Cracking on with this model and basically all the assembly is now done.  There are a few little bits still to go on, a little bit of sanding where I’ve been clumsy and got some superglue outside the places I wanted it and a smear of filler in some gaps.  But that’s basically all.

One thing that I struggled with was working out how the airflaps fixed but think I worked it out.  Doesn’t seem to match some of the pictures I’ve seen, but hey-ho!  Have left one up so that I can potentially have a crewman working on it.

The canopy has been carefully cut apart (a nerve racking few minutes) as the real part is fixed and then it hinges upwards.  The got to work out the best way of getting clear parts into the canopy.  Feel that they are way too small to cut individually and probably will add a section on the inside which will then be painted where the windows aren’t.

Speeder

Speeder

Speeder

Going to try and crack on with this and start to get a trolley built for it to sit on to complete the mini scene.

Decided to leap in with building this model and see how it goes together.  So far all good.  The instructions as mentioned in the review are a little hard to interpret with little blocks shown on the diagram which you have to work out which ones they refer to from the parts.  But took my time and worked it all out in advance and started to assemble.  Fit is very good with just a couple of small gaps which will need just a skim of some filler. You get an option part for one side which allows you to have some gubbins showing.  So decided to include that, and also will have one of the flaps at the rear lifts and have it being worked on.

Speeder

Speeder

Speeder

So going together well.

Only slightly tense point has been trying to ensure all the parts are lined up correctly so that the guns point forwards at the right angle.  Think I’ve got the first one right (looks correct anyway).

Should be a simple task to finish.

One thing is that no landing gear is supplied but having searched the internet there don’t appear to any pictures with landing gear included. So not sure at the moment how to address this.  First thought has been to have it on a trailer rather than on its own landing gear.  Will continue to try and find any images though.

Picked up RetroKit’s Star Wars Speeder recently, as a test for a large Star Wars build which is going to be coming up soon, and very impressed with the quality and the detail on it.  I must confess to having been a little nervous ordering it as the website only had 1 very small image of the kit.  They have now updated this will a parts shot.

The kit is 25.99 euros plus a small delivery charge and arrived very quickly (with a couple of days).  They also contacted me to let me know that it was on it’s way.  Very good customer service and would have no hesitation in recommending them.

Model arrived in a stout box to protect what turns out to be the numerous parts.

Box

The parts count turns out to be huge

Parts

The parts are all well moulded with very little in the way of flash.  Some of the parts are extremely small (the grid is 1cm squares to give you an idea of the tininess of some the parts).  The small parts are all mounted on runners and generally survived on them during transit.  Looks like one very small part (compare the two sprues on the bottom right, the bottom one is missing a part on the far right) came adrift somewhere along the line and wasn’t in the packaging. As it is a relatively plain part and very small this shouldn’t be an issue in assembly.

Here are some better images of some of the parts.

Main Body

Pilots

As you can see the moulding is really sharp and the level of detail very high.

You get a small decal sheet with the tiny markings place larger pieces for the main panel shading/markings.  These may or may not get used as not decided on how the colours will tie in across the whole of this large build.

Decals

The one thing that is a little disappointing is the instructions.  As you can see from above there is a large parts count (equivalent easily to a plastic kit, which is unusual as resin kits most frequently have a much lower parts count) and the positioning of all this will take some time to work out.  The instructions are really just a diagram and the interpretation of it is not particularly clear.  There also don’t seem to be enough parts to cover what’s in the box.

Instructions

Sure I will work it out but think that it could be a little better on this point.  A less experienced modeller would likely be put off and there will need to be a lot of testing and checking before final assembly.  Obviously resin kits are inherently more complex than plastic but instructions always seem to feel like a bit of an after thought.  That’s not a criticism of this kit particularly but the field as a whole.

So would highly recommend this kit and greatly looking forward to getting this done (although wont be immediate) and hoping it will match in nicely with the 1:72 Fine Mold models.

I’ve not completely forgotten about this but didn’t get the time I was hoping for over the Christmas break and then the colour I painted it originally just didn’t work for me. But have now given it a repaint using a “Crown Originals” test pot. These come in lots of funky colours for particular years and this is 1952 Grey apparently. The 1970′s colours are pretty yuck (lime green…no thanks! The decade that taste forgot!). The lighter colour is B&Q Ecru, which happens to be the same as our spare room.

Have cut some wide H columns to form a structure for the building. These are just tacked together with some blu-tak at the moment and will be painted a nice yellow I think.

Also looking to put a yellow or orange band around the bottom of the wall to waist height I think.

Support Columns

Looking at this now do you think it needs the gap at the front and back also having H-columns between the uprights? Not sure it entirely works for me… There is a wall missing so this might be why it doesn’t quite look right to the eye.

Been suggested (thanks Pete) that some tension rods might be good along the front and back between the columns.  Something like these:

Tension Rods

Like this idea but I want to ensure that there is space available on the rear wall for some of the equipment previously reviewed.

Sorry been a bit quiet recently, especially over the Christmas holidays.  Had hoped to get some progress on the Gustavs build but never happened between the usual visits to and from family and friends, plus everyone else in the house came down with really nasty colds so I was acting as nurse.

So bit remiss in sending thanks to Pete who came up trumps and delivered me before Christmas, and within a couple of days of us discussing it, the diorama base for this overall build.  And a chunky old thing it is as well.

