Em’s Master Build Log Tracker 2024

[Whiterook]

Most of the models that will start this tracker are holdovers from last year, like this one…



Italian Tank, Fiat Ansaldo, Carro Armato "M13/40", in 1/35 scale, made by Italaerei. It's a very old kit that I picked up at an estate sale about 9 years ago, near as I can figure, in March of 2015. I’d put it back in the box after some assembly, of which I have no recall on why specifically… I obviously didn't finish it, but it’s a good model to get more building chops in with.

The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian World War II tank designed to replace the M11/39 in the Italian Army at the start of World War II. It was the primary tank used by the Italians throughout the war. The design was influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton and was based on the modified chassis of the earlier M11/39. Production of the M11/39 was cut short in order to get the M13/40 into production. The name refers to "M" for Medio (medium) according to the Italian tank weight standards at the time, 13 tonnes was the scheduled weight and 1940 the initial year of production.

Now that I'm retired, I am not theoretically bogged down and exhausted from a work-a-day life, so there are no excuses why this and my other projects shouldn’t be a priority.

I've not decided what scheme to go with yet, but my initial gut reaction is a unit that fought in 1941 Greece. I'm coming to that conclusion based on having noted a picture of a tank from that timeframe and front which was darker in color, rather than the typical desert sand you normally see. It will be placed on my first-ever built diorama...I've been wanting to do one for years! My goal is to finish it by mid-Summer or before.

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Personal Collection

[Whiterook]

Another build on the bench is one that has suffered cobwebs for a long time.



“P-51D Mustang”, 1/48 scale kit from Revell. It is a Level 2 kit from Michael's Craft store, bought on a whim several years ago, as it was so cheap! I'd been wrestling for quite a bit on what scheme I wanted to do, and there are so many nice options out there, as well as what was included in the kit.

Overall though, this is not a bad little kit, even if it has gone sideways on me quite often during the build process… most notably, being a flaps up on the main wings kit, when I had already been building it where it should be flaps down, which I am altering just so; and the interior lacked quite a bit of pizazz, especially the cockpit interior...so instead of doing an out of the box build, I decided to at least invest in an aftermarket kit from Squadron (I believe...this was a long time ago!), with highly detailed side interior controls; and I also bought a far nicer pilot seat. Thinking back on it now, i wish I’d saved them for a better kit, but oh well.

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Personal Collection

[Whiterook]

Panzer IV ausf. H, 1/35 scale, kit number, N-218, being marked with the older company logo of Italaerei. This is a kit made around 1975 and time will tell how well the parts fit will be. Oddly enough, the company is still selling this very kit to this very day! There is also a retool, I’ve heard; and I have a much newer kit from another manufacturer, but this is a good practice kit for that.This will not only be the first full kit build that I’ve done in a long long time… a right out of the box build, but also my first full kit build in retirement! Seriously, it’s been so long since I built a kit (maybe a decade? …I’ve lost track!), it’s going to be interesting to see how much rust I need to shake off.

I intend to build her with a Winter camo, probably chipped paint. It comes with figures, but we’ll see how good and adaptable they are to a Winter scene.

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Personal Collection

[Whiterook]

“SPACE 1999: Eagle 4 Transporter”, 1/72 scale by MPC.

I’ve been wanting this one for a loooooooong time, and I found it on a good sale on Amazon (which was lower that the lowest Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale I could find), so free shipping to boot!

The kit I bought features the following…

• Iconic spaceship kit: The opener to season two of Space:1999 introduced this fan-favorite variation of the Eagle Transporter. MPC builds onto its lineup of 14” Eagles by adding the popular “laboratory pod” along with the powerful spine booster.
• All of the details: As with all of MPC’s Space:1999 kits, the kit supplies and amazing amount of detail that is based on extensive research of the original filming miniatures used in the production of the show.
  
• Everything you expect from MPC: The kit comes with an extensive water-slide decal sheet, full color deco guide and assembly instructions.
  
• QUICK SPECS: 1/72 Scale, 209 Parts. 14” long. Parts molded in “Eagle” white. Skill level 2 – Suggested for modelers age 14+ PAINT AND GLUE REQUIRED.
  

