Finished: 1987 Ayrton Senna F1 Car

Finished May 21st, 2018

First F1 car
First Heller kit
First painted with a "paint pen"

Possibly first 1/43rd scale build.
First non-NASCAR race car built since 2004 or 2005.

Purchased kit for $3 at most recent HVHMG meeting! (money well spent!) Fan blew away the roll bar and one of the rear view mirrors so if I ever find them I will update them.

I really enjoyed building this kit, and want to do more at some point.

Finished: Yamaha Dirt Bike

This one came with an MPC 1975 Dodge Van that I built back in 2004...I started this then, but didn't finish it until April 28th this year! Thankfully I thought to write the date I finished it on the ziplock bag I stored it in. I had originally glued the handlebars on backwards but fixed it.
Scratchbuilt kickstand. 

Finished: 1971 Pontiac Trans Am

This is a 1/32 scale Revell kit, issued in the early 1980s in blue plastic. I painted it a Model Master Laquer color, but I don't remember which one. Finished April 28th.

Finished: 1980 Datsun Pickup

I've been doing so much modeling, having completed 9 models between April 28th and May 28th, that I've only posted one of them...I need to get the rest posted, so here they are rapid-fire style with just my Facebook caption copy & pasted:

Only my second Japanese vehicle ever completed (first since 2000) and the first Non-NASCAR pickup since 2001. Tamiya TS-60. 

I'm actually building a Rat Rod

I vowed I never would. But I've decided that I need to have one in my collection. It won't be a regular occurrence. But they have been a staple at pretty much every show I've been to for the past 15 years so I needed to have that represented in my collection.

AMT chassis and eventually engine. Body is Jimmy Flintstone resin. Wheels and tires are Zman aftermarket. Seats are heavily cut down custom parts from the AMT 1979 Pinto wagon I finished a few days ago. Interior floor, firewall, rear suspension is all scratchbuilt. It is coming along really well. I messed up when I was taking out the molded in firewall with my razor saw so I have to fix that before I can proceed. But I've already begun the fix. (visible in the photo).

It's been a lot of fun.

Finished: Minotaur

This is actually a Dungeons & Dragons figure I picked up at the local gaming store. The HVHMG is having a buildoff of "something outside your comfort zone" and I chose a fantasy figure, as it's one of the few aspects of the hobby I've never done before.

Even though I finished it on May 16th, I had to keep it under wraps until the August meeting...I'm writing this post up on May 31st knowing I won't be able to post it for several months.

In addition, I used Mr. Color and       paints for the first time on this build!

1953 Ford Crestline Sunliner Completed!

I actually finished three models today, but only photographed this one yet. It's been a hard road for me. Everything I've touched since mid-2010 has turned terrible. My skills have pretty much totally left me, and I had no idea why- I didn't change the way I did things, but NOTHING worked right. I came close to walking away from the hobby several times, even considered selling my kit stash (!) I was so "done". But, every year, usually around NNL East time, I would get the urge to try again. Every year, I did...and failed. I have finished a few models since 2010...but they were all a struggle, and most of them were just "OK, it's good enough, I'm calling it done just so I can finish something". This year, the NNL East once again inspired me, and since it ended I've been working on models again...but this time...it's going RIGHT. I am still doing what always worked for me before, but this year...it's working again. I don't know why...but I'm not going to complain. Two of the models I finished today I began after the NNL...one of them, I started back in 2004! Finishing three in one day is a big deal for me. Everything is just going right. Working the first time. Fitting with no issue. Most importantly, my paint work is not too bad right now! Before today, I had finished three models total from 2015-2017, none in 15, 2 in 16 and one last year. Now, I've matched the total in a day and have more in the building stages. More on the other two (hopefully) tomorrow, but for now, here's some details on my 1953 Ford convertible:

It's the AMT, former Lindberg kit. It's painted Testors Bug Yellow, straight out of the rattle can. It's only the third convertible I remember building in my entire modeling career. (and the first one I didn't paint red!) It's a fairly close approximation to a factory color, but I don't know what Ford called the color- I found some photos of cars in the same color on Hemmings so I went with it. It's the first model I used the Molotow chrome pens on extensively. The window frame is all Molotow except for the very bottom of the vent window frames which are BMF. The trim around the seating area is also BMF. I made two mistakes which I noticed when cropping the photos for posting, both of which I've since fixed, and that is some BMF I missed trimming on the right side vent window, and I forgot to hit the right side door lock with silver.