Not My Comfort Zone Inspiration Gallery

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Have you ever built a model that really challenged you?  Something that was definitely not in your comfort zone? 

 

Share your experience with us here.

 

[TimJ]

As a builder of cars in various scales, 1/72 aircraft and small scale military vehicles my comfort zone is pretty large but these two took me out of it.

 

Airfix/Heller 1/12 Yamaha YZR M1.

 

DSCF8587 (640x481) by timothy jones, on Flickr

 

Revell 'Rat Fink'

 

DSCF2848 by timothy jones, on Flickr

[galgos]

This was my first ever all resin model, and my first Silver Wings one:

 

 

and I enjoyed the experience so much that resin is now my preferred medium, and Silver Wings my preferred manufacturer. The fact that they are all biplanes and require rigging is just an inconvenience! 
 

 

 

[Marklo]

Although I love AFVs the colour scheme I chose for my Challenger was nuts but worked out well.

 

I don’t do ships much but this is my Britannia in Dazzle camouflage converted from a Revell Titanic.

 

Almost finished a 1/72 scratch built Viking longship forced me to develop quite a few new techniques like painting fabric for the sail.

Post war navy jets, just never got the hang of them.

 

Helicopters again just don’t feel I know what I’m doing  

 

Single colour paint schemes, nowhere to hide  

 

Helicopters

 

My Oertz a double biplane with a mad strut and rigging arrangement including a soldered brass twin tail boom which stretched my modelling skills to say the least.

[AlxBNE]

23 hours ago, Marklo said:

........... which stretched my modelling skills to say the least.

I am not sure which mad paint scheme or rigging project to admire the most.

Do you ever do a nice easy comfortable build?

[Marklo]

15 minutes ago, AlxBNE said:

Do you ever do a nice easy comfortable build?

Sometimes, in fact I have a DeHavelland vampire that I’m going to do pretty much oob, except in Irish Air Corp colours.

 

some contenders all 1/144 the phantom is even in the kit scheme.

Edited April 17 by Marklo

[nimrod54]

Some of my 1/144 models for those of you thinking of venturing into the micro-scale. First up a pair of 'Kittens'.

 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

A few Starfighters and a Thunderchief

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

A mix of Mark1 and Armory Me.109's

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

A couple of Revell 'Tonkas'

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

This Valom Sopwith Pup is the smallest completion to date, the rigging is overscale but I wanted to see if it was possible using 0.1mm wire.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Other 1/144 models I have in the cabinet include Hunters, Harrier, Lightning, Mosquito, Vampire and many more. This Dragon EA-18G launch scene was one of my favourite builds in 2018.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I hope that this inspires more of you to try an occasional 1/144 build.

 

Cheers

John

 

[AlxBNE]

5 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

I hope that this inspires more of you to try an occasional 1/144 build.

Mission accomplished John.

I am currently out of my comfort zone with a vac-form in 1/72. Your amazing 1/144 models have inspired me to think about a 1/144 subject..... It will be tiny but it won't be a vac-form so what could possibly go wrong?

Absolutely lovely collection of teeny tiny models you have there. Absolutely incredible skill at such fine painting in such small aircraft, thanks for sharing.

[AdrianMF]

It's interesting how we get indoctrinated about the "right" scale.

 

I'm absolutely on board with the small scale thing but I seem to have overshot, and have an appointment with some 1/600 planes...

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[AlxBNE]

14 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I seem to have an appointment with some 1/600 planes...

Just think how many you will be able to fit in the work bench all at the same time Adrian.

[81-er]

Those would be seriously impressive at 1/72, John, they're unbelievably good at 1/144!

 

James

[Paul821]

1:600 planes are nothing, if you want to work out of you comfort zone..

 

The Ridgewell Airfield Museum 

 

http://www.rafcamuseum.co.uk/

 

is working with my LMS - Model Behaviour in 1:3840 scale to produce a diorama of B17's

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/964898117631527

 

you need to scroll down to see the aircraft.

