. As I get older and the diopters on my Optivisor increases the possible switch from 1/72 scale to 1/48 is quite tempting. I'm buying the kits as fast as I can but have not officially abandoned the smaller scale yet.

A smaller participant in the 1/48 scale category is Skybow. Currently this firm is offering kits of PzKpfw VI Tiger I (early production) and PzKpfw VI Tiger I (late production). They also have track sets for each as separate items.

Photo Studio in a Box

I recently treated myself by buying an American Recorder Technologies Photo Studio in a Box light diffuser system. This is a "soft box" in which to place objects for photographing. It's a 16"x16"x16" box with fabric screen sides. Along with the box supplied are 2 tungsten tabletop lights. [BTW the bulbs get VERY hot!] The screen creates soft lighting and eliminates harsh shadow by diffusing the light on the object being photographed. It also comes with a two-sided background (blue/gray) and an adjustable tabletop camera stand.

I hauled in my soft box to the May IPMS NCT meeting and set up. Using some of the models brought in by fellow club members I did some experimenting and
practice shots.