Tamiya Con 2007 Junior
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Dominique Lin Qun Xiong's Stuart, my son took my brother's ten year old Stuart and re-painted the whole model using the airbrush method and my new pastel method which he worked into the model to correct all the wrong paint fade tones brought on by the airbrush, which can sometimes be somewhat artificial looking.
The M1A2 is a good effort in toning, but he did not gloss the thing before he applied the decals. Thereby, the decals all had air trapped below the carrier film which showed up as silvery flint. Tip is to use Vallejo gloss, diluted 50%, coat it by glazing it on with first unloading on a tissue, it should only be moist and not wet, patiently, coat it 5 layers before applying the decals with Microscale SOl and Set. Once dry, rub and clean with ethanol. Blow dry and spray coat the whole model with Vallejo flat diluted 50% with water and 2 drops of glazing medium or soap water. The process is to coat little bit at a time, blow dry and then do it again, about 5 layers will be great, then, the M1A2 will stand a chance. Good effort, work on the tips and you are on your way.
The work on the Zimmerit is encouraging. Should use epoxy resin/putty, press it on with wet fingers, then use a 2nd largest screw driver from the spectacle set you normally can buy from any $1.99 type of lelong shop, push it in and up 0.5mm at a time, move 1.5mm away, then repeat it, then you get a very fine zimmerit pattern, 4 times finer than this, not so thick, as it is a type of past, to apply to scale this thick, the thing will slide off the surface of the tank while wet! Once done, dried and primed, painted, glossed, decaled, matted, it should be washed and slightly and lightly drybrushed with the same base tone added with cream 50% to give it a good contrast. Then, once again, you are on your way.
T34 Needs to work on painting the model. It is not painted at all, only the mud being brushed on. Lets work on making a nice paint job without weathering it first. Frankly, most weathering bby mud are done because we want to cover up some mistakes. So, do buy yourself a copy of Mig Jimenez FAQ, you will be in leaps and bounds in no time. Do ask mama for some budget and some spare 10 models to wreck first through experimentation though. It really worth it.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Well, the juniors are a new category at this second Tamiya Con. However, from the turn up, some 6 models, we know that Playstation and numb brains are the order of the day, not many youths are learning the art, nor interested in Engineering, therefore, Singapore Economy is at a dangerous situation where it will run out of true production capability soon from local cohorts.My son took time to learn and observe the Bernard's shop models, read the Mig Jimenez book more than 10 times per lesson, I gave the fellow some old models to practice, some cheap, cheap, CHIEP CHIEP type.
Next up PSLE for him and GUNDAM....last year lost to a girl, the guy broke down.
Norman Lim on 5:19 PM
Ho Say Liao
What in the world is this? Uncle and Aunties, mai kanchong, it is a 2mm thick aluminum alloy plate that you can't bend with your fingers! You need to put this into a vice and whack it with a hammer like you would with steel!
And its only 2% heavier than usual marine grade 5052 Aluminum.
We are working to put this into new generation cameras and computers. With the solid state hard disk technology, you can drop the laptop from the truck and it will still not break! Except the hinges, except the hinges, thats not my problem, I am only the body work man.
Cheers. Counting money anyone?
Norman Lim on 1:03 AM
Tamiya Con 2007 Figures and Dinos
The category is normally pale, but this year seemed that the usual chaps like Ah Tan (last year's 48th Military cat grandchamp) and veteran Paul Quek (has yet to lose a battle in his life *$#&+. For people like him who believes in epoxy putty more than we in liquid cement, this Si Fu of Calvin Tan showed up with a small vignette) attacked this sleeping cat!
There some good entries and of course there are the upstarts, which are encouraging.
This is an interesting threesome of Triceratops, named Family Outing. The poor chap won nothing for his great effort. Never mind, we see you again next year, not me, but I will be a spectator, given the poor judging critirium and experience, which will likely kill the show, and bring the standard down hill since all the top pissed of players are fed up and may bow out, that is now a confirmed likely path of progression unless something is done by Stargek to rectify this secret squirrel thing about winners, judges and the damn one prize per person policy plus the price fixing at the showroom. Wanna give then give, most modellers are quite well to do type, not boys begging for some cheap thrills.
