1945 GB

Looking nice so far Joe.

Ken, look forward to seeing the jeep.

Joe Rix - Thanks again for the kind words. It's my best build yet, and I am really pleased with it (though of course I hope to surpass it!)

I really like the parts you were able to salvage from the P-47. You have to love a Jug, and I can't wait to see them mated to the new parts. I'll be watching closely, as I have a Tamiya P-47M in the stash.

Stikpusher - That green looks just right, and I love the way it's going. I think you nailed that ID stripe as well. I like the look that it was field-applied. Kind of like invasion stripes on planes that aren't crisp, and look like they were applied in, well, wartime. Great job!

-BD-

Eric - you also nailed that green. I really like the way it came out, and I can't imagine going to all that trouble mixing!! I can never duplicate the mixing and then end up swearing a lot if I need to touch up. Mixing correctly is just a gift I don't have.

That IS2 is really sweet. I play a game called War Thunder online where whenever I see an IS2 I have mini heart palpitations, and yours looks its scary part!

I can't wait to see more.

-BD-

Thank You gentlemen. I really appreciate the compliments.

CMK- As far as the "pleasing to the eye " part, yeah, I get that a lot with this nose art.

Brandon-As far as salvaging goes, I had first considered chopping up the original build and attempt to salvage the cockpit out of it. But, I thought better of it and will instead strip the paint off it at a later date and salvage the whole model.

Joe - probably a good idea. Chopping up too much would probably just make a bunch of headaches as things go slightly wrong along the way.

-BD-

I have got everything in place and lined up in order to mount my resin seat.

I widened the mounting holes in the floor for the kit seat mounts and drilled out corresponding holes in the armor plate to insert round styrene rod for the upper mounting brackets. I left the upright braces on until I got everything lined up.

When I had everything in alignment I cut off the uprights and drilled indentations into the floor mounts to accomodate the resin mounting posts. I then slid the rods through the armor plate until they were in appropriately, glued them in place and snipped the extra off the backside.

And voila! Everything seems to be in alignment and we're good to go. No, the seat is not glued in as I will paint it separately first.

Excellent work everyone, some nice work being done here.

Started my Hezter a few days ago, it's a pretty simply kit to assemble.  When comparing it to one of my Tiger's or Jagdpanther, the Hezter is pretty small.

Dan it's good to see another nice start here! This GB is really moving along quite well!

Dan, Joe, nice starts on those builds.

I do need to  get myself a Hetzer, so i'll be keeping a close eye on that one Dan.

Here is the latest pics

Dan, It appears that your setting up for one sweet build. I am going to enjoy watching you bring the Hetzer together.

Ken, Very excellent work on the Jeep. I'm excited to watch you paint the figure.

Thanks Joe. If you look closely his left arm is spread out to far and he has a big gap for his arm pit. So, now I have to learn how to putty the figures. I made it this way so he isn't driving; he's sitting in the jeep talking.

Guess its time I got in on the action. This kit was a gift from a good friend on the forum, along with a Monogram 48th P-61. I don't know what's stranger, me building a PTO aircraft or me having a 48th one. Wonders never cease. But I do rather like the look of the Black widow, so its nice to have the chance toi build one, even if it is a 1960's Airfix kit.

 I know some people would say not to throw god money at this. But I figured as the kit was free and ever kit needs a bit of TLC, I decided to splash out on a few bits, all of which are for the dragon kit.

It quickly became apparent that the dimensions of the dragon kit are not the same as the Airfix. The Aires cockpit parts are to small for the kit but the Eduard wheel bay bits are to big.  So the cockpit tub has needed some packing out and some filling. Its also to short by a long way. Looking at some pics, it seems the kit is to long here, even though the over all length of the kit is slightly to short. But rather than trying to cut down the canopy, I will just fill the gap behind the IP once its in.

The rear section wasn't quite as bad, just a bit of filling around the back.

And I got one wing together. A lot of filler needed here. The openings in the leading edge have Eduard pars in there, which in this case were both to small and to big.

Also used some styrene strip around the movable aileron on the wing to fill that out a bit.

That's all for now, going to finish off the detail in the pit and get the other wing done next.

Bish - that looks like a lot of fitting, but I can't wait to see you tackle it, as I'm sure it will be nicely done.

Ken - that Jeep is looking great, and so is the figure. I hope the puttying doesn't pose too much of a problem, but I'm sure you'll nail it.

Dan - Nice start on the Hetzer. I love that Czech chassis, and never did build a Hetzer when I did armor models, but I always have liked them.

-BD-

Thanks stikpusher.

Thanks Bish: So far everything is fitting together great, have not had any gap problems.  The putty
you see on the rear is where I didn't put tape in right place while the glue was dring.  And great start on your P-61, those older kits always need some extra work to get them to look right.

Greentracker98, Nice looking jeep with it's driver.

Thanks Joe Rix.

Construction is coming alone well,  I dry fitted the upper hull and it goes one very well.  No gaps of any kind.  Also take a comparison photo with my Tiger 1 I built for the North African group build last year.

My Oh My Bish. Now that is one epic and awesome undertaking. And you, my friend , are doing one fabulous job of it so far. It greatly warms my heart to see you in the PTO arena.

