IDF Group Build Mk. II 2010-2011

Hi guys,

I picked up the necessary paints today and mixed the 1973 shade against the ratio given on that excellent website. I mixed a large batch, and then another half the size to finish the job. I sprayed everything, hull, turret, suspension, wheels, jerrycans (the holders get masked, then the cans themselves put into black), spotlight, drivewheel assemblies... Here's the lineup of parts now:

That looks a lot more like it! The colour is a bit washed out on-screen here, it has a more earthy tone in reality, but feels much closer to the mark than the Acryl shade. Detail closeups:

Compared to the pic I posted a few days ago, it now looks like a tank. Well, detail painting now, an overall black oil filter, then a standard rust job. I need to spray the tracks, cans, muzzle break and spotlight lens, brush-apply NATO black as a second coat on the tires to correct overspray (the templates are rarely correct fits) and overpaint the sprue gates. Then I can start to get the running gear installed...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I'm glad to hear the paint scheme has worked out for you Mike .

I grab this kit out of the 1/72 IDF Armor stash today as I was looking for a quick build for the Tanks on Wheels GB ;

It looks like a fun kit with not too many pieces ;

The kit comes with rubber tyres and a small PE fret and has a nice 90mm gun up front .

The Israeli's used the French made Panhard AML-90 supporting Paratroopers in the Jordanian Front during the Six Days War 1967 . It appears they were not overly popular and may have only had a short service history .

Anyway , I'm looking for a quick build , so I'll add the AML-90 into the mix

Thunder , this color does look better

Thanks, guys! H-34 -- that does look a fun kit!

The Isherman moves along apace, I sprayed the shade (buff and brown) and fade (buff and white) coats yesterday, and made a start on the brush work on the tires, doing all one side's worth, now mostly done the other side, plus I've almost finished the first round of oil wash weathering. She's starting to look the part!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379

The colour looks good to me. Is that moulded-in texture there? It really helps to break up the monotone scheme.

Alright, not happy with the pics, I'll probably take some more for myself. And my home-brew of Future + Tamiya flat base didn't flatten out as much as I'd like. I may still use a little Humbrol flat varnish before I put her away. Here we go:

And a "scale shot" with my little buddy Yoshi. He's in the wrong era & location, but he shows height! (Whoops - seems he's also been into the Sake....)

If anyone spots something in the "touchups" category, feel free to point it out - and feel free to leave any comments or questions. Had a great time with this one.

Vance the helo lloks good . I use the Tamiya flat bas + Future also . Sounds like you didnt mix in enough flat base ? I thin mine with glass cleaner , windex or something similar .

Yes, my mix must have been too light on the flat base. I just didn't want to go too heavy - I hand-brushed the stuff on a seat the first time I used it, unfamiliar with what it was really supposed to be used for. (Luckily I scrubbed it off before it was un-fixable!)

I did that also . Its a common mistake . Tamiya should put a warning on the label , "do not use staight from bottle " .

They probably do.... but my Japanese isn't all that good!

I really like your MD500 Vance .

Especially the two open doors , nice touch

I have the 1/72 AZ Model MD500 in the stash , you actually get two kits in the one box .  However the doors are molded closed on the AZ Model kit , they do include some nice resin pods and PE though .

Anyway Great build .

John .

VanceCrozier

They probably do.... but my Japanese isn't all that good!

Hi Guys, I'm a bit late to join here but I'll post my latest bird as I dont see one in your build list. Hope you like. BTW - love that 500 VanceCrozier

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That seemed to work - here are some more. Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment good or bad (I can take it)[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

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Vance -- Yep, moulded-in casting roughness, it's an interesting effect. Your MD500 looks a real treat, and I know how delicate so small a model can be -- great work!

Rough as Guts -- hi man! What a beautiful Mustang, it looks like Tamiya's? I built the S-199 in the same squadron's markings for this GB about a year ago.

I'm hoping to spray the muzzle break and possibly tracks today, complete the first round wash weathering (only one set of wheels to go), and begin round two, which is scratches, dirt spots and hard rust on edges. I might even get to some highlight drybrushing and bare metal.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Is this still open? If so, I have a bunch of Israeli stuff I'm soon going to start on...

Thanks for the comments gang! MilitairyAircraft101 - the timeframe "officially" ran out at the end of December. A few of us were slack in finishing (or starting! ) and have kept it going a little long. It's kinda like sneaking into the zoo after hours! No harm, no foul - show us what you are up to.

Rough ............realy good looking P-51 . I liked the close up of the prop stenciling

State of play on the Isherman -- first round wash weathering in black and dark brown almost complete, some brown left to add to one set of wheels. I sprayed the tracks, masked jerry cans and muzzle break into NATO black earlier, so that's another round of work. Highly dilute buff will be oversprayed as a dust coat on the tracks, there's the exhaust parts to spray into redbrown, and the stowage to basecoat in green, but that should be the end of the spray work on this one.

