First finished model of the year and it’s a break from my usual scale of 1/48. Through work I found myself in Tokyo this past summer with a fair amount of time to kill, so being able to travel solo I biased my stay there around hunting through some of the incredible model shops in the Akihabara district of the city. These shops are incredible, they sell ‘second hand’ stock at prices well under the UK retail market and because of the culture in Japan where things are taken care of, these second hand kits are as near as new. I’ve known for a long time that the Fujimi Phantom is perhaps the best kit in 1/72 scale for making a British variant, but they just don’t appear on the shelves in the UK. So seeing this special edition kit there at a good price, I had to pick it up. I’d been in a bit of a rut both in terms of modelling and also my own mental health, so wanted something simple that wouldn’t take too long to put together to get my building mojo back and I could just enjoy. I came home with a Tamiya Tomcat, Tamiya Phantom and a Hasegawa Phantom (all 1/48)as well for the record… retail therapy. This kit was a really fun little build. Released in 1988 (the same year yours truly was also released…) the only element that showed its age was a tiny amount of warping to the front fuselage halves which was treated with the hot air hairdryer treatment to bend them back into shape, and the decals looked quite yellowed, so I replaced those life for like with the Xtradecal Set for this same scheme. Built totally out of the box with no add ons except the decals the kit pretty much fell together which let me focus on painting and weathering. The Raspberry Ripple scheme is a really striking set of markings, and using Tamiya X-7 (Red), X-3 (Royal Blue) and X-2 (white) through my trusty Iwata Eclipse airbrush the scheme came together really well over a black base and marble coat of white to give a little tonal variation to what would have otherwise been big slabs of single colours. Hot metal sections done with what remains of my Alclad 2 collection that hasn’t perished over the years (need to find a replacement for them now they’re no longer in business in the UK) and a light grey panel line wash using Ammo MiG’s PLW Medium Grey.

So I’m not sure what to put here, but let’s start with who I am. I’m Nik. A 37 year old dad of one, military aviator and occasional model aircraft builder. I’ve been making model aircraft kits since I was probably around 5 years old when I was introduced to the hobby by my dad who had been a model builder himself too. I left the hobby to play sports and dabble in other hobbies like Warhammer 40k as a teen and picked it up again as an Air Cadet in the UK. I had my first bit of success in modelling when I was given my first airbrush and compressor, which elevated my modelling skills to a level beyond where I’d been with the old fashioned brush and tins of Humbrol Enamel. I’ve had several models published in model aircraft magazines, but now I build entirely for fun. I specialise in 1/48 Scale Cold War aviation, but I do like to branch out into other genres and scales from time to time. Hopefully a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way might help others to progress their skills or even just enjoy talking nerdy hobbies together here. Nik