The Ostfront (eastern front) GB 2010/11

So I was test-fitting one of the port windows into the LaGG-3 last night, when it popped off my tweezers and fell to the floor between my legs.

Of course, since I just cleaned the floor (garage...so...straight concrete) yesterday afternoon, the clear part immediately fell into a wormhole and is now floating in space in a distant sector of the galaxy.

Sigh.

Anyway...the LaGG-3 is on indefinite hold until the piece decides to return. But an hour's searching last night turned up nothing.

In the meantime, the Pz.IV is out of the gates. My first Dragon kit, and so far, I'm impressed.

Doogs,

You got it

Ebergerud,

Ive built that kit as the italeri rebox (exact same kit though) and can't recall any negative things about it and actually thought it was a really nice and fun kit to do. Just do lots of dryfitting and use your common sense i guess...

Richard

Max

I just bought a AM 1/48 IL-2 which I gather is a reissue. The older board comments ranged from "incredibly bad" to "a great kit if you ignore the instructions."  Anything I should know that could save sanding, filling and cursing?

Eric

Well, the LaGG-3 progresses. Cockpit is mostly done and I'm hoping to join the fuselage tonight. So far this kit is extremely decent. Nothing's really blowing me away, but nothing is head-smackingly bad, either. Have to say I had a lot more fun with Zvezda's La-5...maybe they'll backtrack and pick up the LaGG at some point in the future.

Also, Richard, would you kindly remove my 109F-2 for now, and add a 1/35 Dragon Panzer IV Ausf. G? Washed the sprues off today and may be starting on it tonight if we actually end up getting rain.

vetteman42

Man all these great tanks one day I will work up the courage to build one or 2 or maybe ..................

Next up on my bench after finishing my F-15 build is a Yak-7A I have been waiting to get started on this one.

Do it, man! Tanks are fun and a nice break from the flying things.

The biggest bugbear for me was always the tracks...had a few bad experiences that swore me off plastic tracks forever. Thankfully these days, a lot of kits have pretty nice rubber bands (Dragon's DS tracks, Tasca, Tamiya...AFV Club if they made them the right size), and there's always the metal option. Tedious, but the bit that I built was actually really easy to assemble. 

I still won't touch indy or link-and-length plastic tracks, but I may have to give the T66 links with the Easy 8 a chance before I bail to fruils...

Ozzman,

Sure thing buddy. I will put you on the front page

Richard

hi everyone! My Dora is well underway, sorry there is no pictures, I will post some later.

Kermit: Can you please sign me up for a Tiger I ausf E late production (Tamiya)

thank you,

ozzman

Man all these great tanks one day I will work up the courage to build one or 2 or maybe ..................

Next up on my bench after finishing my F-15 build is a Yak-7A I have been waiting to get started on this one.

Kermit: Please mark my two tanks as finished. I'm going to add another- an Accurate Miniatures 1/48 il-2 Sturmovik on skiis. I'm in the Spit GB so it will be a month or two before I start it. I think I will use a whitewash finish like on the box cover, and perhaps use the hairspray technique to weather it.

Rob

kermit

Doogs,

That .50 kicks *ss indeed but what strikes me most is the clarity of the picture you took. Can i bother you with asking what setup you use for your modeling pictures? Your picture taking skills are something that (besides the models ofcourse; goes without saying...) intrigue me...

Richard

Thanks Richard!

The setup took a bit of trial and error, but it's shockingly simple.

One sheet of posterboard and four lights. Two "photography" lights (picked them up for $40 or so on Amazon) at 9 and 3, and two of those clamp-on shop lights at 5 and 7.

For the camera itself, I'm shooting with a Nikon D300s and a fixed 35mm lens. Settings are something like f/22 and 1/4 second exposure...gives a nice long depth of field so there aren't any short focus issues.

I always shoot in RAW and adjust color temp, sharpness, etc, on my computer using Apple Aperture. RAW gives a lot more wiggle room than jpegs.

Here's a pretty direct comparison...one was taken about halfway through the pigments, and the other when all was said and done, but you can really see the difference.

This will be my last post of non-Ostfront images, I promise!