Well, I've gotten paint on the Corsair. I've had a lack of updates lately since I've been doing a bunch of stupid stuff that has cost me time and caused frustrations.

I kept not getting the seams sanded correctly. There was a spot that needed filling where a sprue tree attached, and I didn't sand the putty enough, then I got it filed smooth but didn't realize I'd hit the side of the plane with the file and left scratches. More filling and sanding... There were just too many rounds of that.

Then I filled the airbrush cup too full and dripped paint from it on the port side wing root. I wiped it with a paper towel, which obviously removed paint to plastic. Fortunately it was just the base coat, but it again required sanding and then feathering the paint in more. But at least now it's smooth.

So I base coated it with Model Master dark sea blue, then hit it with a lightening coat of 50/50 dark sea blue and insignia white.

I left some panels lighter with the thought that I would vary the paint opacity and get away from the monochromatic look of it.

But then, when I was laying down the blend coat, I decided it looked terrible and applied it more heavily on the lighter panels to even out the color. There's still some subtle variation, but I'm not sure how much will show when it's done.

This one will be wings folded, but I'm leaving them off till after the decals and panel line wash are done.

Here they are sitting in place.

The color looks a little light to me, but I also know it will darken with the gloss coat. Even if it doesn't darken much, I'll be ok with it and just chalk it up to scale lighting effect.

Hopefully I can get the first gloss coat on tomorrow.

-BD-

Dan,Joe, thanks. Ye, it is feeling a bit epic, but its nice to have a challenge now and again.

Dan, Hetzer is coming along nicely. Now that thing is small isn't it.

Brandon, that is looking nice. Sounds like you been having a little run of bad luck. When I saw those first set of pics, it reminded me of the weathering on some F-14's posted in a pic on Stik's, Gulf war GB feeler thread.

Great work Brandon. Nice technique and concept on the paint work. Appears to be working out quite nicely. I have to agree that it appears a bit on the light side but, like you said, hopefully it darkens with your clear coats. Man, you sure have got me itchin' to dive into my stack of Corsair kits. Yet, I'm going to continue to hold off a bit until I've sharpened my skills a bit more and commit to a long haul of time in order to do my all time favorite aircraft up right. But, in the mean time, I'm sure enjoying the daylights out of your build up of the Corsair. Your doing fantastic. Keep it coming.

Brandon, I think we all have things happen we would rather not happen, Anyway great looking Corsair

Bish Great work on the pit

Dan Looking good 

I went in to my model room/office tonight with every intention of starting the B 52 for the Boeing build. However, I was side tracked by the Jeep for this GB. I think the Jeep is getting there. I still have some things on it to do.  I didn't get the axles on exactly right, so now it is kind of lopsided. but its not going to be on level ground anyway. It is Berlin in the summer of 1945, I had quite a bit of trouble with the axles coming loose from the springs, so I can live with it; but here is what I have so far.

I've been at work a bit, and while our internet will let me see text, it will neither show me photos or allow me to log in.  So, first off, Joe, thank you for the kind comments.  There is some beautiful work being done in this GB, absolutely incredible.   Brandon, that Corsair looks really nice.  I'm just finishing aff a Tamiya f4u 1d for a friend of my father, and wow that blue is a tough color to weather.   Too light, too dark, that balance point is a hard one.   I think you're doing a nice job of it.   Personally,  I think everyone here deserves a big pat on the back.   Amazing work.

Brandon,

I love the color you came out with on the Corsair. I wish now that I had lightened mine up a bit as i was spraying. Great work and the paint looks very convincing. Nice work!!!

BK

Over the past week or so I have been working on the crew figures when I had time. This morning I finished them up

and positioned in the vehicle

now I just need a base... 

Excellent work Stik. You can come paint my figures anytime you want, I don't care much for it. Great job on those and the kit. So nice!!!!!!!

Thanks Brandon. Painting figures is my biggest challenge right now and certainly a work in progress for me. I stick with basic techniques- washes and drybrushing topped off with fine detail painting. I just keep plugging away at it.

Ken, nice to see the Jeep coming on.

Stik, nice work on the figures. I have struggled with figures for years, and as a dio builder, they are pretty essential. I think you have done a really good job on those, and they look real nice in the vehicle.

Thanks Bish. My next challenge is bases. I am trying to get something going for this one. I have a couple others in the works right now for stepping stones. I am still a way off from a proper diorama. We are our own worst critics and I feel the best that I can currently achieve is a decent vignette.

Yep, we are that. I have heard it said that building diorama's is the toughest form of the hobby because it needs so many skills to come together all in one build. I don't know if that true, but I certainly get more satisfaction from completing a dio than I would a free standing model.

Ken: I sure like how your Jeep is turning out. Definitely some fine work.

Stik: Boy, you are your own worst critic because I see some rather fabulous figure painting on your part. Really really nice. If anything you are making excellent progress. I have yet to step into the figure venue but, I have got to start giving it a shot. I can say that you and Bish certainly maintain my inspiration and confidence to go down that path.

Thanks for the co0mpliment Joe. But if you want to pick up some tips on figures, jgeratic is the guy for that. His are really nice and I still have a way to go in improving mine.