Mike Walsh
Dundee, Oregon
Mike finished a Hasegawa 1/48 scale F4U-5 Corsair as Honduran air force aircraft number 604 flown by Bob Forbes. “He was part of a team in the late 1970s that brought several Corsairs back to the States,” Mike says. He used Model Master paints to replicate the fighter dark blue “almost black” camouflage that was heavily weathered upon the return flight. “I did weathering and exhaust stains as it looked in Bob's reference photos,” Mike adds. “Great project!”
Luk Vanstappen
Mechelen, Belgium
“I bought this MiniArt German tractor and trailer for the stack of figures that came with it,” Luk says. “The set was good fun to build, although sometimes the very small parts gave me some trouble.” He painted with Tamiya acrylics and placed the finished 1/35 scale model on a plaster base decorated with BSM self-adhesive grass tufts and shrubs. The wire fence is window screen supported by toothpicks.
Jason Stoots
Leland, North Carolina
It is the late-1940s and hidden behind a dilapidated house is a moonshine still. ”My family went back a generation making illegal moonshine in rural Appalachia,” Jason says. He built the Revell 1/25 scale 1940 Ford box-stock except for a photo-etched metal grille, and he made the base from foam covered with sandy dirt groundwork. He hand-painted everything with craft acrylics.
Doug Webb
Slidell, Louisiana
Doug painted Kiss of the Dragon, a 1/9 scale fantasy character from Sol Models with AK Interactive 3rd Gen acrylics for flesh, AK True Metal and Xtreme Metal for the metallics, and AK Real Colors for everything else except for the dragon’s wings, which he finished with Turbo Dork color shift paints. Flory and Tamiya washes finished the figure.
David Campbell
Yuba City, California
Ford built the Super Stallion Mustang to test new technology including a supercharged engine. David wanted to build Revell’s 1/25 scale kit of the pony car as if the concept had made it to production, so he omitted the big-driving lights up front and finished it with Tamiya Metallic Black in place of the multicolor livery the test car wore.
Phillip Gore
Trussville, Alabama
Phillip built Hobbycraft’s 1/32 scale SPAD XIII pretty much straight from the box and marked it as the fighter flown by American ace and Medal of Honor recipient Frank Luke.
John Eaton
Woodland, California
“This is the 1/48 scale Planet Resin model of the Curtiss P-40Q,” says John. His only additions to the kit were a pitot tube and position light. He finished it with Alclad II Aluminium and picked out details with Alcad II Dark Aluminium and Floquil Old Silver.
Bryan Cramer
Sevierville, Tennessee
Bryan painted a Revell 1/35 scale Elefant with Tamiya spray-can colors, then weathered the German tank destroyer with artist oil washes and pastel chalks.
Jeffrey Landsman
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
After building a Tamiya 1/48 scale Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden out of the box, Jeffrey base-coated it with Testors Model Master Metalizer Non-Buffing Aluminum. Before spraying the camouflage with Tamiya acrylics, he dabbed on liquid frisket masks. Removing the masking fluid with a rubber cement eraser revealed the metallic base, and he used a Prismacolor silver pencil to enhance the chipping.
Marco Albarrán
Cuernavaca, Mexico
For his first kitbash, Marco imagined the F-24 Sea Raptor, a 5th Generation successor to the U.S. Navy’s F-14 Tomcat. Using parts from a 1/48 scale F-22 and F-14, he cut and reassembled the fuselage, flaps, stabilizers, and wings. Scratchbuilt additions include the intakes, landing gear, and arrestor hook.