About this site….

Why is this website here?

Confession time: I’m a model maker, and I’ve definitely got the scars to prove it. Over the last 50+ years, my hands have survived slips with hobby knives, gluey fingerprints, and more plasters than I care to count, but honestly? I wouldn’t trade any of it. Even after all this time, I’m still learning, still experimenting, and still stopping mid-build to admire the incredible work other model makers share online. There’s always someone out there building something jaw-dropping, and to lean from.

My journey started way back in the ’70s with those classic Airfix kits from the little model shop near where I lived. It was the kind of shop that smelled of enamel paint, and nostalgia.

Over the years, I’ve dabbled in pretty much every scale imaginable. I started with the small 1/25 and 1/72 aircraft and vehicles—great for learning, but now I’m finding myself drawn to the larger kits. Bigger scales mean bigger details… and usually bigger headaches. They also tend to test my wife’s patience, especially when they spread across the dining table and ironing board for “just a few days” (which always ends up being much longer).

One of my favourite types of builds these days are Gundam and anime kits. Years ago, they were not exactly easy to get in the UK, and shipping from Japan can feel like you’re smuggling gold bars. Still, I keep coming back to them, but luckily through the years access to them has got easier, and shipping rates reduced. They’re designed to be quick, clean, snap-fit builds, and technically you don’t need to paint them at all. But where’s the fun in that? I tend to go into full perfectionist mode—sand, fill, sand again, fill again—then hit them with primer, paint, and whatever colour scheme I’m in the mood for. Sometimes I stick to the original design; other times I just freestyle with the airbrush and see what happens.

Because I build so many Gundam kits, I’ve moved all the detailed blogs for them over to my sister site, Gundammodels.net. That way I won’t bore everyone here with the same content twice. On this blog, I’ll mainly share the finished kits and focus more on my other builds.

Speaking of which, my stash these days looks a lot different to the early aircraft-heavy days. I’ve still got a soft spot for planes, but my shelves are now filled with sci-fi ships, real-world ships, big 1/12 cars, and a couple of hefty 1/16 armour kits waiting their turn. When people say model making is a “small hobby,” I always laugh, because my stash has completely taken over what was supposed to be the spare bedroom. Picture a chaotic tower of kit boxes stacked like some cursed version of Jenga. And while we’re on the subject, sorry again to my wife for constantly stealing the ironing board, dining table, pegs, cloths, and basically anything else that looks remotely useful during a build.

One of the things I enjoy most is bringing my electronics skills into the hobby wherever I can. If a model or diorama base has space for LEDs, fibre-optics, or any kind of lighting effects, you can bet I’m going to try squeezing them in. It adds a whole extra layer of problem-solving, and the final result is totally worth it when the lights flick on. I also do most of my painting with an airbrush nowadays as it gives me smoother finishes, better metallic effects, and more realistic weathering.

A fun bit of history: in one of my previous roles, I set up an airbrush and paints division called “Airbrushheaven“, where we sold airbrushes, spray booths, paint sets, the lot. So at least I’m pretty well equipped! . We used to have an ethos of if I hadn’t used it on my own kits and liked it, we didn’t sell it.

One day I want to try my hand at detailed stencil work, but I’ll definitely be practising on scrap pieces first. No way am I risking a favourite kit on the first attempt. I like to use various paint manufacturers that provide the colours I like, and are happy to buy a bottle to try on a piece of scrap plastic to see how it works.

Alongside the build posts, I’ll also be putting together some paint reference guides, kit unboxings, and a space for instructions, both for kits I’ve built and ones passed on to me by fellow modellers over the years. Whenever I’ve got “in-progress” photos, I’ll try to turn them into proper build blogs, but some older projects might only get finished-model posts, mostly because I either didn’t think to take enough pictures, or lost to electronic Gods because they were not backed up.

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramble. Time to grab a knife, warm up the airbrush, and get back to building. More updates coming soon!