It's been a while between updates on The Seahorse, my scratch built sci-fi anti-gravity ship. Partly this was due to my overseas trip, and partly it was due to a lack of motivation - I lost momentum for a while there on the interminably slow hull build. But I'm back in the saddle!
Previous progress videos for The Seahorse are as follows: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
So this time I've finally moved on from the hull, and have tackled the deck surface and started building the superstructure. It's a relief to have moved on to the more interesting parts, as well as parts which don't need to be glued to the oily plastic of the soft drink bottle.
Although it doesn't look it, this is a big improvement on the original decking I attempted!
Cutting curved corners in styrene is always a tad tricky...
I was wasting time on Facebook (as one does) and I spotted the below images in a scale modelling group. It is a diorama of an Audi Quattro rally car belting along a dirt road, kicking up clouds of dust. It's a great diorama, the dust is well done, the dirt road is realistic, and the car is well weathered. But what really caught my eye was the spinning wheels of the car - they are incredible!
The diorama is by a European modeller named Matthiéu Noire, who specialises in automotive models. He has a Facebook page showcasing his models under the name Blackscale18 - https://www.facebook.com/blackscale18/ - if you're into car models, I recommend checking it out.
Matthiéu explained that the spinning wheel effect was achieved by taking an existing photo of the real car in action, zooming in on the spinning wheel hub, and then printing that onto a circle of card and gluing that on the hubs of the scale model.
So it went from this, the original kit pieces:
To this effect, showing a rally car in motion:
Such an ingenious idea! I don't think I would ever have thought of that. This is my favourite kind of modelling: so simple, so cost effective, and so easy - I love it. Rather than messing around with expensive aftermarket solutions, this shows with a little ingenuity most modelling problems can be solved. And the end result is an absolute show-stopper of a diorama. (Oh, and great photography as well!)
Nice work Matthiéu, and thank you for agreeing to let me share your brilliance on my blog.
I always love it when readers of my blog get in touch to share their work with me. It's great to see what other people are doing and follow the progress. Today I've got a special scratch build by a reader to share with you all: the "Avenging Vulture" by HG Barnes from Alberta, Canada.
HG said he was inspired by my sci-fi scratch build to do one of his own. Embarrassingly for me, he will be finished his way, way before I finish mine!
The basis of HG's ship is a kit of an Italian bomber from WW2. I couldn't guess which it was when he showed me one of the early pics - ten Dave's Model Workshop bonus points to anyone else out there who can guess what it was! ;)
I'm loving the shape that this has taken. It looks suitably predatory and purposeful - it reminds me a bit of a Ju-88 Stuka, all harsh angles and brutal lines. I like how menacing it is. There's also a bit of a Klingon Bird of Prey feel in there too. Nice.
Preshading and basecoat painting has been finished, and HG is now at the stage of applying decals and commencing weathering.
I'm also enjoying spotting pieces from various kits: the rear engine deck cover from a T-34, and various tank track pieces in the old bomb bay.
A big thank you to HG for allowing me to share this with you all, I love your work mate and I'm looking forward to seeing how this one finishes.
If anyone else wants to share progress pics, please just get in touch. I always enjoy seeing them and featuring them on the blog if you're happy for me to do so.
After we got back from Japan, I had a couple of days in Sydney visiting family and friends. I also got a chance to visit HobbyCo, which (I believe) is Australia's largest and oldest hobby store. I thought it would be interesting to compare Australian hobby shop to the incredible scale model stores I visited in Japan.
HobbyCo is an institution in Sydney. It has been around for absolutely ages. I have fond memories of browsing there when I was a teenager back in the 1980s - they had a basement store on George Street across from the city cinemas, and I would go to see a movie and shop in HobbyCo. Later they moved to a big shopping centre on Pitt Street Mall, and I would browse there during my lunch breaks when I worked in the Sydney CBD.
It's been a couple of years since I visited, so what's it like now? And importantly, since it is a flagship example of a large Australian hobby store, how does it compare to Japanese model shops?
Range
The range of model kits is good - it's bigger and more comprehensive than what is on offer here in Melbourne. I would say the model range compares favourably with Japanese hobby shops.
Where it disappoints compared to Japanese stores is in the range of tools and aftermarket detail - I would say there is 90% less tools available, and there is no resin or photoetch available in a normal Australian model store. This is a massive difference to the eclectic stuff available in Japanese shops.
