Painting some white Russians

As I try to re-engage with my modelling mojo, one of the more difficult parts is the act of airbrushing. There are so many things that can go wrong, and when the wave of Murphys Law hits, just about all of them do. So it was with gritted teeth that I got the brush assembled, the compressor turned on, and ventured into the garage for a painting session.

Thankfully, no obvious disasters. This is actually the second session this week, the first having produced the upper surface coat on the DML Sea Vixen (more on that in a few days) and the black on the undersides of the Trumpeter Wellington.

This session was primarily pointed toward the three Russian trainers that have been working their way down the production line over the last 6 months or so - probably not much faster than the real aircraft were put together. They are overall white, with some red and blue accenting that will be the result of much masking in the next few weeks. The white went on with minimal problems, at least none that I am willing to obsess over in my current state.

I decided to do another color while I was in the flow. Two of the four Hurricanes I have in process (two Hasegawa, two Hobbyboss) require MSG undersides, so they moved to the front of the queue and got that color. It looked like my mixing ratios must have been pretty close to proper, since there was no visible orange-peel effects or runs. If these were destined for competition, I would likely buff them out and apply a second coat to smooth the surface, but ruled against that. Next is some masking for these two kits as well, in preparation for getting their upper surfaces done.

Here are a couple of shots of last night's work, including a close up of the AModel Yak-130. 

Hard times

It is no secret that 72 Land has been pretty quiet over the last summer. To some extent this is just down to the usual causes: decent weather, other interests, competing priorities. But the bald fact is that the Land is going through a fairly difficult stretch. I am well into my third year of unemployment, barring a few temp positions. Unemployment payments are long gone. We have learned more than I ever cared to know about not spending any discretionary money. But we are still under water, and the details of managing that are many and oppressive.

My last contract as an IT Project Manager ended at Christmas of 2009. I imagine we all remember what a mess the economy was back then. Well, it has not improved much in the intervening time period. Yes, the unemployment rate went from 11% to 8%, but much of that was because of the weird way the feds measure unemployment. They don't consider how many people are unemployed, they consider how many people are drawing unemployment payments. Once your benefits expire, as mine did, you are no longer counted as unemployed, and the rate goes down! But that does not mean the number of people working has increased. And I hate their terminology for this: we are those who have "stopped looking". Nobody has stopped anything; we're just no longer drawing unemployment.

We have struggled along on my wife's salary, but the truth is that she makes 45% of what I typically do. So when I went jobless, we lost roughly 60% of our disposable income. Think about that for a second. Her income covers about 85% of the monthly recurring bills, but then you have to add food, fuel, medical expenses (copays and RXs), and any other unanticipated expense. And what happens when the car needs repair?

Long gone are the days of books, magazines, vacations, or stash expansion. Much the exact opposite in fact. I've been trying to sell things via ebay to help make ends come a bit closer together, and to try and feel a bit less useless in keeping us solvent. That is a painful process. It's like selling your kids (though in my experience kids tend to generate spending rather than profits...) At first it was things I probably wasn't going to build anyway: the odd 1:32 kit, a few 1:48 examples left over from The Supply Depot stock, some armor that I had amassed in the 30 years I have been modelling. But as the crisis continues the cuts get closer to the bone. The KMC 727 is gone, the Fliegerhorst G-38 is gone, my selection of Hasegawa Beaufighters is up for bid, my complete 20-volume set of Classic Publications Luftwaffe Colours / Jagdwaffe books is gone. And the bloodletting looks to continue for the foreseeable future. But it is never quite enough.

Oh, I do still do interviews. Second, even third interviews (where you have to figure that they are evaluating finalists). But no offers. I even apply for stuff I am massively overqualified for, like data entry or retail positions. But those employers don't want to waste time and money training someone who will likely bolt as soon as the economy improves. And be fair, they are probably right.

I'm far from alone. You can hear the cry on various boards, forums, or discussion groups. There are a lot of people, experienced professionals, unable to find work. Like an ebay sale, getting a job is a two-party transaction. If one party doesn't agree, for any conceivable reason, it will not happen. This is not a political discussion, but we live in a very business-unfriendly environment right now, and businesses will not expand when they are feeling pressured.

Not to bring everyone down, but I thought it was incumbent on me to give some insight as to why you weren't getting the every-other-day posts that I was managing for a while. There are just many days where I can't conjure the enthusiasm to stick plastic bits together, even though as a hobby, it is supposed to relieve stress rather than perpetuate it. But sometimes you just get a visit from Churchill's black dog, and the production line stops.

But let's end on a brighter note. On Sunday night I actually got the airbrush out for a short painting session. And I seem to be on the verge of finishing a decal job. No one is going to confuse it with a contest winner, but against all odds, I may actually finish a model this summer. 

Russian trainers up on their gear

The modelling pace continues at glacial slowness even though the weather has reverted to a more typical climate for the Northwest. But activity hasn't been completely absent in the modelling dungeon.

