The Shelf of Shame

Every modeller has one – a shelf of shame. The place partly completed models go to wait in limbo until completion. They go there for various reasons. Interest drops away, a bollock is dropped, or the next ‘must have’ kit comes along. I’ve had some sit there for years (there are some there that have been there for six or seven now) before a flash of inspiration hits and they come out again. They go on to be some of my favourite models.

In September I received the MFH 1/12 Mazda 787B from Sarah for my 50th birthday. I was gushing about how brilliant it is, and how people on the web had remarked they are addictive. Sarah asked if I wanted to do another one, and I said “Of course, but you know how expensive they are…”

“You could get another if you don’t buy any other kits for 12 months.” she said. I thought it was a joke, but it turns out she was serious. So here we are, nearly four months in, with no new kit purchases, and a shrinking shelf of shame. The Vulcan in the WIP page is one, and today I started back on the Skyline Models 1/144 Western Pacific Simpsons 737. As a massive Simpsons fan this was impossible to resist at Scale Model World a few years ago.

Yellow is a tricky colour to spray, and I made an absolute balls of it, so the model went on the shelf. Having taken it back up I’ve rubbed the yellow back, polished it, and reinstated some panel lines. As you’d expect the jet to be pristine there’s no point in doing any pre-shading, and at 1/144 it’s not really needed anyway. However, I did want the panel lines to be apparent, to stop the model looking like a toy. They are so fine there’s a risk of them disappearing under the required thickness of paint to make a good yellow, and washes not working. Yesterday I had the idea of using a Flory Models wash to highlight the lines before the final coats of yellow. The last coats of yellow will knock them back and prevent them being too stark. It does seem to have been effective, and here is the model drying in the spray booth before I get on with polishing and perhaps another very fine coat.

And the point of this post? Stop buying kits, and go back to those abandoned. When this is sitting on the shelf, or a display table at a show, I’ll be thinking back to it sitting on top of the spray booth, gathering dust for over a year, and glad I finished it.