modelmaking

The Surprising Practical Effects of the Star Wars Prequels

The Surprising Practical Effects of the Star Wars Prequels

The Star Wars prequels, seen as a turning point in computer generated imaging, were more model-intensive than you might think.

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This Week: Be on the Lookout for Something Big

This Week: Be on the Lookout for Something Big

Starting next week, MAKE and Shawn Thorsson, costume and prop builder extraordinaire, will debut a new video series as he prepares for Maker Faire Bay Area. We’re not saying what it is yet other than it’s going to be big and it will demand your attention.

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Makey Awards 2012 Nominee 14, Tamiya, Documentation

Founded in Shikuoza, Japan in 1946, Kabushiki gaisha Tamiya was originally a sawmill and architectural lumber company that made wooden ship models as a sideline. Their first plastic model, released in 1960, was a 1/800 scale battleship Yamato. Today, Tamiya manufactures R/C sea, air, and land vehicles, robots, educational materials, and a line of modeling tools, paints, and accessories in addition to their traditional scale model line.

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Scratchbuilt: Superdetailed B-24 Liberator

Scratchbuilt: Superdetailed B-24 Liberator

Without going all the way out on a limb, I’ll borrow language from my first scratchbuilt post and suggest that polish master modeler Andrzej Ziober is producing work that is approaching “the limits a single modeler can achieve,” using conventional scale modeling techniques and technologies, in the field of 1/72 scale aircraft. He has not produced many of these models, because each of them takes about five years of work, at about five hours of work a day.

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Scratchbuilt: Radio-Controlled Jagdpanzer 38(t)

Scratchbuilt: Radio-Controlled Jagdpanzer 38(t)

This detailed post from modeling forum member Panzerpaul nicely shows off the skill and hard work that went into creating his radio-controlled replica of a WWII-era German tank destroyer commonly called a Hetzer. To house the R/C electronics and other guts, the hull has to be hollow.

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