Poll: Which Project Do You Want To See?

With two projects coming to a close soon, it's time to start thinking about the next item on the to do list. That being said, I'm having a hard time deciding on just which kit I want to build. That's why I've decided to ask the readers with a simple online vote. The project with the highest number of votes will be the next subject of a W.I.P. series here on Havoc Models. If your choice is "something else," let me know your idea in the comment section. If there's enough responses with the same subject, that project just might make the lineup.

survey software

W.I.P SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part III Mine Plow (Part 1)

Part I
Part II

With the basic lower hull complete for the most part it was time to move on to the mine plow assembly. I had both a Trumpeter 5 in 1 Abrams which includes a mine plow and a stand alone Dragon track width mine plow on hand and after looking over the instructions of both I decided the best coarse of action would be to cannibalize parts from both in to a useable plow. It seemed early on this would be a fairly straight forward assembly, however this 60 piece mini kit quickly escalated in to an almost month long ordeal. Poor parts quality coupled with confusing instructions gave me a migraine more than a few times and made me want to throw it against a wall and beat it with a 20lb sledge for good measure. In the end I persevered and "War Pig" will have it's plow.

W.I.P SERIES: Jurassic Park Velociraptor Part I Introduction

2013 marks 20 years since Jurassic Park arrived in theaters and took the world by storm. Steven Spielberg's masterpiece was a trailblazer for it's time relying heavily on computer animation extensively for the first time in a feature film replacing the old time standard of clay puppets and stop motion techniques. Among the most memorable and crowd pleasing creatures aside from the Tyrannosaurus were the crafty and agile Velociraptors. Depicted as as a vicious pack hunter in the films about 6' in height capable of jumping over a car and advanced critical thinking, science has since debunked the films portrayal of these small carnivorous dinosaurs. In truth the Velociraptor was no more than 1.5' tall at the shoulder and 6' in length overall, weighed about 33lbs, was sparsely covered in primitive feathers, and fossil records show limited to no evidence of cooperative or "pack hunting" behavior. Rather than a true Velociraptor, the film's portrayal more closely resembles Dromaeosaurus or Utahraptor, both of which could reach heights of 6'-7' and may not have had feathers.

W.I.P SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part II Rear hull details and suspension

In part one of this series on building Academy's M1A1 Abrams the basic hull was assembled, motorization holes filled, and a non skid texture was added to the upper surfaces. In part two I will go over the details and fixes for the rear panel and the suspension which consists of the road wheels, idlers, and main drive sprockets.

The photo above shows an overview of the rear panel. Everything here was assembled per the instruction sheet except for the addition of two missing lift rings. These can be seen directly over the main exhaust visible by their silvery color. In order to produce these I bent a piece of hollow core solder to shape then flattened it with a hobby knife. They were then glued on with CA and blended in with tiny amounts of Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000. The below photo shows them in greater detail. They may not be entirely the correct shape but since I am a fan of the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method they are good enough for me.

W.I.P. SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part I Lower hull fills and beginning details

My latest endeavor will be the Academy 1/35 scale M1A1 Abrams main battle tank for the Finescale Modeler community "Gulf Wars Group Build 2012". The particular vehicle I'm modeling (tentatively) is a USMC Abrams known as "War Pig". It should be noted that the "War Pig" seen in COD4 is incorrectly modled as a M1A2 which the USMC never used, only the Army has batallions of M1A2's. Several pictures I have seen of "War Pig" show it ith the mine plow attached which the kit does not include, hence I may model a different vehicle and save the WP decals for a Tamiya or Dragon with the plow.

W.I.P SERIES: AMT 2009 Corvette coupe Part II Interior Details

I've gotten the interior parts base painted. Since this is going to be a box stock build there will be no carpets or other goodies beyond what you see here. I sprayed all the parts Tamiya TS-6 Matt Black and let it dry overnight before i brushed the accent color in Model Master acryl Dark Ghost Gray. The aluminum trim is MM metalizer aluminum. All that's left for this assembly is the detail painting and glue it all together.

W.I.P SERIES: AMT 2009 Corvette Coupe Part I Introduction And Body Paint

I recently purchaced a pair of AMT's new "Showroom Replicas' 2009 Corvettes. The breakdown of the kits is aimed at the beginner, or experienced modeler with little time on their hands. They are very well done from the box, however seperate front and rear valances and a seperate hood add to the parts count uneccessarily in my opinion. The only other problem I encountered is that the seats are molded in black yinyl which will make painting a chore. Stick to acryllics here as enameels wil never dry on these surfaces. Thumbs up to AMT however for including two of each deacal on the sheet in case you foul one up theres a spare. Perfect for a beginner. When I purchesed the kits, I brought home a coupe and roadster. Both kits are exactly the same with the exception of the bodies and one is listed as a 2009, the other 2010.

The first body I prepped and painted was the coupe. I wanted something odd so I chose code 51U Gold Mist Metallic. I'm not entirely sure if a Vette was ever issued in this color but it's different and looks kinda classy in my opinion. After the coupe recieved two coats of Tamiya white primer, I sprayed 3 mist coats and 2 wet coats of Tamiya champagne gold followed by 3 coats of clear 48hrs later and set it aside to gas out (I typically leave a body 30 days before polishing).

While the coupe was gassing out, I moved on to the roadster body. All went well through sanding, primer, and 3 mist coats of Tamiya chrome yellow until.....the Santa Ana winds rolled in nullifying any chance of painting. So there it has sat through two weeks of miserable 7-day forecasts with yet another week of wind, rain, and just plain horrid weather on the horizon. I suppose if I want to make any progress at all, espescially if I'm able to make it to Modelfest Ventura the most I can do is polish the coupe, prep parts and pray...