1945 GB

BD, your F4U has been added to the front page.

Eric, any chance that you can take a photo (or several) of your IS with some sort of plain backdrop for the finished roster?

stikpusher,

I would like to join the GB i should have my kit by Tuesday (Tamiya US 2 1/2 ton 6x6 cargo truck) if that is ok?

I do also have a Revell Germany FW190 F-8 (would be my first plane in a REALLY long time) but i understand the F-8 was in use from '43 to '45?

Tiger, Bish is the Ramrod here for this GB. I am his XO. The main thing as stipulated in the rules here is that the kit has to have been as it would look in 1945. So the Tamiya Deuce and a Half and the FW-190-F8 should both be fine... as long as you depict them in 1945 livery. Bish will make the final determination.

Ahh my bad stik :) I will await his  decree :D

Jack: I'm certainly looking forward to your M4A2. That should be one sweet build. A Sherman that made it all the way from D-Day to VE Day? Now that is one miraculous feat.

Ernest: Man, I credit myself with a great deal of patience but, tackling those tracks might even test me. Good on ya and hang in there.

Brandon: Nice pics. Thanks for sharing those.

Bish: Looking forward to your finished Black Widow. I'm sure it will be an eye popping experience.

Thanks Joe R.  There is one other Canadian Sherman, BOMB form the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, that completed the same feat.  I don't know if any other allied Shermans have this accomplishment of landing on D-Day and surviving to the end of hostilities

I had started the build in the late spring, but  niggling problems with the kit, and summer activities have shelved it for now, but hope to get back at her in the fall.  Found this list of fixes which is of great help:

http://paulbudzik.com/tools-techniques/Sherman%20Construction/sherman-construction.html

As can be seen, major problem with the fit of the transmission and hull side where the the drive sprockets will be.   Dragon tried correcting this a few times, and though it has got better, still not perfect.

I've also sandwiched a piece of plastic sheet in between  the drive sprocket sections to correct the width for track fit.   Tracks themselves are the individual link type from Bronco -  'cuff design' T54E2.

  regards,

Jack

Tiger, welcome aboard. As Stik says, as long as its built as they looked in 45, its in. have enjoyed watching your other builds, so will be looking forward to these.

Joe R, not to sure about eye popping, but think it will pass.

Jack, always look forward to your builds, and always nice to see the Canadians get in on it.

Ok, time to wrap this up. Only 3 stages including the end result as I didn't go to heavy on the weathering.

First up was the painting. Nothing to exciting, a black underside topped off with a black top.

Then it was time to add the decals and engines. There were red decal stripes for the cowlings, but I decided to mask and paint so they matched the spinners. I used Insignia red. I am not sure if its a WW2 shade, but it matched the period colour pics I could find better than plain red.

I used a set of print scale decals for Cooper's Snooper of the 548th NFS on Iwo Jima. I have a few sets of Print Scale decals but had not use any yet. I had read a few negative comments lately so was a but wary. But they went down really well. They did feel rather fragile, but despite a few touchy moments, I had no issues with them.

 Then finally add the wheels and props and do some weathering. I was talking to GM on the WiP thread. He had a relative who served with P-61's in Europe. And he was saying how clean and shiny they were. But as mine is a PTO bird, I did wonder if that might have a different effect on the aircraft. But checking some photo's, they seemed mostly to be very lightly weathering, just a little chipping here and there. So I went for a light touch with minimal chipping but I did tone down the shine by spraying a mix of Alclad clear gloss and semi gloss. Exhaust staining was done with Xtracolour exhaust, the first time I have used this, my usual paint for this is Tamiya smoke.

 And there you have it. Not the best aircraft I have built. But given the age and the mix and match AM, I am pretty pleased with it. And nice to do something different. Next up will be something more familiar, a Bf 109, even if it is a larger scale.

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated as always. Stik, please feel free to use what ever pic you decide.

Nice work, Bish.  Well done glossy finish.  You've done the ol' bird justice!

thanks bish, i look forward to starting them (amongst all my others...lol)

The Black Widow came out amazing, your striping job looks great! I find i like to hand paint details or mask when i can. Sometimes decals just don't look right.

Thanks guys.

Tiger, ye, I usually prefer to mask and paint coloured bands especially. Its something I am used to from German aircraft where the white of yellow decals just are not right, sometimes even see through. I was please with the red wing walk markings though, and I think the colour does match so I could have used the decals on the cowling.

Just be careful you don't over do it, GB's especially can be addictive and often lead to over committing. Its a lesson I have learnt well.

I agree with all of the above Bish

Great looking P 61

Now I'm thinking of doing one. I think it would be the green

Nice work on a classic kit there Bish! I am always partial to nose art, so whichever one I post, will include that ;)

Jack: Wow! That appears to be an epic amount of "fixing". I have no doubt though that when you are done with it it will be one fine sight.

Bish: That's a beaut sir. You did a sweet job on that older kit. Yes, my eye's popped out a little bit.

Bish - great job with the venerable kit.    

The canopy frame must of been tedious to paint, and being black really requires some deft work to look flawless, and from here looks like you pulled it off nicely.

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

Thanks for the votes of confidence on my Sherman entry.

regards,

Jack

Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated.

Ken, ye, I will do a green scheme when I get to the 48th Mono kit.

Stik, ye, I rather like noise art builds as well, not something I get to do with German aircraft. I didn't get to close in on this one as its a bit ''risky''.

Joe, thanks, I hope yours eye's didn't hurt to much.

Jack, actually the frame was ok once masked, that was the pain as the masking set was to small so I had to fill a lot of it in with Tamiya tape.

