Bish, Gamera and Schattan - thanks!

Here I've got the main turret piece all riveted up.  Comparing it to it's original state, it illustrates why I decided to run with this. 

Note how the original kit piece had only  two rivets on the forward sides, and nothing on the bottom rear,  while the quality just wasn't there.

regards,

Jack

Hey everyone!  Have not forgotten about the GB!  Have a few pics of the 250 I'm doing.  I must say the Nitto kit is somewhat different than the Italeri 234's I did for my first armor kits!  The instructions are much harder (for me) to follow and the illustrations are a little vague when it comes to placement of parts.  And with me being a novice armor builder, I need details on everything!    But after doing research on the 250 and Rommel's vehicle in particular, I realized just HOW DARN SMALL this vehicle is!  Holy smokes!  You think the big man would have had a better ride!    But I am learning about the vehicles and that is really cool.  So here are a few pics of what I started on.

Eagle90

Jack: Now that's a plethora of rivets!!! Makes my poor head hurt just to look at all of them.

Eagle: Maybe Rommel liked the smaller rod since it was easier to park or got better gas mileage? I dunno but nice work there! I really like how the seats and dashboard came out.

I haven't started on my bf 109 so I am pulling it from the other GB. I would definitely like to enter it here.

Gamera

Jack: Now that's a plethora of rivets!!! Makes my poor head hurt just to look at all of them.

Eagle: Maybe Rommel liked the smaller rod since it was easier to park or got better gas mileage? I dunno but nice work there! I really like how the seats and dashboard came out.

LOL!  You know Gamera, I didn't think about that!  You're probably right!

Thanks!  It has been a little more difficult than the 234's I did.  Are you familiar with Nitto kits?  WOW!  It might just be me since I'm a novice armor builder, but it is really hard for me to follow some of the steps with this kit.  The fit is no where near as nice as the Italeri kits.  But it will be a cool build when I'm finished.  I did a little more with the dash and interior.

Eagle90

Eagle90: Nice work on you 234, interior looks nice.

Jgeratic: Even know it's more work, but those rivets will add some good detail.  Also like the
sandbags.

Bish: Your Panzer III is looking great, like the row of jerry cans on the back.

I airbrushed on two light coats of XF60 Dark Yellow,  and used a different circle template for the wheels.  Think it turned out pretty good.  Used up a little over 3/4 of the  23ml bottle,  HobbyLobby sells good templates for airbrushing the wheels.  The tools and tow cables need touch up paint, along with the wheels.

Jack: The work you put into those rivets really paid off!

Eagle: Looking very nice!

Dan: Lovely work on that Tiger!

Thanks Dan. Really nice looking Tiger you have there.

She does look good Dan!

Bish - Pz III looks great

Jack - Nice detailed work with rivets

Dan - Tiger coming along great

Eagle90 - nice detail work on 251 interior

Update on Pz IV 'D' - interior detail assembled and painted, next up wash and weathering crew compartment, transmission and engine - photos below. Armor86

Damn, that's looking really great, Dan! You really want to make me continue with mine, but my workbench is a complete mess right now (I'm upgrading it with 2 shelves for my stash and a cupboard for all my tools and paints)

Thanks Dan. That really nice work on the interior. Sorry if you have already mentioned this, but is that an AM set or kit supplied.

I finished the Pz III last night, just going to get some pics and post them up.

I'm pretty sure he's using the Verlinden interior set. Those Dragon kits don't come with an interior.

I was wondering if it might be Verlinden or CMK SS. I know some other Dragon kits do come with some interiour, but I had not seen one that extensive.

Just got those final pics done so here they are. After the last ones, I adding some light chipping. Once all the final bits were added and tied down, it got that light coat of AK dust effects and then some pigments. I like the pigmenst as I can build up the piles of dust that build up in corners and around the road wheels.

Then I just had to finish off the figures. Figures is one area I had really wanted to work on, especially the faces and eyes. So I have been using some new techniques over the last couple of builds and I think I am now where I want to be with my figures, with maybe a little bit more tweaking.

Jack, I watch that video you posted about painting eyes, and that was really useful. I think these are my first figures that don't look like Marty Wild, so thanks for that link.

