A modeler's backlog of kits is a strange and wonderful thing. A pile of kits that one cannot do without yet cannot be bothered building right now.
My backlog can be divided into 3 types of kits:
- Half-done models. Oh these poor kits...either something happened in the building to make me put it aside or I simply got too excited about other kits and moved on. It can take years to finish these woe-begotten kits.
- Kits too good to resist. No matter how big the backlog is, some kits just demand purchase, whether its because you don't think you'll find them again or simply because they're so awesome you must own them now and you'll worry about finding time to build them later.
- Fillers. Even if your backlog is filled with awesome kits (and mine is), sometimes you need a spark to re-fire the modeling buzz and get you excited about building. This is usually where different types of kits than you'd normally build come in. For me, thats either cars or military models.
Here is my backlog:
G-System (Hong Kong) 1/72 RX-104FF Gundam Penelope. This is the star of my backlog. At 1/72 it's already huge compared to MG kits but add in the fact that the Penelope is the biggest Gundam ever made at over 32 metres and this is a monster. Resin, metal and photoetch parts over an ABS frame. The Penelope is actually Gundam Oddyseus with the mother of all flight units on top of it and when they're together they're known as Gundam Penelope. Comes from the novel "Hathaway's Flash" starring Hathaway Noah so it's in the UC timeline. Won't be building this for a while, need to build up my skills before I tackle a this kit.
Perfect Grade (1/60) Astray Red Frame & Char's Zaku II. I love the Astrays and even though the Blue Frame has a cooler pilot (Gai Murakumo) than the Red does, the fact that it uses a real sword as opposed to a beam saber makes it awesome. And Char's Zaku is of course the classic. Probably the 2 best Gundams when it comes to opportunities for frame detailing since they both show quite a bit of frame. I'll paint Char's Zaku in his colours of course but I'd like to do something custom for the Astray to really make the frame pop.
G-System 1/4000 SDF-1. Recast of the old Yellow Submarine resin kit. Gundam is cool and of course it's a great modeling community but it's not my favourite mecha anime. That honour would go to Macross. Gundam may have cooler mechas but Macross is just the shit: better story and of course the music. The idea to mix robots and idols was the greatest idea in anime history. And there is no more devastating attack in all of mecha-dom than the one this ship invented...the Daedalus attack.
Hasegawa 1/72 YF-21. From the excellent series Macross Plus, which depicts the contest between 2 planes to win the contract for building the next generation Valkyrie. This is based on a real life event, the US military's contest between the YF-23 and YF-22 in the 80's which the 22 won and became the F-22. This is Guld's losing entry (although it does surface again in Macross 7 so the design wasn't abandoned because it lost) which was controlled by brain waves. I think it was the superior plane but the reason it lost was Guld's brain which was pretty messed up considering his past actions and his inability to remember them correctly. Hasegawa has a very good reputation for aircraft kits so this should be good.
Tamiya 1/48 A6M3/3a Zero - The Zero is arguably the most famous warplane ever made by any country. Military kits bring a whole new set of issues compared to gundams. With gundams, it's OK to make them look like they're brand new...they're gundams after all, they're all conquering and we assume that because they're so cool, there would be a full time crew dedicated to polishing them so even if they took a hit or 2, they would usually look as they do when they're made. There's no rain, mud, rust or snow in space after all. With military kits however, the object is to make them look worn in at the least or even battle-scarred. Paint is slapped on military vehicles hastily and they're re-painted different colours for different conditions so its a lot more intimidating kit to paint. Tamiya's forte is probably cars and bikes but as one of Japan's big 4 model companies they cover their own military past (and present) very well.
Dragon 1/35 Panzer III Ausf N - If the Zero is arguably the most famous plane to ever fight, then the Panzer is arguably the most famous tank ever. Now we're moving up a degree of difficulty. Dragon is known for super-detailed kits and this one is no exception, clocking in at almost 700 parts. The type N fought in Russia and the Eastern Front hence the winterketten tracks for grip in snow and mud and the white paint scheme. Tank modeling takes weathering to a whole new level compared to ships or planes as being on the ground subjects them to the elements and rust, snow, grease, sand and anything else they run over gets stuck all over it. This model scares me almost as much as the Penelope does with it's tracks made of individual links and it's mountain of sprues.
Completing the trifecta of military kits is of course a ship. This is IJN Zuikaku, Japanese aircraft carrier that took part in 真珠湾攻撃 (pronounced "shinjuwan kougeki"), or the attack on Pearl Harbour. I always liked the look of the Zuikaku (and it's twin, Shoukoku)..they look cool with their open lower decks as opposed to what we're used to with carriers which is a big mass of runway with only an island on top. Zuikaku went down on October 24, 1944 taking 843 men with her. This is a 1/700 scale kit, not as detailed as the 1/350 scale ships but much more manageable, size wise.
