I'm gonna have to try that method sometime... it looks a tad bit easier than using rake style tools or saw blades to create the ridges.

Stik- This is my second armor model I have ever done and my first time with Zimm. All I do is is let the clay set-up a bit thin roll the tool with it overlapping. It seemed to work fairly well.

Well here is the primed Panther in dark yellow and a test fit of the tracks to see how things will look. Its amazing how the change in lighting will affect the photos. I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Coming along really nice J. Ye, I know what you mean about lighting. that last one looks like its in Dark Yellow already.

Really cool work guys, be glad when I'm better so I can get back with mine. That zimmerit looks really cool there!

Gamera

Really cool work guys, be glad when I'm better so I can get back with mine. That zimmerit looks really cool there!

Gamera, sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you are doing better, and hope you can get back to modeling soon!

jsmyth, the zimmerit turn out very realistic! Great job! Can't wait to see this one finished!

Thanks Bruce!

There's no rush Gamera, you just get yourself better.

I hope you feel better soon, Cliff.

JS: The Zimmerit looks great!

Thanks guys, I'm working on it!

Hope you get better soon Gamera!  Jsmyth your zimmerit looks great to my eye.  I haven't made any yet, and only built one armored vehicle.  I'll be doing zimmerit on my Tiger II for this GB.  I was thinking of doing something similar, but using the top of a bottle of Tylenol instead of a Tamiya paint cap.  I won't get to it for a little while, but hopefully it'll look half as good as yours.

Well, I've been kinda rough not being able to do certain things very well but I was able to spread the parts of the ersatz M10 out on the bed and work on her while watching TV. I'm a little surprised how much i actually did get done, I need to paint the engine before I cement the hull together but otherwise she's pretty close to being ready to paint. I hate doing tracks, slowly working on assembling them. 

Ok, how did I miss this and how did I let the GB slip so far back.

Sorry guys, I guess I was son hung up and closing down one GB and starting up to other. Well, now the new year is on us and the holydays are over, hopefully I can focus a bit more and get this through to the end.

The panther/M10 looks really nice, I must get one of these kits. Hope things get a lot better for you this year.

Thanks Bish, things are already going a lot better. Sadly I'm still close to the same place on the Fake M10- I started on the tracks and have been making slow progress.

I started on the engine and bay but Toadman's site and a few others shows it in a odd bluish-grey not primer red. I'm going with his research, I hope it's right as I don't want to rip the thing open and try repainting her.

Well you got plenty of time on that. I have not heard of a blue/grey primer, but at this stage of the war, nothing would surprise me. I might look into that. I normally just paint the engine bay black as you can't see that much in there, but has yours got a full engine.

Hmmmmmm, now it's letting me post- odd but I'm not complaining...

It's weird- I found accounts of people claiming to have seen chips in the blue-grey showing red primer underneath so I guess it's not primer itself. Toadman's photos are from the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation so I'm guessing they wouldn't restore the thing with a few buckets of grey paint they had lying around- I dunno but I'm going to run with it.

Inside engine bay

Cooling fan

Engine

The kit didn't come with an engine but I found one for the Tamiya kit fairly cheap on ebay- with a little grinding it fits fine. I'm intending on having the Panther/M10 abandoned with my M10 pulled up aside with the crew looking the thing over - I thought about titling it 'WTH!?!'

Thanks for the info. And I love the dio idea.

Cliff: That dio idea sounds awesome! Some very nice work on your fake M10 so far!

No, I'm not dead :)

I stopped modelling for about 5 months. I think I stressed myself out worrying over whether I could build a model good enough to show others here. Anyway, in December I finally decided to just do the best I could and grow from there. So I rekindled the fire and now I've got the fever again :)

So ... I've decided to run with Bish's photo here. I started doing some research a couple of weeks ago and I'm going to post my chain of info and then ask you guys for some fine tuning.

1.) This is the description I found for this photo: "During Operation Market Garden, Allied soldiers move past a knocked-out German 88mm gun near a bridge over the Meuse-Escaut Canal in Belgium. " So first I wanted to find out as close I could as to where this actually could be. This actually lead me to Google maps, where I found out that the Meuse-Escaut Canal crossing is not too far east of Antwerp.

2.) That lead me to a map of Operation Market Garden that showed me that I was most likely looking at an area that would come under LG Miles Dempsey and the British 2nd Army. Or at least I could make a descent argument to support that in this diorama. So I got to thinking ... maybe instead of just having British troops walking past this thing, maybe I could beef it up a bit. My brain settled on the possibility of a British officer stopping to inspect the gun as the troops walked by. So here's the question:

Does this sound feasible? Would an officer come out and inspect a knocked out 88 for any reason?