Grand Master Paul Quek earned my respect in the late 70s and early eighties with entries like Russian Bullfight etc.... this legend produced this epoxy putty sculpted on the potato faced figures Tamiya is famous to make and made it looked good. Some chaps told me the eyes are too big, what the heck......if you are screaming after the enemy in your fatherland and smelling sweet revenge for the 2.8 million Russians the German Blitzkreig took, your eyes will pop as well.
Simple, sweet and long time painting effort pays off, the grand winner Paul Quek.
The GIs with the T Rex won the most creative award. The Dino has good overtones but a little too dark, if it can be lightened abit then it will make a great diorama! The theme is killer enough! One advice, actually, its is damn good, if it joined the Diorama category, it would have won more money for the same price....bro, strategy sia! Tip tip liao, can share share booty next year since I never join.
1/16 scale Wehrmach or something, not sure who put in this since the whole competition is secret squirrel type.
This is Ah Tan's. Took alot of effort in building the base of foam and a lot of interesting stuff. Great T34 turret as well. Congrats to our brother!
Norman Lim on 12:30 AM
Tamiya Con 2007 Dioramas
The Diorama scene is always an exciting category. There are the good, the bad and the worthy tries. It is an encouraging thing to see new guys trying out to make scenes which most model makers shriek in fear of attempting. Kudos for all who attempted in the category, the holy grail of model making. There are those that are first attempts, hope that the standards posted can encourage the up and coming ones.
This year saw the major upset! Chin beat my entry into smitterines! Man, was I blown off by the sheer magnitude of his entry. Man, it might have weighed something like 100 kilos! And the cost must be astronomical to pull it off. Diplomatically speaking.....to tell the truth...how dare you CHIN to hammer me......don't talk to you then you know....! Hahaha....
This is one great effort, unfortunately, the tank dates are wrong with the Leopard A4. This Leopard 1 is made in the late seventies and early eighties, but the soldiers were in WWII uniform. Had he made the soldiers with modern day ones, it may pass off as one of those post cold war or cold war skirmishes. Wasted....but great building and the details on the cables etc.... good effort, hope to see him more often at M Workshop when we come up with our really good competitions.... for medals and honour men!...ahem... and ladies, especially the Gundam chaps....
Another great effort by a relative unknown model maker. Take up a course with Bernard on the figure painting and go to Calvin Tan's blogspots and Euromilitaire websites, you get heaps of tips and pictures to oggle at that will help you paint figures better. Would had been the Grand winner had it not been let down by the figure painting and the weathering of the tank, otherwise, it was a great effort. Keep it up brother, see you around M Workshop. Look out for me when you are there.
My brother in arms, win again, I say man, win in Beetle Festival and win again here. Very beautiful model in a difficult scale 48th.... simple and sweet beach partying type of look...deserve it bro....
Last year's Champion with the Afghanistan diorama is back. Ah Wong with the kids fishing is cute diorama with a great story. Could have beat the daylights out of me had he had more time to finish bashing up his Panzer a little bit more.....alamak....next time take more time lah...don't always concentrate make money...must have life for hobby also bro.
My entry, difficult for people to accept this new way of hand painting glazing method invented by me. Spud has asked me to write the article on how to do it for Tamiya Magazine, never got down to doing it as I am now preparing the joint venture company in the US to supply armour for General Dynamics Land Systems....so very busy....but moving to the US also has its advantages, as the owner of Accurate Miniatures is only 5 miles from my place in North Carolina. Maybe can play golf and work on some new masters for our friends in the hobby. The painting gives the chippy look of a white washed tank but also a 3D effect of smudged on paint plus the overtones of dust. Ee and Alex had come to my place a few times for demo, heard that they murdered their models.....oops.... read my article on latest missing lynx, that will help, but all my work in Tanx Heaven are lost since Kees Van Der Pols shut down the website....one of the best on earth...,moans its lost man. Hope he finds enough time to resurrect it! 