Now, to the road, starting with Japan. I bought this kit about 15 years ago. I'm not much of a moto-GP fan these days but back in the 80's and 90's it was awesome. This bike is the one used by Australia's greatest motorcycle racer ever, Mick Doohan, to win the 1998 championship, one of his 5 titles, back in the days when Honda's 2 stroke NSR ruled the roost when it came to speed. Even though it's over a decade old, this kit is very detailed and of high quality.
Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86. Not much of a car on most roads but on one road on Mt Akina, it's the king of the hill! From the anime "Initial D", this is Takumi's all-conquering sushi delivery vehicle. This Aoshima model has the full engine in it (on other Aoshima kit, the hood of the car is molded in a shut position so there is no engine to make). A change for me as it's a smaller car and I'm usually a muscle car guy but the connection to the 2nd coolest car anime ever is pretty damn cool (Wangan Midnight is the coolest).
Nissan 330 Gloria "Gra-chan". After watching Wangan Midnight, I realized that Japan just hasn't always made small cars, they have their own muscle cars. The Grand Champion here is a 5th-generation Gloria, produced between '75 and '79. Love it's combination of a menacing look with Buick-style class. This is an Aoshima kit with the hood molded shut on the body so no need to do an engine. Time saver.
Aoshima Nissan Laurel HT 2000SGX. Don't know much about this car but damn it looks cool. A Japanese Camaro.
Now, over to America. I'm a GM guy and Oldsmobile was the coolest. Power AND class. This car started the trend of marrying power and class. It's nostalgic building these older American kits but the quality is weak compared to newer kits. Lots of flash.
87 Monte Carlo SS Aeroback. Love the 80's G-body cars even if the engines weren't that great. This is the street version of the car that Dale Earnhardt dominated NASCAR with.
AMT/ERTL '69 Pontiac Firebird Trans/Am. The Camaro's little brother, I always preferred the Firebird. The following year, the Trans/Am would gain the bird graphic on the hood that would define the whole line by the next generation of these cars. But this year, is Pontiac at it's best...no frills, just power, power, power.
Still in America, it's on to NASCAR. This is Dale Earnhardt Jr's Chevy Monte Carlo from the year he won the Busch championship (back when it was called Busch). These kits are decal hell with all the sponsor's decals all over them.
'98 Dale Earnhardt Sr. Bass Pro Shops Monte Carlo. Dale is my favourite driver of all time and he's also the best driver of all time with 7 NASCAR championships and countless memorable wins. This is the car he drove in the '98 all star race (The Winston) featuring Bass Pro Shops on the hood and a gold paint scheme as opposed to his usual black paint scheme.
Back to space, and Macross. This is a Bandai transformable model of Brera Sterne's VF-27r Lucifer from Macross Frontier. I'm not a fan of transformable kits as they tend to sacrifice accuracy and ease of use for transformability. The Bandai Macross kits are a generation behind the Gundam kits and it shows. These kits don't have any of the improvements made in the Gundam MG 2.0, RG and PG lines. But it's Macross.
And back to where we started, Gundam. From the UC Timeline, this is Shin Matsunaga's Zaku II. One of the more mysterious characters from the UC timeline, atsunaga was Dozle Zabi's bodyguard and known as the white wolf which his mobile suit shows. He's known for his love of close quarters melee combat and his disdain for long range tactics. He even has his own manga now so hopefully we find out more about his life including his mysterious appearance in Gundam Evolve piloting a Zeta. This kit is based on Bandai's excellent Zaku MG 2.0 kit.
NG 1/100 Arios Gundam, Designer's Colour. NG means no grade, which is sort of like 1/100 scale HG kits...rushed out for the 00 release. So far, only Setsuna's suits (Exia, 00, Quan(T)) have had full MG releases from 00 (as well as the GNX). Hopefully one day other 00 suits get MG releases but until then this will have to do for us Allelujah/Hallelujah fans. Celestial Being's resident psycho used this suit in season 2 of Gundam 00 after he was rescued. This kit has an LED for the eyes but not for the GN drive like the MG kits do.
HG 1/144 Gundam Harute. More Allelujah because there can never be enough Allelujah, this is the suit he piloted in the 00 movie "Awakening of the Trailblazer", it's not that different to Kyrios/Arios but still cool. I hope to collect all the Allelujah kits.
