Winter Warriors II - The Wintering!

Well I would have gotten more done this weekend if it hadn't been so gorgeous on Saturday. First softball practice of the year on March 13 & it was outdoors!

I used the decal for the tail stripe because I didn't want to get into masking that close to the vert. stabiliser, good colour density though, and it lined up perfectly. After all these years, I tried a new method for aligning the swastikas, other that "eyeball"! I drew some guidelines on my decal guide to see where the angles intersected with something, and laid tape on to give me a guide. Perfekt!!

Underside ID numbers look reeeeeally far apart, but that's what the references are showing me...

Masks removed from the cockpit glass & all looks good. There is one spot that I need to touch up (misaligned) but the masks did perform well, despite having to cut them out myself... I did however find that a little of the underside colour worked its way through the cabin door & hit (of course) a piece of the roof glazing. Trying to decide if I leave it & call it "frost", or try to get it out with some rubbing alcohol & a q-tip. Interior is mostly done in enamels so it should be safe enough to try - anyone know what alcohol does to future-dipped canopies?

And the underside from the front.

And thanks for the positive comments gang, this is my first group build project, and I'm really enjoying it. Talk to you all later,

Vance

Wow.. looking great Vance.. !

...and on schedule too - Dupes will be happy!! Yep, I had a couple of issues, likely of my own making, but I'm happy with it. Whitewash + weathering next.

ya.. Dupes is a slave driver.. !!!

Dupes: the slacker slave-driver, I hear he just hangs around outside the library now!! 

Brutus

Lookin' sharp.  You are right, something was missing, but what you have done fills that gap nicely! 

Vance

Nice work.  Glad you overcame the issues and pushed on. 

Apparently I haven't spent enough time parked outside the library - I'm falling behind. Too bad, because there' some good stuff!

Brutus - if you can take an updated pic with a sheet or large piece of paper behind your dio, I'll update the front page.

Vance - nice on the Storch! I'm sure you'll finish her up in the next 15 days. I hear you about getting outside - going to be a record season for me mileage-wise on the bike if this weather keeps up (almost 60 tomorrow!!!).

Prepping for shows the next two weekends, will have (at least) the vehicle portion of the Type 90 all wrapped up, maaaaaay have to do some of the groundwork afterwards. We'll see how fast I can tidy up all of the other builds I'll be bringing with me. "Shelf wear" is a lot worse than I think all the time. Wow.

Vance, good lookin' bird! That's a really good idea too, using masking tape to align the decals. I wish I would think of these things!

oddmanrush

Vance, good lookin' bird! That's a really good idea too, using masking tape to align the decals. I wish I would think of these things!

Well don't feel too bad about it - it took me 20+ years of Luftwaffe birds to figure it out!!

Oddman – congrats!

mg.mikael – good luck in your projects..and I have to say, I wish half my students were as dedicated as you!

P38 – Very nicely done on the M10. Cheers

Panzerguy – Hope you feel better! And looks good from here…

Vance – Storch looking good so far, cant wait to see the final product! I like your technique on aligning swastikas.. I don’t “do them” but good tip to keep in mind for angular decals.

Brownii – That is one impressive scratchbuilding/update.. stuff like that is what makes me push myself and add details to my build. Not only a good build, but also inspirational

Brutus – congrats on the finish.. again! Lol  figures look REAL nice, kudos on that one.

Of course, I had planned this past weekend as my "finish build portion" of the kit, except we had nasty wind storms all over and no electricity for 3 days. We got lucky, compared to neighbors.. our trees survived, no branches/shingles hit our cars or glass panes, my outdoor BBQ blew against my garage door (dont laugh, I found the bottom half of a washing machine in my backyard, from two houses away). Oh, and the tree leaning against the power lines (which caught on fire) landed 6 cars away.

Anyways, I did finsish drilling the perforated tyres (with a push pin vise, Dremel was too fast, melted the plastic), fixed the grill stab wounds and in the process of adding the PE/Resin updates. Quick question, and sorry I dont have a pic (yet)... the update set I have (voyager) included couple ventilation slabs that go under the engine grill cover. What color are they supposed to be? I cant find any reference or information... I figured, gunmetal or steel, then almost cover them in soot/smoke?

