I have 2 projects active and 3 others on-hold at the moment:
- Hi Mold 1/700 HMS Devonshire (Active)
- Balaton 1/35 Kirovets K-700A Tractor (Active)
- Tamiya 1/35 25-pdr and Quad gun tractor (On-hold - short term)
- Airfix 1/72 F2H-2 Banshee (On-hold)
- Hasegawa 1/700 Myoko (On-hold - long term)
Hi Mold 1/700 HMS Devonshire (Active)
This is a Japanese resin and white-metal kit first released by Pit-Road in the late 1990s. I bought it from Rainbow 10 in 2008. It is now long out of production. The kit is finely detailed but lacks any photo-etch. I am past the halfway mark on the project. I have completed the basic construction and painting and am working on the sea-scape base and adding the small parts. I hope to finish it this year.
Balaton 1/35 Kirovets K-700A Tractor (Active)
I just recently started this complex resin and PE kit of the massive Soviet-era, Kirovets 4WD articulated farm tractor. I bought the kit directly from Balaton Models in Hungary and ordered an extra set of wheels/tyres so I could build the double-wheeled version. The kit is well cast though some parts suffer from warpage and damage. It is going to be a demanding project but is going to look good next to 1/35th Soviet tanks.
Tamiya 1/35 25-pdr and Quad gun tractor (On-hold - short term)
I bought this kit in 1975, not long after it was first released. It is still a sound model even though the tooling is nearly 50 years old. I started it in 2021 and made very good progress but then got distracted building HO-scale buildings. It is currently on-hold but I intend getting back on to the project soon.
Airfix 1/72 F2H-2 Banshee (On-hold)
Another old kit from my collection. I bought this one in 1981 while living in Adelaide. It survived a massive purge of my aircraft kit collection in the late 1990s because I am very fond of the “Banjo”. I started the model in 2021 and have converted it to the long-nose 2P configuration using alternative parts provided in the kit. The fit of parts is poor and the build has not been a happy experience to date. I have completed assembly of the main parts and the painting is about 2/3rds done. The kit decals are in a poor state and I have been held up on the build trying to find suitable aftermarket replacements. The project is on hold until I do.
Hasegawa 1/700 Myoko (On-hold - long term)
I started this kit back in 2006 and it has been languishing ever since, getting worked on occasionally. I made a big mistake early on with the project - I bought the Flyhawk photo-etch detail set for it. The Flyhawk set amounts to over 7 brass sheets with 100s of intricate photo-etch parts. Many of them are very delicate and require bending to complex shapes. After over 60 hours of work, replacing and detailing parts, I got bogged down with the photo-etch. Quite a lot of it is unnecessary IMO, though deciding which parts are excess to requirements is difficult. I am still hopeful that someday I will find the motivation to finish the project. I certainly like the subject.