Doogs,

That .50 kicks *ss indeed but what strikes me most is the clarity of the picture you took. Can i bother you with asking what setup you use for your modeling pictures? Your picture taking skills are something that (besides the models ofcourse; goes without saying...) intrigue me...

Richard

doogs that thing looks kick a$$!  cant wait to work on that.

all i can think is that little elves in the tasca factory hand carve the cooling jacket and slip it onto a piece of sprue as the final stages of production... ha!  no idea but would like to find out.

Their .50 cal is something else, isn't it? Built the standalone kit one for my Achilles and was absolutely boggled when I realized the main body and cooling jacket just kind of slide right off the sprue. How did they manage that?

Also...it builds up very well...

Doogs is right on the money.  The Tasca Easy 8 T66 tracks are two pieces.  The piece that would touch the ground has these tiny tiny pins in 4 places.  To assemble you layout masking tape and lay each bottom piece on with the pins in the receiving grooves, front to back, repeat, etc.  then you just glue the very simple top piece of each link on and it completes the enclosure of the pins within the grooves.  i am impressed.  but again, the caveat is make sure the bottom piece has their pins intact.  found a pic... if they showed the bottom you would see grooves on the opposite side of the pins on the inside.

the kit itself so far is excellent.  no flash and typical mold seams here and there but nothing sinister.  the cooling jacket for the .50 cal is brilliantly molded.  i guess slide mold technology was used.  there are a LOT of parts but the instructions do a great job of showing you different angles for assemblies that aren't totally clear from the usual 45 deg top angle.

andy

maxfax

Andy,

Are those tracks on your M4A3 similar to Fruils requiring using a wire to put them together? Snap together tracks would be nice- do they even exist? I have never made a kit from other than the "big" model companies- what is the quality like?

Rob

I've got Tasca's Easy Eight in the stash and if I'm remembering it correctly, each link is actually a multi-piece affair. I'd been planning to go the Fruil route, but may give them a go now that someone's had success with them.

Meanwhile, the WORST tracks I've ever encountered are the styrene tracks in Dragon/Cyber-Hobby's orange box Firefly Vc. Individual track pads and individual track connectors. There's literally no way that I can see to make them in any way workable, and for that kind of PITA assembly, that's just inexcusable.

Andy,

Are those tracks on your M4A3 similar to Fruils requiring using a wire to put them together? Snap together tracks would be nice- do they even exist? I have never made a kit from other than the "big" model companies- what is the quality like?

Rob

I used Friuls on my T-34 and it worked brilliantly.

I'm working on Tasca's M4A3E8 right now and i have to say... their T66 tracks build up very nicely!  rather surprised since they are styrene.  but assembled carefully they are fully workable and pretty durable.  but... you have to check each track bottom to make sure the tiny pins are present from the mold.  Out of some 160+ links, only 3 were missing their pins.  plenty to finish the tracks with leftovers.

I've read enough tutorials to not even want to go down the frustrating road with Magic tracks.  pun intended.

Thanks, Andy

Yes, they are Fruils, and I would not use anything else. I tried the "Magic Tracks" with other Dragon kits and I don't like working with them- there is nothing magic about them. I have a Tiger to build with DS tracks, but they don't look as good as Fruils- already bought a set for it.

rob that su-100 looks great!  well done!

are those friuls?  tracks look really nice.

cheers

andy (lundergaard)

I have finished the Su-100. The photos seem to exaggerate some of the weathering and colours of the pigments- it looks much different and more uniform sitting in front of me. Overall the build was fairly easy. I weathered with several washes of burnt umber and lamp black, and various Mig pigments, and lots of dry brushing with light gray. I am working on a Spit at the moment, but may add an il-2 on skiis in a month or so to this GB.

thanks

Rob

Proof that the LaGG-3 kit actually exists and is underway.

I'd kinda been hoping to aim this one toward the contest route - the local contest is doing a "1941" theme this year. But I don't know if this is the kit - or rather - I don't have the skills to make this kit into a contest winner. Still planning to have plenty of fun with it, though!

