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.

Not so sunny So. Cal. LOL

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Eric , havent seen anything of your build lately . Or did i miss an update ?

tigerman

Andy, are you going off a reference? That second one seemed to work well.

I found a document on the marking for the 615th squadron for the gladiators I am using as a guide.

Carl, ridiculously smart innovation there mate. My build seems so lame OOB. (chuckle)

Andy, are you going off a reference? That second one seemed to work well.

treadwell

Tell ya what Shell... yer headlight fix will impress everyone.... it's like a modeling epiphany .( 5 dollar word)...thats how they should make them in a kit..... and when you add the scribes for the 'crosshatch ' look that you are already thinking about  it will be even more sensational

tread

" A day in epiphaney " ?

Tread i had thought about those "crosshatch" also , but it was after i put the lense in . Thanks .

Looking good Andy T.... I was wondering in you are using enamel or acrylic...my only fear is pulling part of the masked color off with the silly putty ?

tread

Ok this time I pressed the silly putty down with a toothpic. Seems better to me.

 and finally the spars and braces to put on the top wing and a few other parts:

Tell ya what Shell... yer headlight fix will impress everyone.... it's like a modeling epiphany .( 5 dollar word)...thats how they should make them in a kit..... and when you add the scribes for the 'crosshatch ' look that you are already thinking about  it will be even more sensational

tread

Bob , whats up with all of this "wet blanket " stuff man ? Its getting soggy in here ......................Just kidding you Bob . I really appreciate the info that you , WBill and Tread ? .............are giving me . Thanks for sharing . I learned a lot already .

Keep throwing the wet blankets at me , maybe the knowledge will soak in .

Carl;

Hi!  First, I gotta say your stabsantenna looks pretty nice..  and boy am I glad some others caught up with the spring fox-paws before I shot my face on it!!  I'm beginning to get concerned about being some sort of wet-blanket around here!

As folks have pointed out, these earlier-war panzers sported an antenna made using a copper tube- pretty rigid and actually uniform in diameter top-to-bottom. (so those who use a piece of wire are actually getting pretty close to the real thing!). And that trough was indeed a carved piece of wood attached with bits of sheet-metal to the fender! (When I first heard about this, I right away started to imagine some sort of rural cottage industry "doing their duty and playing their part in the valiant efforts of the Fatherland" carving antenna troughs for Herr Hitler's panzers!  Yikes! It's the stuff of propaganda posters!) 

Now that you are in the groove, so to speak (rather, out of that groove and upright....), you might want to detail that base a little- if you visit "worldwar2aces.com" or some other sites with pics of museum Pz 1 types, you'll see some antenna... the base of the rod has a nice clamp you can easily add, and some, but not all, seem to have 2 metal plates curving around the base fore and aft (viewed from the side looking a little like a cup around the base? maybe for protecting same?).  Just an idea if you want to tweak it a little (and maybe feel down about having to cut loose that nice spring you made)

It does look good the way it is!

Bob

I empressed the great Tread plate ! ....................

tread@ Shell : )

MAN.... I can't even think of a joke.... that is friggin innovative,excellently executed and worthy of being THE system for making headlights !  really .Shell .... I have never seen this one before..... dude got skills... !

Humbly, 

tread

Welcome Marc !!!

Ok , heres a mess that turned out ok .

I was going to drill out the spot light to make it concave so i could insert some kind of lense . So i chucked a bit in my Dremel instead of what i usually use , my hand bit vice . I started drilling and boink ! The bit went all the way thru the light ! Looks like it heated up the plastic and melted all the way thru . So now i had a big hole in the spot light . Hmmmmmm , what to do ? I rounded out the hole with my round file to the size of some clear sprue .

I polished the tip of the clear sprue and inserted it .

I brushed some accelerator on the clear spue and applied C.A. to the back of the light . The accelerator kept the C.A. from flowing to the front of the light . I sanded the clear sprue at the back of the light to the appropriate shape and painted it chrome silver .

When that dried i painted over the chrome with panzer gray .

treadwell

Hi Shell : )

the Germans didn't design it that way, but the should have!.... no worries ... you'll spring back

tread

HA HA ha hhhhh , Tread man it has been corrected .I used stretched sprue this time .

Thanks for the warm welcome.  Every kit I have in the stash is too late of a versionThe Pz II is an F, the Pz III is a J.  I have the Trumpeter Hotchkiss 38H(f) so no good.  I have 2 differnet 38 (t)'s and both NG.    

I'll get something.  May go over the list and try to get something not being done... we'll see.

wing_nut

This one slipped under the radar so thanks Eric for pointing it out to me.  I read page 1 and then the last 10 pages since "building" began.   To quote the nose of a famous P-51... "CRIPES AMIGHTY!!!!!"   WOW nice stuff guys. and like the other Marc siad... Bill and Tread in a GB.  May not be a 1st but it is the 1st I've ever heard.  So count me in.  I will check the stash to see if I got anything that fits.  I won a Hotchkiss at AMPS East in the raffle, just dunno which one.  

Marc, glad to have you. i'm surprised you missed it since you've been in and out of the GB forum. LOL

Crud, you got the Hotchkiss? I'm going to have to bag mine now. No competition. J/K. Feel free to submit it.

Hi Marc : )

Glad you're in man !.... can't wait to know what you are gonna build ...this GB just keeps getting better!

tread

Hi Shell : )

the Germans didn't design it that way, but the should have!.... no worries ... you'll spring back

tread

This one slipped under the radar so thanks Eric for pointing it out to me.  I read page 1 and then the last 10 pages since "building" began.   To quote the nose of a famous P-51... "CRIPES AMIGHTY!!!!!"   WOW nice stuff guys. and like the other Marc siad... Bill and Tread in a GB.  May not be a 1st but it is the 1st I've ever heard.  So count me in.  I will check the stash to see if I got anything that fits.  I won a Hotchkiss at AMPS East in the raffle, just dunno which one.  

tread @ Andy T

First time with silly putty came out pretty darn good man...a tiny bit of cleanup and look Great

Silly Putty may definitely be in my future and I have never tried it either....gonna look sharp with the top wing on !

tread

tread @ Rob

holy crap man.. glad you and family are safe...a most heinous and rude crime.. I hate that $h1+....hate it hate it hate it!.... makes me glad I live on a dead end street !

Your Somua ( spelled it correctly this time) is an absolute treat for for my eye and it looks like the paint job is gonna be a real tough act to follow

great work, and in all sincerity, glad you are alive to complete it... goddam punk@$$ mofos

tread