This year I entered into a contest, agreement, challenge- call it what you will- wherein I can neither buy any new model kits nor build any models until I have painted my current collection. Yesterday, I partially assembled two tank hulls. I’m seven days in and apparently I already failed. At least this is what it would look like to the casual observer. In fact, this isn’t the case, and I’ll explain why in the coming paragraphs. I know this may seem like a copout, but I assure you, it’s all a part of a larger, more complicated and nuanced plan.
So what did I buy and start building that creates this potential problem you might be wondering. Just before the end of the year (as in December 30th) I purchased two Warlord Games Bolt Action tanks, a Panther and a King Tiger, made by Italeri. At the time of purchase, I was executing on a long held goal that, in reality, I should have moved on over a year ago. But shiny thing be shiny and life is that overweight guy in front of you on the stairs or in a narrow hallway walking far too slow when you want to walk far too fast.
A year or two ago, I purchased a Rubicon Models King Tiger kit. I went with it over the Warlord Games kit for two reasons. One, I wanted a cool center piece model for my own collection, and two I didn’t want to have to deal with zimmerit when designing upgrades and mods for the kit. You see, I was looking at using the model as a standin for a Leman Russ tank for my faux Krieg army. The troops I had been looking at using were WWI Germans purchased from Wargames Atlantic and I wanted suitably German tanks to go with them. Not because I think Nazi’s are cool (far from it- I think Nazi’s and antying else that wreaks of socialism to be evil and despicable- but this is an announcement of things to come, not a rehash of politics) but because the aesthetic I was looking for was fit by the look.
The big problem was this: The WWI Germans and the King Tiger I had purchased are Made in China. I only discovered this after buying and opening the kits. For me, this is a problem. Not because Chinese people are terrible, but because I feel that in the next decade we may be at war with the CCP openly and it seems to me kinda stupid to be giving your potential enemy cash for stupid things you don’t’ really need. This ideal is turning into quite a headache as it turns out, and I’ll detail that in a different post, suffice to say, I couldn’t go with the Rubicon Models kits as the base for the upgrades I was going to make as I didn’t want to incentivize purchasing their kits so long as they are made in the CCP. Which really sucks as the Rubicon model is really good- even if you do need super glue to assemble it.
So on the next to last day of last year, while I could still purchase plastic kits without ruing my goal, I put the two vehicles in the cart on ebay, and clicked “pay only this seller” to see how much the two would cost. I actually didn’t intend to buy them, but rather than hitting the little arrow button to go back to the cart, I inadvertently hit the “submit order” button. I contemplated requesting a refund before they sent the models, but decided against it as A) I had the cash loots and B) I’d been looking at purchasing the tanks for, well, two years. I decided they would be my last model purchase (sans my #10in24 for February) until 2023, and got on with my day.
Well, those kits arrived yesterday. Well, I opened them up, and started grabbing the pieces I would need to start designing upgrades for them only to discover that to get the measurements I needed some sub assemblies needed to be assembled. I shrugged, realized that I wasn’t “scratching an itch” and did up the sub assemblies. It took five minutes and now I can use them to get the sets designed. Why did they need assembled you may be thinking. Good question. Once the parts are designed, I’ll need to test fit them to ensure they work right and some of those parts will require hulls to be test fit onto, which is what I built. If I could get away without gluing something, I refrained from gluing, and I strictly limited what I did for the purposes of remaining true to the goal of no new building until the old stuff is painted (or 2023- whichever comes first).
So, all that being said, what am I looking to do with these upgrade sets? Glad you asked. You see, what I intend to do is <CENSORED> <ENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED>.<CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED>.
And then, when that’s done, I intend to <CENSORED> <ENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED>, <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED>.<CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED> <CENSORED>.
What, you didn’t think I was going to give the cat away THAT easily, did you? ;) Check back later for updates. I promise, if you’re a scifi/pulp/gothic model junkie, you’ll likely dig what I’m gonna do. It’ll be pretty cool.
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