Thanks guys for the comments and support as the Super Kit moves into the paint phase!

Gamera, masking will have to be given careful consideration, no question about it. Fortunately there's good access from below, so I should be able to protect stuff with strategic use of masking tape and toothpicks.

Eric, I feel your pain. My MBA is in full swing and the time commitment for it is understandably high...lots of reading, research, and writing so not much time for now to get to the bench. It's going to show in a slower pace from here on out I think. Don't pressure yourself to build right now...you've got bigger things to worry about!

Here's the Potez 540 as it stands. This kit is maybe two steps up from a scratchbuild, but I will prevail!

I've investigated every combination of sequences for pod/strut/ wing and finally decided to get everything on and make the struts work last.

In the hunt for nice 1/72 MAC 1934 machine guns...

Thanks Andy. I think I fubarred taking this gig. Hours are wrong and the system is a bit broken there.

Carl- Oh man!  Sorry I didn't see this earlier as you know I was busy in Utah but I am back home now.  I have to say your little Panzer was one of best looking Panzer I.  I will drink a tonight if it helps...

Bill- Always looking good especially the interior.

Marc- Looking real good especially with the PE upgrades.  Thank you for making this harder because I want to build a Char too. LOL

Eric- Having a new job can be challenging but hope you really like your job because everybody has been looking for a job out there.  Hang in there!  You know I will probably be the last person to jump in your GB so by that time you will have more time off to keep me company.

Thanks for the info tread.  Great photo.  I'll beat 'em up and attached 'em.

Gamera

 

Shellback:

 

 

panzerbob01:

Carl;

Wow, man, that's a real BUMMER!  My heart is out to you - but look on some brighter side; we saw at least a few pics of your fine panzer! Sterling memories!

Hey: darn but it's been blown up!  Too bad! Saw your "Chernobyl" pic and I started thinking  I might ask you to express it to me and I would put it out in the dio categ in up-coming Lafayette,LA show for you....  I'd put it in a closed display box with a slightly-fogged front viewing window: there would be a road with an old dentist's store-front in the background... the dentist's door would be half-open... the panz would be parked in front of the dentistry... there'd be a tiny led light on inside the store, and maybe you could see this old X-ray machine therein...! Perhaps there would be this singed-looking dead fellow in a dirty white coat sprawled out on the road behind the panz and in front of the dentistry... you know, a guy with burnt bubbly face, etc....!

If there was some sort of title needed, maybe it could read something like... "Und Herr Leutnant Schultz suffered yet another tooth-ache - fortune smiled on him as there turned out to be a dentist in this town..."

Sorry to see the panz went down. It was SWEET and now you can do another one.... AND go with a better kit!

Cheers! Bob

 

 

 

Bob, wow , thats deep man ! So did  Leutnant Schultz  get blown up in the Pz.1 or is he under anesthesia and still sitting in the dentist chair ? Too bad the dentist went outside for a smoke and got blown up .............

 

 

Actually I was thinking she looked a little like those Japanese tanks did after Godzilla did a number on them

 

Bill: looking forward to seeing how you mask the inside of the turret for spraying w/o breaking all those little detail parts you added. I'd have more PE stuck to the tape when I finished than the model

 Rob: Sharp looking base!

Carl, Gam;

Actually, I was thinking that the bitty tank looked like it had been zapped by some serious heat-ray or something (OK, it DID get zapped by a heat-ray... of sorts!) - so I was thinking here was this odd village dentist with this super-dooper X-ray machine gone wild... and the panz got zapped - as did Herr Doktor - the dentist!  a bit sci-fi-ish! You know - sorta in the spirit of these times (Hallowe'en)

Bob

tread @ marc... those things are jacks that fit into the jack points at the corner of each vehicle.... the tank has to be jacked up a recommended every 6 hrs for total track lubrication......camo with the rest of the char.... these were held on by leather straps and associated hardware....I ain't building alot, but my eyes hurt from reading

tread

Got a "WHATZIT" question.  Thso pic is from thje PE sheet since the parts in question are clearer.

What are the those things? Tamiya sheet says they are optional.  I've look and a lot of pics and they don't seem to be on the vehicles.  What color would they be of they are on there?  Camo?

Shellback

panzerbob01:

Carl;

Wow, man, that's a real BUMMER!  My heart is out to you - but look on some brighter side; we saw at least a few pics of your fine panzer! Sterling memories!

