Axel's corner

Working as a mechanical engineer has its advantages. For one there is the acquired knowledge of 3D modelling, which I'm intending to put to use for my scale modelling activities. Actually, I already did use SolidWorks for some modelling activities in the past (creating a (sheet metal) flat pattern for folding the brake air ducts for Gigi Galli's Peugeot 307 WRC ). But with 3D printing coming of age with companies like shapeways et all, my modelling activities are expanding into that direction too (as if I hadn't more than enough on my hands with just building kits...). How good were the times in the mid-eighties and at the start of the nineties when the only way of getting reference images was through buying books and/or magazines... As my budget was quite tight in those days, choices had to be made between a new kit, or a new book/magazine. The kits won most of the times. And thus I just build my models following the instructions to the letter to churn out the odd m

On Saturday October the 30th, the Dutch branch of the IPMS held their annual modelling event in Nieuwegein in the Netherlands, Euro Scale Modelling . This year was again a very busy and crowded (but not too) event with lots of clubs, SIG's and vendors present. Of course I couldn't keep my money in my pocket and purchased two kits. Apart from that I also won a kit in the IPMS prize draw... What really surprised me was the lack of AFV entries on the contest tables. Maybe a result of the event ( Scale Model Challenge ) that took place a couple of weeks earlier in Veldhoven in the Netherlands, but there were only a handfull of AFV entries. And also the amount of planes was quite low. I've been visiting this event for 7 or 8 years now and I think AFV and plane entries have never been so low as this year. On the plus side, there was an incredible amount of cars on the contest tables. Some very nice ones too. Below is a small selection of the pictures I took at the even

Taking a little sidestep from modelling this blog post will be about my recent visit to the German round of the World Rally Championship. For several years now I'm a regular visitor of the German WRC round, also known as the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. My first visit was way back in 2008 (the last year when Gigi Galli was still active in the WRC). Since then I've been going there every year. It's just a three hour drive from where I live and a great venue to see the WRC live in action. This year (2015) I was again present, along with a friend of mine and his girlfriend. The rally took place on the weekend of the 23rd of August. The weather was perfect during the whole rally, which made this a very pleasant visit. Below is a selection of pictures I took during the 3 days of rallying along the Special Stages and in the Service Parc. More pictures can be found in my Flickr album of the rally.

On September 13th 2015 I visited the Scaleworld modelling event hosted bij KMK and held in Mol, Belgium. Last year I visited this event for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of vendors, clubs, and last but not least, great models. This year was no different and I'm glad I made the trip again. Although my modelling has sadly come to some sort of a standstill at the moment (but don't be afraid, or maybe do be afraid..., I will continue building hopefully later this year) it is good to see other people are making great models and diorama's and it's always good for getting some inspiration and keeping the modelling flame alive. As with last year, KMK had invited several modellers to give a workshop/demonstration. Among these was Fabrice Maréchal , a well known car builder. I decided against attending his workshop and chose to go to the workshop by Andrew Argent where he showed how to do some groundwork (walls, bushes and other details). It