Holt Gas-Electric Tank

 Only one prototype of the Holt Gas-Electric Tank was built in 1917. It was a colaboration between Holt (now Catapillar) and General Electric. A 4-cyclinder gas engine was used to turn a generator that made power for the electric motor. Armorment consisted of a 75mm gun in the nose and two Browning 7.62mm machine guns, one in each sponson.

The kit is a 3D printed one from Vargas. Fit on some of the parts is quite tight, so I got caught out while test fitting some - the parts had to be left in the test fitted position, even though they really needed to be altered. Oh well, I'll know better on my next Vargas kit. Otherwise, the kit is quite nice.

 

 

 

Polish TKS Tankette

 1/35 scale Polish TKS tankette from IBG. Replaced the plastic kit barrel with a metal one from (I think) Aber. The driver and commander figures are from Miniart. I had to slightly modify the commander's right arm as he was not made to fit this vehicle.

Panzer IIIJ

This is the Das Werk Panzer IIIJ in 1/16 scale. This is a very nice kit with great detail. The size of the pieces is impressive and it builds up to nice sized model. Assembling was easy and fun with only some minor fit issues.

 

The tracks are workable and the torsion bar suspension is fully functional. The tracks were easy to assemble but nonetheless tedious. The tires are separate from the hubs, but they don't quite fit so it will require some work to get them to fit over the hubs. The tow cables are thick copper wire and work well.

The stowage is from Value Gear and is quite detailed. The figure is from Jeff Shiu Miniatures and is a 120mm do roughly 1/16 scale. It is beautifully molded and easy to paint. The bucket is metal and I found it on an R/C tank website. It was weathered with Ferric Chloride.

The model was painted with Tamiya German Grey. Then gloss coated, decals applied and then the winter white wash. The white wash was applied by using Vallejo white with a piece of open cell foam and a pair of tweezers. The foam was dipped in the paint, then dipped in a bit of water and then wiped on the model. Then I went back and applied another layer with less thinned paint to get the brush strokes captured in the paint. This gives the field expedient appearance I was looking for. After all of this, I chipped the white wash with the German Grey, and then applied a pin wash and some dot wash. The snow is a Vallejo acrylic product called snow, and was applied liberally to the lower hull.

All in all, this is a good kit and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a 1/16 scale model.

M114 A1E1 CRV

 This is from the Takom kit 1/35. This was the 2nd version released which mounted the larger gun. Early version only had a 50 and 30 cal.

Though this vehicle  served briefly in Vietnam, I chose that time frame.  It ended up serving in Europe in the early 70s before being decommissioned. I did learn something interesting about the real tracks. They were rubber band type like the old M3 Halftracks but with imbedded steel cleats. 

The kit is very detailed with some really fidley parts for tweezer use. This one took a lot of patience. I painted with lacquers and enamels and filtered and weathered with oils. 

See the vid on U-Tube.      https://youtu.be/nzaayCKtoJM

Vince B. 7-18-23

128mm Flak Train

 These are separate components of 1/72 scale Modelcollect kits. The 80 ton Rail Car was modified with spare parts from other kits. The 128mm Flak, with added scrap built platform, and the Search Light with added LED and other details.

Other details were added such as the Amand Bayardi resin crates and some shells and shell casings.

It was all primed and painted with Alclad primer and Modelmaster and Floquil enamels.  The wood sections were treated with oils then dry brushed.

This was a fun build of hypothetical subject. Though the Germans did mount these large Flak Guns on rail beds, I took liberties with the design. Not entirely accurate. 

Check out the U-Tube vid.   https://youtu.be/Mmqz-GoAN40

Vince B.  7-10-23

IDF M3 Halftrack with TCM-20 Anti Aircraft Guns

 This is from the Dragon "IDF 6 Day War "series of kits produced about 8 years ago? I have built several from the series, and each one has flaws with the engineering of the kit, or important missing details etc. This was no different. 

A lot of the resin stowage was from a LEGEND set for early IDF armor. 

Despite the irritations of building the kit, (YES, lots of photo etch) I was pleased with the overall result. I primed and base coated with lacquers. My subsequent layers were done with lighter shades of enamels, dusted on and stippled to show wear and color modulation. 

The rest of the weathering was done after several acrylic gloss coats, using oil washes.

Vince B.       

Check out the U-Tube vid:               https://youtu.be/T1BvuIQ1xKY

Salvenmaschinenkanone SMK 18 TYP 2

 This is the Das Werk 1/35 scale kit out of the box. Incredible detail and quite fidley to build including the photo etch.

