PZKPFW MKV Ausf A PANTHER

This is the 1/35 Tamiya Panther Ausf A done in the Hinterhalt - Tarnung (ambush camoflage) scheme. I find this to be the most interesting camo scheme of WWII. There are a couple of variations to this scheme, and I chose to go with the dotted pattern of Olive green and Dark Yellow over the base color and the Olive Green and Red Brown splotches. It is intended to emulate the sun shining through foliage. 

 This is also my favorite AFV of WWII. Here she is from the left.

And another shot from the right. Enjoyed building this again after so many years.

T-30 U.S. Heavy Tank

This is one of those monster Tank Prototypes being developed at the end of WWII to combat the King Tiger etc. I believe a handful were built and tested.  This is the Takom kit. Very nicely detailed from my perspective.


There were of course some fidley bits which required tweezers and patience. Though I am pretty happy with it, I believe our club Target expert can find the flaws in my work.


For me the greatest challenge is the basic Olive Drab, what color is it really?  From various photos it changes with the light.  Also It is difficult to bring some depth to a single color, so I washed and weathered it to bring out more details.


I have an open question regarding what looks like a large view port alongside the barrel. Is it a scope with a lens?



The kit comes with 3 variations of the mantlet and barrels.  I selected the Short one which I believe made it the T-30 version rather than the T-34. In case you cant tell, that turret rear end was huge.

That completes the 5th ARMOR model this year so far,








Vince B. 2-28-18

Fist of War by ModelCollect

Yes, this is one of the new series of 1/72 scale German Sci Fi Tanks from Model Collect. These are cool and based on actual German Armor with a twist.

I only added a few detail parts and some resin Stowage from Black Dog. There are lots of great details built inside the pose able leg structures.



I didn't realize until I was building it that there was another turret beneath the hull.  Once I looked at the other kits of the same series, I see that they are all based on the same lower structure with different upper turrets as the only discerning feature.


I have a few more of these to do and some aren't available yet. In case you haven't noticed, I am in a winter scene rut. In reality I hate snow.

Vince B. 2-26-18

Wirbelwind

This is the Tamiya 1/48 scale Wirbelwind kit. It came with the steel cast lower hull. Nice easy build. The figures were OK as well.




I added some resin stowage from BlackDog. Really detailed stuff.
I combined it with accessories from the Tamiya figure set.





Vince B   Feb 21-2018

This is the MENG Merkava IIID Late LIC. This is my first Meng kit and while I found the quality to be high, there are a lot of fiddly bits on this one. And in some places the instructions were not very clear. I got some aftermarket stuff for this kit i.e. crew equipment, tow cables, and metal tracks. I also experimented heavily with pastels. There are no washes on this and 100% of the weathering is done with regular pastels. I really did the way this vehicle looks so she makes a great subject to model. I will DEFINITELY be doing an IDF diorama later this year so stay tuned.

NVA T-54b

This my first post, so bear with me.

The model featured in this spread is the Takom T-54b done up in NVA (North Vietnamese Army) colors. I decided to put her on a base with some groundwork as I have not done a diorama in quite some time and was trying to get a feel for it again. This was my second Takom kit and I was impressed with the quality of the molds an the amount of detail. I will definitely be looking into another Takom kit in the future after I clear out my backlog. Enjoy!

King Tiger

This is the basic MENG King Tiger kit.  There is a full interior add on supplement and the basic kit is set up for this. Unless you plan on doing an exploded view, the interior supplement would be a waste.



Everything fits well as expected from MENG. The tracks are length and link. There are photo etch screens for the engine vents.



My paint was a combination of Testors and Humbrol enamels. Gloss coated several times with J & J (formerly Future) floor wax.  Several washes of oils and dullcoated.



I added some personal equipment hanging from the spare track links.

Grille 30 ...$#^*^%# some other stuff

This is the recent Trumpeter kit of yet another not so feasible German Artillery piece.  Not sure if this monster was even on paper, but you will see it up close at the HAC Club contest in May.


Since this was entirely hypothetical, I decided to try a new camo pattern. I painted it with the dark Panzer Gray first.  then I cut strips of tape to make a random cross hatch pattern and re-painted lightly with a lighter shade of blue gray.


Of course I had to add some stowage since the kit didn't even have grab handles on the massive slab sides.  I put in some baskets, ammo crates etc.


The commanders hatch also did not have a machine gun so I added a ring and gun from a Tiger tank. Also needed to add Pioneer tools around the tow cables.

1/72 Jagdtiger

This is the Italeri 1/72 Jagdtiger.  Not really a new kit, but I do like the Length and Link Plastic tracks.


I did add on some stowage details, resin crates and some equipment from Preiser.