Hey: darn but it's been blown up!  Too bad! Saw your "Chernobyl" pic and I started thinking  I might ask you to express it to me and I would put it out in the dio categ in up-coming Lafayette,LA show for you....  I'd put it in a closed display box with a slightly-fogged front viewing window: there would be a road with an old dentist's store-front in the background... the dentist's door would be half-open... the panz would be parked in front of the dentistry... there'd be a tiny led light on inside the store, and maybe you could see this old X-ray machine therein...! Perhaps there would be this singed-looking dead fellow in a dirty white coat sprawled out on the road behind the panz and in front of the dentistry... you know, a guy with burnt bubbly face, etc....!

If there was some sort of title needed, maybe it could read something like... "Und Herr Leutnant Schultz suffered yet another tooth-ache - fortune smiled on him as there turned out to be a dentist in this town..."

Sorry to see the panz went down. It was SWEET and now you can do another one.... AND go with a better kit!

Cheers! Bob

 

 

Bob, wow , thats deep man ! So did  Leutnant Schultz  get blown up in the Pz.1 or is he under anesthesia and still sitting in the dentist chair ? Too bad the dentist went outside for a smoke and got blown up .............

Actually I was thinking she looked a little like those Japanese tanks did after Godzilla did a number on them

Bill: looking forward to seeing how you mask the inside of the turret for spraying w/o breaking all those little detail parts you added. I'd have more PE stuck to the tape when I finished than the model

 Rob: Sharp looking base!

My own fault for not asking about it before I was hired. I can't do much in my limited time off for now. On my days off I'm doing product training and I still have half to complete within the next two weeks. That is really eating into my time.

Eric , sounds like a tough work schedule man . Sorry their making you work this many hrs .

The work is superlative.

Wbill, looking better by the moment.

Marc, your blazing through this. Nice PE work.

Rob the base is going to look great when done.

I'm very sad for basically falling out of this build. I had one day off this week and only get one next week, thanks to a schedule change. I was thinking of throwing a camo color on it and painting  the tracks. Sheesh, I was roaring through my build in the first two weeks, and have completed halted in the past three.

panzerbob01

Carl;

Wow, man, that's a real BUMMER!  My heart is out to you - but look on some brighter side; we saw at least a few pics of your fine panzer! Sterling memories!

Hey: darn but it's been blown up!  Too bad! Saw your "Chernobyl" pic and I started thinking  I might ask you to express it to me and I would put it out in the dio categ in up-coming Lafayette,LA show for you....  I'd put it in a closed display box with a slightly-fogged front viewing window: there would be a road with an old dentist's store-front in the background... the dentist's door would be half-open... the panz would be parked in front of the dentistry... there'd be a tiny led light on inside the store, and maybe you could see this old X-ray machine therein...! Perhaps there would be this singed-looking dead fellow in a dirty white coat sprawled out on the road behind the panz and in front of the dentistry... you know, a guy with burnt bubbly face, etc....!

If there was some sort of title needed, maybe it could read something like... "Und Herr Leutnant Schultz suffered yet another tooth-ache - fortune smiled on him as there turned out to be a dentist in this town..."

Sorry to see the panz went down. It was SWEET and now you can do another one.... AND go with a better kit!

Cheers! Bob

 

Bob, wow , thats deep man ! So did  Leutnant Schultz  get blown up in the Pz.1 or is he under anesthesia and still sitting in the dentist chair ? Too bad the dentist went outside for a smoke and got blown up .............

PANZERWAFFE

Had to catch up on a weeks worth of post and what a roller coaster!  Excellent work to all, Terry fabulous texture and casting numbers, Tread great attention to detail -love the door, Marc impressive and fast work - nice looking fenders, WBill splendid job tackling the super kit - turret is awesome, Carl absolutely beautiful Pz I - The color, weathering, dings and rust, numbering, tracks, and MG work was breath taking!!!

Now the down slope of this ride It's a tragedy to now see your Pz I Carl.  I'm left   As mentioned though this sure makes a great opportunity for a new Pz I.  Did very much enjoy watching her come together and you still receive

Thanks Rob I actually learned a couple of good techniques from building that little booger .

The base is looking superb already .

Thanks for the 4 beer score .

