~The Bear Trap GB~ December '09 to August '10

-Neu- -  Your T-62 is coming along nicely, maybe I can pick up a few techniques from your builds. (Personally never built a 1/72 scale model before.) Before I forget, yes the build list has been updated.

*****For all Bear Trappers*****

The badge voting will conclude on Friday, so get your votes in by then or else.....

As for the official run dates of this GB, I will have the official end date also on Friday. (it will be somewhere around the end of summer)

Today I finally got started on my T-72 kit (this after I did a bit more research on it's service in Afghanistan.) Should have my first update tommorrow, will try to get some more work done later today.(since I'm literally waiting for some paint to dry on another build.)

Well cmon MG we are all waiting patiently

Bob

mg,

I'm diving into the RoG 1/72 by Xmas...

still finding refs...

BTW, thanks a milion for the paint refs...

I hope my Kp 1/48 will show up in the magazine ...

Like I've said, we've got a year...

You might want to wait for a three to four days after Christmas Hsteve, the wait will be worth it. 

Well the votes have been tallied and the winner is(drumroll here)............Badge #2 with a total of six votes. Badges #1 is the runner-up with a total of three votes. Thus without further ado, here is our winner. (Note: The badge is essentially the same one that was voted upon, except for a slight change to the writing to make it more readable against the background.) The badge is up on the first page, and you can claim it apon finishing your build.

As for other important GB news, the end date has been decided upon. It may not be one year, but it's pretty darn close. This GB will end on August 1, 2010, so you have more then half a year to finish your builds(eight months to be exact.) If that's not long enough, I have been known to give extensions.

Alright now, here's my first update on the Tamiya 1/35 T-72 kit I'll be working on.  I got this Tamiya kit for $10.00 and it included everything(nothing missing or broken), heck it even came with an ancient Tamiya catalog! As you can see, the kit comes with rubber-band tracks(and I couldn't justify paying the prices for AM tracks,) I did however pick up a pair of Friul drive spockets. So that will be the one AM part on this kit, everything else will be OOB or scratched.

As for construction, I was able to get started on the hull. Let me just say this hull is pretty much perfect, no seams to clean, no flash, crisp detail, and only one, yes one ejector pin mark that requires clean up!(you can see it right there, dead center of hull) After getting over the fantastic hull, I started getting some pieces on like the front dozer blade.

As for the suspension arms it's another story.....dang Tamiya. The suspension arms may have no seams, but they do have a large hollow portion that needs to be filled in. So I had to go and get the Testor's Contour putty to fill in the holes, which were suprisingly deep.

Now the next step is to figure out the paint.....I was gonna use Russian Armor Green but it doesn't look quite right. I'm open to suggestions (maybe I'll find something at my LHS tommorrow.)

All comments, questions, and suggestions welcome!

-neu-,

"You might want to wait for a three to four days after Christmas Hsteve, the wait will be worth it. "

Man, YOU Are Killing me...

Give me at least a hint?

mg,

Looks good so far...

I would be jealous if there was only 1 ejector mark...

I've got a lot of work to do on the kopro kit I recv'd...

neu was right - czech kits have their issues, but it looks to be a promising build...

now, i need to get the Eduard detail set, & see what comes up...(goody, goody, goody.)

The Rog kit(1/72) is typically Rog...

Good kit to cut my teeth on.

Does anyone out there have a recommend. on a decent, cheap digital camera?

I have tried 2 older, very cheap cameras, and the pix weren't worth posting...

For a cheap, yet good digital camera I can recomend two brands,(both of which I still own and take my model pics of.) These brands are Canon PowerShot or Nikon CoolPix. I own a variant of each of these brands, and I have had no complaints with either camera I purchased.

m -

Thanks - I'll check 'em out...

My big prob. is fuzzy pix..

Tripod?

By tripod, I mean 3 small sticks duct-taped to a longer stick, camera duct taped to the long stick?

I'm on a budget over here...

BTW, Happy Holidays, Everyone!!!

Busy time of year, I'm going to really start this build after X-mas...

If your pics are coming out fuzzy it may not be the camera. Do you have good lighting? Are you using the zoom properly?(some cameras have special features for close-ups)

A tri-pod can help immensly if your hands shake a lot when snapping pics, also a tripod is great if your in less then ideal lighting conditions. You can pick up a small tripod(6 inches or so) very cheap, just look around.

Bad lighting, played w/ both cameras' settings, no joy...

Why don't you like my bamboo quasi-tripod thing?

