1/35 Nutrocker/Nutcracker

I finally caved in and bought myself a 1/35 Nutrocker / nutcracker.
Checked the decals and camo card and boy there are lovely schemes to build!!!
Can't find the squid rings done by max watanabe in the Mak in sf3d vol 2 though.
He must have custom printed those. Now I have a dilemma, should I build the same scheme as the 1/76 scale which will look nice together, or choose another scheme?
Decisions decisions...
I should never have bought the book, now I fell in love with many of the camo schemes!

The magic of Mak!

Grosserhund and Ketzer in the house

Finally after waiting for so long my shipment came in!
On valentines day none the less...
Fortunately wife did not see these get past the door!

Baby Oskar

Stuck for over a year.
Here's where I left off with the baby Oskar ...


I reworked the skirt and primed the head. The most difficult part is the mid section which took two tries to get it to this stage. 

I am stuck at this stage, as I think the mid section is too high and usually in an SD design, it's almost non existent. I might need to fine tune the overall design before I continue.

Incidentally, much has changed in the way I blog. Prevously I used a compact digital camera and a netbook which was slower.
Now I take pictures with my iPhone and blog with it directly, sometimes switching to my ipad2 to edit.
The text entry on iPhone is not as good as a real keyboard but the ease of blogging is really good.

Back and Message to Y'all

Hey guys I am back from being absent a long time.
Thanks for the comments and email sending your regards to me!

I was very busy just doing models (mostly building and sanding) but time is restricted due to work and family life. Not to mention recently the weather here in Singapore is strange and many people fell sick due to cold. I myself came down twice with ear infections in the span of 3 weeks. I will continue with updating the blog with more WIP and reviews soon!

What I am working on now: Melusine, Fliege (3Q), Kauz (3Q) and a T.H.A.T Neuspotter.

Recent events in Japan made our family very sad indeed and our prayers go out to the people.
My tears fall when I see the destruction due to the Tsunami and the continuing threat of nuclear meltdown of the reactors.

I urge you guys to buy stuff from Japan, or just donate to the Red Cross, to help.

Stay strong people of Japan!

I'm BAAACCKKKK!

Hi all, Haven't got time for the internet due to massive changes in my work and family life.
Miss you guys in the Ma.K forum and PLAMO!
Note: This is not a narcissistic post!

Just realized I haven't logged in here for ages, and also never update my blog for even longer...

I apologize for all the PMs I've yet to reply, I will get to them asap.

Family side: my in laws decided to move OUT of my house back to their home.
Well usually this would be GOOD news for some of you lol.
But for me, now everyday I have to bring my kid to my in laws before work, and then bring her back after work, via public transport.
This adds 2-hours daily and I simply have no energy left for models/internet.
Its my hope that they will move back with us soon, frankly I love to live with my in laws, not just because they help to take care of our kid, but its really more like a family where we have grandparents, parents and children living together. Oh, and I get to eat home-cooked food by my mother-in-law too! :)

Work side: huge changes which I can't really talk about, but just extremely stressful and busy.
Worst I can't access PLAMO from office...I can only access the Ma.K forum. Hopefully they wouldn't filter that off as well.

The dust has not settled yet, but I am determined to get back to Ma.K modeling!

Apologies

Here's a picture of where I was at in January in my Ma.K modeling. Sanding the Gans rocket tubes. Apologies to everyone, especially those of you whose Ma.K kits are still with me. A sudden change in family arrangement have thrown my life into chaos and for a couple of weeks I could not do any modeling / shipping of kits...
Hopefully I can find a solution to this and get back to Ma.K soon!

days without modeling

Its been now 14 days, or 2 weeks, without modeling for me. I realized I get kinda depressed without it.
Buried in work as well as responsibilities at home and lots of visitations to sick elderly who I love...
Not that I am complaining (except the work part) but just an update...
Weathers turning cool, with monsoon rains every other day. This is affecting my sensitive nose which clogs up and makes me very tired.
I do hope to get back to it tonight, to finish up building the Neuspotter before Christmas.

