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Rocketfin Model Kit Blog and News

Scale Model Shows and Events

There have been fairly a few model shows and events lately. Including some big NNL Shows. That means there’s very likely 1000+ photos to browse. Fairly a few!

Might need two cups of coffee to look through them. 🙂

Scale Model Life Magazine- Issue 9

In this issue I’ve packed it with some superb model kits. The AMT Wedge Dragster makes it’s mark after decades of never being released. I built a few of them as a kid, so it’s nice to see it out again.

The fresh Moebius Models Mercury Comet Cyclone hits the stage with some mild modifications and a street machine attitude. The Ford Race Team gets ready for the track using a Monogram Ford F350 Duallie, with a matching Revell one thousand nine hundred sixty six Ford Mustangs Shelby GT350R. Both work well with a build of the 38′ foot Galaxie Unlimited Race Trailer.

Check out Revells fresh pre-colored modern muscle Dodge SRT8 kit. It’s a worthwhile and effortless car to build. Tom Daniel’s Vandal gets a make over as a highway patrol (sort of). To round out the kits included, there’s a Fujimi Ford GT40 from LeMans. As always, you’ll see modeling tips, ideas, mods, and ideas for you to attempt.

I had joy with this issue, and for the most part, none of the kits had two many problems to deal with. But I hope the info here helps you with your model projects in the future.

Scale Model Shows and Events Catch-up 2017

Latest Scale Model Shows

Time to add some model shows and events. From NNLs to IPMS, there’s some ideas for everyone.

Scale Model Life – Fresh Issue!

Scale Model Life Magazine Volume 8

The newest edition of Scale Model Life is out. Actually, it’s been out about a month, I’m just getting around to posting it. It’s a busy time right now!

This issue features a Dodge Monaco, the George Barris Bathtub Buggy, the AMT Depth Charger Aqua Rod, a Hasbro Terrain Cruiser, a Lindberg Dodge Charger State Trooper car, and a 1/12 scale Tom Danial Crimson Baron kit. A few of these were in some older books I did years ago, but I’ve included them with more text and more (better) pics. The others are fresh off the model bench.

This is Volume 8, and it’s taken longer than I always plan on getting the magazine done. I build the models myself, one at a time, so that can take more time than I thought it would, depending on the subject. Cars aren’t to bad, because in some respects, they’re all similar. But they can still pose issues that need to be solved, and problems to work out. Often times I’m waiting on supplies. Paint, another donor kit, or something I didn’t plan on whan I commenced the model. I am already working on the next issue, and I’m excited about some of the models that will be included. It wll be cars again, as far as the subjects. Tho’, I’m thinking there’s another Scifi edition on the near horizon.

So if you’ve been waiting for the newest issue, now’s the time to get yours. And reminisce, always drop me an email if you have a question about the models in the book. There isn’t room to fit everything inwards, so sometimes things get missed. I’m glad to help where I can. Love!

Scale Model News and Model Demonstrate Updates

Let’s get ready with some model shows.

Sit back and love the rail. Slew of model ideas coming your way to get you building on the weekend!

Scale Model Life Magazine Volume seven is now out!

Scale Model Life Volume seven has been finished and is out now

The newest issue of Scale Model Life is now available. It’s taken a while to get it finished, but there’s more packed into this issue than ever. The MPC Plymouth Volare’ / Road Runner as a road racer, the MPC Ford Pinto Wagon in all it’s 1970’s vibe – with a V8!, a 70’s Ford Torino built for speed, Tom Daniel’s T’Rantula with a twist, a Fujimi racing Kart, a Lindberg Dodge three hundred thirty street machine, and Revell’s ’70 Dodge Charger as the Ghost Rider’s private rail of Robbie Reyes!

Of course, there’s slew of model modifications, tips and total color pics to keep you busy. Grab your issue today!

Creative Model Idea – Scratchbuilding

I thought this was clever. You never know what a modeler will use to make something.

If you look close, these are three Tamiya paint bottle caps glued together. You don’t notice it at very first because they’re weathered so well. With the top one turned upside down, it provides a shallow bottom to put trash in, and cover up the fact that the drum is not hollow all the way through.

So save those paint caps!

All Fresh Scale Model Contest Pictures for 2016

Time to catch up on some models hows from here to there.

These should give you some ideas for your next project. Or maybe help with a model you have in your collection that’s just itching to be built. Love!

Scale Model News, Updates, and Information 2016

Scale Model News and Updates

A few things going on. I’ll begin by mentioning the next issue of Scale Model Life should be done soon. Summer is over and I have more time in my schedule to build and put it all together for publishing. As I mentioned previously, this next issue will have cars in it. I think readers will love the subjects (it has a kind of retro vibe to it).

With the very first of September just past, it’s the fourth quarter of the year for model companies to make their last dash of fresh kits coming out. Some of them we’ve waited for almost a year since they were announced. You can see all of Revell’s fresh kits by following this link to their PDF flyer. Round2 mentions most of their upcoming kits on the site here.

