Tuesday, January 1, 2013

An A-6 Intruder, candles, and a fax machine

Before 2012 gets too far away, here are a few random awards I'd like to offer as we look back.

Biggest disappointment of the year: The ongoing delay of the long-promised Trumpeter 1/32 A-6 series. Let's hope we see at least one or two of them in 2013!

Best online build of the year: This build by of a Trumpeter 1/72 Tu-22M3 Backfire by user Lunatech on Aircraft Resource Center. Not only are his research and skills exceptional, but he illustrates and explains his build extremely well.

Runner up: This build on Britmodeller of a Trumpeter 1/72 Lightning F.2A by user Navy Bird. Most people know about the shortcomings of the rear-end of Trumpeter's Lightning, and this modeler clearly shows the fix required, as well as canibalizing a Matchbox Lightning to fix another shortcoming around the belly of the Trumpeter kit.

Most creative model of the year: This vignette by Peter Stoof, the first model I've ever seen that uses a candle as a frame!

Weirdest post on a modeling forum: Mike West's post to Hypercale advertising a fax machine for sale. Do people still use fax machines?

Best built model of 2012

When I started this blog one of my goals was to highlight particularly good examples of modeling that I find on the interwebz. I haven't done a good job of doing that, but I have saved a few links to models that impressed me in 2012.

Choosing one is difficult, but I have to. That honor, for what it's worth, goes to Justin Stolte for his Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk. IX, which was featured on Hyperscale. Justin's modeling, painting, and weathering skills are simply perfect. Clearly one of the more memorable builds I've ever seen!

When I think of armor, the model that stood out to me was Miguel Jimenez's Type 69II C. Everyone knows Mig, and his painting and weathering are second to none.

Other notable models:

Giannis Doxas's Hasegawa 1/48 RF-104G
Jeroen Veen's Kinetic 1/48 C-2A Greyhound
Janie Haggo's gorgeous Tamiya 1/72 P-47D Thunderbolt.
Roman Y's Churchill Mk. III in Soviet markings.
Javier Soler's Tamiya 1/35 Semovente.
Adam O'Brien's Tamiya 1/35 Tiran 5.

I'm eager to see what 2013 brings!

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