My Birthday Wishlist

Nice thing about Allied Vehicles is you can never go wrong with a simple O.D. paint job.

I suggest getting yourself an airbrush and compressor as you will find the results to be much better. Personnal opinion of course.
Weathering an armoured vehicle is where you will find the biggest challenge and the greatest end results. This is what seperates your finished product from being a "toy".

There are probably as many weathering techniques as there are kits but some of the basics you may want to consider are washes, drybrushing, & pastel chalks. As you progress through your builds, just pop in with as many questions as you need to ask.

As for the kits you have listed above, I have built a few of them.

- M10 Tank thingy with open top - available from both AFV Club and Academy. I have the Academy version and find it to be a very decent kit.
- Sherman Jumbo - old Tamiya kit, not very accurate but very nice to build
- Sherman Easy Eight - Dragon kit are available off and on. Be sure to get the retooled versions or they can be a bit of a pain. Individual track links that come with this kit can cause many hours of sleepless nights.
- Sherman Firefly (with 76MM gun and tungsten) - Dragon has just re-released the Vc version of this kit. An excellent build but once again, those tracks !!!!!
- One of those cool Sherman funnies with the mine flailer thingies - only available as a resin upgrade kit and is quite costly. Best to have a few kits under your belt before venturing into this one.
Achilles - same comments as the M10 above.

May you recive as many of these as financially possible for your birthday. Don't be afriad to ask any questions here, there's lots of very knowledgable modellers who are more than willing to help.

Thank you, Mister Shermanfreak.

Have you done either a Grant or a Lee?

I have a Lee lined up to do and just finished my cute little Stuart.

Happy Birthday, coming up! May all your kit wishes come true!

I'm working on the newest version of the DML Firefly Vc. I've had a few issues with it. Not sure if it's my unfamiliarity with Allied kits, realitive stupidity, or their instructions that are the main problem. (Probably a mixture of all.) I like independant tracks, but the DML Sherman tracks are a real pain, as Robert said. Some of the parts are not real clear where they go on the instructions, and when they retooled the kit, they didn't renumber all of the parts on the instructions. For instance, anything on the instructions showing coming from tree "C" with a number higher than 13 or so, is really on tree "V" in the new kit. At least the numbers are the same as before. So if it calles for part C21, you have to use V21. Not a big deal, once you figure it out, but a bit of a pain to start with! But it's sure a nice looking kit. I'm finally getting mine to the point that it looks like an Allied tank!

Good luck with whatever you get.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hiram Sedai Thank you, Mister Shermanfreak. Have you done either a Grant or a Lee? I have a Lee lined up to do and just finished my cute little Stuart.

Yup .... done both of them a few times in the past. Both are very old Tamiya molds and unfortunately they do show it. They are both rather clunky by today's standards and have many errors in regards to accuracy. But, they are both fairly easy builds and do look like M3s when they are done.
Academy is supposedly releasing some new ones this year (supposedly being the key word).

Bill - good to hear you're still progressing with that Firefly.

Welcome to the forums Hiram Sedai
and theres no way im getting you any of them
have a great Birthday and you might want to add the M36 Jackson then youhave more targets

I am building the M26 Pershing from Tamiya. It is a great kit and goes together very easy. I have also built the M10 from AFV club. The AFV M10 has a lot of small parts, and build was a little fidgety. However, i liked the AFV kit so much, that I plan on buying another one soon.

Something interesting, both the AFV M10, and the Tamiya M26 have working suspensions!!! pretty cool. Oh, and the M10 came with an aluminum barrel. If you are just starting the hobby, I would say stay away from the AFV M10 though.

I have also built the Tamiya M3 Lee, and it is definitely showing its age.

Happy birthday, and good luck with all the kits, we will want to see plenty of pictures when you are done

QUOTE: - One of those cool Sherman funnies with the mine flailer thingies

One? I thought all the sherman thingies were funny.....

Good luck on the wish list. But if your wishing go large. Couple of companies out there make big 1/16th version Shermans. Now that's something you can get down and get dirty with.

If your new I'd stay with kits with the vinyl tracks. If your ready for a challenge any of the kits with independent tracks are a charm. Remove all sharp objects and fire arms from your house and stock up on the aspirin.

Remember to show off all your cool stuff so we can all sit and drool at your birthday haul.

Happy Birthday.

Mike