I was a huge fan as a kid and remained so throughout my life. As a child of the Space Age, the Space Race, and NASA in all her glory; and the resultant fervor and manic peddling of all things Space, from toys to TANG to Astronaut Food Sticks to movies and TV — I ate it all up (including those Godawful individually packaged snack sticks). As time went on, and I educated myself on space programs and cosmology, I came to appreciate the varied designs of space faring vessels, from real-life rockets to fictional craft. I think at it’s zenith of possibilities suggested by television show designers, the SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury was at the time in the mid-90s, voted and appraised by JPL and NASA engineers as the best designed fighter imagined, including the revolutionary cockpit seating. But before that, and as a non-rocket scientist ( ), I always considered the fleet of Eagle Transports, in all their varied forms, as the most realistic design that would *work*, not just look cool.

I’m looking forward to building this kit!!! It’s on the back burner as I get more comfortable re-reentering the hobby, as I want to do the ultimate justice to her!!!

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Group Build, titled “Lights, Camera, Action!”, at KiwiModeller; Personal Collection

[Whiterook]

I was originally going to build this kit for a Group Build at Modelers Social Club, but I never got off the ground with it. Seeing that KiwiModeller rose once again from the ashes and has its first Group Build, titled “Lights, Camera, Action!”, I decided to build this kit for that group build. I’d not even taken anything out of the box, and it’s still shrink sealed in the stash.

This race car from the 1967-68 television series, Speed Racer!

Teenager Gô Mifune aspires to be the world's best race-car champion with the help of his friends, family and his father's high-tech race-car, the Mach 5. I seem to remember that the character was just referred to as “Speed”, but that was a long time ago. It was originally serialized in print in a 1966 Shōnen Book . later, adapted into an anime by Tatsunoko Productions, its 52 episodes aired on Fuji TV from April 1967 to March 1968. In the US, the show aired in syndication at approximately the same time.

I’ll be building the “Speed Racer” MACH 5, by a Polar Lights. 1/25 scale, at 7 ½” long with 54 parts, it’s a snap kit, which generally means no glue is required, but on a few kits of this nature, I always glue them to seal it properly, especially as some work at the seams may reveal the need. Injected in white, chrome, and clear parts, it sports a detailed interior and metal axles to allow chrome and rubber wheels to roll freely. It even features gadgets like a robot bird scout and underwater bubble canopy!


I was a huge fan of the Speed Racer show as a kid, and as dorky as it sounds, my friends and I would fly out onto our bicycles after the show and race around the neighborhood like crazy people! It was a novel cartoon show of the time and my first introduction to Japanese Manga. I found this new kit at a small toy store on a bus trip to Rockport, Massachusetts last Summer… a beautiful little New England seaside town on the coast north of Boston. I’d since bought aftermarket t decals for it, as the ones that come with the kit are supposedly stickers! The kit has been sitting in the stash waiting to be built, and this is the perfect opportunity to get it done!

I also see this as a great opportunity to get back into the automotive genre with this kit! I’ve not built an auto since the 70’s — the Russian “Snow Coach”, WWII truck, or Rommel’s Rod may kinda qualify as having done something close to that genre, but this is a flat out civilian subject.

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Group Build, titled “Lights, Camera, Action!”, January 1 - June 1, 2024 at KiwiModeller; Personal Collection

January 1 - June 1, 2024

[Whiterook]

“Battlestar Pegasus”, 1/4105 scale, from Moebius.

From the reimagined 2004-09 series, “The Beast” (as she was known), she is a matching scale model kit in 1/4105 scale, that will fit in scale alongside my Galactica model (also needing too be built). The only other surviving Battlestar in the Colonial Fleet, she was found by Galactica unexpectedly. 

Pegasus (BS-62) was a Mercury-class Battlestar, and one of the most advanced military ships in the Colonial Fleet. Along with Galactica, Pegasus was one of only two Colonial capital ships to survive the Fall of the Twelve Colonies in a massive Cylon sneak attack, serving under the command of Rear Admiral Helena Cain. It was destroyed two years later during the Exodus from New Caprica.

I’ll be building this Moebius kit for the “Big Stuff” Group Build at Modeler’s Social Club, which runs from January 2nd 2024 and will continue until December 30th 2026… I should be able to manage that timeline!!!

BUILD CLASSIFICATION: Group Build, titled “Big Stuff Build”, at Modeler’s Social Club; Personal Collection