1/20 Hummel Aufklarungs Panzer Kampf Flugzeug 50 is available from HobbyLink Japan

It is my pleasure to review the Hummel Aufklarungs Panzer Kampf Flugzeug 50 kit in 1/20th scale, available from Wave. This is interesting to me, as it is basically a Nitto/Wave hybrid offering, and to me should be a 3Q release, but I see no mention of “3Q” on the box. What long time Ma.K. fans will see immediately upon opening the box is the surreal sight of a full Nitto Fledermaus kit in a light blue/gray plastic, and a couple of newly tooled sprue from Wave to make this a “Hummel” (including the newly tooled Wave-made “Hornisse” sprue from last year’s 3Q release – confused yet?). All you need to know is that you are getting a mix of old and new, with excellent new decals, camo card, and the multimedia parts that made the 80′s SF3D kits so exciting.

Also, as most long time Ma.K. fans know, Kow Yokoyama was not exactly happy about the Fledermaus model, as it was a Nitto-made riff on Yokoyama-san’s Hornisse. The Hummel makes up for this, by being the same kind of model conceptually, but is much more “Kow-like” in look. It’s an unmanned “AI” drone, and can be made with the traditional ski landing legs, or fancy new German Horten Brother’s-esque wheeled landing gear. So, I guess you can also sort-of convert the Fledermaus and Hornisse kits to a wheeled version as well? Also, and I cannot express how awesome this is for people like me who feel compelled to light every model they make, the front-facing AI sections are clear styrene!! Enough musings – here’s the meat:

I wanted to have this monumental build primed and ready for final paint by the end of Sunday… well, I’m a half hour past my self-imposed deadline, but I’m READY FOR PAINT!

This is my build of the iconic first Y-Wing Fighter built for A New Hope, from an amazingly accurate representation of what the modeling community affectionately refers to as the “Red Jammer”. Named by Neisen and his crew because of the unique domed detail plant-on, in place of the usual Artoo unit, Red Jammer is one of my most favorite and romanticized model subjects. Of all of the Y-Wings from the original Star Wars, the red version is unique. It was the first Y-Wing to be built in December 1975, with the Y-Wing miniatures being referred to internally as project #506, as seen on various blueprints and documents.

The first Y-Wing model out of the ILM assembly line was not even originally intended to be filmed. ILM constructed, assembled, and partially weathered both an X-wing and a Y-wing that were shipped off to the Art Department at Elstree Studios in London to be used as guides for the construction of the full size sets. As this needed to be done in advance of the commencement of principal photography in the Spring of 1976, ILM had to deliver the models shortly after Christmas of 1975. At some time following their use overseas, both models were shipped back Stateside, where the Blue X-Wing was finished and converted into “Red 2”, and the Red Y-Wing was completed as well. It is unknown whether the Red Y-Wing saw screen time or how it was used after Elstree. The finishing work was most likely done after the other Y-Wings were completed, as the detailing and pieces used on the incomplete side was atypical. No two Y-Wings are the same, but the Red Y-Wing is generally agreed upon as being the most unique in it’s use of plant-ons, paint work, and decals. To myself and many others, the Red Y-Wing and Blue X-Wing are the most “romantic” of the original models made for Star Wars, as they were the absolute first constructed.

Click here for my recreation of Blue 1!

Click here for my build of this amazing Y-Wing, which I used to generate the build instructions for an incredibly limited run of fan-made kits.

Mackinlay’s Shackleton Whisky Blend Replica – acquired!  This is a recreation of the whisky that Ernest Shackleton took on his South Pole expedition in 1907, which sat undisturbed for 100 years! “Recreated by the legendary tastebuds of Richard Patterson after two cases were discovered in the ice in 2007.”

Where do you begin trying to express or understand your world, when you lose what is in a very real sense your best friend – the nonjudgemental animal that has been with you at your very best, your absolute worst, and everything in between? I think I’ll let the photos and captions tell the main story, but really I just want to put this post out there into the world, and hope that it somehow helps me come to grips with having to say goodbye to the sweetest creature I have ever met, and tell everyone about him, so that he lives forever in his healthy prime, which is what I really would have preferred to mortality and the ravages of time. I feel so lucky and honored that he chose to imprint on me as strongly as he did, and I don’t think I could have weathered my divorce in 2001 without having Simon there, always purring and letting me know that everyone wasn’t awful, and that he would never leave me. Deciding that it was finally time to let him go yesterday was something that I thought would haunt me forever, but in preparing the photos below, I realized that those last six months were a marked decline in health, weight, and demeanor. It would be a selfish act on my part to keep him around any longer, as he became increasingly more physically uncomfortable and unable to control his bowels these past six months (and he was afraid of being bathed which we had to do, often), but we adapted and tried our best to modify his diet to make things more solid if you catch my drift. At this point I want to specifically thank Lisa, for being so patient and pro-active in changing the cat foods, coming up with ways to keep surfaces clean, and for her amazing unconditional support. She loves cats like I do, and thank god we’re on the same page.

Lisa and I don’t have kids, and I don’t believe in the Afterlife or any mystical bridges, rainbow or otherwise, but I do believe that honoring the memory of a loved one makes them timeless, and so that is what I choose to do. Those of you that spent time with Simon remember how he was, and those that haven’t may be able to get a small view into his unique personality. I feel very happy that he was able to spend his last seven years of “retirement” without having to move to a new apartment, townhouse, or home, without having to fight other cats for food, and without any real ailments that caused him pain. Simon was a gentle cat with a dog-like personality, and he was unique the way he purred and growled simultaneously when eating duck, how he stripped the fur covered mice down to plastic football shapes (as if warning the other toys), and how he was always at my side, without fail.

He’s gone but he will never be forgotten. Nothing can ever fill the space next to me that he occupied. I wouldn’t have it any other way.