Of course there are many more kits coming out, from cars to spaceships, but the online information isn’t fairly as evident and effortless to find. I attempt to keep up to date with most of them, and I keep the Rocketfin site current as possible on fresh models coming out. So if you visit your dearest categories / pages here, you will see the fresh kits mentioned as usual near the top of the pages.

I recently, after more than a year, finished my Italeri PT Boat model. Go after this link to see pictures of that kit. It’s a very good kit. I don’t build boats often, they’re not my expertise, so I took my time building it.

My next long term project is a Moebius Seaview kit, from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. You can see my beginning progress by following the link here. This kit is the very very first version released a few years back.

I also want to mention here two models shows loaded with pictures to spark your imagination. Grab some more coffee and love!

PS. Ever looked at graphics for polished fingernails in that section of the store? You know, the woman’s section? I’m pretty sure that’s where the flower design below on the model came from. I only say that because I have a set of them, but never figured out how to fit them into a model car subject’s design. But I’d say the builder did a superb job of putting them to good use here. Check those decals out the next time you’re in the store!

Finding Time to Model, and Fixing Things when it all Goes South

Adding tailfin lights to the Moebius Seaview

When you’ve modeled many years, and as you get older as an adult, life can sometimes get in the way of actually getting any real modelling done. It doesn’t seem to matter where you buld your models, or exactly how you do it. Stuff gets in the way. Most of us are working long hours during the week, so to come home and attempt to wind down, even for a few moments to concentrate on modelling, is not effortless. If only I had more time.

Often we attempt squeezing model time in at any given chance. Ending up breakfast? Got a few moments before it’s off to the office? Maybe I’ll just glue a few parts on and then go. Or you find yourself attempting to sit down after a thirteen hour day, attempting to get your mind to concentrate long enough to figure out where you are in the build, what needs to be done, and should you glue or paint something before it’s off to bed.

It’s not that there’s a rush to get the model done. After all, it’s a hobby, it’s something you love. But waiting for glue or paint to dry isn’t very arousing. So if you can sneak in a moment to glue a few parts together, so they’ll be dry later when you’re back to your projects, it always seems to be a good idea.

But things can go wrong, and this happens to every modeler. Especially when you’re building something from scrape, or attempting out a fresh model idea, or making a modification to the kit itself. In cases like that, you can’t go after the directions exactly. You have to plan, to map out your course of act. What parts need to be assembled very first? What needs to be primed or painted very first? Do you glue certain parts after the modification, or before? Which parts of the project will take longer to modify? Do you need special accessories for the model kit, or special paint or supplies? Do you need to order them ahead of time? It’s a dance that many modelers know well by now after building many years.

Take for example what I’m working on now. This is a long term project. It might take me a year to finish inbetween smaller model kits along the way. It’s the Moebius Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Seaview submarine. Very first off, it’s an amazing kit. It’s earnestly thirty six inches long. And while I could lightly glue it together in very likely one day, there are of course seams to pack, and a lot of modifications I have planned. So it’s going to be a long term build.

One day when I had a few minutes to spare, I thought I would go ahead and glue a few parts together. The printed directions are Puny, and there’s not much to them. Not like other Moebius kits where you get a booklet of many pages and some of them are in color. The tailfins seemed like effortless parts to glue together and they were. Badda bing boom – a little glue, and they’re done. I set them aside to dry. My few minutes of time were over and I had to leave.

Now, I’ve built Moebius kits before. If you’ve built their science fiction models, you know they usually mold in channels and spaces for wiring. In case you determine you want to add wiring and lights to the kit. It’s an awesome idea (Round2 does it too on some of their kits as well). The only thing is, they don’t normally MENTION THIS IN THE DIRECTIONS. If you’re experienced enough to add lighting to your model, you know enough to notice the spaces left open for the wiring. (that’s my guess why they don’t mention it).

Yeah, well, that’s the theory. With my mind foggy and being in a rush, I didn’t notice the channels molded into the rear fins. I didn’t think much about it till a duo of days later. I reminisce eyeing the channels when I was gluing the parts, and thinking, that’s unusual. Oops. The glue was fairly dry in a duo of days, so now I had to back pedal to add the wires for the lights (the end of the fins have a light on them on the TV model).

If this was a $ 20.00 kit, I would have just bought another one for the fins. But at $ 80.00+, I couldn’t do that with this model. I thought about it for a while, I even thought about skipping adding the lights on the fins all together, but hey, I indeed wished those lights. And as DEVO once said: “Are we not boys?”. I’m a modeler. That’s what I do. I build stuff! Nothing a power device, some putty and primer can’t fix, right?