At first I was thinking of trying to put Dempsey himself there, but I don't think I'll go that far. Any Officer would do.

3.) So I started researching British staff vehicles. I didn't find much. When I started searching models of British staff cars I found the British Bantam 40BRC with crew. I didn't like the idea of the crew wearing shorts and the camo looking like it came out of the next Jurassic park film, but it was a possibility, and I started researching. I found the following picture of Dempsey (right) with Montgomery. I have no idea what car that is , or the fact that it's probably Montgomery's anyway.

4.) I read the history of the Bantam (quite fascinating really), and after reading that they were most suited for north Africa, the paint job and shorts made sense. Also, the Bantam was phased out in '41, so would they have still been in use in '44 during Market Garden? Or, would I just be better off using a Willys?

So, here are the kits I am looking at for this diorama:

I also really like the figures for this one, but I'm not sure the vehicle is right ...

And of course the troops walking by ...

So, let me know what you think.

Good to see you back. I know sometimes it can be a bit daunting when you see some of the builds on here. But really, all we can do is our best and aim to improve. Its good to see you giving it another go.

And nice bit of researcher there. No, I don't think it unlikely that an Officer would stop by to have a look. The 88 had a fearsome reputation. A point to note, the gun is pointing in the same direction that the troops are marching. That and the extended lanyard would suggest to me that its still in use, only by the British.

It would not be to far fetched to have a British gun crew talking to the officer, especially seeing as they are using a piece of captured equipment.

I think I would go with the Jeep, I am sure they were every where in 1944.

It sounds liek you have a good plan there.

The research looks solid, and given the subject matter, I think you would qualify for both badges, as rules include not only combat, but  'ground equipment' as well?

Found another shot of Monty and his Humber, and there is a jeep behind his vehicle, and beyond that looks to be another type of Humber staff vehicle?

<a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205203143?cat=photographs" target="_blank"><img alt="THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45" class="" src="http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/301/media-301774/standard.jpg?action=e&cat=photographs" /></a>
<span>THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45<a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/privacy-copyright" target="_blank">© IWM (BU 552)</a></span>

Sorry, IMW copyright and Finescale rich format don't seem to jive, so here's the photo:

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

Obscure manufacturer I've never dealt with, Wesp Models, does make a resin staff car:

regards,

Jack

That's a good point Jack. Hoggarth, you could build the 88 for this GB, even though its in Brit hands, it still counts, and build the Jeep or other staff vehicle for the other GB and combine them in the dio.

Finally a build update 

Apologies for the bad photography. That's one of the next things I am going to work on.

The 88 base is 100% complete. The gun carriage is 95% complete. Just a few more bits to go on. I'm building a cheap paint booth right now, so as soon as that is done I can prime and paint.

Progress!

Looks good! And nice to know I'm not the only one still plugging away here!

Looks nice there Hoggarth. I will be joining the fray soon. Just got my F-16 and then F-111 to do and I will be at the Jagdpanther.

Hey folks. Sorry for not posting but between family and work I just haven't had the time. I haven't been idle with my Stug IV though. Actually I have been really busy on it for a contest in Hamilton coming up.

I gave up on my original paint scheme of the yellow and brown and went with the three tone ambush scheme.

and after a wash of earth brown and the tools painted.

sorry I don't have any pictures of me doing the tracks. Sorta got on a roll working on it and forgot to take pictures.

Picked up a base from Barbakan and painted it red-browns and the curbs in greys.

I made a rail from some steel wire and soldered it all together added some gear and a cable made from picture wire. I than proceeded to complete my build. So all those pesky allies better watch outcause there's a bigger stug waiting for them.

I would also like to say how great everyone else builds are. Truly incredible jobs. Again sorry for my long absence.

Was wondering where you had got to shiv, good to see you back. And no worries, life can get in the way at times.

Nice job on the StuG.I like the pattern, and nice looking base as well. Thanks for taking part, I hope you are able to get more site time.

Looks terrific Shiv! The ambush scheme may be one of the more difficult paint schemes but I think it's probably pretty much the coolest as well and you did a great job with it.

WOW!  What great builds!  You guys are good!

Well, here is proof that I'm still in this GB and have actually STARTED my build.  I am infatuated with the 234!  I'm doing the /3 for this GB and a Dragon /4 that a super duper friend got me for the 1945 GB.  Can't wait to see all of them lined up ready to fight!

Not much of a pic, but proof I started! 

Eagle90