The Backstory

As a kid, I had built a few models, most of them not very good.  My biggest claim to (my own) fame was a good sized USS Enterprise NCC 1701-A model.  I’d been chomping at the bit to put it together, and with my Dad’s help, did.  I painted a few parts (not very well mind you), and when it came time to do the decals, I was impatient and didn’t wait for my Dad like he told me to.  I ripped one of the main decals and was devastated.  A few weeks later, with the model resting safely on the couch while I got some food, the dog jumped on top of the model trying to look out the window.  The model was snapped into 2 pieces.  After that, I tried a model here and there, but nothing substantive.

Then, about 3 years ago, I decided I wanted to get back into model kits.  But this time, I thought I’d take a stab at resin model kits.  Now, most of the kits you see in the stores are styrene plastic.  But resin kits are solid and require very different assembly and painting techniques.  So I found the model I wanted and started in on my research.  I went out and bought an airbrush for the project, ordered the model, got my paints, and I was off to the races.  My model of choice?  A 1/350 scale Seawolf-class submarine.  Fully assembled, it was about 11 inches long.  Not a bad starter model.

I got the model in the mail and as soon as my winter break started, I got down to business with the model.  Assembly was pretty easy.  The sail, diving planes, stabilizers, and rudders went on without any issues.  The kit also came with what I can only describe as thin sheets of stiff aluminum foil.  Very small.  Very thin.  Those dozen pieces made up the prop.  The hardest part was assembling the prop because each blad had to get a small dab of glue and then get placed into a tiny hole.  I think gluing the prop took me about 2 hours.  But after that, the duct went over it and I was almost home free.

I decided that I was going to pain the model in an operational color scheme, meaning the whole thing was black.  The airbrush worked beautifully and the paint went on like a charm.  Of course, something had to go wrong, right?  During the process of painting the model, it rolled off the small stand I’d built and snapped one of the forward diving planes off.  I did my best to fix it, but couldn’t, so I decided to go sans diving planes and pulled the other one off.  It took a little finesse work, but I managed to clean it up well enough so you can’t notice it.  After that, decals went on and it was home free.  Until the masts coming out of the sail snapped when I was transporting it back to college.  Lovely.

So today, the model sits in my bedroom in a case that wasn’t designed for it without diving planes or masts.  Still, it was a great experience and I had a ton of fun doing it.

Around Christmas, I got the itch to try my hand at another model.  I’d remembered when I found my Seawolf model that there was a company making a bigger one and I’d thought that I might do that one after my small one.  Of course, I never did.  But now was as good a time to try as any.  I searched high and low for over a week to find the company that sold it, and finally, I did: J&D Productions in Annapolis.  Turns out, it’s a guy and his wife doing these amazing kits.  So, I took the plunge and placed an order a month ago.  They had to cast the model for me which has taken a few weeks, but I just found out that they’ve shipped the model and it’ll be arriving in the next few days.

The model I ordered is a 1/192 scale Seawolf-class submarine (putting the final model somewhere around 22-23 inches long).  I’m planning on painting it in the “as delivered” paint scheme and building my own display case for it.  There will be lots of posts coming with pictures of the whole process, from unboxing to sitting on the shelf in my living room, so stay tuned over the next 2 months or so for lots of info about it!