My soldier from the German end of the bargain is from the new Gen 2 series from Dragon plus a converted Hornet head. The Hornet head has a lot of details and really easy to paint compared to the hopeless Tamiya ones on the SU122.....vomit blood man, but can't find Russian soldiers, so squeeze balls and have to live with figures with face made like shepherd pie, AKA Tamiya figures, aka SUCKING in fine definition!
Then, there is this, the grand Dame....Chin and his 5 kings cat claws left me with tatters to piece together, made piece meal out of me! By sheer magnitude man.....madness redefined! so much for friendship, must find chance to accidentally drop things in his shop, especially on his models when he is not looking, to get back some dignity whatever that is left in here! Can't beat a good man, much less a mad man!
See How SIAO can a man get?Norman Lim on 3:06 AM
Tamiya Con 2007 part 1
Well, as per last encouragement for everyone out there in model land, I have asked for all guys to support this year's Tamiya Model Con. As usual, the contest is surrounded by controvesy.
First, the panel of judges are more secret than MSD agents or CIA assets in Russia during the Cold War. The usual prime suspects are :-
1. Suresh - Singapore Famed figure painter - trust his judgment please, he is the only known hobbyist model maker in the panel
2. Robin of Robin Models - I know this chap for 30 years, he is in military mock up business and has yet to weather his first model. Strictly not a realism guy.
3. One sale rep from Tamiya unfortunately
4. Two other secret squirrels...unlike Hobby Japan which I have won a prize (last year I entered same Tamiya Con, my Hobby Japan Champion model won nothing! ) They have a panel of 12 judges all having their photos taken and shown to the public so that they can't become blameless by are accountable to their decisions. Such is called fairness.
Then, there is the unspoken 1 prize per person type of thing that carried forward from last year. From Last year's experience now re-occurring, confirms it.
When time came for redeeming the prizes, the prices are adjusted upwards so that your 25% gets you the same model you would at the dealers' places. For instance, the Challenger 2 Desertised is marked well over $70, while at Chin's you get it for $40++, the price discounted model costs more than the dealers. I redeemed one FAMO for $74 and was told that it was tag wrongly, I need to cut off $84 from the price money instead. I could have bought it for less than $55 at Chin's....such is not healthy
Not sure if this kind of behavior will sustain the dying hobby, looks set that it will end, especially people like me and Ee will bow out finally joining the ranks of Calvin Tan, Bernard Cher, Dinesh Ned etc....never to take part again on the local scene but keep our eyes peeled for Belgium.
Part one of today's coverage is on Aircraft.
Well congrats to the hard work done on the metal skin bro, this is one mean model. Deserve to win, he's got resin all over the inside and out and lots of hours scraping the metal skin on.....Kudos bro, people like you really promoted the standards of the hobby one notch. Love to see you more often.
The one who got away because of the 1 prize policy (unspoken). This top model in Prop Fest and article now published in Russia and soon in the UK was mocked at and not even mentioned. Sad case though. I am really proud of this model, my best yet, even by Brett Green and Brian Criner's standards. However, not good enough for our Tamiya distributors. After 35 years of support, alas, I am driven to support Dragon and Trumpeter.
One guy told me that he witness the judges laughing at the model....hmmm... well...everyone is entitled to their opinions, so long as the press and the greater European and AMerican community loves it, its what matters.
Other winners are:-
P51D by Viper
ME109 by Captain Rusher. Got free car parking some more across the road, how convenient!
Block 50 F16 CJ by new comer to me. Plain finishing, no weathering on this spanking new jet.
Don't know this guy too. Not bad his work.
But the spirit by our good friend who never fails to show up with huge support came running with an intruder with bombs, a flying Jap over water with shadows, great spot bros.
Norman Lim on 12:24 AM