Cheers 68.

Hey Bish,

Excellent work on the 432. The weathering inside and out is a great job. It really makes the model pop compared to the showroom version. The Milan does look like a good little rendition of the unit and clean bright colours on the spare rounds are a contrast to the vehicle. Super stuff!

Underway on the Bushmaster and we start with the undercarriage.

The aim must have been to make a fully poseable unit, but the end result is very fiddly with 43 parts per axle which are quite floppy until all the parts are cemented together.

The kit is essentially a short run kit - which has issues in the sharpness of the molding, ejector pins, sink marks and fit. They have put a lot of effort into the moulding of the vehicle body, it is a good job.

An example of fit is the way the interior floor and chassis go together, a bit of trimming is needed to fit. And the pins under the floor are larger than the locating holes, stuff like that.

So a bit of work on this one, but it is capable of producing a nice model, let's see if I can too.

Thanks LA. I did like the contrast between the clean and dirty. Good to see you underway, look forward to seeing this.

Wayne: That little armored car of yours is looking superb!

Dutchman: that Strv is looking really good so far!

Bish: It's always nice to see someone build a vehicle they have real life experience with and your little 432 turned out great. I really like that grimy interior.

What are your thoughts on the MasterClub tracks compared to Friuls? It looks to me like they might be a bit more fiddly to assemble, but they seem to be more cleanly cast.

Bruce: I got Takom's Merkava Mk.2 in my stash, so I'm very interested in how well this one goes together. So far it looks like a really nice kit.

LA: That Bushmaster sure is a weird looking vehicle. It's going to be interesting to watch that one take shape.

Cheers SS. Those Master tracks are nice, all the holes were clean. The seperate rubber pads are a nice touch. The resin pins add nice detail as they have the bolt heads, but they are very fiddly. You have to put a pin in each side.They took a lot longer than Fruils, i can normally nock a set of those together in a couple of hours, these took ages. I have the Chieftan set and i will use wire on those.

Thanks for hosting the GB mate.

The last set of Friuls I assembled required me to drill out the holes in almost every single link because they were cast so badly. Obviously not all Friul sets are bad, but if the MC tracks are more consistent, they're worth looking into I guess.

Have you ever heard of a company called R-Model? Their tracks look like Friuls but they use machined brass track pins. I just ordered a set of them for my Panther build and they might be a good, easy to assemble alternative to Friuls.

I have had good and bad Fruil sets as well. I have not heard of R-Model, be keen to see what they are like. The metal bins should be more sturdy than the resin ones.

Looks awesome Piers!

Good luck with the tracks Clemens!

Well, I got the Abrams pre-shaded. Lord amightly it seems it's taking me forever to get anything done....

Currently I'm adding the Silly Putty to mask the thing for the brown coat of paint. It's a nice change of pace from the same old Iraqi sand coloured Abrams but still a nice monocolour coat would be nice right now. 

And yeah, the left side skirts didn't want to fit correctly. Hopefully I'll get that fixed when I permently cement them in place. They're only tack cemented right now. I was afraid I'd never get the tracks and running gear in place with them in the way.

Wow Gamera, its coming along. I like the fact that you're going for a different look. Looking at this Abrams model I can see how this AFV has evolved thru the years since Desert Storm.

Thanks Tiger. I have a complete of the ancient Abrams made by Tamiya back in the early '80s and yeah it's a big change over the years. 

Forgot to mention this tank according to the instructions is based in South Korea so the cool camo instead of plain jane sandy yellow. 

Thats coming on nicely Gamera.

Thanks Bish, still sticking Silly Putty on the thing...

Hey Gamera,

The Abrams is looking good, there is some very nice shading going on there. Looking forward to seeing the brown come on.

I have't been ignoring the Bushmaster but it is a slow piece of work. There is a bit of brass to go inside, some of which needs to be trimmed to size.

And then got the first paint on the interior and the seats.

Next up will be preparing all the resin bits and pieces to festoon the outside.

Thats some nice work there LA. Does that PE and resin come with the kit?

Thanks Piers, nice work there yourself! 

Thanks guys

Bish the PE comes with the kit, the resin is a accessory pack from Black Dog.

I haven't seen any of those Black Dog sets yet, there are a few i'd like to get. Whats the detail like on them.

The detail on this set is good. Lots of packs, bags, boxes, sleeping bags etc in it, all to stick in on and hang off the Bushmaster.

Those look really good! And if you don't use all there's plenty for use on another project. 

I like blackdog too. This is a 1/48 set - everything but the 2 crates (and the magazine) is a blackdog resin set, including the drapped cover.

got some more pictures here is you want to see more https://waihobbies.wkhc.net/index.php/14-models/ground/41-krupp-protz-1-48-tamiya

Very nice work there Waikong. Hope I can finish mine half as well...

Sorry guys for not posting on here in a while. 

@Lost, The bushmaster is looking good. And, wow, that resin looks outstanding!

@Cliff, your M1 looks great with the pre-shading. What camo pattern are you going to use?

Ok, quick update on the Merkava

The road wheels were five pieces

Just to get this one lonely wheel

And the remainder of the road wheels, and sprockets

Then I finished the upper hull

And turret

Lots and lots of very small parts, that took there turns walking off the table on me!

I had a small handle snap in half and one half disappeared. Finally after a couple weeks, I decided to look for it, and believe it or not, I found it. Then glued it back together and glued it on the turret just so I would not lose it again! This has been the worst kit I've had with losing parts. I don't know why. But, over all I really like this kit.

I have the skirts, tracks and guns to finish, but, now I'll start shooting some paint. I'm going to try Mission Models paint for the first time with this build.

Thanks for looking!

Bruce: Nice work there! Those road wheels look like the sort of thing to assemble while watching TV or some other distraction. As for losing parts I found that if I scratchbuild a replacement THEN the original part will resurface after all that work. 

I'm aiming the Abrams for the current multi-colour scheme with the green, brown, and black. I'd have to look up the name for it. I'm kinda bored with the dull Iraqi yellow sand and wanted a forest camo sorta thing with this vehicle based in S. Korea. 

Gamera

 

I'm aiming the Abrams for the current multi-colour scheme with the green, brown, and black. I'd have to look up the name for it. I'm kinda bored with the dull Iraqi yellow sand and wanted a forest camo sorta thing with this vehicle based in S. Korea. 

 

I believe it's called the NATO 3-color camouflage. Those in the know can correct me. I'm glad you picked that camo, you don't see that many kits painted that pattern. I'm looking forward to seeing it complete.

Hey Cliff it will be good to see a different finish on the Abrams.

Thanks Bruce, don't want to get it confused with the MERDC style from the late '70s- '80s though. I want something like the one below. I really need to get moving though, only a month and half to go...

Piers: That looks really good! Love the camo on the packs and seats. Great work on the interior storage. 

Thanks Cliff,

It continues on making slow but steady progress. Finished off the interior and started preparing the body.

All the handles were replaced with copper wire and brass for a bracket. Plenty of gaps to be filled in around handles, brackets etc.

With the top on, the interior will still be visible.

It took a bit of clamping to get the top and bottom together, but I think we are there now.