This was painted with lacquers and enamels and weathered with oils.

Vince B.  6-17-23   See the U-Tube at https://youtu.be/Is-8nJmt4m0

Raumer Racers

 This is a humorous take on the use of the WWII German Mine Rollers. These are the 1/72 scale models from the Takom kit. Really nice detail and went together well.  The only extra details needed were the power and control cables between the Raumer sections and the steering chains on the rear of the smaller unit.

The figures, I think, are Preiser. The telephone poles, signs and barrels are Italeri. 

I scratch built the fence from balsa wood and toothpicks.

As usual its all painted with lacquers and enamels and detailed out with oil paints. 

I thought the mine blast hole on the other side of the fence was a nice touch. 

I refrained from putting in body parts since this was for Humor.

The Telephone wires are EZ line.

I used dry wall spackle for the road portions and a combo with sculptamold for the groundwork.

Overall, this came out exactly as I pictured it when I started.      see the video on U-Tube.    https://youtu.be/xDLijdFoRf4

Vince B.  6-8-23            

WWI Canadian MG Carrier

 This was a fantastic Copper State Models kit. Incredible details though I needed tweezers for most of it.

There were a few details which needed to be added after some on line research. There are flexible tubes for the water cooling system on the MGs. The kit indicates hard tubes so I replaced with soft wires. Also there are small hooks which hold up the folding armor plates all around the model. I drilled out the placement and used very tiny wires for the hooks.

I also added some stowage from an ICM accessory set. The resin figures are from TUSK. They fit great and painted up well.

I haven't done a WWI piece for years and was glad that Mike suggested these Copper State Models kits. I have one more Armored Car to build.  See the U-Tube vid.      https://youtu.be/GG1TdJFd3QI

Vince B. 5-17-23

"Do you know what you are doing?"

 1/35 scale vignette of 2 German WWII soldiers working on a Schwimwagen engine. After looking at the details of the piece, you will agree that the question is relevant.

The Schwimwagen was a more recent release by Tamiya with a detailed engine. I needed an excuse to show it, so my warped sense of humor took over.

Also I had a Black Dog Resin set for this kit and managed to use some of it.  The block that replaces the back seat full of stowage, needs to be carefully ground down to fit precisely. You do need to be sure to NO install the back seat or any components here. The resin block is glued to the upper hull before carefully fitting together. 

Once the block is fit in place, the rest of the kit is easy. As always painted with lacquers and enamels.

See the U-Tube vid attached.

https://youtu.be/Gk8_mOMWkXk

Vince B. 5-10-23

"Bullox" No use crying over spilt wine.

 A 1/35 scale diorama. I don't normally do British subjects, but I needed a purpose for this old Dragon M4A3 Sherman Firefly kit. Dry British Humor. Wain for it......

Dry Humor like fine Dry Wine.

Anyway, like most Dragon kits, it was pretty terrible. I did need to add a lot of missing details such asall of the periscope guards and other bits. I also added a variety of stowage resins and made tarps from tissue and white glue.

Two of the figures came in the kit and weren't too bad.  I purchase another unknown manufacturer figure from Ali, to get the point across for the soldiers staring at the busted up wine café in the unknown French town they just destroyed. 

I used components from Miniart for the busted up Cafe furniture and wine bottles. The plaster base was from Diroamas Plus and the broken wall sections are from Verlinden. This is quite a heavy piece. The spent .50 cal shells are actually chopped up styrene rod bits. See the UTube vid. 

https://youtu.be/jkw5HkMpaL0

Vince B.  5-7-23

German 20mm FLAK 38

 This was from the Tri-Star kit in 1/35 scale. The model went together relatively easy.

The only real missing detail was no shell catcher net. I had to scrap build that. The other accessories were included such as the magazine cans and spare barrel crate.

The walls are from the Armand Bayardi collection.  These were also painted with enamels and oils.

I did add the spent shell casings on the ground. 

Vince B. 4-1-23    

German Sd.Kfz. 165 Hummel

 This is an old Dragon kit. The first part of the build was great, fit nicely as it should. The rest of the build was a horror. I managed to save the look by structural modifications.

The tracks were from the kit, individual plastic links. I strung them in sections and folded as the glue was mostly dried. Then I was able to paint and weather the sections separately before gluing onto the road wheels.

I wanted the tank to look weathered but not too beat up. 

Except for some fit problems and missing details, I think it came out OK. 

Vince B.  3-8-23