A New Series – A to Z
Starting June 14 2025 (barring any last minute schedule changes) I’ll be beginning a new on again/off again video series called “A to Z Build”.
My plan is to go through the build of a kit, examining a wide range of techniques and products in each episode. The first video will just be getting a base layer of paint down. I figure that’s simple enough.
The planned second (or maybe third ????) video, as yet unscheduled, will be about adding markings. I’ll cover waterslide decals, hand painting, making custom masks, and possibly a few other things. Later episodes will cover multiple panel lining methods, chipping, stains, and who knows what else. So each episode will do the same thing multiple ways, to not only demonstrate them, but to compare and contrast.
I have no plans for frequency, as I want to keep it rather loose. If it takes a couple of years to complete the whole project, that’ll be OK with me. I just thought it could be decent “evergreen” material for the channel that hopefully will help tens of people over the years. ????
The model I will be working on for the project was deliberately chosen to be one few people have heard of. It’s a Wolverine Tank from Mantic Games Firefight 2nd Edition tabletop game. I chose this for several reasons, the chief one being I already had it in the stash. But I also chose it because so few will know about it. I hope that in doing so the focus can be on the techniques, not the subject. I knew if I chose a Sherman tank, for example, that many would get hung up on how accurate it was, etc. Certainly I know that by choosing a gaming subject it would be automatically excluded by many who simply won’t look outside their genre, but I’m not too worried about that. That would have happened no matter what I chose.
I just hope a few will find the series useful, and over time I can answer questions with “here’s a link to a video I did…”. (Not that I mind answering questions, which I always enjoy getting!)
Eventually it will be finished, and hopefully fairly cohesive looking – which I want to use to also make a point. There’s a lot of ways to get to a finished model, and if you’re careful, they all work together.
AFS Mk. II Wrap Up
I really enjoyed revisiting the Wave AFS Mk. II. It’s a very simple design, but it has a nice “cool” factor, and of course a bit of nostalgia for me as well. My first Ma. K kit was a variant of the AFS Mk. II, called a New Rally Pawn. It had a different helmet, and a lump on the chest.
At one point, I’d wanted to build that exact kit, and hilariously found this on Amazon. So I’m still waiting on the New Larry. In the meantime, a stock AFS Mk. II did just fine.
Many modelers tell me they almost never build the same kit over again. However, I find it fascinating to do so for many kits. In a way, the first time with a build is as much a discovery process for me as anything. The follow on builds just try to improve on the lessons I learned.
And I guess in a nutshell that’s how I built 85 Spitfires… ????
Kits In Progress
Eduard 1/48 P-39
The cockpit and assembly is finished on this one, and the video for that is ready to go. I’ll probably release that at the end of June, but it may stretch into July.
I was pretty happy with how this cockpit turned out. A few years again when I strictly built aircraft, I would have thought this was a bit too simplistic. But I can tell how my focus from the last few years has changed how I approach things a bit. I do like the result, and it was definitely fun to get back to this.
I did decide to add in a video that I’d not initially planned. Part 2 of the series will cover assembly, both specific to this kit, but also general tips that (I hope) will be helpful to any aircraft builder.
Wave 1/20 Ma. K Seapig
The Seapig, assembled and primed, is waiting patiently for the P-39 and Galleon (below) to be completed. I’m still deciding on a paint scheme. I thought I had it nailed down, then I ran into a color combination that caught my eye. We’ll see if it sticks, or if I hop on to something else. (See what I did there?) My plan is that the Seapig will appear after the P-39 and Galleon.
New Stuff
Hasegawa 1/35 Crusher Joe Galleon
I “discovered” a new scifi series I’d never heard of, or at least don’t recall it. It was a set of novels and an anime from the 80s called Crusher Joe. It had a unique storyline… future space stuff hi-tech laser pew-pew with angsty teens. ????
Still, this thing looks quite cool. It’s essentially an M113 APC amped up to be space-ish with laser pew-pews and jet motors. In a way it has a “Star Wars” vibe to it, and I suppose it could fit into the “Aliens” universe.
Anyway… this is moving to the top of the “build this next” pile. I’ve finished the sub-assembly steps, and painted the interior. I even got the exterior primed. I filmed all that for Part 1 of the video series, and now it’s back to Part 2 for the P-39.
