Hello and welcome!

I hope you all have had a happy and peaceful Christmas!  May I wish you a Happy, Safe and Successful New Year and all the best for 2018!

I  started this blog in March 2017 and I have been privileged to have wonderful people follow my work and enjoy my posts. To all of you that follow my humble ramblings- Thank you! 

So 2017? How did it go then? I have not had as much time as I would have liked in the studio this year, mainly due to family and work commitments. Life happens and with the best will in the world I just don’t get as much time to myself as I would like.

That said, I did get some builds finished this year and I have seen myself grow as an artist. Yes, I consider myself to be a scale model artist. I didn’t say I was a good scale model artist….did I?

2017 saw me improve of my techniques and try new things! I must say one particular build was a turning point for me and has embodied me with a new confidence as a modeller. I enjoyed the time I had at my bench, escaping from the daily grind and finding a happy contentment in the building of models. Being able to escape to my sanctuary is an important part of my life and provides me with a great sense of well being.

My sanctuary……

I want to say a MASSIVE  thank you to my wonderful wife Shelley who gave me the coolest Birthday present this year. My new spray booth! Now I can spray at the paint bench without a mask and there are no harmful fumes in the studio!

I’ve been putting my airbrush through its paces and loving painting with the door closed. Also thank you to Eric for helping out with the extraction system pipework! Cheers mate!

I wanted to say thanks to my son Tom as well. He is and always will be my greatest creation. Weather we are just hanging out or on one of our adventures he is the coolest guy I know and he inspires me is so many ways. I am so very proud of him.

 

 

So without further ado, here is my review of works completed in 2017.

1. The LONG RANGE DESERT GROUP.

This diorama was a labour of love inspired by a Christmas gift from my good friend and fellow modeller Eric. He really got me to put some effort into this 1/35 desert diorama and the 1/35 Tamiya LRDG Truck he gave me was something I had always wished to build as a diorama centrepiece.

 

2. Hellenic Air Force F-16C “JASON”

This was an epic project for me! Transforming Revell’s 1/48 F-16A into a HAF F-16C with surgery and parts from Tamiya and Hasegawa F-16 kits was a most challenging build. I mixed my own paints from Tamiya Acrylics and used the fantastic “Jason” squadron markings to create one of the most beautiful schemes I have ever seen on a fighter.

 

3. Battlestar Galactica Viper Mk.IIA

This was my “Out of The Box” upgrade to the 1/32 Moebius Models Viper Mk.II. After the kit, everything else was scratched or salvaged from the spares box. This was fun, fun, fun!

 

4. UT-60D Starfighter. Rogue One.

I am a HUGE Star Wars fan! As soon as this new Rebel fighter from the Rogue One movie was released I wanted one! Rebuilt and repainted, this snap together kit was a blast!

 

5. Obi Wan Kenobi.

Customising Hasbro’s Black series figure was my son Tom’s idea! How could I refuse?

6. Luke Skywalker

Another Hasbro Black Series figure customised as a commission build. This was so much fun to do!

 

7. Spitfire Mk. IX “GABY”

This 1/48 Hasegawa Spitfire Mk.VII kit was upgraded to Mk.IX standard and painted in a high altitude scheme used by the RAF in Italy during WWII. This model was an experiment for my new painting and weathering techniques and it proved to be quite a success. I enjoyed this build immensely and learned so much from the experience.

 

8. The WOLVERINE.

This 75mm Knight Models figure was pure fun to do!

 

9. TOJO EATS SHIT! USMC F4U-1 CORSAIR

This was the best build of my year. Lots of effort went into this one and I believe it is one of my best works to date. I threw everything at this! Scratch built improvements, Resin, PE Brass and much elbow grease went into completing this 1/48 Hobbyboss kit. I also went all out on painting and weathering this one to achieve an authentic Pacific Warrior look. After completing the airframe, I created a scratch built diorama base to showcase this model in an appropriate environment. This was my favourite and most rewarding model of 2017.

 

Well that was what I built in 2017. I hope you have enjoyed my work and my musings thus far! If you did, be sure to follow this blog and tell others about it too. I am striving to improve content and want this blog to be seen by more and more people. I will have a new photo studio set up this year, so big presentation changes are around the corner.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and as always Happy Modelling!

All the best,

Darren.