Satch ,thanks ,that might have been one way of salvaging the kit , but it looked overly melted to represent warped/melted metal IMO .

BaBill212

wBill,,,    the turret interior is looking fine!

Carl,,   when I first started looking at the pic I thought it was a distorted image...  then reading I realized what happened.      !!!    (to myself) - - -  "no way,,,  it melted?!"       Now I have to admit, I did get a quick chuckle but I also know the pain of a full blown disaster.   I do feel for ya pal....    suffice to say, you did take that lil pz to an elevated level.    Alas, we knew him well     RIP lil Pz

Distorted indeed Bill ! You know i got really pissed about it but after i smashed it and took the pic i actually felt better .

wbill76

Look on the bright side here Shell...you now hace irrefutable proof that your hull warpage fix can survive virtually anything! A testament to your earlier engineering and creativity that you couldn't get any other way.

Heck yes WBill ! I think its the only part of the kit that isnt bent now ......................go figure .

Gamera

 

Shellback:

 

Tread ,WBill , Stik , Modeler ,Wingnut , thanks for the condolences guys .

Treadplate , 3 x 60 watt , CFL ?

Marc , LOL ..................i mean so sad ?

Stik , to late for the backyard pyrotechnics or shooting range  ............................

Man doing that felt GOOOOOOOD !

 

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHH, you know how to make a little turtle cry.........

Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. Melted a Panzer III some years ago using a space heater to speed up my drying time. Thankfully I hadn't pretty much finished the kit like you had though. That frankly burns my butt when you're 99.99% done and THEN everything goes to hades in a handbasket. I did recently finish a Japanese SPG and then have the final flat coat spit white gobs all over the model- I came close to drop-kicking the model across the room.  

This is the first kit i've smashed in many a year . Suffice it to say my first reaction was shock ...........then i thought how bad is it ? Then i realized it was beyond any repair ...................well i might as well end its suffering ................SMASH !!!!!

No regrets .....................

Hey Rob... that looks nice.

A bit more PE work done.  It's all just sitting there... nothing attached yet.  Left one of the heat shields off to see the brackets that will be all covered.  Question... Would all of that piping, except fop the shields of course, be subject to rust etc like any over exhaust system? 

Carl;

Wow, man, that's a real BUMMER!  My heart is out to you - but look on some brighter side; we saw at least a few pics of your fine panzer! Sterling memories!

Hey: darn but it's been blown up!  Too bad! Saw your "Chernobyl" pic and I started thinking  I might ask you to express it to me and I would put it out in the dio categ in up-coming Lafayette,LA show for you....  I'd put it in a closed display box with a slightly-fogged front viewing window: there would be a road with an old dentist's store-front in the background... the dentist's door would be half-open... the panz would be parked in front of the dentistry... there'd be a tiny led light on inside the store, and maybe you could see this old X-ray machine therein...! Perhaps there would be this singed-looking dead fellow in a dirty white coat sprawled out on the road behind the panz and in front of the dentistry... you know, a guy with burnt bubbly face, etc....!

If there was some sort of title needed, maybe it could read something like... "Und Herr Leutnant Schultz suffered yet another tooth-ache - fortune smiled on him as there turned out to be a dentist in this town..."

Sorry to see the panz went down. It was SWEET and now you can do another one.... AND go with a better kit!

Cheers! Bob

Had very limited time for the bench due to a heavy work week, maybe only 15 - 20 minutes a day if that .  Because of this there was not much accomplished on the Somua itself.  There were some filters added using a mix of W&N artist oil colors: Raw Sienna, Titanium White, and Raw Umber.  This filter blended the colors together nicely and gave it a little more faded look.  Mainly though trying to use the time I had best, decided to start a base for the Somua.  This worked well because of the long time needed for drying.  So here is the update:

Taped off the edges of an old plaque board and then needed to rough up the areas for the base structure for better adhesion.

Used Styrofoam board for the initial build up

Covered using wood putty and celuclay

More built up areas with Squadron Green putty.  Sanded the wood putty on the edges and then removed tape.

I had sprayed a clear finish on the board before doing anything.  Because of this being a cheap particle board plaque, using the regular white masking tape was a bad idea.  When removed it peeled some of the finish of the board away in different places.

