Shell, what a beautiful save. I think I'm gonna cry.

Seriously, that is awesome. I would say a "plethora" of members agree. I too know some big words.LOL

Will be starting the Matilda this weekend. I can't wait!

Scott.

treadwell

tread @ stickpusher

man you are really cruising on the UE... painted and working on the figures... you are gonna have to do another kit to stay busy !

tread 

Oh I have plenty of other kits in progress currently (too many one might say...)

Today I applied a drybrshing of light green to the Carrier and Trailer and dry brushed steel onto the tools and tow cable. I also painted up the stowage.

I also had been reading my Osprey Campaign book on the Battle of France. One thing that stood out in there to me and from the "World At War" episode "France Falls" was about the German's use of Motorcyclests in the forefront of the advance... so once my carrier is completed I will do another quick easy build, this one German...

And just while doing some image searching earlier today I stumbled across this thread on another forum that has plenty of pics that appear to be from the Battle of France. Enjoy

http://www.histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=3918&start=30

Thanks to all of you for your concern and thoughts for my family and I.  I was made about the whole situation all day and was not in a very good mood until I read many of your comments.  Not sure why but helped calm me down and feel a bit better.  In all they had found 9 shell casings, 6 of them in my driveway and yard.  There was no clear direction that could be figures for aim and no none reason it happened?  No one received any real damage or was hurt.  My next door neighbor, and elderly gentleman somewhere in his mid to late 70's, had the only damage anyone could find.  One of his tires on his car was hit and flat.  We had got that fixed and replaced after work today.  So thats about it and have not much more to say about it with out getting mad.  Thats not what I want to do among all of you in this wonderful GB.  Once again thanks.

ERIC - Good to hear you like the camo.  Believe once it is given a misting spray it will blend everything in nicely.  That will come toward the end when the whole vehicle is painted.  My only concern with the turret, is the texture to rough?  It does not look bad with the naked eye but on camera it really shows. 

How are your tracks going? 

Its sounds as if its early but

CARL - Don't hold back.  Will admit that the putty on the turret gave me the roughest finish then had ever gotten before.  The putty on the lower chassis is nice and smooth.  All my builds in the past that did this on, the finish was always nice and smooth.  Not sure why the turret was a bit rough?

Both of your antenna works are SWEET!  The coil one would look great on US vehicles.  Your new German version is brilliant!  As Tread has said, the headlights are OUTSTANDING, love how they came out!  Amazing what can be created from a goof.

CHAZZER - You may want to check out this site http://www.armouredacorn.com/index.html for color and markings for your Matilda.  Look on the left side of the home page, look under REFERENCES, non Canadian vehicle markings index.  Click that and find your Matilda's.

ERNEST - You may like that site also for your A13.  Thanks forthe comments on the Somua.  The kit supplied turret was alright at best (not really).  The Tamiya one was far superior and I had an extra one so why not use it.  The nuts and bolts for the hull looks to be a good candidate for improvement.  Thanks for bringing that to my attention.  Have not yet put much thought into the main hull / case mate.  It is still detached and pretty much unworked on.  Will see what I can come up with for bolts for it

JC - Been wondering where you have been.  Thanks for the comments and thanks for the wealth of information you have provided to the group.

How are you coming along on the 693?  Cant wait to take a peek at it.

ANDYT - Glad could help.  Look forward to seeing your top wing finished and put in place.  Did you ever figure out decals and markings?

WBILL - Thanks and good to hear you like her.  Putting the paint scheme on should not be to hard but still trying to figure how to get a convincing weathering of all of these colors.  Should be interesting.

BILL212, TREAD - Thanks for your words and support, much appreciated!  How are your builds coming along?

WINGNUT - Hey man, happy to see your in!This GB gets better and better with guys like you. 

This is the best collection of talent I've seen.

I have the same book Stik. I admire you for going after another build for the GB. Whoa Nelly!

Carl, I haven't done much since I posted pictures. I trimmed some tracks and the tools and cleaned them up. I was going to paint the turret and skid for the heck of it. I might do the hull too. There aren't many pieces left except the blinking tracks. 

Busy this week, but that might be a good thing.

Rob, most of the Frenchie tanks were pretty smooth weren't they? I could be confusing them with German armor.

I have the same book Stik. I admire you for going after another build for the GB. Whoa Nelly!

Carl, I haven't done much since I posted pictures. I trimmed some tracks and the tools and cleaned them up. I was going to paint the turret and skid for the heck of it. I might do the hull too. There aren't many pieces left except the blinking tracks. 

Busy this week, but that might be a good thing.

Rob, most of the Frenchie tanks were pretty smooth weren't they? I could be confusing them with German armor.

Guys, really impressed with all the great work getting done here!

