2018 in review..... a new dawn....

Hello there....

Like most modelers, I'd like to do a review of the year that's ending.
What a strange and difficult year it has been.

What happened in 2018.

Let's start with a bit of overal looking back, non model related, as this had an important impact on my bench time.

My illness seems to be stable and under control at the moment, this has been so since the beginning of the year actually. This gave courage and hope that 2018 may well be more productive than 2017. I picked up working full time again, which restored the normal household cashflow and things looked good at the start of the year.
In June, a week befor our first anniversary my wife told me she didn't want to continue with me anymore. Even if I remained calm and took it like a man and refrained from making a big scene, to save the children from extra crap, it had a huge impact on my mojo.
Ever since june, I have not been in the right spirit to build.
At the end of Summer I moved into my own place, which luckily has a man-cave as well. Hoping to pick up the WIP's and shelf kings and - queens.

SO what id happen on the bench then in 2018?

First there was the FW 190 from the Green hearts ltd for the Kursk Group Build Hosted by Michael Coen and Nigel Wells.

The idea was to do some kind of airfield scene with a refueling crew and an Opel Blitz lorry.

The fit of the 190 A3 was absolutely horrible. I tried to be brave and fight it with putty, but the mending and fixing took the fun out of the build. Letting the 190 rest, I started on the Opel lorry. While doing so I decided to leave the 190 and switch to a Henschel as main subject.

The building of this, slightly older Hasegawa kit went really ok. I had her ready for priming and painting when my wife come with the news of het divorce plans. This completely killed my motivation for the project als emotions and thinking an planning took centre stage in my life at that time. With a heavy heart I withdrew from the group build.

So with the year halfway and big personal changes happening, the promising year had turned into a total failure. Only things to show so far were 2 new shelved projects.

At some point in the whole, looking for a flat and getting the divorce procedure started, my Bro Steve, also a member of the SMAL Plastics Ltd. gang, talked to me about how he missed building and was planning on starting a new project, nice and easy, no stress, no deadline.
We came to a Spitfire somewhere in this talking and so in order to have some distraction from my stressy days, I decided to join him and crack open my Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I

Around that time my new tool from Iwata arrived as well.

I didn't get a lot further that some dry fitting and getting the base colour on the cockpit and then my move happened. Ever since beginning of September I've been settling in to the new place and looking after my lovely princesses well-being in the new place.
Took all three of us some time to adapt and get used to the whole new setting.

So that's it. It was a rough year on a personal level and kind of resulted in (once more) no finished projects to show for. Sadly.

Looking forward to 2019.

I'd like to finish with a glimpse at the plans for the new year.

Like last year I intend to limit the starting of new projects as I have enough stalled projects to pick up again and finish. Amongst others, a Me 262, a HS129, an I16, a King Tiger, A FW-190,...

So far I will participate in only 1 Group Build. This year Mike and Nige are hosting another Group Build themed around 1944. That year was a very important year for the war on all theatres. The GB is split into 2 pieces. The build can be anything used in one of the battles of 1944, which will have their 75th birthday in 2019.

For the first part I've selevted the Heinkel He 177 Greif. It was used against the Anzio Beachhead and especially against the ships that lay just off shore.
I'll be using this kit.

To end this overview, I'd like to wish all of you and your families all the best for the new year. I wish all of you: good health and many fantastic moments to share and to cherish with your families and friends

See you on the other side!

Horrido!!

The Opel Blitz

Meanwhile I started one of the models meant to accompany the Henschel in the scene that I want to set. It's a tamiya Opel Blitz supply truck Here's some pic of the progress so far...
Till here it's a true shake and bake Tamiya build. I really like it.

Cockpit works - Saturday 14/04/18 and Sunday 15/04/18

As I want to build the plane parked, with the cockpit closed, I decided not to go looking for an aftermarket cockpit. The main colours and some highlights, with a pair of seatbelts would do the trick.  I keep fitting the parts together as I’m on guard for fit issues after the 190 mess.
Fit is still great. Fuselage halves go together really well, even with the cockpit inserted.

Unlucky, at this point I speared my finger on my hobby knife, causing an immense bleeding. That was over and out for the time.

Henschel Hs129B-2

Small progress tonight, but feeling much better than the 190 already.

Maybe I should stick to the more carefree kits until I have finished a few of those and then move on.

Anyhow, cockpit parts ready for priming, fuselage dry-fitted and sanded down, ready to make a start on the engines.

Plan B

As the Eduard Focke Wulf 190 A5 from the Greenhearts that I'm Building for the "Kursk 75 Group Build" keeps giving me a hard time, with bad fit, filing away bulges and cutting parts out of the wings to make everything fit, I have decided to open a second front.

My stash holds a Hasegawa Henschel HS 129B-2 (Kit #09071 or JT71). This is a simple, straightforward kit, for which there is hardly any aftermarket gear available.

I have decided to build this plane out of the box, no aftermarket. This will be build alongside the FW190. If ever the FW doesn't make it to the deadline, I'll hopefully have the Henschel to take it's place.