So it has been quite a while since my last update as 'real life' has been slightly hectic. I've been busy at work which is a good thing and of course school is back in session for my son as well as scouting, so I've been distracted with that stuff but lets get back to the modeling front. Over the last six weeks or so, I have been busy tweaking some stuff for AMPS East. The show/competition was a two day event in Danbury CT. and a great time was had by all. I hung out with my club brothers, met some old friends and made some new ones. I spent a little money and even took home some hardware.
So, back to the title above, which would you prefer first the good news or the bad news? Well, lets get the bad news out of the way.
I was actually busy working on the base for my M3A3 for the first week or so, as I had really hoped to enter it in the diorama category. I had begun painting up the figures and planning out the groundwork when disaster struck. I was hoping to get the tank mounted to weather up the tracks and tie it into the base and then complete the groundwork enough to at least bring it to the show, even if the diorama part wasn't 100% complete, I could have entered the tank itself. Now to understand exactly what happened, you have to know that I store my 'in progress' dioramas in an old bureau in the hobby room, each drawer containing the base and accompanying kits that go with. As I sat down to begin a session, opening the drawer to pull out the base, the drawer came straight out, slip from my hands and dropped the huge, very heavy base directly on top of the tank, if you look carefully at the bottom half of the base, you can see some dents and dings in the finish caused by the model. Parts flew around, cracking noises were heard and I sat there in silence as I could only imagine what had happened.
First will be a picture of the huge, very heavy base that crashed on the M3A3 inside the drawer and then the M3A3 itself, who's full damage is hard to see in the picture. It's more than just pieces popped off, some of the body is cracked and the lower hull is now 'toed in'. It will be a very tricky fix, so this one will be put away until a later date for now. I may even build a completely new kit for the base if need be. It was a huge blow to the modeling mojo when it happened, and I'm not looking forward to the repair process.
In the meantime, I pulled out a couple of my other projects to try and keep the model juices flowing in a positive direction. I mounted my white-washed M2A1 to it's base and started the groundwork. I still have work to do to tie the two together, add a figure or two for scale, and of course some more personal gear and machine guns and such but at least the vehcile is finally in it's environment so to speak. I will feature this in a larger layout of photos all on its own when it's finally complete.
I also broke out my new airbrush, the Badger Velocity that I won in the 'ScaleModelAddict' youtube contest. I took first place in the armor category which bagged me the velocity and runner up in best of show which earned me the Patriot. I opted to give the Patriot to another contest entrant who's build I enjoyed because I really didn't need two new airbrushes. Anyway, I primed, base coated and started highlights on my Marine GMC. It doesn't look like much at this point but it is progress and that's all that matters I suppose.
Lastly, the great modeling weekend with friends was all that I mentioned earlier plus a little 'rewarding', both figuratively and literally. I entered my 3rd AD mortar carrier in the diorama category and my WC-57 Dodge command car in the open wheeled category, both in the Advanced level and took home two silver medals. I have never competed like this before and I must admit, it was fun as well as educating. Reading the judges comments/critiques has shown me exactly what it takes and the type of things they look for. Had I known then what I know now, these both would have been gold. Thanks to them, I will become a better modeler on my next builds.
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