I should be able to finish before the deadline, but may have to skip the base :(

cheers all

JMart, glad to hear you're alive...lol. How do you know when your addicted, er, "commited" to a hobby ?? through all that you still got some modelling done. For some reason, that song is stuck in my head, "the house began to pitch..." 

Dupes, heres the latest pic

Brutus nice job on the marder and the dio.

Vance the storch is looking good there.

Boyd nice scratch work.

Jmart if these are the louvers your talking about paint them the vehicle base color.

Well I've been spending all my free working to get this guy done and setbacks like the decal mishap I had isn't helping.

 I used some painters tape to mask the decals when I sprayed on the white and when I peeled the tape up it took the one on the front completely off and the two on the sides were torn beyond repair. Luckily I had another decal for the front but none for the sides so I decided to paint some on.

Got most of the weathering done and just need to add a pin wash and finish up some detail painting on the tools and stowage. So if there are no more set backs this one should be done by the end of the week.

Hey Panzerguy, I can relate! After I decalled, I hit the whole thing with a quick shot of dullcoat, then before applying my mist coat of whitewash masked with painters tape too... Or I should say "I thought I hit the whole thing with a shot of dullcoat"! When the tape came up it pulled a few pieces off of one swastika, and a corner from one of the ID letters. I was luckier than you though, only small sections so I'll likely brush paint to fix up, then finish off the whitewashing. Well at least I can't say I didn't learn anything from this build!!

Vance

Alright...

I've reached a point where a decision needed to be made.  I could either focus on finishing the Marder, and build it basically out of the box (aside from the details I've already added), or I can accept that it won't be done by the end of this GB and continue scratching as much detail as I can.

Fact of the matter is, I'm having too much fun with this build, so I'm not going to rush it.  For that reason, I've got to respectfully withdraw from the GB.

Dupes, you have my apologies - you can beat the snot out of me at ValleyCon...

Hope you guys will still pop into the armor forum to follow my progress.

What? A dropout? You could just place the whole thing under white tarps showing just the silhouette and snowbanks built up around it - the ultimate ambush setup!

Boyd - sorry to hear about the no-show on the (modern) Marder. I had a feeling this might be the case when you started going nuts on that troop ramp...remind me to kick the s*** out of you at Valleycon in case I forget, ok? (BTW, I like Vance's idea)

Steve - this guy going to be making an appearance at Downeastcon tomorrow?

The unfortunate timing of my non-internet coupled with a veeeerrrry early bike season (for Maine, anyway) has kept me away. Hopefully this won't prevent any of you from finishing! I know there are still a few builds in progress, and I hope that they make it in before the end of the month!

Spring contests for me the next two weekends, then it's the "summer hiatus". Won't stop building by any means, but no competitions until the end of September. What to build, what to build...

Going to be diving into the Elephant through next week,so I believe I will cross the finish line.

   DONE! Finished about an hour ago and it looks like it will make it to the show Dupes.

  Here's a few pics.

  I'll post some more in Armor when I get back tomorrow. Now it's sleepy time

Very cool panzerguy! Are you going to turn the base into a diorama later on?

New job has been keeping me busy but, mine will be finished before the end date, can't let you down again dupes! No update pictures but a few more hours spent on it and it'll be complete. I'm hoping for this weekend as it's supposed to be nice out.

Josh

Thumbs up Panzerguy, looks great.

Didn't finish up the Storch as hoped over the weekend... (computer issues - as in "Vance dropped his  laptop without a parachute - didn't end well ) What's done is done, so back to the modeling on Sunday. Progress pics here:

Sitting on a paper towel - at least it's the right colour. (although I haven't seen much snow anywhere in southern NB in weeks, it was downright tropical here on Saturday.) The "VK" had to be touched up with pieces from a donor decal after getting pealed by masking tape. Sitting under the starboard wing are three gas cans (kit-included) and the three engine panels that I will be leaving off.