 

 

[nimrod54]

15 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I'm absolutely on board with the small scale thing but I seem to have overshot, and have an appointment with some 1/600 planes...

 

I have only built one in that scale Adrian, a Fairey Seafox and like you I was  enough to add some etch details to the Airfix kit of HMS Ajax - it wasn't pretty. Good luck with yours, I am really looking forward to seeing your 1/600 crew - I think I would paint them all tan and say they had their duffel coats on. 

 

Regards.

 

John

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

17 hours ago, AlxBNE said:

Mission accomplished John.

 

Welcome to the dark side, it's not as bad as you think. Revell's C-17 or one of their larger airliners like the A380 or 767 are still pretty big models in 1/144. 

 

John

 

6 hours ago, 81-er said:

Those would be seriously impressive at 1/72, John, they're unbelievably good at 1/144!

 

James

 

Thanks very much James, the aggressor F-14 took quite a bit of time to mask and I used the Topgun decal instructions to create the patterns, but it was worth it in the end.

 

John

[AdrianMF]

2 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

I was  enough to add some etch details

Beautifully neat work! And pretty sharp photography for details that tiny.

 

A couple of questions if I may:

* Did you paint the PE before cutting it out, after cutting but before applying it, or after applying it?

* Presumably it's airbrushed?

* What glue did you use (and if CA was it thick, medium or thin?)

 

Thanks,

Adrian

 

[psdavidson]

Here are a few 1/144 that I slapped together last year

 

Morser Karl

 

Kokusai Ta-Go

 

And a Sweet Zero

 

 

/P

 

[nimrod54]

13 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Beautifully neat work! And pretty sharp photography for details that tiny.

 

A couple of questions if I may:

* Did you paint the PE before cutting it out, after cutting but before applying it, or after applying it?

* Presumably it's airbrushed?

* What glue did you use (and if CA was it thick, medium or thin?)

 

Thanks,

Adrian

 

 

Thanks for your comment Adrian. In answer to your questions:

 

Not being a ship modeller there are probably better ways of doing this, but I assembled each superstructure and any etch parts (excluding deck rails) prior to painting those. When completed they were then added to the pre-painted hull and deck assembly. The Fairey Seafox was assembled prior to painting. 

 

The deck rails and ladders were primed and painted before cutting them out and fixing them in place, but I did spend some time touching things in again later. It may be better to paint them up after removal from the fret. I would advise that you get the deck rails into a rough shape prior to attaching them, and glue them at the start and finish point, especially on shaped areas, before glueing at the intermediate points. This may seem obvious, but when you start fixing the deck rails in place work from the inside, those on the hull being the last to be fixed in place.

 

I primed with a rattle can of etch primer and airbrushed the parts but here is no reason why they couldn't be brush painted.

 

I used a small amount of a standard Loctite for fixing the etch, it was applied with a piece of wire and any surplus was wicked away with the edge of some kitchen paper. I have recently started using Mig's Ultra Glue for fixing things like instrument panels to flat surfaces with good results, one advantage is that being acrylic based it cleans up with water - I am not sure how it would perform over curves though.

 

Hope that this helps.

 

Regards

 

John

[AdrianMF]

On the other end of the scale from @nimrod54's immaculate ship modelling, here's a 1940s solid Havoc started 80+ years ago by my late Dad and finished off by me a couple of years ago. It was never going to be "accurate" so I stuck a minimal amount of finishing off, using the original transfers and transparencies, and carved pilot and gunner from wood, Easter Island statue style:

 

 

I reckon it's appropriate for a 1940s bedroom ceiling or an aircraft recognition class.

 

Prompted by a topic in @TonyW's build but posted here to avoid drift.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ray S]

Here are a few which made me quail when I built them. I will add a note to each as to why!

