Model Armour

Pretty much my only New Year’s resolution is to reduce my Shelf of Shame, those in-progress builds that have sat around for far too long. As I mentioned in Tony’s ‘Whats on your 2012 build list?’ thread, my intention for this year is to finish as many of these as possible without starting too much new stuff, however will see how that goes as I get tempted by kits calling out from the stash!

I will be first to admit that there are way too many models here, and not all of them are armour, but it the interests of openness and honesty (and shocking myself into pulling my finger out) here is the full list, in order of what is closest to completion:

Dragon 1/35 M1 Panther II MDCV



This is so close to being finished it almost hurts! I need to weather the mine rollers and attach them to the model, however this will require a base to make sure they are right and don’t become detached immediately. The picture frame for the base has been bought and is ready and a piece of board cut to size and sealed, so ‘all’ that is needed is to build up some gentle terrain, applying filler and painting up. The blog for this build is here.

Airfix 1/72 Apollo V Eagle Lunar Module



I started this kit as I fondly remember building one of these many, many years ago. The kit is very inaccurate but I’ve added a few bits and pieces to the base section to compensate. Construction is complete and I’m in the painting phase with really just the black and other metallics to be added. Ideally I want to get this on a very simple base but we’ll see...

Tamiya 1/35 Semovente 75/18 SPG



This is the first vehicle in a two vehicle diorama; it’s companion will be a Dragon El Alamein Sherman. The build phase is 99% complete and I just need to check the etch sets for any final items and attach what is missing. Following this it is regular painting and weathering, with the addition of some detritus to match the reference photo. The blog for this build is here.

Italeri 1/35 M4A1 Sherman



This was intended as a quick build to have some fun. The kit itself was OK, if a little inaccurate in terms of tracks, road wheels, etc., but it certainly looks like a Sherman! The base Olive Drab coat is on but it needs a few touch-ups around the road wheels. Following this the decals need to go on and then it is weathering. Once thing I do need to add are some new tracks. I have a set of Bronco tracks which I’ll likely use for the Dragon El Alamein Sherman, and use that kit’s DS tracks with this.

Trumpeter 1/35 M1126 "Stryker" ICV



Another kit built purely for fun... This was my summer holiday build and the construction was completed within 2 weeks. Everything is primed and just waiting for paint, mainly as I’ve not got round to ordering the LifeColor MERDC green (UA 303 / FS 34094) yet...

Nitto 1/20 Ma.K. Kröte Panzer Aufkalärungs TW-47



Not really sure why this one stalled as it was so much fun to build! The primer is on though this has highlighted some minor texturing I need to do to the ‘head’. Eventually this will go on a base with a figure and a bunch of other details, but for now the next steps are to get this painted up, probably in a dunkelgelb finish with some white identification markings. The blog for this build is here.

AFV Club 1/35 IDF Sh'ot Kal 1973



Construction was complete and the painting started, however a slight accident (i.e. it fell on the floor) sapped my energy on this one. The turret needs fixing up and then it is back onto the painting. The blog for this build is here.

Tamiya 1/35 M1025 and Italeri 1/35 M998 Humvees



These pair of Humvees were some of my very first builds. The intention was to use the Italeri one as a painting ‘test bed’ for the Tamiya kit and these stalled as I was not happy with the Vallejo paint I was using. I have since got some appropriate LifeColor paint (I think!) so these can (should!) be picked up again.

Italeri 1/72 AH-6A Night Fox



When not building armour I like to build 1/72 scale helicopters OOB. This little fella was not fun to build and had some nasty fit issues. I’m very tempted to scrap it as the landing struts have sagged and the canopy has a very poor fit.

Tamiya 1/35 20mm Flak 38 and 3.7cm PAK 35/36



These are my very first builds and I’m not happy with either now! I am very tempted to consign these to the bin or spares box...

Revell 1/144 Space Shuttle Discovery



This was another model that I built as a kid and wanted to revisit, however the amount of filler and sanding has driven me to distraction on this which is why it stalled. There is still a lot more filling and filing to go, especially on the orbiter itself, but the fuel tank and booster rockets are pretty much done. This will be built OOB and I’m not going to update this to be accurate for any specific launch, though if it gets finished it will look quite nice on the display.

Trumpeter 1/35 Sd.Kfz.7/1 (early version) w/ Flak 38



I was going very well with this one until I had to start building the tracks!

