Doug Webb
Slidell, Louisiana
Doug finished HobbyBoss’ 1/48 scale Lockheed F-80C Shooting star with AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Real Color lacquers. “The kit was a simple, fun, quick build with good fit overall,” he says.
Arthur Ko
Hong Kong
Imagining a long-abandoned combat vehicle from the world of Mobile Suit Gundam, Arthur finished a Bandai 1/35 scale FF-X7 Core Fighter with missing panels that reveal scratchbuilt structural and interior details. “I rebuilt the cockpit with Evergreen styrene rod and sheet, including the frame of the seat,” he says. “Many of the surface panels on the fuselage were cut open with a Tamiya Handy Craft Saw. Then I put details back inside the fuselage with spare parts.” He cut and drilled engine panels to show more damage, and he replaced a section of the right wing with styrene strips assembled into a frame based on jet fighter designs. For the rusty patina, he applied layers of Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics in rust and navy blue shades with Vallejo Chipping Medium in between. “I’ve always loved building and customizing Gunpla, but I found that the Bandai 1/35 scale Hard Graph series does not get enough appreciation,” Arthur says. “I wanted to show that the kits from the series are worth the money.”
Mark Adderley
Gastonia, North Carolina
“These are 54mm Green Jackets or 95th Rifles, manufactured by Airfix but now discontinued,” Mark says. “I found mine on eBay. I really wish these would make a come-back. They're a lot of fun, and the uniforms from the Napoleonic Wars were beautiful.”
David Campbell
Yuba City, California
David built Tamiya’s 1/24 scale Nissan R390 GT1 mostly because he liked the paint scheme and the fact that it had a fully detailed twin-turbo engine. He painted it with Tamiya Gloss Black (No. TS-14) and Pure Red (No. TS-86). “I really enjoyed building this one because, like all Tamiya kits, it went together with little drama,” he says. “The only issue I had was with the decals. I had to find a second set to replace a couple of them, but I am sure that was because it was an older kit.”
Tom Goray
Ladywood, Manitoba, Canada
Inspired by a trip to Bucharest, Romania, Tom finished Revell’s 1/48 scale B-24D as one of the Liberators might have looked during the Ploesti raid. He built the kit straight from of the box and painted it with craft acrylics. “My lovely wife, Marsha, was the inspiration for the pinup, which I hand-painted,” he says.
Terry Robinson
Upper Kedron, Queensland, Australia
“I have been a truck driver most of my life, so to complete this build of an Australian truck represents me and what I do,” Terry says. He finished Italeri’s Western Star Australian Truck out of the box with detail painting in the engine bay. He did most of the painting with Tamiya spray cans and picked out details with Revell enamels.
Roy Sorenson
Castro Valley, California
Roy’s radical redo of Revell’s 1/25 scale Ford Bronco includes a Fireball Motorworks 3.5-inch lift kit and bumper with winch, Scenes Unlimited Max Trac Mountaineer tires and TDI truck wheels, and Model Car Garage photo-etched metal. Under the hood, he mated the kit’s basic engine, transmission, and transfer case with parts from a Revell ’32 Ford street rod kit as well as a Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland wired distributor and Detail Master sparkplug wires. Other changes include fitting disc brakes all around and a new brake booster and master cylinder. He painted the body with Tamiya colors and used Molotow Liquid Chrome for the wheels.
Jim Moore
Mishawaka, Indiana
Jim finished an Academy Merkava with Testors Model Master enamels and Vallejo acrylics over Tamiya primer. Vallejo washes and Tamiya Weathering Master pastels.
Richard Davenport
Lansing, Michigan
After building Italeri’s 1/48 scale Il-2 Shturmovik straight from the box, Richard painted the Soviet attack aircraft with Testors Model Master enamels. Kit decals combined with some from Kagero mark this aircraft as one that flew on the Leningrad front in May 1944.
Mike Pabis
Phoenix, Arizona
Mike made his own decals to finish an LS Models 1/144 scale P-3C Orion before posing it in flight on an acrylic rod.