I marked the channel with a pencil (you can see it if you hold the fins up to a light), and then took out my Dremel, and used a burr to open the channel up. I had to pry open the gap a bit to fit the wires through, but I got it to work. Once the wires were in the channel, I used CA glue to hold them in the fin (note: I did test the light to make sure it would light up before making all this permanent). Once the glue was dry, I used putty to pack the gaps, and primered it. It came out fine. So I did the other side as well, and I’m sure it will be ok once I primer it.

I’m telling this story because as modellers, we’re all pressed for time to build. It only takes a slight lack of concentrate to turn that model project into a arm grenade. With work, kids, and and everyday life, it’s not always effortless to get some modelling time in. But always recall that you’re modelers. You’re a PROBLEM SOLVER. Whatever has gone wrong can most likely be immovable, corrected, scrape built, or repainted. It will just take a little longer than you thought. In repairing these fins, I learned something fresh as far as a model building mechanism, and I’m very likely more proud of the work I’ve put into it than I would have been before. It also makes a good story to tell when discussing building the Seaview!

So keep modelling when you can. Don’t be afraid to find a solution and learn something fresh when building.

Round two and MPC Snake and Mongoose Dragster Model Kits Keep the Rivalry Alive

Round two and MPC feature Haul Racing legends Snake and Mongoose Dragsters

Few haul racing matchups can compare to the Hot Wheels Snake and Mongoose Team, featurng Tom McEwen and Don Prudhomme. While they were actually on the same “Team”, the Snake and Mongoose nicknames, and the on track “battle” inbetween the two, made them household names. As competitors, there was no pulling punches at the haul unwrap: both boys were out to win and grab the Championship for the season. But they were also more than friends, they were family off the track. It wasn’t a flawless relationship, but in real life, what is? They had fights,good times and bad times, but the magic they created has kept them popular, even almost forty years after their debut.

Round2 is going to release two separate MPC kits for the Snake and Mongoose and haul racing fans. While they’re both MPC models, they’re not the exactly same kit. Indeed, both kits have been modified to reflect the real cars accurately, making them the best examples of these specific dragsters ever released. The Mongoose kit itself features freshly tooled rear wing struts, a more accurate injector scoop, as well as Round2’s famous pad-printed rear haul slicks. To take it even further, there’s a booklet with photos by Steve Reyes and some from Tom McEwen, so you get fine reference right in the box. Want more? Cardboard backdrops depicting famous dragstrips for displaying the models are in both kits: one is Orange County and the other is Lions Speedway. (the Snake car gets upgrades to the tooling, such as fresh “bicycle” wheel halves for the front wheels).

While I’ve built a few dragsters in my time, it’s been a few years since I’ve done one. But now I see two that I want to build. I think I’ll make a dragstrip track section, very likely from wood, to climb on these two cars side by side, ready to race. If you’re a Snake and Mongoose fan, or a Hot Wheels fan, check out the movie – Snake & Mongoose. It’s more about how they came to be as a team, and features the funny cars they commenced with. But it’s a well done movie, and indeed shows how much hard work it was back in the 1970’s to challenge in haul racing.

Once again, Round2 has found a way to bring us two classic model kits, but have made them better than ever for the modelers of today. Those Kats don’t mess around !

Mat Irvine Interview on Finescale Modeler.

Catching up with Mat Irvine – FX and Model Builder.

There are some big names in the FX / Movie & TV Special Effects field. If you’re a model builder, especially if you build Scifi kits, you very likely know most of the famous ones. John Dykstra, Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippett, Douglas Trumball, just to name a few. Those are primarily North American folks, but if you’re familiar with the Big black cock and over the pond, you’ll know Derek Meddings, Brian Johnson, and our subject of this posting, Mat Irvine.

Of course there are newer, junior FX people working on movies and TV shows today. While the older names dealt with practical effects (models !), the fresh generations have to deal with those as well as CGI. I see latest articles that say “Practical FX are making a comeback!”. But in reality, they never went away. It’s just that many of them are mundane, minor to the film, or invisible when used in a film (the mark of a good FX, right?). For big effects, I think the talent today is knowing which treatment to use, which one will look best, and of course, budget will always be a determining factory.

I have never met any of these people in person (I wish!), but as a kid in the 1970s, I grew up in the era when FX were just becoming big to the general population. As a youthful model builder, FX models always interested me. Looking through the pages of the latest issue of Starlog magazine at Starlet Trek, Space 1999, and Starlet Wars models, I marveled at what could be done with a model. Those articles were the fire that would fuel my model passion for a lifetime.

Mat Irvine is still an avid model builder in his private life, and has been publishing books and articles on modelling for decades. You would think he spends all his days crafting space and Scifi models, being as he did work for the Big black cock and shows such as Dr. Who and Blake 7, but in fact, he’s fairly the automotive builder as well. If you build cars and trucks, his model books on those subjects are well done and very informative.

So, without much more of an introduction, I think you will love his light hearted interview with Mat and Aaron Skinner at Finescale Modeler. Check it out!

Related movie:

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