I'm looking forward to seeing her up on her running gear, which might not be far away!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

The weather highliting and wash is looking good Mike

As for me I made a start on the 1/72 Ace AML-90 ;

This little kit isn't the best fit , so there was lots of dry fitting , sanding and filing . the end result was a small gap at the very front which I think will be easy to fill ;

Step one in the instructions suggest glueing the wheel lugs into position , however I waited until the front and rear wheel guards were glued in place as I didn't want to incorrectly glue them in place and have the tyres hitting the wheel arches ;

One thing that happened that's got me Steaming , is that while taking these pic's the small mantlet piece which was sitting next to the cannon on the bench , suddenly disappeared . I searched everywhere and I just can't believe I can't find it .....

Thankfully on the sprue frame there's an alternate mantlet ;

Part 45 disappeared , so that leaves me with part 32 ;

It looks like this might be a close match to a photo in one of my IDF reference books ;

It looks similar I think ?

Anyway I'll continue on and start adding some of the PE .

John .

Thunderbolt - nice paintwork on the Isherman, looks like you're cruising towards  the finish line.
Helo - yes, the alternate mantlet actually looks closer to your photo than the other one was anyway. That thing is tiny as well - is 1/72 your regular scale for armour?

Mike, color shots looking good.

The MD 500 looks sweet, VC, just like the last thing a Syrian tanker wanted to see.

I've been on my "short week", very little to no modeling time, so don't have much progress at all, but here it is:

Travel lock detail,

And loader's MG mount:

Ha! Thanks RBaer - apparently one of these MD500s (not this one though) was credited with the first Israeli tank kill of a tank. It must have been a pretty effective machine, 4 TOW pods & a very small target to hit with ground fire.

I am loving the details & texture on that tank. Almost makes me want to build some armour!

Hi guys,

I've been away a couple of days and only just got back to the project. I sprayed the tracks and did a dust coat before going, so today I was able to install the running gear:

Dang, there's a lot of texture there! I also did the second round oil treatment, or most of it, dusted the tracks and various parts of the hull, and did a drybrush highlighting on the hull. The metal on the track cleats doesn't show up too well, I might have to redo it.

To do: bare metal areas; exhausts,;gun travel lock; paint lights, perscopes and MGs; decals, radio masts and stowage.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi guys,

I've moved her along again today, resprayed and dusted the jerrycans (I had some paint shadow effects going on...), have painted and weathered the exhausts and mounted them, and will be unmasking the cans soon. One question -- the stowage supplied in the kit likely reflects US supply of the Vietnam era. Should it be sprayed olive drab, forest green, or ... what?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi Mike ;

Unfortunatly I don't have a good color photo of the stowage gear on the Isherman , however Kalmbach books through FSM have a great book called Building and Detailing Realistic Sherman Tanks .

There's 48 1/35 different Sherman models expertly built and detailed . There are three IDF Shermans included an M50 Sherman (very early) 1961 , M1 Super Sherman 1967 and a M51 Sherman 1973 .

Here's a scan of the M51 ;

Overall it's a terrific reference book on all types of Shermans including a 10 page step by step build guide to Dragons M51 Isherman from the 1967 Six Day Way .

Vance ask a little earlier what scale I mostly build in and it's usually 1/72 , however after seeing the amazing 1/35  IDF builds you guys are doing , I picked up a few 1/35 scale armor kits back in 2011 for the Israeli stash and Kalmbach's reference book will be invalueable for my Dragon Isherman future build .

Anyway I hope the pic I posted helps a little .

John .

Hi H-34,

Thanks for the pics, I've included them in my research stash. It looks a great book! I might invest in thast one, as I've really enjoyed this Sherman. Yep, 1:35 is a nice size for working at, especially as your eyesight deteriorates. I would love to build at 72, but I'm not sure I can!.

I notice the spare track plates are mounted hoirzontally and oversprayed with the camo colour, I've now seen this in two places... So I'm considering mounting them this way.

I'm working on the pioneer tools now and may get the decals on soon. The cans and spare wheels are all on now, I'll need to add some rust to the mounts and around the filler caps.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Here's a couple of pic's of my IDF Armor stash which include some Soviet designed military vehicles which were captured by the Israeli's and many put back into service with the IDF ;

1/72 scale ;

The pic doesn't include the three 1/72 resin Cpl Overby's  M50 early and late Sermans and the M51 Sherman as well as Retrokits resin  Sherman Ambutank , which are on the bench .

Here's some 1/35 IDF kits I bought in 2011 ;

I think fellow FSM member ,Stikpusher is going to be starting a Arab /Israeli wars GB sometime later this year as well . So us IDF enthusiest will be well catered for .....

John .

H-34 -- GRIN, I count seven items in common. I can vouch for the M51, it's a bit fiddly here and there, you need to file the suspension fittings to get them to sit level, that was a bit of a nuisance, but not all that much of an issue. I'm looking forward to doing the Academy Fitter and M60 as well.

Hmm, must keep an eye open for that new GB, and maybe lock in a jet or something...

M/TB379

Helo H-34

I think fellow FSM member ,Stikpusher is going to be starting a Arab /Israeli wars GB sometime later this year...

Interesting... but I may have to clone myself if I get involved in any more GBs in 2012!