The kit details are OK, certainly not a Dragon kit. The fit was good and the Decals worked well.



I also added some fine mesh to the  intake grilles.

Armor, sort of. . . . . ( a tale of unachieved expectations)

Mid summer I was feeling pretty good.  I had strung together 2 or 3 pretty decent builds (for me) with each one an improvement on its predecessor.  I decided to step out of my newly found comfort zone and try something different.

 

I found this kit while killing time on e-bay.  It had been started and in the end I got it at a reasonable price ( I think around $30 all in vs. $100 new).  I wanted to stay with a military/armor sort of theme so I thought this thing could be morph'ed into a futuristic Russian scout type vehicle.  My imagination got pumped up and by the time I received the kit I was chopping at the bit to get going.  I did not know it, but the best times were already behind me on this one.

 

The kit is a 1/20 scale Maschinen Krieger from Hasegawa.  By my account it's about 30% SciFi, 30% armor, 30% aircraft and 3% heart breaker.  There is really good detail in the cockpit but because of the tint of the canopy it is hard to see inside once completed.  The plastic is a little thick for my taste which leads to some pretty hefty seams.  Yep, I said SEAMS.  (aka The Heart Breaker of this story).  I haven't had to deal with seams since I stopped building aircraft 5 or more years ago.  In fact it was seams that got me out of the hobby for a number of years and the root cause of my migration to armor.

Although the filling, sanding and hiding of seams took its toll, I pushed through the fabrication and got the kit ready for the paint stage.  From the beginning I had decided to have the thing look Russian, so I chose to give Hataka's acrylic Warsaw Pact AFV Panel Lighting Set a try.  I usually try to stick with a manufactures own thinner, but since I could not locate any I went with isopropyl alcohol.  BAD CHOICE.  The mixture appeared good in the small plastic cup I was using, but when loaded in the airbrush and an air stream applied it turned into a Russian green Jello substance instantly clogging my airbrush.  Next I tried Tamiya's acrylic thinner and that pasted up even before it got out of the mixing cup.  In the end the only thing that worked was demineralized water. Luckily I test shot each attempt so no paint stripping was required.

 

 

For me, this was one of those builds that you generate great expectations for, but the darn thing fights you to the end.  I had some cool visions of an all weathered up vehicle with rust and dust all over the place, but in the end it was all I could do to somewhat finish it.  There were three areas I did have some fun with.  (1) The painting of the canopy frame.  Maybe a little to bright, but I wanted it to pop.  (2) I used a bunch of aircraft decals and stencils and mostly (3) I experimented building a bunch of ammo boxes covered with tarps located in the corner of the base.

This was my 5th and final completion of 2017 and with all the excitement I had in my mind when I started this one, it kind of finished with a fizzle.


Thanks for looking - George
P.S. Sorry about picture quality, I need to take some lessons from Eric or at lease revisit his presentation.

 

 

Russian BMR-3M

I am big sucker for cool box art, Russian stuff and engineering vehicles.  So when this one hit the market I was doomed.  I picked it up from a Chinese vendor on the net for about $50 and I splurged on an Ammo by Mig paint set (Modern Russian Camo Colors) and off I went.

Although being a high part count kit (1,300 pieces) many are associated with the tracks.  It comes with a fret of photo etch for the grills and some rubber like hoses for the external fuel tanks.  The kit has its roots in Meng's T-90 model, so there are a bunch of pieces not used.

 

 

I spent two weekends assembling hull, turret and mine roller and then a third entire weekend on the tracks.. I think they are the most frustrating component of any model I have every built.  Needless to say, I only installed the parts of the tracks that are visible outside of the fender skirts.

 

 

I think my freehand camo scheme came out OK.  As I've stated before I always mess up something  This time I used a clear satin coat in lieu of a gloss clear coat prior to applying and oil wash.  Rather than allowing the wash to run into all the recessed area, the satin coat kind of absorbed the wash and the finish turned out splotchy

 



  

 After taking the photos I realize it probably could use some more weathering and highlights.  My problem is I got a few other projects call at me from the bench and I've already spent more time on this one than usual.  I'm calling it done and moving on to my entry for the club's 2nd Banana contest in February.

Thanks for looking - George

1/48 Sturmtiger

This is the 1/48 scale Sturmtiger from AFV Club. It was built box stock except for he addition of the ring for handling shells (rocket-propelled projectiles), the cable in the loading winch, and Tamiya stick-on Zimmerit. The ring came from the jewellery department of a craft store and the cable is some thread. Neither part is supplied with the kit. The decals are from my scrap box as, again, none are supplied with the kit.

The camo is airbrushed Tamiya green and brown (I forget which exactly) over Vallejo German Dark Yellow primer.

Nice fun, easy kit to build.