Hokonui Hobby Room

04/11/2025

And so it begins....

My distraction has got the better of me (again) and I've got a very clear (but slightly hazy) picture of how I want this to end up.
Of course it involves elements I don't possess, so this distraction is turning into a 'project' with 3D printing and scratch building involved, taking me off other stuff I need to get done. But, when the creative mood strikes, who am I to argue with it.

Keeping it as small as I can, just enough room for a baby tank and some sheep, ohh and a farmer, oh and a gate, oh and a tree on the hill, oh and maybe a fence, dammit..

Happy modelling all - Paul

03/11/2025

Me getting distracted...

Finished this little German Sd.Kfz.222 Leichter Panzerspähwagen a while ago as part of my collection of vehicles for the upcoming railway diorama but seeing it sitting on the shelf I thought hmmm maybe I do a small vignette instead....

Watch this space...

01/11/2025

Always liked the HE-111

31/10/2025

With the mk.I Hurricane announcement recently from Kotare Models LTD I've decided to recreate this scene for my future build with some help from Gary Fowkes and some of his genius, we have a figure of Albert Gerald Lewis who became 'Ace in a day' twice, during the Battle of Britain.
Just need the Kotare Hurricane now, so this will be a 2026 build.
Check the link in the description for more info on Albert.
**Update** turns out Kotare won't be doing a metal wing Mk.I straight away, so this will now be done in 1/24 scale using a Trumpeter kit I already have.

29/10/2025

Stuka update.
Wings are all painted up now. Pretty pleased where they're at and of course we still have decals and weathering to come, so they'll change some more after that.
Pretty happy how the mottling test went. Still room for refining the process but its much faster for doing initial mottling and less hand crampy than doing air brush mottling in each panel and I think gives a better result too.
Onto the fuselage now :)

Happy modelling all - Paul

29/10/2025

Mail Call..... Something very special just landed at my door, many thanks to Kevin Futter from KLP Publishing who very kindly offered to sell me his Wingnut Wings Felixstowe Late when he heard I was looking for one.
This kit I have coveted for a long time and because WNW no longer exist and people just cash grab when selling their WNW kits I thought I'd never find one. I don't think I've actually ever seen one for sale second hand...

Anyway, I of course downloaded KLP's build guide for the amazing build Gary Boxall did of his Early Felixstowe, which will be a great help for mine (even though its a Late)...

Now, when the hell do I schedule this in and where will it live once its done, its a meter wide lol. Ahh well, future me problems :D

29/10/2025

For anyone interesed, I knocked up a quick 'How To' video for Wet Wipe Mottling....
Forgive the lack of finesse on the this example, it was just a quick look at the method. End results as with most things are a result of the effort put in but you can see the effect is very quick and easy to obtain. On the Stuka, I simply went over more times to build up the effect and I also used different colours.
Hope its of use to some of you out there :)

Happy mottling all - Paul

Link in the description below :)

28/10/2025

Laying down the colour on the Stuka to see how the new mottling effect works.
Pretty pleased how this is turning out, obviously a way to go yet with post shading and weathering to come but this gives a great effect to start all that from.

Now some will be asking, "Paul, why the hell are you doing the wings before the fuselage"? Good question.
Well the method to my madness comes from watching an armour modeller a while ago On YouTube who's workflow consisted of working on small areas at a time. His reason for this was to obtain that 'little win' feeling you get from A. Mask reveal, B. The satisfaction of a pleasing paint finish and C. Being able to prove out techniques when trying something new. If it doesn't work out, you've got a much smaller backwards step to take before starting again.
All this seemed fitting on this build as I was trying something new, so I gave it a shot. I'm happy to report that A, B and C are all true, plus I like to try new s**t and see how things work out, sometimes to my detriment. Anyway, fairly happy so far, still plenty of time to mess things up 😂

After carefully masking the camo pattern for the first colour I proceeded to lay down very thinned coats of SMS RLM71 70:30 ratio MLT to SMS and built up the finish until I was happy, which in this case was 6 coats, which I made a note of.
I then left it to dry and gave it a quick coat of Vallejo matte varnish to see where I stood.
I'll now re-mask along the border of the RLM71 before repeating this process with the other shade. Once done I'll very gently rub it all back using a 3000 grit sponge (well used and worn one) just to knock off any rough texture or small ridges before a final varnish and markings go on, but before that, the fuselage and other upper surfaces 😁👍

Happy modelling all - Paul

27/10/2025

Back on to the Stuka today (yesterday, Monday was a public holiday in NZ).

Trying something new today, baby wipe mottling... Now referred to as Wiggy's Wet Wipe Weathering haha

Yes you heard correct, using a dried baby wipe to create random mottled patterns rather than the usual laborious squiggles done by hand with my airbrush and the hand cramp that follows.
Happy to report it was a success.

Step 1, Get a baby wipe and leave to dry out (overnight).
Step 2, Pull and stretch the wipe so it opens up a series of random holes and patterns.
Step 3, Wrap it around the subject and spray over in light passes with your chosen colour, I used buff and then lightened it over 3 passes to create some depth.
Step 4, Repeat until happy with the mottled effect.
Step 5, Spray over panel lines once more with your black base.

Boom, done.

Now to do the rest of the upper surfaces and then start laying down the greens.

I'll be using this technique from now on on all my planes. This will work especially well on navy jets and gives a better result than salt. I will also see about using it at the end too, to add final weathered effects with highly diluted mixes of paint.

Happy modelling all - Paul

26/10/2025

Apologies for the lack of posts this week, I was taking a wee break from the bench to recharge.
Hoping to be back at it again next week, finishing off the Stuka build.

20/10/2025