Later.

The 'me' post

Finally this is me, William Chin Wei Lian, my beautiful wife Polly Chin (whom I finally won over after repeated failed attempts for 8 years), and our cutest kid Ashley Chin. Photo taken tonight of my refrigerator. Now you guys know how I look like! :) Handsome? lol

Don't Give Up!

Hey guys sorry for the lack of WIP updates on this blog, been super busy at work and at home taking care of kid lately.
I've been working on my Falke for the past week or so and should have some pictures up soon.

Been wanting to write something motivational since one Sunday's sermon I heard something from my pastor. It's about not giving up doing something when we fail on it. I just took it and relate it to my modeling hobby.

When I started out modeling seriously as an adult, I thought I was pretty good (ha ha I am a very self confident guy). But then when I took part in my first modeling competition over at PLAMO in 2007 WOOB2, I got the truth handed to me. Here's my entry http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=2144 which took the LAST place honors.
Truth be told, I every nearly threw in the towel at that time, not because I did not win, but more because I saw my standard as too far below everyone else... I had bought modeling books to read, took time to design the logo, took leave to do the model kit though I rushed it out last minute blah blah blah... Looking back at this model, it is really quite rough in the finishing and not that I have progressed much now from 2007 in terms of skill.

I am an optimistic guy, like my dad, and just tried not to think too much about it.
In 2008 I think I won 2 prizes over at Hobbyfanatics but that was because there was like very few entries in the competition.
Reading articles over at Spruecutters and PLAMO made me 'grew' in terms of maturely treating modeling as a hobby.

2009 I was back again with my Griffon Labor
http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=5825
and Gasaraki Ishtar II
http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=5824
and well I did not land on the bottom, that's a pat to my own back, but did you see the other entries??!
They were so much better!

And lastly on the Baby Falke build, when I brought it into m workshop, and saw the other entries, I actually wanted to walk out as my base was like half-completed and I told myself 'Damn! Those kits look powerfully done!'. I was just glad to take part and join in the fun.

The joy in modeling for me I've come to realize, is really the modding/building part, the process and interaction I get from other modelers.
At the end of the day its just plastic/resin... And so what if I win today? Just look around and see the thousands of guys better than me. I am just happy to be part of the model fan, and hopefully improve with every build.

Point is, don't give up if its something you like to do / its the right thing to do.
Got your finished kit dissed by someone? Go and improve your skills!
See their comments (most of the time they are right) and work on your weak spots. Improve your strong points!
Practice!
Try things out (but NOT for a competition piece)
Start early in a competition!
Take a course!
Post your WIP and ask for honest critical analysis!

Eventually you WILL make it.

Hey I am not saying I've made it hor, still got long long long way to go.
Guess this is not a very motivating blog entry...ha ha!
(I could share with you how I spent 8 years of my life chasing a single girl only to be rejected again and again, but now she's my wife. But THAT's another story :) )

Here's a great motivating clip someone shared over at PLAMO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QbgOGnbxDo&feature=player_embedded

Keep modeling dudes!

What's next?

Thanks for all the comments and constructive criticisms to the Baby Falke!
After this I am actually already working on the WAVE Snakeeye for the PLAMO mini groupbuild amongst us Ma.K fanatics there. I am also in the midst of sanding the 2 additional Polar Bears for my Polar Bear diorama. It will feature the Hardboiled gift from Francesco as a Polar Bear, and a two handed Polar Bear carrying rocket(s).
I am in love with the winter/snow dioramas. Its probably due to the impact of Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back, the winter battles on the planet Hoth... :)

Also after doing the baby Konigs Krote, I find myself itching to do another baby Neuspotter varient, just for fun.

Daddy Falke is also halfway done...

So many Ma.K, so little time! How?
lol

Neuspotter Head Kits Collection

with the Lunar Gans...

