Guillow's Balsa F4U-4 Corsair Unboxing

Unboxing video of Guillow's Balsa F4U-4 Corsair in 1/16th scale. Will be starting construction soon  of this large kit for my youngest son Andy's 5th birthday present (Jan 2018).

Gloss Coat

Spray painted in my garage the motorcycle with two coats of Testers gloss clear coat to prepare the model for weathering.

Tamiya's Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.1 Unboxing

This is an unboxing of Tamiya's 1/48 scale Hawker Royal Navy Sear Harrier FRS.1 that I did on March 22nd 2016 but only recently finished the video and uploaded to YouTube.

Revell SnapTite Star Wars First Order Special Forces Tie Fighter Unboxing

A little video about the unboxing of Revell's SnapTitle Star Wars First Order Special Forces Tie Fighter. A kit I built with my 6 1/2 year old son Terry and a second one with my 10 1/2 year son Casey during the Christmas holidays.

Dragon Deutsche Afrika Korps '39-'45 Series Unboxing

Here is a video of an unboxing of Dragon's "Deutsche Afrika Korps '39-'45 Series" in 1:35 scale. It will be used in a diorama I am working on with Tamiya's 1:35 scale BMW R75 motorcycle with sidecar.

A Christmas Gift

Well today is Christmas and what better gift I could get from my in-laws than a scale model! To be specific I received the Tamiya M1A1 Abrams with Mine Plow 1/35 scale American tank, a kit that I have had my eye on for a while now. 

The main reason I want to build this kit is because when I was about 14 I built one, a Revell kit I believe but could be mistaken. It was my first armored kit and I really enjoyed building it and it sure looked great! It was also built only a year or two after Operation Desert Storm so these tanks were all over the media.

While there have been upgraded version of the Abrams tank released I really wanted to build the same version I built as a teenager but at the same time use a much more modern and higher quality kit and this Tamiya model fit the bill perfectly.

Step 8 - Part 1 - Motorcycle Assembly Complete

Step 8 consists of completing the motorcycle where I added the last accessories and installing the front wheel to the chassis. Whats nice is that the wheel can be turned as it is not glued which is a nice extra for when I am ready to place it in a diorama. The light was easy to install but had issues to properly align the light cover so that the slot would be straight. I then used a black Staedtler pigment liner 0.05 pen to darken the slot.

Step 6 & 7 - Sidecar

The next two steps to assemble the side car went without a hitch with very simple trouble free assembly. The only issue I had was what color to paint the brakes? After checking several reference photos I decided to go with a metal look. I also opted to add two luggage compartments which were optional as I want to depict this bike as an Africa Korps in the desert fully loaded with gear.

Step 5 - Motor & Luggage

Step 5 comprised of adding the baggage compartment for which I filled in the hollow backing with white putty as the hole was visible through the rear tire and completing the engine.

Step 4 - Have a Seat

Completed assembly of step number 4, painting instructions are vague and am using several reference photos to guide me. Front seat was a bit hard to place and required trimming the plastic underneath as the guide pin would not align properly to the hole in the chassis of the bike.