The inside ran into some issues when I tried using Alclad's gloss black base. Why dear god do I keep giving that stuff a chance? Hate hate hate. Thank god it's just supposed to represent lacquered wood, not actual bare metal.

A tad more progress on the 109, gents. The interior colour was sprayed on the canopy struts (the canopy was not a very good fit, frankly, and I was amazed to see how scratched it was when I got back to this kit...):

And while I had the dark grey in the AB, I went on and preshaded the whole airframe:

I'm not sure how much of that will show through, I'm still very new to this technique.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

kermit

Doogs,

Would LOVE to see that Lagg3 come to life. They just look cool even if they weren't that good as fighting material to work with... 

It's coming! First thing on the list is doing up the wood cockpit with aluminum lacquer. Still not sure what I want to do there. Part of me thinks Alclad, but another part is considering mixing some light gray into MM Aluminum or something.

Also, the more I stare at the actual plane I'm building, the crazier it gets. Not only is the canopy missing (apparently they removed them because the glass was so poor), but if you look, the lower section of the gear doors have been removed as well. Still not sure exactly why (any attempt to lighten the underpowered beast?), but I'm contemplating picking up the external PE set since the kit doors are relatively thick.

Maxfax,

Personally i haven't used "blacken it" before, let alone on the friul tracks but in my wooden shipbuilding days we used to use that kinda stuff (i use Birchwood Casey's "brass black" for brass and copper) to make the ugly brass (=golden) cannon black as they are supposed to look.

Isn't that kind of stuff meant for brass and copper? In any case it is highly advised to degrease your tracks thoroughly and handle em with tweezers after that as the solution absolutely hates grease. Dip em in the stuff... wait for a bit.... rinse and wipe off the yucky stuff. Repeat if neccessary.

Sorry m8, only used it on brass but it did do the trick for me.

Doogs,

Would LOVE to see that Lagg3 come to life. They just look cool even if they weren't that good as fighting material to work with... 

Mike,

Good to see you back my friend. Masking looks top notch . The eduard masks do work like a charm. Only used once on the I16 i did for this group... I don't mind fiddling with pieces of tape and cutting em to size. I find it a relaxing chore...watching a dvd in the meantime... Guess i am weird like that LOL

Richard

I promised I'd get back to my builds for this GB, and today I made some progress on the Bf 109. I added the thickened windshield and repaired a flap that parted company too easily, and applied the Eduard mask set. They can be a bit costly, I suppose, but they are soooo much easier than messing on with tiny bits of tape. As someone who has done the tape route on two builds in a row, the masks come as a welcome change:

RLM 66 on the frames, then into the spraybooth... Eventually!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Rob - that beast is looking nice! Love the shading and the pretty, pretty friuls! Just had my first adventure with them for my Achilles, and discovered that they don't fit with the AFV Club drive sprockets...oh well, back in the box to await another VVSS build (I've been eyeing Dragon's M7...and the T51 track is more appropriate than the T49s it ships with).

Also, I'm about the get cracking on the LaGG. Soaked the parts last night and played around with some very general test-fitting. So far, it feels like a mashup of the Zvezda La-5 (engraved detail, plastic "feel") and the Eduard Yak-3 (low parts count, no locating pins). Fit looks to be good in some places, less so in others (especially the upper cowl). 

Should be an interesting build.

Rob, outstanding work on your SU-100... pre-shading job really has done its job! 

Guys, I have been following all of this and it has been a great GB.  I just wanted to let y'all know I am still planning to build my Tamiya Panzer IV Ausf H that I signed up.  I will jump in as soon as I am done with my current build M24 Chaffee. 

3 months left...

Has anyone used "Blacken-it" for tracks? I tried it last night- I don't think the result is that great, and I can do a better job with pain and washes and pigments. Oh, well- it was worth a try. I think I will still need to paint them to get the look I want.

Rob

Rob, lovely shading, very well done...I'm thinking about trying that method, i've been preshading for years and i'm the type that gets stuck in his ways but the postshading method gives mouth wateribg results..

                         Hey Rob the SU-100 is looking mighty fine,will be watchin for the big finish.

                                            Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley