Andy, too bad about the book.  You will be glad you got it, and worth the wait.  I am glad I took John's lead and got one!  That is too bad about Google limiting your images.  Lucky for me, I have been able to see a lot of them on here. 

How does 76 scale compare to 72nd?  Do they look out of place together?

You guys are bad influences though.  When I joined this GB, I mainly built in 48th scale aircraft.  Now, I am hooked on "braille scale", and really digging armor too!  Speaking of, I think my Sherman has dried enough, and I am going to go do some weathering.

Cheers,

Greg

A little off-topic but I came across a web site for 1/72 scale Sherman kits and resin sets .

Some of the company's providing resin upper hulls and turrets for IDF versions are CPL Overby's Motorpool and Modelltrans .....

http://www.172shermans.com/sherman_Israeli__list.htm

I searched around google and ebay a little bit for those manufacture's and resin goodies but have had no luck finding anything for 1/72 M50 amd M51 Super Shermans and other Israeli M4 Sherman's .

Anyone ever heard of those companys ?

                                  John .

Yo Greg,

If you're looking for a 72nd-ish engine, the Nitto/Fujimi kits all have at least one.  They will always have the V8, but if necessary will have the sprue for the radial as well.  I've even got some of the radials left over.  I'm PRETTY sure that my M-30 came with both.  The drive shaft isn't separate, but the transmission is.  If you can find them for under $10, they're worth buying.  Anything over that is a waste of funds.

BTW, thanks for the props on the web site!  I'm trying desperately to figure out how to add more photos.  Google has limited the image number and it makes the whole thing kinda pointless for what I'm doing.

I'm very disappointed that my Squadron book on Armour in Korea didn't arrive before I left the states.  I was really hoping to read it on the plane, and drool over it when I got home.  Having said that, I've still got some books here that are uber awesome!

John, a 72nd with engine?  That is really nice!  I think you are right, we must share some brain waves or something.  I am definetely interested in seeing what you post on the M32.  I want to do the B3 with the HVSS.  Draken, the Army still used ones with the VVS too.  There is a nice pic of one towing a Chafee in the Squadron book. 

The Korean AAV is a P7.  The Dragon ones are all of the P7A1.  The main exterior differences being only one stanchion for the cargo hatches, totally different headlights, and only 4 shocks.  They are actually a couple of inches shorter too.  The AAV's with the six digit USMC number beginning with 522 were born P7, and ones with 523 were born P7A1's.  Interestingly, these had a weld down the hull from where it was lengthened.  The length reason was they went from a Detroit Diesel to a 903 Turbo Cummins!  I would love to see any amtrac pics you have Andy.  I wonder if the ROK's left them stock or not?  Also, Andy, I visited your website for the first time the other day.  Well done!  I really like it.  Also, you are lucky I am a fireman and not a baggage handler for the airlines or your bags would have got "lost", sir.

Cheers,

Greg

'Fair Dinkum' , Greg ;

I swear , sometimes you and I must have some type of psychic modelling connection .

This kit arrived yesterday and I bought it to have a go at kit bashing a M32B1 Recovery Tank in 1/72 scale ;

Italeri provide a really nice engine with their M4A1 kit ;

I also have Italeri's 1/35 M32 Recovery Tank and I've using those instructions to help me with the Millcast resin M32 build .

I'm not sure if I'm sounding a little too brave as well but I don't think it would be too difficult to scratch build most of the extra bits and pieces . The little pulley pieces look a little challenging to reproduce but not impossible .

I'm in the process of taking measurements from the resin M34 and writing things down and I've scanned some of Italeri's 1/35 instruction diagrams and adding 1/72 measurements to those pic's

I'll post what I have done shortly , I also like the how Italeri give us the option of both flexible tracks and track pieces to glue together . When I file the rest of the resin pour block from the bottom tracks on the Millcast M34 , I was worried about loosing some track detail . I can now use some of the spare track lengths from the Italeri kit .

BTW , Great pic's Andy , especially the Aussie's  ;

I also recently bought 6 of those Dragon AAV-7A1 kits and the USMC Mogadishu 1993 kit does have the metal hull pieces , while the other kits are all plastic .

Pepper , I look forward to seeing more of your Shooting Star build .

                            John .

Draken Andy: Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Pepper: Please keep us updated on the P/F-80.

Helo H-34

Looking good Pepper

Just out of curiosty , what is the date stamp on the underside of the wings on your Shooting Star , my Airfix Centurion had 1964 stamped on the inside of the hull bottom piece .

                     John .

There's no date stamp anywhere, just COPYRIGHT REVELL, etc. ... I'm ready to assemble the fuselage and have decided to glue the 2 right halves together, then the 2 lefts, then the whole thing ... seems like a better fit that way ...

I use a long sanding block to true up fuselages, wings and stabs ... double sided tape on the wooden block and then a choice of sandpapers down on the tape ... the block is 3/4" thick and 3" x 12" in dimension ... I really like the results ...

Our temps have moderated to some degree (no pun intended) ... forecast is for cooler weather through the weekend with the highs to be 104+ ... I think I need a vacation at the beach :-) ...

pepper

Gregbear:

DML/Dragon do an awesome selection of LVTP/AAV-7's in 1/72 scale.  I've got a few at the house in the states.  They've got a standard, a MICLIC, and a RAM armour upgrade for sure (I have those three).  And I'm told that the ORIGINAL versions had the hull as metal; they hadn't been able to develop the molds quick enough for release in plastic so they used the metal hulls from their diecast line.  This may not be true, but I seem to recall reading it in the kit review section of an ancient FSM issue.  And if you want some detail pics, I'm only a few hours (by train!) from the Korean War Memorial Museum and can get you some nice ones!

My M-32 is the Milicast resin version.  I looked seriously long and hard at doing a conversion and gave up when I found the resin kit.  I DO have the patience and skills, but not the time right now...  The only thing really WRONG with the Milicast is that it ought to have a different suspension, the HVSS instead of the VVSS.  Only a minor drawback, IMHO.  And it's priced fairly decent and Milicast has some incredibly awesome customer service.

Type to y'all later!

Cool pictures Andy!  Glad you made it back to Korea alright.  Good thing passengers get treated better (just marginally on US airlines) than John's box!

Seeing John's skill on the Centurion, is making me feel braver than I should about doing a conversion myself.  I really want an M32A1B3 in 72nd scale.  If I can find some scale drawings, or Italeri's 35th scale cheap, I think I will give it a try.  My current Sherman just got a flat coat this morning.  When it is dry, I will start to weather it.  I am going to try and get some more done on my amtrac too.  I am almost done with the scratch building and conversion stuff, and will just need to start general assembly.  Speaking of Amtracs in Korea, I found this picture while looking through some old stuff.  It is of a ROK Marine P7, I took in '96.  So far, nobody makes P7's in 72nd (A1's yes though).

Good going on the F-80, Pepper.  I am looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,

Greg

Here's some cool photos from some books that I picked up recently.  These next three would make a seriously cool set of dioramas:

Who'da thunk that they had drones in Korea?

Love that jeep and the water cooled .30 cal!

Amtracs on the Han and I also happen to like the Sherman dozer!

This last one is just for Helo_34...

the_draken

Meanwhile, in Moorhead, MN...

It's not the signage that has me concerned , it's the fact that your driving on the wrong side of the road......................

                                 John .

John- Your Centurian is looking GREAT!  Jeez, it looked like if somebody sat on your package.  Glad none of your kits were damaged.

Andy Hill- I almost had the chance to visit Moorhead when I was working for Sprint.  They have a large call center for the relay service out there... great view from your new school.  But it is not a good excuse for you to fail your job performance. 

Meanwhile, in Moorhead, MN...

Yes, this actually happened in my home town.  Thought you guys would enjoy the giggle as much as I did.  This is what becomes us when we choose the lowest bidder.  The quality always shows.

Some other pictures I've taken recently following my unpacking tonight:

Suffern' Sabres Batman!  I've got two in that Hobbycraft box, and an Academy not shown.  HOW MANY SABRES DO I NEED!?!?!?  I don't need Sabres, I need to stop buying diaper loads on eBay!  BTW, there's also an F-94, two T-33's and an F-80 to be built.

And a bushel load of Banshees!  Not to mention the two MORE Skyraiders...

Naval a/c and boats.  I really wish that i had the Mach 2 LCT and the Lindberg LST.  They made an LST way back and I never bought one because it was such an oddball scale (1/240th?) and not my thing.  Haven't found one on eBay in over a year!

And the coup de grace, the view from the front door of my new school!  Are you jealous?  Yes, you're jealous...

To the immediate West, about 300m away is the pinnacle of a giant granite rock.  I can't wait to see this place in the fall when the bright red/orange sun creeps up over the East ridge of mountains.  That view from my classroom is going to look like a mountain on fire.    This is why I'm living in Korea.

That's GREAT news Andy , Congrats on the new job and I share your sentiments for your friend missing out on her contract being renewed .

My brother recently updated the TV with a 32" Flat Screen , I watched a documentry on the "Blitz" the other night ......9 months of continue's bombing by the Luftwaffe ; Brutal stuff indeed .

I bet your itchin' to get back to the bench , I hope you have a safe trip back to Korea .

                         John .

Heya John! 

Good on ya for the price save!  I've got that exact same Su-76 kit.  I didn't know if I should go with the open back or not, and decided that the 'later' or 'winter' version would make more sense for a later conflict.  Someone else had an already built that they posted pics of (Doc Win?) and it was the open cab version.  Truly an awesome sight in that small of a scale.  I've got mine on the list just after my IS II/ISU series of kits.  Those are going to all go together some weekend when I've got time and patience.  They all use the exact same hull/wheels, and the heavy guns have the exact same upper hull and gun sprue, but with all the options and only instructions for one version.

On another note:  WOOHOO! WOOHOO! WOOHOO! I GOT THE JOB! I GOT THE JOB! WOOHOO! WOOHOO! WOOHOO!

Having said that, one of my close friends here in Korea had the rug yanked out from under her about an hour ago when she was told that the funding from her city fell through and she couldn't teach another year there.  Happy for me, sad for my friend.  She's good enough that she should get a job fairly easy, though.  We hope.

I'm looking forward to being with my cat and my luggage this evening, unpacking and sorting all of the kits/supplies that I brought with me.  My contract will actually end early, they're going to let me out of it on the 3rd of Sept. and I'll move to the other school's apartment and start teaching at that school on the 5th.  A little fast for my mind to handle right now, but that's the way it is.  I'm moving to a smaller apartment, smaller school, smaller classes, but an air conditioned office and computer of my OWN!  And the apartment is also air conditioned.  They will also move me for free!  Not that it's gonna take much, the apartments are all furnished by the schools.  All I've got are a few small appliances, two small pieces of furniture, clothes, food, and a diaper-load of models.  And I'll be getting my end of year bonus quicker which means that my big flat screen will appear that much sooner and I'll be watching war documentaries on the BIG SCREEN while working on models!

Type to y'all later!

A couple more additions to the Korean War Armor stash just arrived ;

The M4A3 is from the 89th Tank Battalion , Korea , Feburary 1951 . "RICE'S RED DEVILS"

Another parcel arrived on the front porch a little bit later ;

Thankfully the contents weren't damaged ....1/35 IDF M60A1

$25 on ebay with free shipping ; The quality of the cardboard box used for shipping was not all that great !

                               John .

Looking good Pepper

Just out of curiosty , what is the date stamp on the underside of the wings on your Shooting Star , my Airfix Centurion had 1964 stamped on the inside of the hull bottom piece .

I went an ordered the 1/35 AFV Club IDF SHOT Centurion kit . It was the same price as the Hobby Master die-cast 1/72 IDF Centurion , so that makes three 1/35 IDF Tanks in the stash ...M-50 and M-51 Super Shermans . There only seems to be about $10 difference between 1/72 and 1/35 Armor kits lately .

                     John .

Hello Everyone:

1 photo showing some progress on the Shooting Star ... I call it: 'Green - A Study Thereof' :-) ...

I'll start assembly in just a few minutes and hope to have it up on its feet later this evening ...

pepper

The 100mm gun from the T54/55 Tiran is a good start for a 20 Pdr. You will just have to remove the fume extractor from the end and replace it with the counterweight. Probably thin down the overall barrel a bit as well since the 20 pdr is an 85mm gun IIRC. That Centurion is looking great so far!

I already have my IDF Centurion, but boy do they show a hodgepodge of features, Mk.3 turrets on upgraded hulls that are more like a Mk.7, etc... lots to choose from there! I need more books!

Thank's everyone ;

To be honest I wasn't all that confident about the conversion when I started but it does seem to have worked out okay so far .

Along with the scale drawings , the other reference I was using is the article "How to convert Airfix 1:76 Mk.8 to Mk.5 ....http://centuriontank.tripod.com/index-1.html

The conversion article was a big help especially with the hull top with the engine covers and rear panels , as I mentioned before once I removed the rear grill section and shortened the panels to suit the scale drawings , the article then said to measure 31mm from the rear and cut the hull top piece and then extend the troughs to the new forward edge , then cut the front section of the hull top immediately behind the drivers hatch ; when I layed both rear and front sections on the scale drawing the center piece measurement was 32mm . So with all that done the centurion was 5mm longer than the original kit length .

I did check the photocopy/scan scale drawings with the original one's in the book and they are the same ;

Like Stik , I plan on doing some Mk.5's for the IDF , in braile scale of course , so I'm quite happy with my first attempt , I even found another conversion article on www.hyperscale.com  on how to model a 1/76 Super Centurion for the IDF and there are scale drawings for that version in my Israeli Military vehicles book as well .

Today , I only got a little more done on the Korean War Mk.3 , I started by searching around the net for a replacement gun barrel , I saw lot's of 1/72 metal barrels for just about every other tank except for the centurion . So I started looking through my armor stash of kits to see if I could find something similar to the 20 pounder the Mk.3 used . I have two ACE 1/72 IDF Tiran 4/5 tank kits and there a choice of two barrels to use in each kit and one of them is the exact length of the Mk.3 20 pounder ;

The sleeve on the end of the barrel is a little longer than the scale drawing but I should be able to file some of it down to suit .

I started to make the mantlet from a piece of resin block , I had to add some plastic sheet to the block to build it out to the correct size and I slapped some Tamiya putty on the front to simulate the cover piece ;

I'll continue tomorrow to file and sand the mantlet to shape , I also added some strip plastic to those turret stowage bins as well as the boxes that fit on the side skirts .

The road wheels will get glued together next and more sanding on the hull section . I'll probably have to extend the tracks a little bit , there is a bit of streatch in them but I'm not sure if they would fit . There's two spare track link section that fit on the front of the hull , I could use those as a template and make some others to use to extend the main tracks .

Lot's still to do , I better get back to it .

                               John .

Some very ambitious work on your Centurion there John! Wow! I really wanna see what you do here!

Working on mine I really was bit by a bug for that particular tank, and want to go back and upgrade and accurize the Israeli one I built years ago, plus still do the Suez 1956 Mk.5 one I have planned... gotta love that tank.

John, wow!  You are making great progress on your conversion.  You should make resin molds of it for future use.  John's Brialle Scale Centurions Incorporated.....  You are going to have a great looking, and rare beast for sure.

Draken, have a safe trip back to the land of morning calm.  Sounds like you will have a pretty good stash of to do kits.

Decals are on the Sherman.  I just need to airbrush some flat, and start the weathering.

Cheers,

Greg

HOLY HANNAH, JOHN! 

Yer makin' us all look bad here!

Seriously, that's freaking incredible!  What you've done, and how QUICKLY you've been able to do it.  I feel very unworthy at this moment! 

The only comment that I can make is that I question if the kit is actually 1/76 or if the scale drawings are too big?  I've built a number of these centurions and they've never seemed to scale out correctly for either /72nd or /76th scale.  Perhaps you need only change the gun? 

At any rate, that's some danged fantastic work you've done, I'm sorely impressed, and I'm going to be saving the pics for later, if I choose to do a conversion m'se'f. 

In other news...  I was going through my stash of kits that I plan to sell and not only found another Avenger and Neptune, but a sealed in original plastic Falcon conversion for the Avenger AEW and the Neptune P2V-5...  *DERP!*  Seeing as how I've already ordered the conversion to be sent to me in Korea, I feel like a complete nimrod (Not the R.1, though).I'll be bringing the extra conversion and Avenger along, but will leave the extra Neptune at home, I don't know that I want to do two of those!  Everything else is ready to go on the airplane with me except a leeeeeetle bit of laundry in the dryer.

See you guys later!

Well , I've made a start on the 1/72 scale Centurion Mk.3 kit bash and have spent most of Saturday and Sunday cutting sheet and strip plastic .