Bish, CMK, Stik., Joe - I really do like indy link tracks like MKs, Friuls, AFV Club, etc.  This particular set was the most difficult I've had to assemble....its been a bear, but I'm getting close to finishing the set for this kit.  Of course, to Stik's point, link and length are so much easier, but being and armor guy, indies are sometimes just par for the course!

Jack - Dragon Shermans' always seem to have some problems . but I know you'll find a way to turn this into another excellent armor build!  I've got a couple of those Bronco Sherman tracks in the stash, but haven't had a chance to assemble one yet.  They look fantastic....how do they build up?

Bish - wicked looking Widow sir!!  Excellent work on the red stripes, I thought they were decals until I read TigerEP1's comments!  Very nice indeed!

No major updates on the T-34...everything's come to a stop while I labor away on the MK tracks.

I have never actually done link and length tracks in 35th,in fact I don't think I even have any armour kits in that scale with those tracks. I do like Fruils (though the 251 sets are a pain to work with) and have been pretty impressed with Dragon magic tracks as well.

Thanks for the comment Ernest, much appreciated.

T-34 Update!

ModelKasten tracks finally done!  Despite the tedious work to clean up each link and then assemble them, the results are great!  I cleaned up the roadwheels and dryfitted everything together….the sag is perfect.  MK recommends 70 links for the Dragon T-34 and they were spot on!

Looking at some reference photos I noticed that a lot of T-34/85s had the older style of roadwheels with fewer ribs and the earlier, perforated rubber tires.  Turns out I had a couple of resin sets just like these so I cleaned up a set and tried them on.  They look great, but it seems that the tanks with earlier roadwheels also had rounded front fenders and I don’t want to hassle with replacing fenders.  Also, none of the reference photos clearly indicated that the tanks with those perforated roadwheels were actually from 1945.  So to make sure this was actually a 1945 vehicle I stuck with the kit roadwheels and probably will use the kit markings as well!  I'll use the earlier style roadwheels on another T-34 kit...if I ever get one! 

Next up, upper hull and turret!

Ernest those tracks came out great!

So here is my entry into this GB, Tamiya 1/35th 2 1/2 ton 6x6

There is a resin upgrade that gives it a shorter bed but also better wheels and a tool box which i may pick up also. 

I'll snap some open box pics when i get home from dinner :)

My kit provides markings for 1945 3rd Army 6th Corps 537th AAA Battalion HQ Company No. 1 so that is the way i am going :)

Thanks again for the kind words on my Corsair, and thanks for getting it up on the gallery.

Bish - fantastic job on that P-61. I think you nailed the red, and it looks like you made that kit shine. I haven't been much of a fan of the P-61, but now after seeing your I'm itching to build one.

Ernest - I only ever built one armor kit with individual-link tracks (Dragon SU-122 I think), and it was really rewarding after all the work. I think you did a great job on those, and the amount of sag looks perfect. I know it was a ton of work, but it definitely paid off in this case, and I can't wait to see it continue to come together.

-BD-

So i got started on the frame and decided to do the winch option (which i am regretting already...lol) but i digress. It's coming along slowly but the kit is very nice so far. 

I do have a question , would the motor be painted OD or flat green as my Willies MB one is? 

Thanks in advance :D

Ok guys, the roster has been updated with the latest participants and kit selections. I love how strong that this GB is going! Keep it up boys!

Tiger, I would suggest OD for the motor. I did a bit of image searching last night and the ones that look non restored and still original appear to be in OD with some fittings in black. Google "CCKW Engine" or "CCKW Motor" to see what I mean. BTW, CCKW was the actual US Army nomenclature for the classic WWII Deuce and a Half cargo truck if you were wondering where the term comes from. Just like the DUKW was the amphibious version.

BD, thank you. generally PTO builds are not my thing, but there were some nice looking aircraft out there.

Ernest, nice work with those tracks.

Tiger, nice start. Looks like we have another builder who likes to keep busy.

And thanks Stik. I like how this GB is going. There is not a massive rush of builds but rather a constant steady stream with something new and interesting coming along all the time. Thanks guys,. keep em coming.

Stik, thanks for the info and i did not know that so thank for that info as well :D

Bish, yeah i have some form of adhd so i need to work on multiple things at once...lol

Ernest: Nice work on the track links. They look great. Your patience certainly paid off.

Tiger: Your Deuce and a half will be quite fun to watch. Very cool subject indeed. Appears you're off to a dandy start.

Stik: You missed an update. Need to update my subject to a 1/48 Tamiya P-47D Bubbletop and nix the La-7. thanks.

You did a nifty job with those tank treads, Ernest!  I don't know nuthin' 'bout tanks, but it looks like they are draping very realistically.

Interesting build, Tiger.  It'll be an education watching you proceed with this.  

Alrighty Fellas, I've got a progress report here for you on the P-47. It's not much but, it's something. The first order of business for this project was to mix the right shade of dull dark green that was often used to paint the cockpit in republic manufactured Thunderbolts. Here is some great pics of one said cockpit prior to restoration:

 I started off with a base color of MM NATO Green which in itself is kind of close. I then started adding MM Blue Angels Blue. This got me going in the direction I wanted as it darkened the NG and gave it that hint of blue/green that the color appears to be in the photos. I then started by shooting a base of MM flat black on the cockpit parts:

I then airbrushed on the dull dark green mixture:

The overall color looks fairly close to me. so on to painting the details and adding PE.

Just as an FYI, I prefer enamels myself. Simply a personal preference as I just like the finish I achieve with them. Mainly Model Master and Gunze-Sangyo. Also, I airbrush with a Badger Patriot 155 mainly and detail with a Badger Renegade. Both lovely airbrushes.