My latest video shows you the easy way to rig a scale model aircraft. Monoplane, biplane or triplane, this is the easiest solution I have found to instal rigging on WW1 and 1920s planes.
Rigging can be daunting - I'll be honest, I was procrastinating over rigging my Wingnut Wings Fokker, because at first glance it just looks so complicated and difficult. But I promise, with the right materials and a little practice it becomes easier, you find a groove and it becomes a production line. Honest.
Originally I was stressing myself, trying to make overcomplicated turnbuckles and eyelets for my rigging and messing with my own mojo with how difficult it was all going to be. If you want to go down this route, all power to you. But I listened to a podcast with Richard Alexander, the General Manager of Wingnut Wings, and he shared his technique for rigging. It's now my preferred technique, it's a lot easier, and if it's good enough for the GM of WNW, then it's good enough for me.
I've been working on the rigging of the Fokker. A video is in the pipeline, I promise you, but for now all I can say is: it is fiddly, but worth it!!!!!
As I may have mentioned, I have been building a Tamiya Hornet RC buggy as a way of procrastinating starting the rigging of the Wingnut Wings Fokker. I'm still waiting on a controller and receiver to arrive in the mail from a Chinese seller on ebay (six weeks and counting...) but apart from that the Hornet is complete.
I've decided to leave it midnight black, and not put all the bright stickers on it. I think it looks much more striking like this. I may revise that idea once it starts to get scratched up once driven, but for now those pristine glossy black panels are just too nice to cover up with gaudy graphics.
It also highlights just how beaten up my Sand Scorcher is now!
I'm particularly happy with how the driver figure turned out.
I had a moment this week when I was sanding away at a poorly fitting join, and I thought just how much I don't enjoy sanding models. After a little more thought, I decided that sanding and cleaning my airbrush were my two least-favourite parts of the hobby. A little more thought again and I realised that the day I confronted these two least-favourite parts of building was actually a really powerful and simple way I improved my builds.
In light of this, my latest video discusses three really simple ways to improve your builds. These are low-hanging fruit - relatively obvious things, but nonetheless important ways to improve your modelling skills, and like the example above they are powerful and simple tools for improving your abilities, no matter if you are an absolute newbie or if you've been modelling for years.
I hope that the title of this video doesn't feel too "clickbait-y". I promise it's not meant to be!
I'm building my second RC buggy, the Tamiya Hornet. Why am I building that at the moment, I hear you ask, and breaking my own rule of not building two projects at once? Because I'm procrastinating over tackling all the fiddly, mind-numbingly intricate rigging and cutting out teeny tiny turnbuckles for the Wingnut Wings Fokker...
As part of the build, I've got another 1/10 scale driver figure to paint (previous Sand Scorcher driver is here). It's satisfying to paint these little guys, for two reasons:
they're a lot larger than the 1/35 scale figures I usually paint
it's weirdly satisfying to paint these well, even though it is usually barely visible inside the vehicle. I don't know why.
So I'm painting the Hornet driver's eyes, and dammit: one eye is perfect, and one eye looks like a randomly applied blob of paint. The eyes are always the hardest part of a face to paint, and I got it 50% spot on and 50% nope, not quite.
Hmmm, that eye on the right hand side of the photo is a bit sketchy...
Good news! I've got a new retailer on board for my members-only discounts programme, The MOD Squad! SJS Hobbies is an Australian ebay retailer who specialises in model kits, hobby supplies and model upgrades, and they have agreed to offer 10% off to all MOD Squad members.
Woo hoo!
If you haven't considered The MOD Squad yet, it's a good time to check it out. For a modest monthly contribution you receive 10% off normal prices at a growing range of scale model specialist retailers. Basically, if you spend more than $30 a month on modelling then you come out ahead, plus you get to support Dave's Model Workshop in the process. Win/win!
If you are already a member, then check out my Patreon page where you will find a special members-only post which contains a link to the ongoing 10% off prices at SJS Hobbies. I hope you find some good stuff there!
If there are any other retailers you'd like to see become part of the 10% off programme, please let me know and I'll approach them. I'm all about bringing some value to you guys, the more the better :)
I don't often post other people's videos on my blog, but when I find something important or extraordinary, I will happily make an exception. This is one of those cases. Adam Savage - one of the guys from Mythbusters - is a model nerd. Who knew, eh? And he has released a video this week about the problem of recasting, where an unscrupulous person will buy a limited release kit and use it to cast their own moulds and then sell their knock-off versions.
I discovered this video via an email I received from Industria Mechanika. If you haven't checked them out before, you should - I got into their aesthetic when I was scratchbuilding The Seahorse, they do great sci-fi and steampunk resin kits. And they are exactly one of the sort of small, short-run model producers who are impacted by recasting. They put in all the effort, pay the artists, produce the amazing kits, and pay their way in the industry.
When someone else comes along and directly copies their work and then starts flogging it off much cheaper on eBay or Etsy or Aliexpress, it may be tempting to grab yourself a bargain. I'll be honest - I've knowingly purchased a recasting before. I'm not proud of it, but I have.
Finding these dodgy bastards took literally sixty seconds. Part of me didn't want to give exposure, but the main offenders need to be shown.
When Adam says in his video that there are problems with the recasting, that the quality is never as good, I have some doubts. I'm sure some are piss-poor, but I'm sure others are pretty much indistinguishable from the legitimate originals.
But the important difference is this: if you buy originals, you support the artists who produce the cool thing that you love and want. You keep them in business. This equals you keep them producing more cool stuff in the future. You win long term.
That dude who knocks it off and flogs it cheap? He's not designing anything cool for release next month or next year. Screw him. Plus, it's just a really shitty thing to do, being a parasite and copying the creativity of others.
If you've ever read this blog before you'll know I love saving money, and doing it on the cheap if it is at all possible. But in this case, it's a false economy. Support the people who actually do the work - your purchase keeps the small guys producing the cool stuff. If they go out of business then less cool stuff for you in the future.
The Wingnut Wings Fokker continues, and in my latest video I show you how I've painted the laminated wooden propeller. I've taken a little artistic license here - technically it should be something like seven layers thick, not three, but you get the idea. It looks good to me, and it looks like real wood.
It's a very simple technique. Basically it involves a base layer of lightish acrylic paint, and then a further layer of darker raw umber acrylic.
The magic happens when you cover that with washes of burnt umber oil paint. This gives the wood its richness and tonal variation.
What I love about this technique is that it is incredibly forgiving. If you stuff something up, it is tremendously easy to wipe it away and have another go, and another go, until it looks good to you.
I can't keep it in - I'm pretty damn chuffed with how this is working out so far. Here's the current progress on painting the wood effect of my Fokker's propeller.
I'm rather happy with that.
My partner asked if the kit comes with an actual wooden propeller when she saw this.
Not bad for a bit of plastic, eh?
I'm currently filming a how-to video on how I achieved this, which I hoe to have out this weekend.
