Hmmm... had some pages to catch up on...

Bill, looks liek oyu have that well in hand.

Wbill, gotta love new toys when the arrive

DF, That looks nice.

Tread,  we need  PPPRRROOOGGGRRREEESSS  PPPIIICCCTTTUUURRREEESSS

not quite ready, Marc...

still working on it and the post.... haven't had much bench time lately  :  (

tread

Bill- Looking good!   Always dig Italian Brown as I used to prime my builds with those until Mr Surfacer came into my life.  I won't mind doing it again if I ever run out of Mr Surfacer.  Bet you are enjoying your new AB... brand new, not even an old paint trapped inside. 

Thanks Rob. I've seen the top one, wish it had all angles to it though. It looks like a pretty thin border around it. The red looks easier, but the top is more eye catching. i hope to spray say Tuesday. Spray the gloss, decals, and get this guy near the finish line. 

Seeing as how my base is closer to the bottom picture I think I'll lean towards that one.

Rob, do you have any other angles of that picture? Thanks bud.

I've been wanting to build a french tank, and fortunately I have been working on Heller's Somua.

And I do have a panzer 38(t) by Trumpeter that I've been dying to build, both are 1:35

Sign me in!

Glad to have you aboard T-Rex. Cool subject as Rob has proven.

hi Guys  : ) 

these are pics of my Char B1 bis in a near complete stage. You may see little gaps ect , but the fenders, exhaust,rear turret hatch, and the Chef de Char (tank commander) are all just placed loosly....at this point I am not 100% sure I will use the figure...It depends on how well my 1st attempt at painting him  works (LOL).... anyhow.....

the main big change is that I rescribed the rear decking and many new panels were created where Tamiya basically had just one... I left in a comparison pic so you can see the difference.

the plastic fenders were also shaved down to .005' front and rear, and after they are cemented in, will cut the sections into individual pieces.

I also added the handles that lock down the lubrication panels on the lower hull and fasioned exhaust covers from .005" brass.

I wanted to add the jacks, but all my research shows them not attached to the tank.... I can't figure it out because they needed constant lubrication using sliders rather than return rollers.

In any case, I have no pics with my tank, Bourrasque, having the jacks showing

here are the pics, hope you like 'em... any comments questions ect....

as a side note I usually edit my pics into groups, or at least edit out bad ones, but I am gonna let this set fly just as I shot it in 2 sittings.... we are all friends,right?.... you guys can figure out what you are looking at.... there is a LOT of repitition... C'est la vie  :  )

tread

this is before re-scribing ^

Tread ..............

Shellback

Tread ..............

thanks man...

Looking forward to seeing ow you paint and weather this one Tread . Your weathering is always outstanding so i want to see what you do on this one .

tread@Shell

I am wondering also....yikes... I ALWAYS paint as  disassembled sub assemblies....hmmmm......well on thing we know from your trip to France... it was dry and dusty and the chars were oily and greasy !

Oh wise Owls, how many links does it take to track a Pz IV?

Bonus points for whomever gets the alliteration.

oH wise owl .... what varient

That looks great Tread. I can't wait to see some paint on it.

satch_ip

Oh wise Owls, how many links does it take to track a Pz IV?

Bonus points for whomever gets the alliteration.

 

Lick,

Lick,

CRUNCH!

Three.....

Great work guys! Sorry, a little embaressed here due to my lack of progress, have been trying to finish some other stuff. I did do a little painting on the French tank commander last night, cross your fingers I'll get back in the ring soon.

Looking good Tread!

Satch, the simple answer when dealing with Magic tracks (I assume the reason behind your question) is "as many as it takes" in terms of the desired sag and look. You will need somewhere in the neighborhood of a total of 100-103 per track side but definitely recommend you adjust for each side and play with the idler before committing to a final total!  

Hi, guys just popping it to see how everybody is doing, well it's great to see another soma, nice one T-Rex.

Bill great to see a coat of paint on the Mk IV, and Bill delighted to see that your near paint on the Char you have certainly gone to town detailing this one, just brilliant.

Well myself I've just been out back with a rattle an and have my base coat done. Hope to have pics at weekend. 

Terry.

tread,,,,,,,,    rock solid!   looking good              will be watching for the painting applications,,,,   !!

wBill,,,    nice to see the airbrush treating you well..    nice primer coating

I hope to get some priming onto the pz command this week as well.

T-rex,,   are you going to do both (Somua and 38t) ??           if so,,   NICE!

Thanks Bill.  Bonus points go to Gamera!

Hi guys, since planes are also allowed, can I join in with a little 1/72 airfix Huricane mk1 (France 1940 colours) and possibly a 1/72 Airfix new tool BF 110 (France 1940 IIRC aswell) ?

Theuns 

Theuns

Hi guys, since planes are also allowed, can I join in with a little 1/72 airfix Huricane mk1 (France 1940 colours) and possibly a 1/72 Airfix new tool BF 110 (France 1940 IIRC aswell) ?

 

Theuns 

Yes, please do! The flyguys are horribly outnumbered.

Cool thanx.

Here it is. A dissapointing little kit (for me) , as I almost hoped it would be as well detailed and nice as the new tool Airfix BF 110 1/72.

It looks like an old kit with raised detail and very littl to no detail in the cockpit and wheelwells :-(

I sanded the left wing's detail off and re-scribed the pannellines. It looks a little better although the pencil in the lines now makes them appear to be overdone., but the paint will sort that out.

Re-scribed (although a bit inacurately!) pannellines

Theuns

More paint progress to report. I applied the base coat of MM enamel Panzer Schwarzgrau over the primer and will be adding the 1/3 camo disruptive pattern of dark brown to complete the two-tone scheme for France 1940.

I also took care of the road wheels and return rollers. The rubber portions were airbrushed with MM enamel Gunmetal while in position on the wheels to avoid getting paint on their inner surfaces. This is due to the extremely tight fit tolerance between the rubber parts and the wheels I have to emphasize the need to avoid getting paint on either the hub or the rubber rim contact surfaces or problems will ensue! Once the paint dried, the  rubber rims were carefully removed and a circle template used to spray the inner hub with the same Schwarzgrau used on the vehicle. Rims were added back once the hubs were dry and voilà! The return rollers had their hubs painted with a circle template as well to round things out.

Next up is the camo pattern and detail paint work on the vehicle itself.

Nice grey Bill. 

Thanks for joing Theuns.

Got my camo on today. As usual, not very happy with it, but I'm not redoing it. It's the red-striped pattern. I hope to gloss today, maybe tomorrow, apply decals, and weather this thing up. I want to be done by next week. I have a lot to do.

Hey Bill , looks like the new A.B. is working just fine for you .

TREAD - Looks great, all of those extras really enhance the overall look   Going to be great to see the color coats go on.

WBILL - Nice work on breaking your new brush in.  The base color looks a perfect pallet for the brown pattern to come.

ERIC - Good to hear you have the camo on.  You always say your not happy with it but I remember you saying that about your KT and that one was done beautifully.  I bet this one is looking the same.  One is there own hardest critic.

Has been very busy here and not much bench time has been put in.  Did manage to get the glacis and front vertical plate on.  Many bad gaps were present after part placement and required filling and sanding.  There were also some items that had to be removed and had to add some new headlights.  Finishing the wiring up now and then hope to get a picture up.

Looking great Bill !

Eric ... anxious to see the camo!

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments. I've got a little window/break tomorrow before my next class begins so the plan is to add some highlights/fading to the grey tomorrow along with the brown camo. That "should" allow for work to continue as the painting is always a major hurdle to clear to keep a build going.

The small update pics