If is walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a DUKW.

This photo has a container of sand from Omaha Beach, thanks to Frank Stumpo for sharing it with me.
Tom

Here are the photos for the  shelf Queen contest.
Tom

Trumpeter Panzerjagerwagen

This is the Trumpeter Panzerjagerwagen. I did this one out of the box as practice for designing my own version in the near future. This seemed to be a good kit, simple, well fit and required little research. I managed to avoid using the photo etched parts for the turret armor plate. The plastic worked just fine for me.

It was painted standard Model Master colors, mixed to provide the green and brown over a tan base which itself was painted over a dark gray primer. The rest was washes and drybrushing.

Vince Barrale

M5 Light Tank‏

Tamiya M5 Light Tank. This is the old kit with the switch and battery holes still in the chassis. This really fit together well, so well in fact that I didn't even need to do any research on the M5, which seems to be a variant of the Stewart.

Notice??? No Additional Stowage.  Yes. I did this out of the box. I like Tamiya kits for that purpose.

I was able to practice some old techniques that I hadn't done in a while. Drew's last presentation inspired me to take that reminiscent step and use powders for mud and muck. I combined that with some grime I had saved. I don't know what it is exactly. Might have been coffee grounds at one time.

I also did the oil washes over the gloss coat and the dot wash over the flat coat. I think you can see the slight color variations and fading of the green.

I added some trashed floral bits onto the hedge cutter with more mud.

Vince Barrale

How Historians Recovered the Only Surviving Nazi "Flying Pencil"

Great article from Gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/how-historians-recovered-the-only-surviving-nazi-flyin-1577110261

Incomming!

This diorama of a US Marines camp in Vietnam includes an M113 which was scrap built from Tamiya, Academy and Italeri parts.

Various stowage was added, including some Playboy items from Verlinden Media. I did have to scratch build some of the details added to the M113. This scene was inspired from various old photos both in books and online.

The figures were a combination of Dragon and Verlinden.

Thanks

Vince Barrale

WWI German A7V

Finished Tauro 1/35th scale model. Painted with arylics and weathered with oils and enamels.
Just some quicky pictures taken out on the patio

SdKfz 10/5 Pak 38

Italeri 1/35 scale Demag with Pak 38. The kit was pretty well made and mostly fit well as any Italeri kit. I added some random stowage crates, packs etc. I didn't do any scratch built adders though there were details which could have been easily improved based on the photos I found on the real deal.

Thanks   

Vince Barrale

 

Terrifying GoPro video from tanks in Syria's war zone

Wow...
This is worth seeing. It's an hour long video.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/incredible-footage-from-tanks-in-syrias-warzone-is-utt-1548084560/@caseychan

Question; How does some tanks seems to go in reverse quickly and maneuvers in those treacherous  and narrow streets without missing a beat? Can the driver see anything going backward, on twisty road?

Stalingrad - Berilin

A very Nice Diorama by  Oleg Lanskoy  from Russia. Sometimes I just wonder at the talent!!

Go here for more of this dio!!

http://en.diorama.ru/gallery/dioramas/4697/

Go here for more of this webpage

http://en.diorama.ru/

M4A4 Sherman

This was the Cyber Hobbies kit, Orange Box as some of you describe it. Pretty nice kit overall. I had a few minor construction issues due to not sufficiently studying relevant photos but I worked it out. As noted in my demo, I painted with Enamels, Lacquer dullcoat and sea I the decals with acrylic Gloss (Floor Wax).

The stowage is from various resin, plastic, paper, string etc. Most of this was base painted separately the oil washed with the model after attaching. The oils were used as a light wash to tone down the Green color, then dullcoated before applying variations  of heavier washes of burnt umber an black.

At the last meeting I demoed the dot streaking using blue, white and burnt umber for fading affects. Final dullcoated, then did some drybrushing to highlite.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the result. 
Vince Barrale

 

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - LOOK HERE:

http://mayang.com/textures/Metal/html/Flat%20Metal%20Textures/index.html

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK..........LOL!!

Military Vehicle Auction - Let's Start our Own Army!

The Jacques Littlefield Collection of military vehicles is going on the auction block in California. Everyone in the club should buy one vehicle. There are at least two Shermans available, for those of you who are into them. Even a SCUD missile launcher complete with missile. I have dibs on the Saracen APC. See article at AutoWeek magazine.

EMHAR 1/35 scale kit, out of the box

This is the EMHAR 1/35 scale kit, out of the box. The plastic is thick and the molds are crude, but the surface detail is good. The instructions are poor and the tracks are crude and take some work to fit properly.  I was surprised to find that the rubber track sections were gluable. You will need to gloss coat the decals as they tended to crack up. If you were to make a real effort by sanding out the alignment imperfections and straightening out some of the parts, you could make a good model out of this kit.

In my case, this wasn't intended to be a contest model. I threw this together quickly for the Houston Downtown Library Display case. We are putting together a WWI exhibit to be featured in one of the cases while the other cases will be general modeling of all kinds.

Vince Barrale

Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf. K

Here are a couple of photos of an oldie, but a goodie.  Yes, it's another shelf-queen from Dragon that's been sitting around collecting dust for quite some time now. It was built at least six years ago and it's the original DML K kit built pretty much out of the box with a few Evergreen styrene refinements here and there, but the detail is nowhere near Dragon's newer Panzer III kits.  It has some Magic Sculp tarps added to the front and a boot for the rear antenna.  It will eventually (maybe someday) be finished in a winter scheme.  There's still some work to do to mount the storage boxes on the rear deck before any painting can begin. 

Russia's First IMAX 3D Film 'Stalingrad' Gets US Release in February

February 28th! and in IMAX 3D

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/russias-first-imax-3d-film-stalingrad-gets-us-release-in-february/

Gone Fishing

The Itaeri Armored Car kit was so small, I needed to come up with something to do with it. I recently purchased a wrecked bridge kit so decided to combine the two. A story was needed.

What do you do when your mission is scrubbed? Grab a stick of wood, tie a wire onto it and go fishing.

I added some torn steel framework and rock rubble to the scene. The water was diluted Woodland Scenics paste. I added some resin stowage to the vehicle and scratchbuilt the extra gas can rack.

The figure was an old Preiser officer. Not much to work with but I was able to re-shape his arms to hold the fishing pole.

Vince B  1-5-2014

Marder III

This is an old Italeri kit. It actually went together pretty well. In doing some research online, I found so many variants and field modifications, that I selected a few options that I scratch built some details or added components from spares.

 

The interior of the gun compartment was sparse so I added in a radio and some other personal equipment.

 

 

I found that the Marder was used in a variety of campaigns, so I selected the markings and color scheme used in France. I airbrushed with enamels, weathered with oils in several layers and mounted on some basic ground work.

 

 

Vince B  Jan 5-2014