Hmmm........"bamboo quasi-tripod thing," whenyou put it that way it sounds pretty neat.

mg.mikael

Hmmm........"bamboo quasi-tripod thing," whenyou put it that way it sounds pretty neat.

Wait 'til you see the prototype...

I'VE STRUCK GOLD,BABY!!!

Check and see if te camera has a setting for macro...jsut a thought.

Bob

OK some updates. I got sveral washes on when I realized I forgot the decals....no worries, the look bright but the weathering stages have only just begun.

I should have some more done.  Tracks are drying after a coat of red brown and  will work on those some more later.  This one is almost a wrap.

Bob

M1Carbine- Lookin' good so far, the washes are really helping to bring out the detail! Can't wait to see the tracks.

As for my build, I believe I finally figured out what paint I'm gonna use, so now some real progress can happen.

OK the weathering (dusting) is completed.  I tried a new technique.  I wahsed the model with the pigment Gulf war sand mixed with light sand.  once it was dry I took a can of air (used to spray the dust out of cpu boxes) and sprayed it about six inches from the model.  I think the effect was pretty good.

got the tracks coated but still needs some work.

Should have the final shot up tomorrow after work

Bob

Well, I finished sooner than later.  Its a wrap T62A Soviet and Afghan war completed.

This was a fun build and I enjoed it thru and thru.  I look forward to everyone elses build and will be watching intently.

Bob

Last phots were bad, here are some better ones.

Bob

M1Carbine- Stunning build! You've brought new life to an old kit, and the results are great. Especially love that camo, really gives the build a nice touch.  Feel free to claim the badge whenever you want.

So about those tracks.......did you prime them first before painting, how did you attach the ends together? Sorry about the numerous questions.

WooHoo, two group builds under my belt.  I LOVE IT. 

Thanks MG

Bob

  I was finally able to figure out what paint to use, after a little bit of testing and luck. I went into my stash of paints, and I had a MM Acrylic Olive Drab I hadn't touched in almost a year. The oils and pigments were seperating but luckily thet mixed back together, however the color underwent a change. It was no longer olive drab, but a very light green. How that happened I don't know, but the color was spot on!

With my luck with the paint, I was able to start progressing. The roadwheels were all assembled(just a very slight seam), I also cleaned up the Fruil sprockets. Just be sure to put the polycaps Tamiya includes in all the roadwheels and sprockets before gluing.  With the roadwheels together, they were painted with MM Olive Drab and the rubber portions with Floquil Weathered Black.

Now work will be moving to the rubber band tracks.

Thanks for looking. All comments and questions welcome!

Nice, at least yours mixed back up.  Some of my older paints got goopy and wouldnt mix.  Keep the pics coming, I cant wait to see the beast.

Bob

Thanks for looking, M1Carbine!

Now before I forget, I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! Hope everyone gets lots of sprue under the tree.

Merry Chrismas to you and your family MG.

Bob

Nice going you guys. I have most of the lower hull on my 62 done. If I get round to it I'll post a pic or two soon. I wasn't expecting to see someone finish already. I used to build fast but my quality was no where near that good so I have slowed down a lot. I have 4 more sprues of indy tracks to clean still so I will not be anywhere near done for some time. Loving every minute though.

M1Carbine- Thanks for the greetings! Hope your family had a great Christmas. (I know I did, "Band of Brothers" on DVD and a 20 year-old vintage bottle of Gucci cologne.)

Coldsteel6d- No worries, you have untill August to finish your T-62. Nevertheless, lookin' forward to seeing some pics.

 -Neu_,

I just received the envelope with the parts- THANKS so Much! I didn't realize the fret of p/e was made in 1990! there is no hits on the web for this set - one of the better presents I recv'd this Christmas!

The P/E is tiny!

The parts you sent will come in handy, and the p/e will definitely test my sanity - So far so good...Thanks again!

As to all members of this GB, a belated merry/happy, etc. Chrismakkah!(Or insert your holiday name here) - I heard that on a news show, now the Holidays are P.C...

Good evening guys,

I hope you don't mind a late request to join the party, err, I mean GB.  HSteve was kind enough to recommend it to me shortly after I joined the site yesterday - Many thanks, kind sir!

So, if I'm not too late, i would like to represent our winged brethren with the 1/48 KoPro Su-22M4, which I'll convert to the -17M4R.  I believe he saw some action in Afghanistan before being sent to the bench in lieu of the more capable Su-25.   

The armor projects on the build look excellent, by the way!  Great job guys.

Many thanks and see you all soon!