Base

Base

It’s 600mm long (2ft in old money) and as I couldn’t keep her out of the photos here is one with a reasonably sized cat for scale.

Cat to scale

So now got to plan the interior details a bit more precisely than the rough ideas I had in my head and get some wiring in for lighting.  Think I’m going to need to build something onto the side just to hold the battery packs….

Made a start on the Ketzer kit and decided that these two night fighter suits are going to be about to go out on a mission and will be manned.  Rest will be under maintenance.  Think that helps fill in the backstory which I’ll put together at some point. Anyway this is a new kit and new tooling and is pretty much as you would hope.  Sharp moulding and good fit generally.  Some very odd moulding bits where you get random pieces of plastic sticking off the main parts, presumably something to do with getting good flow of plastic around the part.  But couple of them which project out into the side window area are a bit annoying to get sanded smooth. So got the torso done.  Probably rushed it a bit and think if I had taken a bit more time the fit would have been better and there would be less filling to be done at a later stage. Wont bore you to death with pictures of sprues but needless to say this is worth the money and thinking about getting another one at the moment for the pile. Sorry about the pictures, only had my phone to hand and went for some quick snaps.

Ketzer

Ketzer

Back piece is just popped into place here.

Ketzer

Pilot is really nice.  And he can be popped out for detail painting nice and easily.

Did insert the clear parts which normally I would have left off until after painting. If I had given it a bit more thought then I could probably have worked out a way to alter them to allow for later insertion. But my brain was tired and figured I’d just mask them up instead.

Just picked up a few pieces from Antenocitis Workshop which I thought might be useful for the scenery in my upcoming Gustavs workshop/hanger build.  Very impressed with them and wanted to share some thoughts and images on them.

First up is a set of 2 Air Movers, which sell for £4.99.  Good size and ideal for hanging on the wall of a Ma.K scene.  Possibly a little big for anything bigger in scale unless they are really huge, which considering they are for Wargaming seems to put them a little big.  Size is given as 60mm (L) x 30mm (W) x 23mm (H).  Cast crisply in cream resin.

Air Movers

Air Movers

Air Movers

Next up is a set of 2 Air Filtration Units, which sell for £4.00.  Little busy perhaps for Ma.K but useful none the less.  Size is given as 45mm (L) x 32mm (W) x 25mm (T).  Again cast crisply in cream resin.  Looks lime one of them destroyed the mould in being removed and there is a big chunk of rubber in the piece.  Glad I got that one and not the next one.

Air Cons/Filtration

Air Cons/Filtration

Air Cons/Filtration

Finally is a set of Control Pads which sell £3.50 for a set of 6.  Obviously I didn’t read the description properly because bit surprised that they are cast in white metal (clearly says on the description so bit stupid on my part).  Again really nicely cast and detailed.  Comes with a nice set of images which you can stick onto the control areas.

Control Pads

Control Pads

So few things there which should look good in the scene I’m slowly developing.

Well basically completed the construction of the Gucker.  Have used some Magic Sculpt to make the joints over the kit joints and added some weld seams.  Need to hit it with some primer to see where it needs smoothing off or tweaking anything.  The insides of the window pieces look like they might need a bit more work.

This one will have a pilot in it eventually.

Gucker

Gucker

Gucker

UPDATE ON 10th NOVEMBER:

It has become apparent in the last day that this will be the LAST Volume of Bowerhouse which is going to be put out in hard copy.  Martin has made an arrangement with another company to produce copies of Bowerhouse in e-format and as they will probably have a much wider network available to them and consequently provide greater income for Martin he has taken the sensible business decision to take this route.  

We all wish Martin the best of luck in this new venture and hope that our work has gone some way to allowing this publication to progress to the next level.

So get your copies of Bowerhouse now before they disappear forever.

I’ve been involved with the production of Bowerhouse since the start and Volume 5 has recently been released.

Inside you’ll find articles on Supercar, Martins own SNOCAT and a what if private commission of UFO’s SID if the series was remade now.  Also, there’s the start of a gallery section, featuring some of Martins early work, many of which have never seen print before and an ad for an upcoming feature where over a couple of issues, Martin will be making a craft, using readily available materials. The idea is that folk follow it, make their own variation, and stand to win an original Martin Bower creation (NB: THIS WONT NOW TAKE PLACE AS FUTURE ISSUES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED).

Bowerhouse Volume 5

Available now at the SFM:uk Store.

Volume 4 is also still available although numbers are getting low.

Well having forgotten all about Gucker I had started it seems my memory is worse than I thought it was as found this conversion kit as well last night while pulling together the kits I would need from the loft.

Fridrich

This is a Zitader conversion kit which was released way back and is no longer available as it turned out there was an issue with the licenses and that they didn’t actually have the authorisation that was necessary.  So HLJ stopped selling them.  So although really an unlicensed kit it was bought in good faith from a reputable supplier, who was also selling it in good faith.

So this has a new engine block, top piece and the back part of the suit into which the engine goes and which fits behind the pilot.  Plus other bits and pieces.  Moulding quality isn’t great, with lots of flash and some of the larger pieces have swirl marks in the resin implying perhaps that it wasn’t properly mixed.

So one less thing to have do for this build, which seems to be doing itself at the moment.

Some parts may be useful if I can make copies for the Dora as well as it’s pretty similar to the Fridrich in many aspects.