Not beaten yet, went ahead and masked using Tamiya tape and then painted the structure and the routed edges in flat black.  After the black smeared on a base coat of brown acrylic.

The Somua sits on top to just get an idea of the outcome.  All of this was stretched out over the week allowing plenty of dry time between the different stages.  Still much work remaining to do.

Had to catch up on a weeks worth of post and what a roller coaster!  Excellent work to all, Terry fabulous texture and casting numbers, Tread great attention to detail -love the door, Marc impressive and fast work - nice looking fenders, WBill splendid job tackling the super kit - turret is awesome, Carl absolutely beautiful Pz I - The color, weathering, dings and rust, numbering, tracks, and MG work was breath taking!!!

Now the down slope of this ride It's a tragedy to now see your Pz I Carl.  I'm left   As mentioned though this sure makes a great opportunity for a new Pz I.  Did very much enjoy watching her come together and you still receive

Really love what you're doing with this one Bill.

More progress to report...Step 19 is now done with the turret fully assembled. The fit is a bit tricky due to the angles that have to line up between the turret top, bottom, and front plates at the "cheek" areas. Some putty was necessary to fill small gaps there and get a solid join but otherwise no major issues. I also installed the cupola parts after conducting a test to be sure I could still add the armored glass blocks into position from the top without problems.

Turret also plays very nice with the hull.

Next up will be the large scale paint work.

BaBill, thanks for the comments!

Satch, the only difference between parts Q1 and Q2 is in relation to the small lever that raises/lowers the external shutters. That's it...a testament to the diligence to detail that DML put into the kit at that stage. You definitely want to attach them one at a time to the cupola ring vs. attaching them to each other and then to the ring. The ring has small guides to insure they have the right spacing...fit is a little loose so if you work around the ring one at a time you can make the small adjustments needed to insure they butt up against each other correctly to form the pentagon shape needed. HTH and congrats on conquering the kit PE!

Bill, I have a couple of questions about the cupola on the Pz IV we are building.  What is the difference between parts Q1 and Q2?  How did you assemble those parts.  Did you affix them to the cupola ring (Q9) first or fix them together first?

To all, I finally finished the PE on the tools and fenders.  I HATE PHOTO ETCH!!!  It took me about 30-40 min per tool.  That's about 3 days worth of bending over the bench fiddling with parts smaller than my fingers by a factor of 10 and then searching for the inevitable fliers on the floor with a flashlight.

Satch

PS, Shellback, too bad you disassembled your Pz I already.  the melted steel could have made a terrific diorama.

wBill,,,    the turret interior is looking fine!

Carl,,   when I first started looking at the pic I thought it was a distorted image...  then reading I realized what happened.      !!!    (to myself) - - -  "no way,,,  it melted?!"       Now I have to admit, I did get a quick chuckle but I also know the pain of a full blown disaster.   I do feel for ya pal....    suffice to say, you did take that lil pz to an elevated level.    Alas, we knew him well     RIP lil Pz

Having a dog of a time figuring out what aircraft would qualify for this GB. Done google searches for every combination of:

Luftwaffe, Battle of France, Blitzkrieg, Order of Battle, Aces, Units, Aircraft, etc. etc.

The only thing that turned up any info was a list of Battle of France Aces - by that, it would appear that the 109 and 110 were the only a/c that did anything from a fighter standpoint, with the Ju-87 handling the rest of the dive-bombing duties.

Anyone have a reference that might list any other participants?

Look on the bright side here Shell...you now hace irrefutable proof that your hull warpage fix can survive virtually anything! A testament to your earlier engineering and creativity that you couldn't get any other way.

Shellback

Tread ,WBill , Stik , Modeler ,Wingnut , thanks for the condolences guys .

Treadplate , 3 x 60 watt , CFL ?

Marc , LOL ..................i mean so sad ?

Stik , to late for the backyard pyrotechnics or shooting range  ............................

Man doing that felt GOOOOOOOD !

OHHHHHHHHHHHH, you know how to make a little turtle cry.........

Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. Melted a Panzer III some years ago using a space heater to speed up my drying time. Thankfully I hadn't pretty much finished the kit like you had though. That frankly burns my butt when you're 99.99% done and THEN everything goes to hades in a handbasket. I did recently finish a Japanese SPG and then have the final flat coat spit white gobs all over the model- I came close to drop-kicking the model across the room.