Small ship, extraordinary story. Building Tamiya's 1/700 HMAS Vampire led to lessons in painting, weathering, rigging, and an unexpected journey through WWII naval history.

For years, I had a soft spot for Tamiya’s 1/700 waterline ships without ever actually building one. I finally took the plunge with their IJN Fubuki.

The Tamiya Renault R35 is exactly the kind of kit I want for a relaxed armor build. Small, interesting, well-engineered, and just unusual enough to stand out on the shelf. The real attraction, though, was the camouflage. French armor from 1940 wore some wonderfully odd and complicated multi-color schemes. Would AK Interactive's Real Color Markers be up for the task?

Since their debut in the 1970s, Los Angeles-class submarines have been the backbone of the United States Navy's submarine force through the 2010s. They are renowned for their versatility and state-of-the-art technology. In this post, I’ll use HobbyBoss's 1/700 USS Greeneville (SSN-772) to explore their features, historical significance, and uncover their often overlooked scale modeling potential.

In this post, I'll use HobbyBoss's 1/48 FM-1 Wildcat kit to take a historical journey hunting submarines with the VC-13 Black Cats. I'll also talk panel line pre-shading, weathering with oils, and my overall impression of the kit!

The Panzer III parallels the Wehrmacht's rise and fall in WW2. Let's explore this in scale with Dragon's 1/35 Panzer III Ausf. F.

In my first group build, I tackle Tamiya's 1/48 Brewster Buffalo. Is it a stubby fighter with a bad reputation, or a victim of circumstance?

It's time for paint! In this post, I'll tackle Tamiya's 1/48 F4F-4 Wildcat flying with the Bulldogs of VMF-223 and the Cactus Air Force!

What effect did theT-34 have on the battlefield and how were so many produced? I turn to Tamiya's 1/35 scale T-34/76 1943 kit for answers.

Tamiya, HobbyBoss, and Eduard. How do their 1/48 Wildcats execute the main assembly?

Behold the Wildcat's legendary Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp! Let's see how Tamiya, HobbyBoss, and Eduard bring it to life in 1/48!

This post is part of a series discussing 1/48 Wildcats by Tamiya, HobbyBoss, and Eduard from unboxing to final weathering.

The Oliver Hazard Perry-class first set sail in 1977 and examples are still in service across the globe. To find out why, I had to build!

Building a Wildcat in 1/48? Here's what you need to know.

Even a ship's aviation detachment should get the proper detailing and weathering. Here's how I do it on the small scale!

A Pegasus-class boat is small. And at 1/700 they are even smaller. How much modeling can there possibly be?

Refurbishment projects are an excellent way to test new ideas. In this post, I place Tamiya's 1/35 scale Sd.Kfz. 250/9 under the brush.

Painting figures is tough! This panzer crewman was coming along great...until it wasn't.

The Tiger. A subject that any armor modeler worth their weight in glue will have proudly displayed on their shelf.

The Zero is an icon of the Imperial Japanese Navy and World War II. Here is my build of Tamiya's 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero.