Hasegawa 1/48 Arado Ar234B-2 'Blitz Bomber'

The Arado was a commission piece built for a customer who essentially wanted it done as an Out of Box model, but with the inclusion of an Aires cockpit set, all of which he supplied. The latter is a big improvement on the kit supplied parts and once assembled and painted looks really great under all that glazing. The Aires cockpit set went together without any dramas, fitted into the fuselage perfectly and only required a small amount of sanding around its circumference to allow the forward fuselage glazing to fit snugly. The rest of the kit went together without any problems and only required a small amount of filler at the wing to fuselage and wing to engine nacelle joins, which was a pleasant surprise. With construction completed the canopy was then masked and the model given a wipe down with Methylated Spirits and then sprayed with a coat of Tamiya surface primer. The engine intakes, exhausts and exhaust shrouds were then brush painted, using paints and washes from the Games Workshop/Citadel range. The wheel wells and undercarriage components were then sprayed using paints from the Gunze Mr Hobby range and the main fuselage colors were then applied using Vallejo Air acrylics - these were also used to paint the cockpit interior and details. The model was then sprayed with a coat of Future in preparation for the application of decals and panel line washes. As the kit decals looked pretty ordinary to me I elected to replace them with a set from Eagle Strike (48169) as they were far more comprehensive, but unfortunately they did silver in few places - something I've not experienced before. After the panel line washes were applied the model was then sprayed with Vallejo Air Satin varnish, which gives it just a slight sheen. Any weathering, paint chips and scratches were then kept to a minimum as most of the photos I referred to showed these aircraft to be very well maintained. The only other details I added were:

• Pitot tube from brass rod and tube.
• Brake lines from fuse wire.
• Under wing aerial from wire, and
• Aerial lead from mono-filament thread.

Overall the kit of the Arado was a very easy model to build, however, I did find the painting to be quite a challenge especially when compared to my usual fare of Japanese WWII aircraft.

Wave Ma.K. 'Ketzer'

As I've mentioned before every year my modelling buddies and I choose a challenge subject, which we then build and enter into the annual Australian Model Expo, which is our equivalent of the IPMS USA Nationals. In the past few years we've tended towards aircraft - props and jets - and last year decided to do a bi-plane, the Eduard 1/48 Albatross DVa.
 

The DVa resurrection

Unfortunately bi-planes have never been my forte and after getting about 60% of the way through the build, my Albatross took a sudden swan dive into the floor followed by a tirade of expletives. Fortunately though a good friend of mine - Brad Cancian - asked for the mortal remains to be recovered and forwarded to him, whereupon he incorporated it into a magnificent WWI diorama.

As a consequence, for the 2012 Australian Model Expo my modelling buddies and I decided to do something entirely different, which would take us outside of our normal comfort zone. Hence the decision was made to do any manned (Ma.K), ground based, powered fighting suite and for this I chose the recently released Wave kit of the 'Ketzer', as it was the only subject that really appealed to me. The model went together without any dramas, was painted using Vallejo Airs and weathered using the sponge technique, a fine paint brush and Mig pigments. The base was made from an old trophy I had lying around and the ground work created using Games Workshop modelling sand and MiniNature grasses. 

So what was the final outcome from this years Australian Model Expo? Well lets just say that out of five of us who competed in the challenge, only one of us took out an award - a first - which sadly wasn't me this time around.......

The Australian Model Expo 2012

Andrzej Zoiber won the 'Best of Show' award with his Avro Lancaster Mk.I

The Australian Model Expo was held over the weekend of 9-11 June 2012 at the Sandown Entertainment, Melbourne, Victoria. This years event - the 29th - broke all previous records with the highest number of traders (27), club and individual displays (21) competition entries (674) and competitors (225) in attendance. Visitors from Poland, French Polynesia, Singapore, the USA and New Zealand also attended, giving the event a true international flavor. As Director, it was great to see so many modellers from across the country catching up, socialising and comparing their works. The full gallery of category winners and special awards can be viewed at http://modelexpo.com.au/gallery.html