Special Top 5 Must build list

[TheNylonGag]

Me again,

I returned to modelling in 2011 after about a 15-20 year hiatus and at the ripe old age of 44 I have decided to focus my attention on only those models that I have always wanted to build because they have significance for me.

I'm currently working on one of my dream projects which is to scratch build an original space ship, when that is finished i will be starting on one of the models on this list.

I decided to pick one subject from each category :

AIRCRAFT:

Grumman F14a Tomcat

I have always loved this aircraft since i was a wee lad. Long before it became popular because of TopGun, I met an F14 pilot at a local airshow and he gave me an autographed Tomcat sticker and also there were only a few other planes that could beat it in the card game of Top Trumps, a truly versitle and iconic aircraft plus it just looks so bada$$ to me.

MILITARY:

Vickers Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank.

The company i used to work for in England was responsable for making a key component for this tank so i have always wanted to make one.

AUTO:

Williams FW14B Formula 1 car.

The Williams factory is in Grove, Oxfordshire which is where my Aunty lives, it is about 25miles from my home town in England.
Also, the FW14B is one of the most advanced F1 cars ever made using active ride suspension and semi-automatic gearbox and lots of other computer controlled gizmo's, and it looks in my opinoin like an F1 car should, very very fast.

WATERCRAFT:

HMS Victory.

This is one of the most significant ships in British Naval history. In school we did a project on the Battle of Trafalgar, involving a play about the battle and focusing on Nelsons last hours and on the ship itself.
We went to visit the HMS Victory in drydock in Portsmouth, England. Even at such a young age i was struck by two things, how horrific it must of been to fight in such conditions on such a ship, they look big but in reality they are tiny inside and the level of craftmanship of the boat that was build so long ago (1756).

SCI-FI:

Y-wing.

I thought this was the coolest ship in the whole of the Star Wars universe, 9 year old me always thought the X-wing was overrated and just not as groovy as the Y, also it had two massive great engines on it so it had to be faster, right? I just prefered the over all aesthetic shape of the ship.

I really want to build all of these in large scales, i have the 1/12th Williams FW14B from Tamiya in my stash, but the other things have yet to be purchased. I will get the 1/32nd Tomcat from Tamiya, the 1/35th Challenger 2 also from Tamiya, the Victory has several possibilities but i'm not sure which to go for. The Y-wing isn't availiable in a large studio scale kit, unless anyone has any suggestions, i don't really want to go as small as 1/48th so the Finemolds is out, 1/32nd, go big or go home.

Do you have a Special Top 5 Must build list i would be interested to see it.

Gag

 

[jedimaster]

Nice list.... I just sold my 3rd studio scale Y wing so keep an eye out they do come up.

 

[Joosh]

Me again,

I returned to modelling in 2011 after about a 15-20 year hiatus

After seeing your scratch build this line blew me away. I've been lurking on that thread on a regular basis and always want to comment, but am always so dumbfounded by the incredible work and detail that all I can ever come up with is "agggafalooo mollobiduck hagaaaaatiiiiccccc blurgh" then I walk away from the computer for a bit, compose myself and come back to the thread only to be amazed and mind blown some more.

I've been away from modeling for about 7 years. It wasn't really a choice I wanted, but the house we were living in was an open floor plan and with three cats tearing around it wasn't possible. Almost five months ago we moved into a different house and I finally have a space to model again.

I build mostly aircraft and my list is going to be a bit more project oriented:

1- 1/6 scale P-51D Mustang of Glamorous Glen III. Chuck Yeager's P-51 Mustang. The P-51 is my favorite aircraft of all time.

2- 1/48 Scale P-61 Black Widows representing the four crews that achieved ace status (3 in Europe in the Pacific)

3- a 1/144 scale USS Enterprise (CV-6)- flight deck and island with a complete air wing as she was after July 1942. I am really looking forward to building the air wing and flight deck. The tons of 20mm guns that went around the flight deck; not so much. If I've done the math right it should be a little under six feet of flight deck.

4- Lots of seaplanes. I don't know when it started, but I got a little obsessed with seaplanes. I have nine currently in my stockpile and five more on order. The first ones I bought were all military, but two of the last five were civilian. I have yet to find a seaplane that I can't fall in love with.

5-My HO railroad. Its a bit different. Most layouts are based on prototypes others are freelanced either by location or road name. Mine is going to be different in that I've also freelanced the time line as well as just about everything else. The central hub of the railway and its reason for existing is a USAF test center/research area (think Area 51, except in 1947). I've been planning it for almost five years now and I have an assortment of drawings and schemes including box cars that represent YoYoDyne Propulsion, the Weyland Corporation and the Tyrell Corporation. I'm sure I'll add more as it develops. As a way of explaining how different it will be- in my plan I have an edge of the layout cut through the research buildings so that I can show interiors. One of the research buildings will have a stargate.

Most of these projects are going to be somewhat on hold until we settle into a house we're planning right now, but isn't probably going to be built for about three years- unless the novel I'm working on does insanely well before then. Until we move into our currently non-existent house I can work on parts of everything, except the 1/6 P-51- not sure I really want to move that around and I want to get lots of hours back under my belt before I even start planning it. I still have some things to sort out in my current modeling room before I can get started again, but it feels great just knowing its there.