State of my Hobby Worktable ... what's in store for 2021

 Lesson learned ... at least I would like to think so. About a year ago, my 'what's in store' post was filled with previously shelved projects that I had optimistically believed could be revived and finished by that year's end. For the record, I only manage to complete one ... yes one ... out of five of the said shelved-projects, i.e. the Millennium Falcon. The rest remains in storage, slowly gathering dust. So for 2021 I'm adopting a cautious and prudent approach of only considering (a) actively ongoing projects and (b) unboxed projects with painting strategies already formulated from extensive research.  

 With both criteria in hand, the first project likely to see more progress in the coming weeks is the Tamiya 1/24 scale Volkswagen 1300 Beetle (1966 Model). Funnily enough, the Beetle was the only ongoing project from the previous year's 'what's in store' blog post that's listed is this year's iteration. Encouragingly though, there has been substantial progress since then with most of the Beetle's interior and engine done up (see below). While he initial buzz for this Bumblebee-Transformer-in-vehicular-form project may be gone, I assure you the determination to finish it has not.     

 Another ongoing project with significant progress is the Bandai 1/1000 scale Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Cosmo Reverse Version). Technically, I guess one could say that the easy part is over and done with. What comes next is relatively way harder. For example, among what needs to be done next are the 1/1000 scale space fighters as well as the Bridge and the many deck guns on board. All these sections comprise tiny and detailed parts which are not only difficult to handle without breaking but also difficult to paint. In a way, that's why the project had hit a temporary roadblock. 

 A more recent project is the Bandai 1/12 scale Aratech 74-Z Miltary Speeder Bike. This Star Wars scale nodel kit actually consists of two parts namely the Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike itself. While the former has been completed, the latter's Hull Plating and Speeding Vanes have only been base-coated recently (see below). So a fair amount of work lies ahead for the bike.

 Further back along the progress chart is the Hasegawa 1/12 scale Girl's Rider resin figurine, which thus far has been unboxed and give a preliminary dry-fitting exercise (see below). And before prep work on the Girl's Rider figurine starts, I plan to first edit and upload a video of the unboxing and dry-fit process. Once that's done, work progress should resume on the figurine. Incidentally, the figurine is expected to become part of a wider project of Star Wars-themed mini-vignettes that fall under an all encompassing project umbrella titled Star Wars: Join the Empire.   

 Apart from the Hasegawa Girl's Rider figurine, there are two other unboxed projects that have not been worked on since their unboxing reviews. These are the Tamiya 1/35 scale Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.B Sd.Kfz.142 and the Bandai Limited Model High Grade (LM-HG) Neon Genesis Evangelion EVA-01 Test Type Unit plastic model kits. Unless there is an inspiring and unexpected project that cuts queue, both the Sturmgeschütz and the EVA-01 will take precedence in the project pipeline.  

 So in a nutshell the above is what I've to look forward to barring the almost inevitably 'sudden-inspiration-projects' that are bound to hijack the existing project pipeline's queue. I can live with that.    Moreover compared to my previous 'what's in store' post, this year's posting is infinitely less complicated with way less categories to consider. Just keeping it simple. On that note ... au revoir.