Still lurking behind the scenes, still massively busy in real life…almost out the study gate, trying to finish an assignment due tomorrow after being called back into work to provide cover after an accident…at the moment, my modelling buzz is tracking down remaining Grail kits on Trademe and instilling order into the stash with Kitbase…
Totally rigid rule for not starting any new builds until something gets finished and this is looking good as we anticipate a long summer with minimal obligations on my time…
Pretty much any Lifelike kit is a Grail for me as they were always unattainable for me in my first modelling life: mail order was non-existent and only the bigger shops in bigger centres might have more expensive kits like Lifelike, Renwal, the larger Revell kits, etc… everything closer to home was UK based and small scale like FROG, Airfix, Matchbox and Revell. So very happy to acquire these back-to-back…
The M40 as a large-scale kit isn’t so rare but I like that the 1/40 scale will complement my other 1/40 kits (not a big lot but enough they have their own identity)
I do wish that this was the same scale as the Renwal/Revell 1/32 Lacrosse (not fussed if 1/32 or 1/40) but would be nice to be able to pose both together. Tempted to skin one or the other in case I ever get into 3D printed to rescale it – typical me, I have a 3D scanner but no printer (yet)…The Honest John is still a serious size in its own right and no doubt Hobbyboss or Trumpeter will turn one out in 1/35 as soon as I commit to it…
This even has a Modelcrafts and Hobbies price sticker on it (MC&H was one of the big model shops in Wellington for decades, sadly folded a couple of years ago) so it is very likely I had fondled this very box when it first came out. I was always very disappointed at the total cancellation of the Comanche programme (vice keeping it going as a tech demonstrator) and the subsequent demise of the kits of it…very happy to have scored this and it will go nicely with the 1/48 LHX…
I also won a big box of parts from the Airfix wargaming series with the Coastal Artillery position, Gun Battery and the soft plastic vehicles. I’d never seen them before outside the catalogue so am looking forward to working through the contents. I’ve dealt with the seller before and he’s been slowly disposing of a lot of these, and this box is the ‘everything that’s left’ box. Not sure what’s in it but know there are at least three of the Antar tank transporters (I could never afford the Dinky Antar) and some FV432s…
But speaking of Dinky, I did score a very rough, trackless SHADOMobile that had been dug out of someone’s garden…another bit of nostalgia…
Simon's Models 