Firstly , I started work on the turret and made a new top piece where the two hatches are located ;

I scanned a copy of the scale drawings to use on the bench and that way I could lay the newly cut pieces on top of the drawings to check the size of everything as I went along .

The turret itself is molded in two halves , I cut the front and rear sections to have a total of 6 turret pieces ;

I then glued the 6 turret pieces to the new top piece and I made a new bottom disc for the turret as well ;

I may need to make new hatches for the left side of the turret top as the original one's look alittle undersze .

I filled all the gaps in the turret with plastic strips ;

Underside view ;

Next I started on the main hull , I layed the original hull top piece on top of the scale drawings and noticed that the rear panels are too long and the troughs are too short ;

I cut the rear grill from the hull top piece and filed the panels down to the correct length , I then extended the troughs by cutting 1mm x 1mm strips and glued those into position .

I replaced the center hull top piece so to bring everything to the overall correct length and re-glued the rear grill piece back in position .

I aslo made two cuts in the hull side pieces in between the bogie units and added some plastic strip to bring those pieces to the correct length as well .

Inside the hull I added plastic strips to act as stiffners ;

Next I sanded the turret to shape with all that added strip plastic and then I cut and lengthened the side skirts and track top cover pieces ;

Another view underneath ;

Everything seems to match up with the scale drawings ;

So that's about it so far , next I'll have a go at a new mantlet and I'll probably have to extend the size of those bins that fit on the side of the turret as well .

I'll have to search around for a new 20 pounder barrel to replace the kit supplied 105mm gun barrel .

I'm quite happy with what I have done so far , hopefully I can make a reasonable go at constructing a new mantlet ???

                   John .

John: Thanks! Pretty cool work on the modified Centurian. I think I'd be scared to try a conversion on that scale though. Please keep us posted on how she goes.

Pepper: I've seen those in the local hobby shop but never used them. If they're that useful I'll have to pick some up next time I'm there to give them a try.

A little off topic but this book arrived today ;

The book contains quite a few 1/76 scale drawings of military Vehicles in use with the IDF as well as hundreds of photo's

Anyway there is a 1/76 scale drawing of the Centurion Mk.3 with 20 pounder gun , IDF improved Centurion with 105mm gun also a scale drawing of the IDF Diesel Centurion .

I thought I could use the Mk.3 scale drawings to kit bash my Airfix Mk.8 for a Korean War Centurion ;

Ther is also an article I found on-line about converting the Airfix Mk.8 to a Mk.5 and I came across a web site called "Airfix Tribute Forum" and a modeller there had WIP of a conversion they did . I copied a lot of the WIP pic's into my computer for reference for my build .

Along with lengthening the hull pieces , the turret needs to be modified as well .

I layed my top turret piece on top of the 1/76 scale planes and can see that I need to make a new piece from plastic sheet as well as widening and lengthening the turret .

At first clance it looks a little difficult but with all the WIP pic's I copied from the Airfix Tribute site , I think I can make a reasonable attempt at making a Korean War Mk.3 .

                  John .

I'm going to be up in Arkansas from tomorrow through Sunday late, so if anyone is interested in the mini-sander and contacts me through the forum, I'll be back to you on Monday ... you can always e-mail me at: pepperkay@aol.com  too ...

Have a great weekend all,

pepper

Helo H-34

Well Pepper , I never thought of that !

  John

Well, John ... you never know ... sometimes I just amaze myself :-)  ...

I was working in my garage around 4:30 this morning  to beat the heat  and found this nifty tool that I use for my model railroad building ... it's perfect for the stuff we're doing here in this GB ... I'd completely forgotten about it but it now rests in my plastic modeling toolbox ...

It's just 1/4" wide and the sanding band which encircles the whole thing can be moved with a thumbstroke when a particular area has become a bit worn down ... you can get the bands in grits from 100 to 1,800, at a cost of  about  $1.50 for 2 ... the tool itself cost $2.99 ...

Any interest in such and I'd be happy to pick some up and send them out to you guys ... I get these from my local train store ...

pepper

Well John,

Given what the caption says, I'm guessing that they remained at Incheon/Busan and that the Shermans that replaced them came from US stocks.  It wouldn't surprise me to find out that they remained on the docks for a while until they were packed up onto the ships again. 

Just my $0.02[US] worth... 

Well Pepper , I never thought of that !

Here's the pic ...

They look ready for action ?

                     John