Engine detail left out in the open...

From the front, will have to make the skis a little more used looking...

And from above.In person, you can see a little more of the splinter pattern showing through, I think the flash hides it a little. Rear gun, pitot tube, underside lights and drop tank, various exhaust bits are really all that are left so I shouldn't have any trouble finishing up this week. I gave that interior "overspray" a little rub with a wet q-tip (no alcohol) with no luck, so I'm leaving it & referring to it as "frost" from now on!

Vance

Josh Vance thanks guys glad you like it. I'll post more pics over in armor later today.

 Josh thats just a base that i use for pics. I want to put this in a dio along with another vehicle but it's all still in the planning stages right now.

Vance the Storch is looking real good.

Panzerguy: hey, it looked even better in person! Nice to meet you on Sat !

Vance: Really liking the Storch.. very nice winter camo..!

Vance - niiiice! Really like how this guy is coming out!

Steve - loved the SU on Saturday...can't believe you got shafted award-wise on it. Lame.

Josh, Detailfreak - looking forward to your wrap up! That goes for everyone else, too. Hope to see a flurry of activity right toward the end of the GB (including finished pics from me).

Chris thanks very nice meeting you also

Dupes thanks buddy. Hey I dont feel bad at all about the shafting considering that we made out like bandits at the vendors and the raffle. Not to mention that you'll be able to panel most of the downstairs with what you brought home.

Brutus – Your Marder is looking better with each pic you post.

Panzerguy – Yep, those are the ones, cooling vents, louvers…thanks for the info and proper nomenclature. Your enclosed pic looks great BTW, I sort of mangled mine (yet again!). Good recovery from the decal mishap. The final product looks fantastic! Love the figure… how did you get the base to “shine”? I have some cheap wood bases from Michael’s (1-2$ each) that I use as, well, cheap bases! Looking into a way to make them a tad nicer.

Vance – Storch looks very nice… lookforward to the final FINAL product, it will be a looker!

Bbrownii – I think I am in the same boat (tank?) as you… really REALLY got into researching winter camo techniques and doing a lot of scratchbuild (for me, since I am a relative newbie) … then my kid got sick (ended up the in the hospital for a few days, she is fine now) and we got “The Storm” that knocked out electricity for several days, no schools for a week and then spending countless hours picking up sticks and branches from our property (NO full trees, knock on, well, wood!). I will post my progress tomorrow (took a lot of pics today), but chances are I wont make it… main reason, I paint with enamels and it takes couple days to really dry. Add the winter wash and weathering (I was going to try and go Stev-o weathering on this one) and I just ran out of days  

Maybe we can beg Boss Dupes for an extension, bribe him with cookies or some extra sprues

For shame....only 8 days left and I've barely participated in this GB.   y

Sorry dupes, I had to step away from the bench for a few weeks due to health problems.  Finally feeling better and I started the Italeri M4A3 Sherman over the weekend, but it probably won't be done in time especially since I have to travel to Los Angeles this weekend to see my nephew off...he's being deployed to Afghanistan. 

Its my intent to build this one mostly OOB to save time and focus more on the winter scheme.  I'll give it my best shot....maybe I'll get lucky and have NO problems with this build!

As you guys probably know, I'm not big on extensions (especially since the snow melted here about 3 weeks ago!!!)...there ends up being an extension, an extension to the extension, an extension to the secretary of the traveling extension, etc. etc.

Also, due to summer rapidly approaching, and my lamentable internet situation, I won't have the time to commit to the GB that I'd like to. If you'd like to keep building with updates on a regular basis, I'm sure lots of people will chime in, and I have no major issues handing out a badge as long as it's within a reasonable time frame. Say 2 weeks? TAX DAY!

I hear you on the snow thing Dupes. Have'nt seen snow for two months but the rain came on like it was april! The outside of the Elepant may be done but that verlinden interior is going to take more time than I can invest right now.I'm going to submit the finished exterior and after much up-dating of the verlinden Iwill submit again. I will not accept the badge until after the interior is finished.