Been wanting to post this for sometime now... And while there are little updates to my WIP, I decided to finally sit down and write this. I've finally completed all the Ma.K kits with the Neuspotter head. From left to right : Land Konigs Krote by Rainbow Egg, Nitto Neuspotter on top of it, THAT Neuspotter Variant type B by THAT, WAVE Land Gans first release (center), WAVE Land Gand second release (center bottom), modelkasten Lunar Gans (center top), Nitto Krachenvogel (right top of the Oskar below) and modelkasten Oskar. Sorry for the two pictures, I forgot about one kit and had to retake the photos. Too lazy to take them all out again and take a photo... maybe later.

... with the Krachenvogel...

I am a completist, if that's the word for it. When I start collecting kits, I will try my best to get every single one of them. And I am proud of this collection, took me slightly over a year to amass this number of kits. Why did I collect them, I ask myself. What's my motive? For one, I really like them. If you'd remember, in a post I made in 2008 here about my favourite kits, I sold them off in order to help pay for the new church building. By God's grace, I slowly bought them all back again (heehee! Ma.K addict is like that...) He knows I need to destress sometimes.

The other motive I must confess is PRIDE. I often show my good friends who come over these kits and tell them I might be the only guy in Singapore, or maybe even South East Asia, to have all these kits. Not a very nice part of my human behaviour... Brag about having the entire collection of some stuff. Anyone who has time and money would be able to do that. The more money one has, the less time he needs. The only good thing regarding this is that I am no longer so attached to these kits, and if the need arises that I must part with them, so be it. I wouldn't lose sleep over them. In fact, I've yet to open some of them!

Pride knows no boundaries, and I thank God that I am mostly over this :) I don't feel more contented in owning all of them. Besides, one can never really complete the collection. What about the Winter KK, or the Lunar KK, or Kerberos (of which there is only one scratch-build by Sensei Kow in existence?)

A modeler or a collector? I aspire to be a modeler, and am working towards it. As someone said, a completed kit is better than a thousand unbuild ones. I fully agree!

Anyone who reads this thread and is poisoned by these kits, haha I must first apologise to you, it was not my intent to do so, just a side effect. Just to put our feet to the ground, here are the recent running prices (in usd):

Neuspotter:60
Krachenvogel:120 - 200, usually around 160
Oskar:160-200+
Gans 1st release:95-120
Gans 2nd release:85-100
Gans Lunar:260++
Land Konigs Krote:460++

Anyway, thanks for reading so long a post. What started out as a post to brag turns out to be another self-reflection which I think is good for me. Some of my model pals tell me I am crazy about Ma.K. And I am, just not insane... lol. I am still the same old average Will you know, not a saint, and still telling everyone he is handsome... :)

Next post will be the Lunar Gans review, as I've already taken the photos a few days before...
Also I would like to talk about more of the nice people I got to know along the way, like Vayeate, Snake eye, Leafster, KJ, andy...

Stay tuned and keep Ma.King!

Kits sent out!

Woah today I sent out 6 boxes of kits big and small... Guys you should be getting your kits in 1 week's time... I will bill you guys later (I hate to do all those calculations!!)
Super tired after that... The weather's hot lately and the air seems bad, my nose is acting up and I am getting blocked nose whole day..


Enough ranting, I will post the Goblin conversion kit review and a full Gustav review on Sunday after church! Stay tuned guys!

Not much progress on my WIP ...

Response to my posts on the Konigs Krote

I've had several responses from you guys regarding my post on the Konigs Krote, and from the responses, you've had very similar experiences in the 'struggle' to resist the temptation to keep buying and buying. Thanks for your sharing and encouragement you've given me!

I guess I am not alone!

Will

Konigs Krote mail order Part 2

Been wanting to write about this but just don't have the time. The temptation of the winter Konigs Krote mail order intensified for me when Lin.K, a fantastic modeler in the Ma.K forum, offered to build and paint for FREE (offer closed already btw). I was just telling myself no, I am NOT getting it, simply because I already have one on its way from Japan to me, and for a hefty 100+ usd more.

