Here's a nifty little diorama I built a few years back for a Tamiya-Con. Tamiya's dino kits are 1/35 scale - the same as their armor kits. So naturally I put them together. The diorama shows a few well armed Velociraptors traveling along side an early Panzer.

Surprisingly, the raptors were a lot easier to paint and equip than human figures, and a lot more fun too. The base is a cheap picture frame filled with plaster and dirt. Many liked the diorama at the Tamiya-con, but it took only 3rd in the dino-diorama category. Japanese humor is so inaccessable.

Here's Verlindin's 1/200 scale resin kit of the CSS Nashville. The Nashville was never completed by the South, and the North never did much with it either after it was captured. The Nashville was scrapped shortly after the war. It may have been a case of building too big for the South; the oak superstructure was buckling under the weight of all the armor that was being piled on on it. It may have been an effective river combatant under better circumstances though. The kit itself was an easy build. I put it on a brown water base to represent the Mississippi River.

This Verlindin's 1/35 scale resin kit of the CSS Hunley, a civil war confederate submarine. It's claim to fame is that it was the first sub to sink an enemy ship in combat, the Union sloop of war USS Housatonic. Though it was human powered (7 men on a hand crankshaft) and looked a bit crude, it was actually quite advanced for its time. It had diving planes, controllable flood chambers fore and aft for submerging, a snorkel system (didn't work it seems), and a smooth underwater shape that wouldn't be recreated for 80 years afterwards in Germany's WWII type XXI U-boat. A spar type torpedo was used (click here for close up) The Hunley would ram the torpedo's barbed spear into the enemy ship, locking on the explosive canister. The sub would then back away, unwinding a spool of wire attached to a firing pin in the explosive charge. When the spool ran out of wire (and the Hunley was a safe distance away) it pulled the firing pin and the torpedo exploded. Obviously it worked, but the Hunley was lost after it sank the Housatonic. The wreakage of the Hunly was found in 1995 and brought up in 2000. The kit is new so it's based on the actual wreakage of the Hunley rather that earlier and inaccurate drawings. It goes together well and painting couldn't be easier - everything's black. The base it a plank of walnut with brass pipe fittings and wood screws holding the model.

Dragon has updated it's 1/72 M2A2 kit to represent the latest in Iraq. Here it is in Desert colors - the 3 tone green camo is an option on the decal sheet. A fine and highly detailed kit. I added some wieght inside so that the finnished model will sit firmly on it's vinyl tracks.

This is Dragon's new 1/72 scale Challenger II kit built out of the box. It's very nice except for the much too flexable vinyl tracks. Fortunately there are those huge desert version skirts to cover the track up. The plastic parts themsleves are quite good.

Tamiya's 1/35 scale Centaur built out of the box with the addition of stretched sprue details and metal tracks. A very fine and well fitting kit. My only complaint is that the photoetched rear grille mentioned in the intstructions is not included in the kit. If Dragon can include what is basically a full aftermarket detail set in their recient armor kits, at least Tamiya can throw in a pice of PE... Oh well.

JB Model's 1/76 scale model of the Bedford MK (not "Mark" but M and K) 4 lorry in UN white. I like Euro-trucks, but the 1/24 scale versions take forever to build. I'm a perversly impatient modeler...

Revell's re-release of the Aurora kit of the Anklyasaurus. Not a bad kit considering it's age, and the only one around of this dinosuar. The best part of dino kits is one can paint them any way you want; who's to say your colors are wrong?

Sweeden's S-tank was one of the most unusual MBTs made, having a fixed (no turret) autoloading gun. Trumpeter finnally made a 1/35 scale kit of this tank. The kit is typically Trumpeter; some of the smaller parts like handles are better off scratchbuilt and the vinyl treads are only so-so, but it builds into a fine model nonetheless. This is an all green 103B version.

The German Type 21 U-boat was the coolest sub of the war, so I had to build one. Dragon's 1/350 scale kit built out of the box.

From the very fine Anime series Cowboy Bebop comes this personal spacecraft - the Swordfish II. Bandai made this 1/72 scale kit and it is generally excellent. The folding wings didn't work very well so I glued them shut, but all the other moveable items worked well (landing gear, cockpit covers, main gun, etc.) The craft is depicted as being very weathered in the cartoon, so I reproduced that in scale with paint chipping and staining.

The kit includes the main figures from the series in 1/24 scale, and the Swordfish's owner Spike Spegal in 1/72. The instructions are in full color on glossy paper - nice. Note the green zinc chromate landing gear bays...

Hasegawa released a series of early panes in 1/8 scale, including a DR-1. These museum grade kits featured real wood for the frames and many metal and plastic parts. They also released the engines as separate kits, perhaps as a way to get back some of the tooling costs. This Le Rhone 9 cylinder rotary engine is from the Fokker DR-1 kit.

Each cylinder is made separately - a real chore - but the finnished product is worth it. The intake runners shown in the pic are polished plastic pieces with a coat of Testor's copper paint airbrushed on.