So heres the pics.

Thanks for looking guys, and as always all comments welcome. And thanks for another great GB Eric. I am glad to be able to finally get a N Africa build done, I look forward to what ever you have planned next.

Looks great, Bish! I love the juxtaposition of the 20th century armor with the ancient Roman site, I look forward to doing a dio (with the Verlinden base) one of these days myself. Great, dusty look, and the figures are very compelling. Sweet work!

M/TB379

Thanks Mike, that idea rather appealed to me. I did a search for Roman ruins in Tunisia to get the terrain and colour right and iw as amazed at how many there are. I was also surprised at just how green and lush Tunisia is compared to the usual image we have of the N African campaign.

I have a few Verlinden buildings and other bases, though this one is from Fields of Glory. There are some nice ones out there, though they can break easily and they do add a lot of weight to the whole base. What with the base, metal tracks and so on, this is rather hefty for its size.

She looks absolutely gorgeous, mate! Amazing work on the figures and base too!

Jack, would you mind posting the video Bish mentioned again? I really need to improve my figure painting skills and that seems like a good place to start...

Thanks buddy.

This is the link, I made sure I saved it to my favories. He users a large scale model for this, but it still works for 35th.

www.youtube.com/watch

I imagine dioramas came become pretty hefty with all the gear on them! I've collected a number of the Verlinden ceramic building kits and they are certainly not light compared to plastic. I have a few projects in mind and hope one day to have space to display them.

WOW, great job all around Bish! Love the Panzer III, the figures, the columns, hell even the little cacti - wonderful job sir!

Bish - terrific finish!  

Every aspect of your presentation ties in together very well.

regards,

Jack

Thanks a lot guys.

The cacti are from a  company called diopark, I stumbled across them a couple of months ago.

jack, I also forgot to say thanks for suggesting those Alpine figures. They are really nice, amazing detail. I have been lining up some more I want to get, great suggestion.

Mike, space is an issue when it comes to dio's. So far mine have all be quite tight into the model, but once you start adding buildings and so on, things start to get on the large size.

Bish -- I'm thinking of starting small with some figure vignettes, then moving up to small vehicle pieces, then some square format street scenes maybe 12" x 12" -- and I have an idea for a couple of major projects, I want to do a pair of 88s firing in battery, with all the trimmings -- towing halftracks, command car, staff car, ammo trucks, dispatch rider, supplies, an AA detachment, support infantry... You get the picture! Well -- the best thing I can do is have a go at a figure with a tank as a starting place!

M/TB379

That's sounds like it's going to be a big one. the largest I am aiming at is two vehicles. I have been doing Dio's for about 25 years and figures have always been my weak point. Its taken a long time, but thanks to the guys on here and some how to books, I think I have cracked it. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Ready for paint, though will need to create masks to cover up the open areas:

regards,

Jack

Jack: Lookin' good! I'd guess you could just stick some masking tape over the hatches from the inside? It's how I've been masking a bunch of stuff recently.

Bish: Thanks, I've seen the Diopark brand but haven't bought anything from them yet.

Nice work jack, I normally put tissue into open hatches and so on before painting.

gamera, I had not heard of them before, but I have seen they do a few nice looking sets. They pack a lot in as well. The cacti had 4 sprues and I used just one sprue for this dio.

Thanks for the link, Bish! That Youtube channel also has a nice video series on painting a figure of a size similar to 1/35.

Jack, your work is fantastic as always! Now slap some paint on that beauty!

Thanks Gamera, Schatten and Bish - good to see you enjoyed the quality of the Alpine figures.

-------------------------------------------------

I'll be switching to an Alpine figure as well.  I just can't find any historical evidence of Bersaglieri crewed L6/40's (other than those sent to Russia).   Many appear to have been assigned to cavalry units,  Lancieri di Novara  being one of these.

If there is time, will add a second figure from Model Victoria, in the form of a traffic 'mover'.

Base coat is on, using LIFECOLOR acrylic set for Italian vehicles.  Their sand colour comes in two bottles: dark (Scuro) and light (Chiaro).  Some suggest combine the two to achieve the right tone, but the dark seems fine to me, and it will lighten up more with some dusting afterwards.

regards,

Jack