MV-22 Osprey Eggplane - Hasegawa

I love model building for bringing reality to scale. I spent hours researching the subject and then another more hours researching for the aftermarkets and spending a bunch of money! Back in the bench cleaning resin parts and bending photoetche is another pain ... it's true that in the end it is worth it ... but not always I'm in the mood for so much reality!!
So I have to say that I have two "Model Building guilty pleasures" , one is making those old matchbox kits come to life... there is something about building a model with my age and painting and weathering with the new techniques that is just a pure pleasure!! The second... well the second is the "Egg themed models" ... those cartoon alike kits have something that just grab my eyes and fill my brain with the scream "Build me!! Build me!!" .

So I would like to leave a in box review regarding the newest and so much anticipated Egg delight by hasegawa. The MV-22 Osprey EGG ...

This box is nothing alike the rest of the hasegawa egg series, its much bigger in height due to the size of the model itself and also do to the detail.

The box contains 1 set of instructions, 1 decal sheet , 2 grey sprues, 1 black sprue , 1 rubber sprue and 1 transparent sprue... it seems a lot for a Egg plane ... and it sure is!!!

The panel lines on the plane are recessed and the detail is very crisp. It comes with 2 figures and I had a wonderful surprise with one of them, the pilot with the open visor helmet only has a nose!!
When I went to the instructions it said the eyes and mouth where decal... and that got me by surprise... but when I look at the decal sheet ... i didn't believe my eyes ... they have to options... one with a closed mouth and another one smiling! What a treat!!!
For those who already build hasegawa egg planes one of the most feared part was the canopy. Well fear no more this time hasegawa did a awesome job! From the detail to the protection sprue its a beautiful thing to see , and I wish other brands would take a look at this and do it also on their transparent parts.
The decal sheet has 2 markings available VMM-265(Futnema-2012) and VMM-164 (Miramar-2011)
In conclusion , this model is really great , nice detail and sure looks like a lot of fun. If you have a big project in your bench that sometimes you just want to get your mind off I advise you get one of these for the pure pleasure. If you are new to model building and would like to do a simple model I suggest you get a more simpler egg...

RB Model Chains

This week a order from RB model arrived at my mail box. I'm always happy to open the mail packages from RB since they have great products at great prices, I usually buy barrels or ammo for my model tanks but this time I was eager to check out their new brass chain. At first when I browsed their website ( http://www.rbmodel.com/ ) they announced "High quality, very strong (welded links) brass chain." when I saw the small size of the links I got pretty intrigued. So I discarded all the goodies I got for later inspection and immediately open the 2 bags of chains!! And what a treat I had !! They are what they announced,high quality , strong and amazingly welded links. My mind went completely off the model boat applications and went straight to dioramas, the detail is so amazing that this could be use for winches, cranes , rails, fences , gates and so on ... this with a photoetched padlock and a 1/35 bike ... my mind keeps coming up with ideas. It's a great deal has well since the quality price relation is very uneven , you get a 1 meter long of detailed brass chain for less then 1,50 € . So in my opinion this is a great product to have in your workbench and a great deal.

 For those who don't know RB Model I can tell they have a great customer support and dispatch items really fast... one more thing.. I have to share... I also got 1/35 Panzerfaust, since I got so astonished by  the quality I leave you a picture and let you judge for yourself.

Percision Ice and Snow

Hello everyone,

Its been a long while again since I have personaly been able to post anything here. I have been busy working on the start up of Falcon Miniatures to a full fledged business. I am currently finishing some CAD models for production casting of period 1930's furniture and appliances for dioramas.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Steve at Percision Ice and Snow to do a review of his product. I very happily agreed to do this for him as I have been very interested in his product.

Well today the mailman delivered the package to me and I am very excited to start this review! But I need a suitable base to review this on so I am revamping and re planing my Attic Relic base from a spring setting to a winter setting!

Stay tuned for more!

Adding some Shingles

I got most of my new hobby studio set up, at least enough to do some work, and have begun the work on the roof of the Italian House.

I am using the Pantiles roof mold from Diorama Debris for this process. Using these molds does take some getting use to as it produces very thin castings. You must be patient and wait for the plaster to fully cure before even attempting to remove them or they will crumble. Once you have it down it goes fairly fast.

I highly recommend these molds, I have used a few with more to do and they produce stunning detail.

Price depends on the mold, so head on over and take a look at the selection. When you order from them, let them know Falcons Bench sent you!
Diorama Debris Website

Here you can see the results of my roof that I have started, I am loving the results!

Back to casting more tiles to finish off the roof!

Slate tile mold from Diorama Debris

Hello guys,

Today I sat down and made a review or the Slate tile mold from Diorama Debris; a UK based company that produces many architectural molds for many scales, but their main focus as of now is the 1:35 scale diorama builder.

The first thing I would like to say about these is, WOW these are amazing molds! I was completely blown away at the detail and precision mold making skills shown by Diorama Debris! The molds are flawless with no air bubbles like other molds on the market.

OK, now for the review and pics!

Here you can start to see the detail of the mold:

 And here is a close up of the detail, AMAZING!

Hansa Systems, Roof Ridge Tiles

 Today I received a product that I am very excited to do a review on, the roof ridge tiles from Hansa Systems.

For many years I have tried almost every method I could think of as well as methods others have used to simulate the Spanish roof tile so common in European Countries. In almost all cases, I have failed to simulate them to my liking. The one time I got close was to make every individual tile out of two part epoxy putty; the problem with this is that it was hard to get good quality control so that the tiles fit together properly.

Well, for all those who have wanted a way to simulate a realistic Spanish tile roof, I have good news for you! Let me introduce you to Hansa Systems USA and their part #127 - Roof Ridge Tiles!

AK interactive Pigment Review

Today I was able to sit down and put the AK pigments to the test. I will be demonstrating these pigments to create the ground effects of a diorama. In this review I will be focusing on three pigments; AK-081 Dark Earth, AK-042 European Earth, and AK-041 North Africa Dust.

I will be using celluclay for the base and will add the pigments to it in order to get a nice color that goes all the way through. This will help in the event the ground work gets chipped, it will not expose a bright white color. This technique can also be used with plaster if that is your medium of choice when it comes to groundwork.

The first thing I noticed about these pigments was the very fine grinding. There are no clumps and when rubbed between my fingers it gave a nice smooth covering of color. This is a very good sign that it will be easy to add the pigments to figures and vehicles to blend them into the base.

Scale Hardware



I have just received my order of simulated hex bolts from the company called Scale Hardware. The bolts I received were 0.5 mm bolt heads turned from brass. I must say these are the best I have ever seen and live up to their name as the worlds finest scale fasteners! These simulated bolts will give any modeler in any scale superb bolt details far superior to any resin or photo etch rivals on the market today. I must warn you though, you will need some magnifiers and a good set of tweezers to work with these, also watch out for the carpet monster, I lost a couple to it while doing this review. The price is a bit spendy, 25 pcs. for $9 - $10 plus shipping of $3, but for the die hard detail modeler this is the way to go.

They have a wide rang of scale hardware including real working scale nuts and bolts for the truly dedicated modeler. Click the logo above to go to Scale Hardware's website.