 

Starling Models 1/700 HMS Alynbank - a full resin kit, it had a lot (I mean a lot) of very small parts, and plenty of photoetch, and I had to try a better way of rigging ships. It was also a present from my good lady wife, so that made it even more important that I did a decent job of it:

 

 

Airfix 1/120 HM Bark Endeavour - the third time I had tried to build it. The first was when I was 9 and Dad had to do it as it was way past my abilities. I tried again about 10 years ago, and it was still beyond them, then last year I succeeded:

 

 

Aeroclub 1/72 Felixstowe F2A Flying Boat - by far and away the most complex vacform I had built. The camo, despite being white swirl transfers, was still tricky, and as for aligning all the wing struts, well. Never mind the rigging, that,especially the rigging towards the tail, was a trial:

 

 

Airfix 1/72 Sopwith Pup - a fairly simple build with a few modifications, but the transfer colour scheme scared me more than somewhat:

 

 

Matchbox/Revell 1/72 DHC-6 Twin Otter - I wanted to open up the passenger and luggage doors for this one, and built an interior for it too. And some luggage based on the gear I used in Nepal. Cutting out the doors and making replacement was awkward enough, but it was the masking for the gold and green cheatlines that really stretched my comfort-zone-ness:

 

 

Matchbox/Revell DHC-6 Twin Otter (again) - this time my NMCZ was pushed to the limit as I had bought the Aerocraft upgrade set to replace the cockpit area and make the windscreens more prototypical. It was scary having to give the plane the chop, but even scarier adding the new nose. Accurate masking was needed again, and that was nerve wracking, but it did boost my confidence. It was well worth while though, and my ultimate build would be to combine what I did with the Yeti Airlines model and this one, and produce a kit all opened up and with the right windscreen:

 

 

And finally, the Airfix 1/144 HP42/45 - this was another where I had failed twice before, again once when I was 9 but Dad successfully managed it, I tried again in 2009 just after I got back into model building but my eyes were bigger than my skills, and then a couple of years ago I finally managed it. I was scared about getting the top wing on, but the way that Airfix suggest (building the upper/lower wings off-fuselage, worked with their jig. It does cause issues with painting etc, but it is the way to go, in my opinion:

 

 

So there we go, I hope these inspire someone, somewhere.

 

Ray

[PeterB]

Oddly enough, my 3 most "challenging" kits were all 1/72 Avro aircraft.

This is the old Frog Shackleton MR3 which I built in my first ever GB in 2019 - lots of extra detailing - probably too much in the cockpit in fact as it is not really visible. I even bought and added resin Viper engines in the outboard nacelles.

 

Next up was this.

The Planet Manchester. Not actually all that difficult a kit but completely resin except for the vac formed canopy and turret glazing so much use of CA and 2 part epoxy but I got there in the end.

 

The last was a much delayed conversion of a Lancaster to a Lincoln.

Again not exactly difficult but it did take an awful lot of filling and fettling to get the resin bit to line up and stick to the plastic parts.

 

Pete

Edited April 29 by PeterB

[AdrianMF]

Nice builds @Ray S and @PeterB!

 

Love the swirly F2A and the Harlequin Pup - I remember them both from when you built them the first time around.

 

And who can't love a Manchester? That and the Whirlwind are my two favourite "if only" aircraft of WWII. 

Regards,

Adrian

[AdrianMF]

On 26/04/2023 at 20:38, psdavidson said:

Kokusai Ta-Go

Nice collection of 1/144 - this one looks like something you would build in your garage in 1:1 scale.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Clio182]

There's some very talented people on here. Some of these models shown here are jaw dropping!

 

I've been out of the game for a long time, probably ten years but I just started making an Airfix 1:72 Sopwith Camel. It is well out of my comfort zone and possibly beyond my skill. Lots of flash, lots of iffy part fitments, I'm struggling with it. Doesn't help that I've never built a bi-plane before, I'm not one to give up though so I am going to try and finish it. Seeing a couple of these here has spurred me on

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

12 hours ago, Clio182 said:

I've been out of the game for a long time, probably ten years

 

 

back to the hobby.   It's good to have you with us. 

[AdrianMF]

16 hours ago, Clio182 said:

Airfix 1:72 Sopwith Camel

And please don't let that kit put you off - I build a lot of "difficult" kits and that one still scares me!

 

Regards,

Adrian