Model Geek

When I was a kid I built dozens of models. All were spaceship models, except for one. It was a model of Superman busting through a wall. When I left home I didn’t have space or time to continue building models. 

Now I have some more time in my life and I have slowly started getting back into model building. I bought a model of the Millennium Falcon. It’s huge and I decided that I wanted to do it right with air brushing the paint on. Unfortunately, the air brush system I have uses cans of air and I cannot find the cans of air for the system anymore. I suppose I could just brush the paint on, but I’m not very good. There is a model of a Battlestar Galactica Viper hidden in my closet that has a very embarrassing paint job done by me. 

So thinking that my model building skills are not that very good, I decided I should just stick with the Lego models. That was until I came across a statue of the Space Battleship Yamato on Amazon. It was a beautiful statue, except for the $261.00 price tag. Undeterred, I look further at the Yamatos and found a model of one for a reasonable of $31.00. I decided it was time to try my hand at model building one more time.

Now the model came from Japan and I was pleasantly surprised by the company Toy Shop Japan HobbyOne. They were quick and friendly. They included a letter in English thanking me for my purchase. 

The model was a pleasant surprise as well. This was my first time building a model from Japan, so I don’t know if all Japanese models are like this. The model is mostly pre-painted. It would look fine without the few dabs of paint here and there. Most of the pieces fit so well together, they don’t require glue. What has me scared while building this model of the Yamato is the tiny size of some of the pieces. There are pieces that are just nubs of plastic. The tiny guns on the side of the ship have to be put together. The barrels are microscopic. 

I have unfortunately had one of the barrels pop off and go flying when I cut it from the frame. I don’t know why I tried, but I did spend a good half an hour looking for that microscopic barrel on my carpeted floor. Hopefully the missing barrel will not be too obvious.

I am proud of the work I have done on this model of the Space Battleship Yamato. Maybe I will take on the challenge of the Millennium Falcon after this. I might also look for some more models from Japan.

Something I have learned from doing this model is not necessarily the finished product. It’s the enjoyment I got from building this model. Don’t get me wrong, having a nicely finished product has all its own pride. However I have enjoyed the challenge of putting together these tiny pieces. It has been great fun watching the model take shape.