A surprisingly large range of Maschinen Kreiger and Sci-Fi in general.
Upstairs for all non-scale model goodies.
I was rather taken with the Griswold family truckster from "National Lampoon's Vacation"
Price
Price is the second main difference. We here in Australia pay very high prices compared to model builders in Japan or America (I can't comment on Europe's prices). I get it, I get it - I want the people running the store to make a profit and remain a viable business, I hate seeing hobby retailers close down (I've written about it before). I also know that Australia is a long way away from the rest of the world, and stuff has to be shipped a long way to reach us. I get it. But comparing the prices, I also get why the internet is killing off bricks-and-mortar hobby shops here in Australia. I don't know what the solution is - as a customer I try to support my local stores, but at these prices it really hurts.
The only real consolation is that in Japan, although the locally-manufactured kits are crazy cheap, they pay a really hefty price for non-Japanese manufacturer kits - WingNut Wings kits, for example, are about 50% more expensive in Japan than in Australia. So swings and roundabouts, there are pros and cons for us all.
So this is (for now at least) the last of my videos visiting hobby shops. Now it's time to get back to actually building models rather than just talking about them!
I'm back from my trip to Japan. We had a further trip, five days in Sydney to see family and friends, but we're back in Melbourne for good now.
Yep, seat 30D. No first class upgrades for me unfortunately...
I'm sad to have said goodbye to Japan. After three and a bit weeks I was over the cramped spaces everywhere, I'm ready for larger bathrooms and wider aisles in shops! But apart from some physical creature comforts, I am already missing Japan.
I was speaking with my partner tonight, and she mentioned that it is boring being able to read signage and understand everything that is going on around you...
Oh well, time to start saving for the next trip to Japan!
Akihabara. It is a suburb of Tokyo, very close to the city centre, and it is crazy. It's also known as "Akihabara Electric Town", and the neon skyscrapers surrounding Akihabara Station specialise in selling electronics, cameras, manga, video games and other pop culture. And, more importantly to me, there are about six or seven scale model shops within a ten minute walk of the station!
I got to visit three of them recently. The two biggest, Yellow Submarine and Volks Hobby, are in the same building right next to the train station. They stock a phenomenal range of new kits, across the whole spectrum: armour, aircraft, ships, sci-fi, cars and bikes. But what is astounding to me is the incredible breadth of their range. They don't just sell the kits, they also stock a huge range of tools, resin accessories, photo etch detail sets, spare sprues, individual figures - just everything.
And it seems that this is just what they always stock.
I'm more used to Australian hobby shops, which sell an okay range of kits, but there is no store which sells all the accessories, all the detail-up stuff, all the specialised tools, in any depth.
Either:
a) the scale model scene is so strong in Japan that enough customers buy the esoteric stuff to keep it regularly turning over, or;
b) Japanese retailers don't mind having esoteric stock sitting on their shelves for extended periods of time.
Regardless of why, it is incredible to see so much product in one shop.
The third shop I visited was Leonardo LG, which is an easy ten minute walk north of the station. This was also an eye-opening experience. It is a secondhand model shop! It sells only secondhand kits - some ancient, some recent, some rare, some common. It's like a secondhand book shop, but full of models!!!
Maschinen Kreiger kits on display in Yellow Submarine.
The entrance to Leonardo LG.
All the secondhand kit shelves in Leonardo LG.
Japan, you are officially the Scale Model Kingdom of the World.
A couple of the stores were unhappy about me shooting much footage inside, but I got enough to give you a flavour of what it was like. I tried to be respectful of the stores' wishes, but also to show you guys how incredible they are. Why wouldn't you want to show the world how amazing these stores are?
If you're ever in Tokyo, you really have to visit Akihabara. I ran out of time to see all the stores - please, check out the others as well and let me know what I missed out on!
I've been a little quiet what with travelling to Japan and seeing the incredible scale model scene there. It was extraordinary, I feel very lucky indeed to have had the chance to visit some of these places. One of the highlights for me was the Tamiya Plamodel Factory store in Shimbashi, Tokyo.
It is three levels of Tamiya fandom in one location.
Every single current Tamiya kit in production is available, at prices that are about 20-40% less than what I would otherwise pay here in Australia.
I made a video showcasing the incredible stuff in the Tamiya shop. Check it out, and if you don't want to add visiting this place to your scale model bucket list, then you're a little bit dead inside already ;)