Other Stuff
Mayschinen Krieger
Mayschinen Krieger was a bit of a “mixed reaction”. Doing a themed month like that didn’t seem to gain much traction, though I will admit I don’t do much to promote stuff in the first place. I guess it’s a good thing that I am not trying to be a “YouTuber” anymore.
The new videos (Linc’s book, the Kröte, and the AFS Mk. II) did pretty well in terms of traffic. Pretty well for me. What I get in the first 24 hours is what someone like Martin Kovac gets in the first 5 minutes.
But the old Patreon SAFS series did very poorly, and each episode consistently resulted in a loss of a few subscribers. I still had a net gain overall for the month, but it is puzzling. My work jumps between genres all the time, but some genre changes seem to repel more people than others. Warhammer and Ma. K seem to be the ones that chase people away, while Gunpla and Star Wars bring in a few.
Yet my favorites in terms of scifi are Warhammer and Ma. K! I do love Gunpla and Star Wars, but the former two just seem to really be the best “weathering canvases” for my tastes.
Still, it won’t deter me from doing Ma. K projects. I think the genre offers so much in terms of being a very good raw material for creativity. And I have too many Ma. K kits in the stash to let the numbers drive my decisions!
Exploring New Channels
Prior to building scifi subjects, I rarely if ever watched modeling videos on YouTube. The few channels that I knew of either had caustic personalities, were in another language, or were just photo slideshows set to music. I didn’t find any of those helpful, let alone entertaining to any degree.
Once I made the genre switch, I “discovered” loads of excellent channels. There were so many for Warhammer, Ma. K, Star Wars, Gunpla, and so forth that it was hard to narrow it down. Of course, after a while I settled on some favorites. And over time I dropped watching a few that seemed a bit silly. But I had become used to a fairly steady diet of modeling related YouTube channels.
Now that I have a renewed interest in aircraft, I wanted to find some that were perhaps helpful and enjoyable. It’s been interesting. For the most part, I’ve not seen any channels that are like the bigger mini-painting channels. Aside from Plasmo, most of the aircraft channels are smaller – under or around 50K subs. (And Plasmo is not entirely aircraft now that I think of it.)
But I have found some that I thought were helpful and enjoyable, so I thought I’d share them.
There are certainly other good ones, but I find that those four are the ones I tend to always watch.
Closing Arguments
It might be a bit self-serving to say this, but I’m becoming a big fan of “small” YouTube channels. I don’t suppose there is a hard and fast definition for that, and I’m sure it varies by individual. In my mind, it’s a channel that generally has less than 50K subs, and maybe far less than that. The production may not be to a high standard. But in examining my own work, it’s opened my eyes to the work of others.
As I’ve gone through the process of checking out aircraft channels (noted above) my YouTube algorithm machine has been showing me model channels from all over the spectrum. And more and more, I’m clicking on those just to see what they’re about.
Certainly not all of them grab me. A few seem to be “silent build” videos, which I suppose have value for some, but they never really grab me personally. Others seem to be very sincere in their enjoyment of the hobby, but I perhaps don’t find a whole lot helpful.
Yet I’ve found that there are a surprising number of channels that do grab me for one reason or another. There are a lot of talented helpful people out there. As an example, a channel called “Terrain by Aaron” popped up in my YT feed. I almost passed by it, as I’m not much into terrain stuff. But the thumbnail caught my eye, and then the title: Post Apocalyptic Drone Walker. My brain thought ‘that sounds fairly Maschinen Krieger“. I clicked on it, and I really enjoyed it.
In his video, Aaron went through his process of basically gluing random bits and parts together, and it was in a way that sort of illuminated the process, and made it seem quite fun. It was very approachable, relaxed, matter of fact, and NOT the typical YouTube stuff chasing fame and fortune. Just “here’s what I do, some things I think about, and here’s my result.” In a word, helpful. And his narration made it fun.
So many of the small channels I’ve been exploring are showing that very type of thing. I am subscribing to quite a few of them, just to see if my initial impression carries on over time.
Like I said, I don’t mean this to be self-serving in any way. Rather, I want to encourage you to perhaps look at the side streets, the less traveled lanes, the small shop that smells of years gone by, but is crafted with great care. You never know what you’ll find. But oftentimes it may be far more helpful, surprising, and inspirational than you’d ever imagine. And Roundspace or NerdVPN have nothing to do with it. ????
Happy day to you friends,
Jon
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