Then my brain started rationalising, oh, better get it now, otherwise you will find it in the auction sites in the future at ridiculuous prices again... Rationalisation, I hate it but my mind automatically goes into that mode!

In the past, getting ONE Konigs Krote would be a dream come true for me (forget the vomit moeny part for the time being). But NOW what I am thinking is that I want to have a Land Konigs Krote, a Lunar Konigs Krote, and the Winter version as well! As I used to joke with other people about their material desires, don't think so much, just buy them all. I find myself thinking this same way.

Its consuming, this desire. To own something (so rare I thought to myself), and painted by one of the powerful modelers, make that even more desirable. 'What's my motive?', I'd ask myself at work that day. Probably to boast to all my friends or relatives when they do come and visit. I was already thinking of buying more display cases to show off my stuff.

Quite the long-winded post, I hope you guys don't mind... I was just listening to the song 'I'd rather have Jesus' sung by Jeff Deyo formerly the lead singer of the Christian band Sonicflood. And the lyrics hit me again '... I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather be His than have riches untold...' full lyrics here. And I remembered a time when I was much more passionate about God. To cut the thing short, I was reminded by Him that all these things are temporal, and will be destroyed at the end of the day...

And so that's that, so much drama ah? The Land version of the Kongis Krote landed in my house Saturday, and the box smells of the resin inside. I've yet to open it, along with the other 'rare' stuff like the Grosserhund, also from Rainbow Egg. Its not the fault of the rare resin, and I don't think having a hobby is bad. Its just that I need to have a proper perspective on things, and don't let my hobby lead me by my nose....

If you are still reading this, thanks for your patience! I am a long-winded guy.... The desire for the KK has gone, for now... lol. Now, bak to modeling Ma.K!

Konigs Krote mail order

Just as my own Rainbow Egg Konigs Krote (land version I believe) is being shipped to me from Japan... Rainbow Egg sends out news that its re-releasing it (the winter-land version) with Lunar parts in May 2009.
Price is 37000 yen. This baby is featured in the recently released Ma.K Profile Book 1.

Argh!!! Don't know if I should cry, cos I paid nearly 500usd for my land version. Should I sell my other kits to buy this one too? The sick feeling in my stomach. Then I thought about it, its greed. Haiz (sigh in internet speech), greed is not good. Lust of the eyes. I can't get it, I already have one coming to my house. I have more kits than I could ever finish this lifetime. But its the feeling when you just bought something nice, and something newer/cheaper/more powerful gets released? I guess many of us know this feeling when we buy handphones/computers/gadgets, and even model kits.

Well, just to rant about it online, my thoughts, hope you guys don't mind. I must learn to be content.

BTW the scans are delayed, my computer just went down again... I am using my wife's netbook to post... I was down with bad flu this entire week, hopefully can finish up that 2 AFSs soon, and boy am I liking them more and more...

Will

iluvmak is over one year old

Never thought this blog and hobby will grow to what it is in my life today.

A bit addictive, totally absorbing, staying up late nights fighting bids over at yahoo auctions japan (big sorry to the japanese guys who lost to me there). Getting to know (a bit) of fantastic people from all walks of life, people like Adi, Steve, James Tobias, Francesco, fans in Singapore like Dylan, Mun, Maxwinamp, Vayeate, Kjager, viper, oh and the colorful snake eye :) (bro you da man!) ... many others in Germany (Bryan), Australia, US whom I've been in contact with, thru the kits, and more recent friends like max from Korea and andy from Netherlands.

I know I've been selling and dealing kits more than I've been modeling Ma.K. But I've been hard at work in PLAMO, working on my batmobile for the car build and the Gasaraki Ishtar Mk2 for WOOB4. I want to better my skills before attempting on the more expensive Ma.K kits.