Trumpeter 1/35 Challenger 2 w/ Enhanced Armour

This is another kit started for some light relief away from blogs and such. The kit is nice and detailed and I made good progress once it was started, but for some reason that I can’t recall it seemed to have stalled.

Dragon 1/35 SS-1c 'SCUD B' w/ MAZ-543 TEL

Despite the initial excitement I didn’t get very far with this at all, however it is far from forgotten. My aim was to really go to town on this, which would be starting with a full transmission, engine, etc. Nothing has changed on this front except I’m planning on building the updates as masters so someone on the site may be able to do something with them... The blog for this build is here.

Airfix 1/72 B 29 Superfortress



This was acquired with several parts already built and as I couldn’t pass it on I started to continue it. The kit is missing the clear parts (I haven’t got round to asking Airfix for a replacement) and I lost interest. This is very much to the bottom of the list of models to build.

Airfix 1/72 Westland Sea King

I wanted to start something simple and unchallenging over Christmas. Unfortunately I picked this kit! Not much done so far – need to add seatbelt details and then finish cleaning up the inside of the cabin before applying some paint and closing it up.

So... Be honest... What is on your 'Shelf of Shame'?

Cheers,
Ian

that's a sizeable shelf of shame there Ian, i'd like to say mine isn't that big.....but it would be an outright lie. Can't take pictures at the moment but off the top of my head i have

Trumpeter Sdkfz 7 (likely to stay there too)
Revell 1/72nd Gato - sooo close to finished
plusmodel 1/35 Morris CDSW
Dragon PzIIIJ
Dragon Flak 38t
Dragon Sherman Firefly (Carole)
Academy 1/48 P38 Lightning
Eduard 1/32 Messerschmit BF109E
Dragon 1/32 P51 mustang
Trumpeter Bruckenlegger
Revell 1/35 LVCP (D-day blog still ongoing )
Trumpeter 1/32 Wildcat

There are others but can't for the life of me remember what they are

honestly....too many to mention

phill.

ps,i'll try get some pics later

Hello Ian,

I think most of us are to scared to enter this thread. I think most of us would have more than a shelf of shame

We would probably realise we should stop buying kits too....but that would be no fun!



Woody...

I'm actually not in bad shape. I've got two projects on the shelf, my old Berlin T-34/85 dio and "The Fox Comes Calling". I am planning, and looking forward to, getting back to the TFCC when "Setting the Defense"* is done. I may revisit the Berlin dio at some point, but considering the state of it, I'd pretty much have to start all over and I don't know if I am up for that.

Matt

*Some things just shouldn't be turned into acronyms.

erm






the site wont allow me a post that long

I need to look through a few boxes before I can answer this properly

Off the top of my head

Warrior 513 conversion -build about 90% done
Italeri M1A1 Abrams -can't remember what went wrong, it's back in it's box
Italeri Gepard -see above
Revell Luchs A1 -er I tried to scratch some bits but didn't get very far but I'd already chopped up the kit parts
DML Sherman Firefly Vc -tried correcting the missing welds and wasn't happy with the result, going to turn into a donor for a Resicast ARV

The Tamiya Abrams doesn't count, it's on the bench still. All my modelling time lately has been spent either doing the tracks for it or decaling a figure for my slat Stryker which I put away almost two years ago after giving up trying to paint him

I think that's it

Ian, impressive and eclectic list you have there

Chris

I learnt my lesson on this subject when I was painting Zinnfiguren (flats), I must have 30 to 40 unfinished projects all boxed up under the stairs. I now do one project at a time and make sure I finish it before I press on, even if it doesn't turn out as well as I had hoped, at least I learn from it. Then again I've only been making vehicles for just over a year now so maybe I just haven't started the "shelf of shame" yet!!

Simon

Phew, I thought it was just me who had too many unfinished projects

Jagdpanther
Tiger I
BT-7
Churchill CS
Churchill AVRE
Opel Blitz
Bergpanzer III
Panzer III Ausf H
Tiran
Vickers Light Tank
Centaur
3.7cm FlaK 43 auf SwS
2cm FlaK auf SwS
Renault UE
King Tiger
Several dio bases and figures

A Pv IV J on the bench and another project awaiting photos for a PF.

I have no doubt I'll add to the above list at some stage

Gary

Ian-
what a superbly crafted- self loathing post!

Seriously Man- you have carefully staged pictures, links to lists of resolutions, Highlighted headings!

As for me- I take no shame in the models I have yet to complete!

Steve