dodgy plastic Hummers

Following the dodgy plastic Pattons comes this pair of dodgy plastic Hummers.  Of unknown origin, these came in a box of crap a couple of years ago.
Being made of fairly hard plastic they seem to have taken paint rather well - once again I went for US Olive Drab over a black undercoat.  Painting in the lights makes a huge difference and really brings the thing to 'life'.
The nasty toy wheels were removed for painting and then simply clipped back into position.
After all, I don't want them looking too good....

More cheap plastic crap coming soon!

MiG-25 Foxbat part 1

Who doesn't love the Foxbat?  Most of us will recall hearing it described as a new Soviet 'wonder weapon' in the 1970s, when it's supposed Mach 3.2 speed seemed to render NATO's less zippy Phantoms and Mirages relics of the past.  Of course, the truth  - vacuum tubes and all - soon emerged, assisted by the defection of Lt. Viktor Belenko who in 1976 obligingly landed his Foxbat in Japan.  He was even thoughtful enough to bring along the pilot's manual for the type.  Though Belenko's MiG was subsequently returned to the Sovs it had been thoroughly dismantled by the US Air Force.  Presumably to make packing it easier....

Unlike the sensible US personnel who when faced with a  big pile of Foxbat bits simply sent them back to Russia, I plan on assembling mine.  It's an old Hasegawa kit which - tatty box aside - looks to be in good fettle.

The initial build went pretty smoothly, though I'm continually surprised by how huge it is.  Some of the panel gaps are a bit hairy so I can't see my version cracking Mach 3 anytime soon.

See what I mean about those panel gaps?

poorly painted pathetic plastic Pattons

These 1/48-ish scale M-48 Pattons come with some 'Plastic Army Men' toy sets.  The most recent ones I bought cost £2.50 for a bag containing 50 dodgy figures and two of the tanks. So assuming all the figures get binned or given away that makes the pathetic Pattons an attractive £1.25 each!  For that price I can forgive them not being the ultimate models.

This trio were undercoated in black then had a heavy drybrush of Olive Drab.
Eagle eyed readers may recall that a similar hull formed the basis of my celebrated M-247 Sgt Yuk bodge.

Rather more surprisingly - and when it comes to downing enemy aircraft - certainly more effectively, another skulks beneath the balsa armour of my ZSU-23/4 Shilka!

Questionable Keil Kraft Camel kit quickly completed

I mentioned in a recent post that I was working on something to help oppose my swarm of Fokkers.

Though it's clearly from later in the war, I noticed this old kit when I dug out the Revell Eindeckers and decided to throw it together. 

It would be fair to say that the Camel wasn't the most complicated kit I've tackled, though the surprisingly thin plastic posed a few challenges.

 As usual, the camera flash makes the green look rather brighter than it really is.  So not a bad effort at what I believe is my first 1/72 Sopwith Camel. Back in the '70s I was more of an Se5 man...