2 wave kits are coming up in my WOOB4 build, and though I am not yet a skillful modeler, I am enthusiastic still, and hopefully there will be more entries in WIP and Finished builds section.

Especially thankful to the people in forums Ma.K and PLAMO, learnt alot from you guys in building and painting, and lots of chit chat as well.

More accessible Ma.K kits on their way, so my service might be obselete soon, but that's ok. I envision a day where Ma.K will be cheap again...Man am I long winded or what???

To all the Ma.K friends and fans, Ma.K on!!!
Keep it crazy and cool.
Will

Random Thoughts and Sales Analysis

Remember my previous blog post on selling my favourite kits?

Here's an update: I've sold off my Gans, Oskar and Krachenvogel...
Selling off the Oskar was particularly painful, as it was my most favourite kit, don't ask me why because I can't explain it...
I've just gotten another Krachenvogel in my latest model kit shipment, but I might just sell that away as I don't like it that much.
I will keep the Neuspotter kit as its missing the camo card and I've taken out Eddy Amsel to use...

Just briefly went thru my Ma.K sales and here's the top 5 kits in terms of number of kits sold:
1.Gustav
2.Krote
3.SAFS
4.Jerry
5.Fliege

The Gustav is the winner by a large margin, I think it not being released as a new release like the AFS and its the basis of many of the Strahl suits making it a favourite.
I didn't expect the Fliege to be so popular, as I personally don't like it... But it seems to be a hit with everyone else.

Well just some random thoughts from me today...

PRIMER

Got to know him when he bought a Gustav from me in my first attempt to sell kits online.
The thing I remembered fondly was that he commented that both of us are Christians and if I didn't ship the kit to him (he paid me in advance), he would bug me in heaven! lol
He is a warm guy and asked me whether the quake in China affected me, as at that time two major disasters, one being the quake in China and the other the typhoon in Myanmar occurred.
We also chatted on our Ma.K hobby and how we should, being Christians, view it in the eternal time frame.I really enjoy connecting with him and getting to know him more.
He is new to modeling (so he says) but his skills are very good, just take a look at his AFS WIP here.

Truly a humble person with incredible photoshop skills ...
And also another fanatic like me, we just compared our stash, and I was the one coming out impressed by his buying power! :)

Well PRIMER, model on and let's keep connecting, brother!

Nice people : Igor57

I got to know Igor57 thru the Nadefu competition. We both participated in it and I was a bit late into the competition due to myself being a very last minute person. :)
He was very nice and offered great advice as well as encouragement both in my WIP thread as well as private message (pm).
He shared with me details of his build even though we were both competing, this made me feel that the competition was more of a group-build which was good... Igor prodded me every few days, asking me about my progress as well as sharing to me about his family and background. I dare say I won't have the motivation to complete the kit without encouragement from him and Dainaka (another great person!)
Igor is a fantastic scratch builder, just see some of his works:
Raubwespe (Predator Wasp) for the Nadefu competition
Gustav AG
Banshee
After the competition, Igor brought some Ma.K kits from me as I brought a few extra Ma.K kits for myself. From there he provided me the inspiration to start bringing in kits for the rest of the forum as a form of service... Continued to provide me advice on dong business online and is also currently my biggest customer! lol
Easy going is what I can describe from my impression of this man, and generous too, offering his knives as prizes for the forum competition.
Igor, I couldn't have come so far in Ma.K without you!

Nice people I've encountered in my adventures in Ma.K

For me, modeling is not just about making models. I really enjoy meeting people with the same interests and getting to know them.
In the Ma.K forum, I've encountered this group of people with very diverse background, age group and nationality. Two things they have in common, one is the love of Ma.K, and the other, is that I am really glad that I get to know them. :)
In this series of short entries, I would like to introduce them... It could be you! lol
(I will use nicks instead of real names to protect them from their partners/parents who might not appreciate the hobby.)

Stay tuned!