Academy MH-53E
The unicorn has been captured!

Holger Kranich
I´ll grab a seat! One of my favorite helo´s !

Konrad -
Well I'll take a seat here as well 👍!

Sergej I
Planning the 1/72nd version someday, will enjoy following this build...

Anthony D'Agostino
Thanks guys, but I am not going to build this kit now, I have to get some skills and experience under my belt first. I have not built a model in more than thirty years, so I am starting off with something a bit less daunting, a Tamiya F-15A. In a perfect world, this kit will be started near the end of the year.

I hope you guys can tag along when I do so, I am certain that I will have plenty of questions and need lots of advice throughout the build.

Cheers,

Anthony

Sergej I
In that case, WB 🙂 post your progress. I too returned from a 25y-slumber called life 😄

Anthony D'Agostino
Sergei, how did you find the new methods and materials when you first returned? I can't believe how much things have changed, and all the new resin and PE, which should be a fun new challenge. Instead of living in fear of the unknown, I am diving right in. Already bought some resin conversion sets for a pair of OH-6 Little Birds that I will be converting to AH and MH respectively. Kind of crazy trying resin conversions right out of the gate, but fortune favors the bold.

The two Little Birds were supposed to be my returning kits, but in my rush to get them built, I screwed up and removed too much plastic from the fuselage, making both kits into garbage. But lesson learned, and thankfully, they were less than $20 for the pair. Now I am slowing down, going to approach this F-15A with deliberate slow focus. Excited to put it on the bench next week, I guess I will have to create a project for that build as well, I am certainly in need of input and feedback from you guys.

It so cool now, you get so much advice and support as you build. Back in my last build, there was no internet, no resin, no PE, and the only paint was testors enamels, and their tube glue, what a mess that stuff was. I can't wait to use the Tamiya extra thin cement, watching videos, it looks to be a charm, even on painted parts. Amazing.

Cheers,

Anthony

Sergej I
Anthony, it was quite similar with me. I spent loads of money on cool new stuff, then found out that only one third really works haha, took a deep dive into finding the perfect ration of thinner v paint in acrylics, then discovered AK RC paints and the thinner which smells nice like disinfection hand products Paint which never clogs, never dry on needle, is super smooth, super thin and thinner is also cleaner even on a dry paint in the airbrush... and the color range is complete! Woosh, about 200€ worth of acrylics products are waiting for Marie Kondo - does not spark joy! 🙂

At this point in life, time is my most scarce resource. So I am happy to pay for Iwata and H&S airbrushes and aftermarket decals and other stuff so I don't have to waste my life on testing too much. That's my excuse, others might call it instant gratification 😄

And yes, the PE, online shops, Youtube... Stash went from 0 to 16 in just a few months and mind I am only building US Navy jets 1/72... so far, haha..

You don't have the Tamiya cement yet? It is close to perfect but don't expect miracles, there needs to be actually contact between two surfaces for the cement to work😉

So that's it! Now posting some WIP pix of the A-4B which was one of my first models I built in the eighties. Tomorrow painting grey over white, then weathering arte 😄

Anthony D'Agostino
Thanks for the tips. I am trying to be careful to only buy tools that do two things, save time and give better results. If a tool does not meet those requirements, I don't bother. That said, I am also capable of getting what I call "the big eye", when introduced to a new shiny new tool, and have bought things that I probably don't need as well. But for me, money is so tight, I have to be extremely frugal and have resorted to making my own gear. For instance, those little paint sticks sold by model shops, basically a alligator clip attacked to a stick, they sell at ridiculous prices. I bought 50 clips and 100 BBQ sticks for less than a set of ten pre-made paint sticks. Took me ten minutes to assemble 15 sticks. The next home made, or really bought tool, a cat scratching board. It is exactly the same as the paint stands sold for modeling, only cost one third the price. I also made my own PE bending tool, it's not perfect, but does the job that the Small Shop wants $100 for.

As for paints, this is where living in the Philippines really sucks. There is very little support for model building, with only a handful of hobby shops in the entire country. They have a very hard time keeping stocks of paints, and they are usually overpriced. I am looking into making my own thinners, as that will free up money for actual paint. Mostly the only brand available at these shops, is Tamiya. The other paints, AK, Vallejo, lifecolor etc, are "exotic", what limited stocks there are, are expensive.

Kits are also extremely limited, so most of mine come from ebay, shipping and import duties are killing me. Like you, I focused on modern US equipment, stuff that I either drove myself, or worked closely with/caught a ride on. Once I fill those desires, I will move towards WWII gear. My scale is 48th and 35th, but I want to go bigger when possible, the price between these scales is often very minimal, so worth it in my eyes. Speaking of eyes, 72nd is way to small for me. My eyes are getting bad, but my sausage fingers make those tiny part impossible to manipulate.

Anyway, I am still trying to figure out this site, it's very different than my other forums (britmodeller.com, arc). I did not even know how this site worked for the first 6 months. Once I figured out how to find kits and the aftermarket upgrades, it became my "go to" site for all things model building. I will see if I can check out your WIP, hope to talk with you there.

Cheers,

Anthony