Rob: Glad to hear your family is ok. You asked about what I'd used on the turret of the Char B1, guess it's a little late now- sorry my computer is in the shop so I can't post on weekends but have to wait to use the office computer M-F. I used Tamiya surface primer which seemed about the same stuff as Mister Surfacer. It tried brushing it on since already done some work on the turret. This was a mistake since the Tamiya is slightly thinner and ran creating deeper areas around the bottom. I sanded it down so I think it looks ok but next time I'll either airbrush or use a spray can of Mister Surfacer instead. Or just look at Tread's work on his Char B1 which the texture in his photos looks a lot better than mine. BTW: Great looking Somua!!!

Not much progress here. I was going to try to learn from the others doing the Char B1 as well but the kit was so easy to assemble somehow I ended up racing ahead. So I'm going to slow down a little and watch and learn.

Have to add this is the second kit I've used Silly Putty for masking and it's working great so far.

PANZERWAFFE

ANDYT - Glad could help.  Look forward to seeing your top wing finished and put in place.  Did you ever figure out decals and markings?

Yes I have documentation on the markings and will have to make my owwn decals. I have located an RAF font that looks like a match.

tigerman

I have the same book Stik. I admire you for going after another build for the GB. Whoa Nelly!

Well there is rain in the forecast here for the next 48 hours or so, that is gonna put a crimp in my airbrushing plans for these days off. It looks like my finishing plans for the UE Carrier are on hold.

So I may just jump into those motorcycles today...(slight Steve McQueen related German motorcycle pun intended)

Not so sunny So. Cal. LOL

Carl, nice work on the light...can't tell you how many times an "aha" moment has happened as the result of a near-disaster like what you experienced.

Stik, moving right along with that UE. The German motorcycle ought to make for a nice little addition as well.

tigerman

Not so sunny So. Cal. LOL

Indeed... it reminds me quite a bit of Ft Lewis today... 

Talking about rain,,,  we've had a year's worth in two months...  something like 30 inches since the beginning of August...    soggy indeed.

Carl,,    the antenna resolve looks good. AND, that lamp recovery is awesome...  great job!

AndyT,,   looks like you are honing the sillyputty mask,,  very nice. And making your own decals,, kudos,,  I have only made a few small ones where I needed them. Never had the nerve to make anything very intricate,, best of luck with it.

Chaz / Scott,,   Matilda start this weekend,,,  great!    Will be looking for some pics

Stik,,   the UE carrier, trailer and stowage are coming along nicely.    I like the idea of a bike in there too.. clever

Rob,,    I hope to be getting some updated pics loaded soon.   Again, glad the fireworks are over.

Bill

Hey guys many thanks for all of your support on my Light fix .It sure id great to be here with so many great model builders . Coming back to these forums has been very enjoyable .

Shellback

Hey guys many thanks for all of your support on my Light fix .It sure id great to be here with so many great model builders . Coming back to these forums has been very enjoyable .

And here's a pic of the little thing on the model .

Nice job on a simple materials improvement without AM cost!

Believe it or not, that's the main headlight for the vehicle and not a spotlight. It was fixed and not movable. Additional headlights were mounted on the fenders giving it an unusal "trio" design that wasn't used on any later panzer designs.

Probably enough pics of the light . I was lppking at doing the same idea with the fender lights .

 Stik , it turned out better than i thought but it was a pinn in the prosterior holding that little thing while sanding the rear of it smooth .

WBill , you must have read my post before i edited out the question about the spotlight idea . I went back and looked at the position of the light and realized it was way down over the front drive mechanism . Thanks for answering my missing question .

Shellback

Hey guys many thanks for all of your support on my Light fix .It sure id great to be here with so many great model builders . Coming back to these forums has been very enjoyable .

Glad you did bud. Enjoy your builds and your company.

Moving right along with this one, I started work on the upper hull with Step 5. This step deals with the air intakes and the upper hull rear plate. The option is provided to use either a one-piece styrene assembly for the intakes or use a 7-part PE assembly. I opted for the PE as the intakes on the C are a prominent feature and the PE provides a more in-scale appearance. The PE assembly was done using CA gel as the DML design is pretty sturdy on its own as it employs a slot/tab arrangement for each of the parts.

The intakes were glued into place with CA gel at the front only and then the rear hull plate fitted. This was to insure that I had a solid alignment and some flexibility at the rear portions of the intakes to make minor fit adjustments if needed. Once the rear plate had set, I went back and used liquid glue and some strategic amounts of CA gel to get the rest of the intakes aligned. The pic below is pre-alignment.

I also left off part E23 until the upper and lower hulls are joined as it is the top half of the bolt flange on the real deal and needs to align with the lower hull to be correct. The hooks for the tow cable were also left off for the time being to avoid damage/loss and will be added later. 