I have gotten the landing gear on to the Yak-130 and the Su-28. Both of the wheel wells, as with many short-run kits, are vast spaces of virtually nothing, but I'm just not up to adding anything in them at present. With all the putty on these three models (which includes the MiG-AT), I can say with thorough confidence that they will never become contest-quality examples of the modelling art. Even assuming I started entering contests again. So I am okay with them just serving as shelf-fillers. They can do that job well since I have relatively few Russian aircraft in my display case. It's just never been one of my (many) aviation interests.

So here are some photos of the Yak-130 and Su-28 up on their pins and awaiting their turn in the painting queue. 

A non-modelling summer

This has been a truly non-modelling summer. Between various Real Life events and disasters, I don’t think I have done anything even remotely modeling related since probably the 4^th of July. It was something of a relief, therefore, to actually get to spend some time in the modeling dungeon last night, even if it wasn’t very long or very high quality work. At least it got the queue moving again.

Work centered on the MiG-AT from AModel. This is going to have an overall White prototype paint job, so there was no penalty for attaching the landing gear at this stage. So that is what I did, and the model can now sit on its gear while the paint is drying. Next up for this treatment are the Yak-130 and Su-28.

Now, getting paint room time may be a challenge for another week or so. We’re predicted to get one of our rare 90+ days tomorrow, and anything over 80 can be thoroughly uncomfortable in the mostly non-air-conditioned residential Northwest. But when it happens, the Wellington and Sea Vixen are mostly likely to get the attention.

Second chance at a KMC 1:72 727

Well, the 1:72 Kendall / KMC Boeing 727-200 is once again offered for auction on eBay. Here is a link to it: 

KMC 1:72 727

Feel free to browse the other items I have currently up for sale. This includes the firebomber version of the Siga Grumman Guardian. There are decals, conversions, kits, and even some armor. More items are being added periodically. 

Selling a 727

Some of you know of my current employment state (as in un-) and subsequent financial state (as in dreadful) and therefore know that I have been selling some items on eBay to bring in a teeny bit of my missing income. But to date it has mostly been duplicate kits, superseded kits, off-scale kits (for my concentration on 1:72 at least), and historical oddballs. But last week I put one up that was a core part of my personal collection. And it really hurt to do so.

There are a number of grail kits in our hobby, and the Kendall / KMC Boeing 727 in 1:72 is one of them. When the kit was first issued, I was still operating The Supply Depot online store, and got a number of them to sell. It was a very ambitious kit, and not terribly cheap. I seem to remember the MSRP being around $70 in an age where even substantial kits were generally in the $30s and $40s. The main pieces were injected plastic and all the details were in KMC’s usual area of resin bits.

The kit did take some beatings for accuracy – nose? Engines? Can’t remember. And there was a persistent molding flaw on the rear dorsal fuselage that was going to make getting a good seam under the middle engine intake a challenge. But it was an airliner in 1:72 in injected plastic. The only precedents were the long out of production Aurora DC-9 and 737, neither of which were great kits either. Heller had improved the landscape with their 1:72 707, and that was probably the gold standard for large airliners at the time.

I never had any doubt that I would build my KMC 727. I already had the Heller 707 and Aurora 737 in the display case and expected to add the 727 in the fullness of time. But eventually economic reality kicked in and hard decisions had to be made. So why did I let it go?

First of all, there are now other 727s around in my scale. Welsh Models has recently produced one (though admittedly with the fuselage in vacuform, something I am not very comfortable with). Authentic Airliners has one coming along as well in resin, though I have heard the sticker shock on that one may be breathtaking. So it is not like I will never be able to replace that type in my lineup. Hell, there is even a 747 out there (the Anigrand resin, which has its own set of issues). And perhaps BPK will consider one if their first kit, the 737, wasn't a financial disaster. 

Second, I have never been convinced that producing the landing gear in resin was a smart idea. I know that was KMC’s wheelhouse. But to quote others, resin is merely an extremely slow-moving liquid, and I felt there was no chance that a year or two of display wouldn’t produce two banana-shaped gear legs.

So, onto the block it went. Unfortunately there have been some payment problems with the sale, but I hope to have it cleared up next week. My creditors will be happy. 

Russian construction

There is a bit of activity in the production queue to catch up with. The three Soviet trainers (Yak-130, MiG-AT, and Sukhoi Su-28) are finishing up with their major construction. The canopies are masked and attached to the airframe. Just a bit more seam work on the MiG-AT which has proven a singularly ill-fitting little monster, especially around the top of the intakes. It will be interesting to get a coat of white paint on the exterior to see what work still remains.

I have also gotten the major bits of the Trumpeter Ilyushin Il-28 assembled. In general I would have to say that it went together pretty well, though there are a couple of seams that will benefit from a bit of Mr Surfacer being run into them to eliminate them altogether. Paint schemes are pretty boring on this one; it is likely to be Polish in a NMF.

 The Wellington and Sea Vixen have been waiting patiently in the paint queue for cooler weather. Which, I note with great excitement, seems finally to be arriving in Western WA. All but two of the next 10 days are forecast to be in the 70s!