Step 6 assembles the superstructure front plate and includes some nice optional detail for the driver's periscope and vision block as well as the radio operator's pistol port and vision block. None of this will be seen on my build since those hatches will remain closed, so the assembly of those parts was skipped. I did complete the exterior as called for with the installation of the pistol port, vision port cover, and the driver's visors and rain shield. I posed the driver's visors in the open position.

Step 7 is a minor detail step that assembles the jack block (skipped for now) and the hull vision ports (skipped entirely). Step 8 assembles the upper hull superstructure and this requires some strategic thinking in terms of order. I started with the side panels first, using regular glue as they attach only at the top edge and let that set a bit. Then I added the front plate again using regular glue and careful use of liquid glue where it met the side panels. Once that had set enough to handle without causing things to shift, I used finger pressure and light doses of liquid glue along the top edges to get the plate edges to merge with the molded-on weld detail.

While all that was drying, I assembled the glacis plate along with the transmission and brake access hatches. These were all in the closed position since I don't have any interior to show off but have nice interior detail as well...the only drawback is that the transmission access plate fits a little loose in its position so careful alignment is called for to avoid one side having a larger gap than the other. I did not join the glacis to the superstructure as called for just yet...I will wait to do that until I'm ready to join the upper and lower hulls together to avoid any possible fit issues.

Rounding things out in the step, I installed the engine deck hatches, all in the closed position. The kit provides detail parts for the intake fans but those aren't needed unless that hatch is being displayed open, so they will end up in the spares bin.

Next up will be the fenders and the joining of the upper and lower hull together.

I stand in abolute awe of the talent in this build ;

Here is the top wing attached. Still need to do the guy wires.

Carl,,,      great save

wBill,,    super detailed description....  I do like the step by step (looking good) and,,  thanks for all the info

AndyT,,    that camo is coming along nicely

Bill

wBill , like Bill said .

Started painting, because I was bored. Liked the color, but wasn't thrilled with the coverage. I was spraying Model Master Field Drab Acryl, but it seemed way too thin. I did thin it down, but it just didn't see to want to cover.

I've been cooking along on the Potez 540. I've done a bunch of research and the only color scheme in 1940 was Olive Drab, so away we go with that. Tonight I painted the interior and the control stand, before a little fine brush detailing.

Andy, the Gladiator is looking good in warpaint!

WBill, I like that MkIV... one very detailed kit...

As for me, I accomplished more today that I thought I would. The rain let up in the late morning so I was able to get a gloss coat on the carrier. Then I attached the stowage. While the glue for that dried I was able to build the two German Motorcycles. (I will build the two rider figures tomorrow) One I was done with the bikes it was time for decals on the UE Carrier.

The UE

and the bikes...Zundap on the left, BMW on the right... 

There's another storm coming thru right now at 1.00 am.

I'm working on the nacelles which are the next challenge. This kit is cool- it has about 250 parts which is a lot for a little 1/72 two engine.

hello

very beautiful this UE .

Bondoman nice job on your Potez 540.

I've ordered 2 engines for my breguet 693. I work now on the interior . This kit is old and the cockpit is empty.

Jc

Had I know that Bill is building the same kit, I would have chosen something else.  It's tough to build something along side a master modeler like Bill.  C'est La Vie...

Got home from a trip late last night so I cracked it open.   Super Kit is an apt description.  30 somting parts just for the drive sprocket!  I too opted for the simple version.

I found Bill's build blog and it looks to be very helpful.  Thanks Bill!

Satch

AndyT, bondoman, nice work on the aircraft side of the house!

BaBill and Carl, my pleasure and thanks for the comments.

Stik, can't argue with you there...although the kit does warn you on the box top as to the parts count and with all the nice CAD drawings showing just how complex everything is. Nice work on the UE and bikes, really coming together.

Satch, no worries my friend. Happy to offer whatever insights I can along the way. I'm enjoying my build, just have to be prepared for the mental challenge it presents in terms of the sheer number of parts and associated clean-up that goes with that and study the assembly instructions very carefully. The build-order they call for isn't necessarily the best one IMHO!

Bondo,,   The Potez is coming along,, nicely.   All olive drab?....   it'll still look good. Personally I don't mind that scheme.

Stik,,    That UE is looking better every day.     You put those bikes together fast!   I have a hard time getting the stuff out of a box within a few hours!

Satch,,   I think it will be cool to see you and wBill's Pz IV.C's,,,,  my bet is they will both be stunners.

I had all intentions of putting up some pics last night of my limited progress...  I have no idea where the time goes though.     I looked up and it was way past time to hit the hay.   Hopefully I will get some up tonight.

Bill