I think that Bronco kit looks like it was not to well engineered. I alway wonder how that can get through quality control, surely someone build the kit before they are mass producted.

I small update on my Panzer II figure.

The Tamiya figure is really soft on detail, so i been using a #11 blade to etch more detail into this little guy. I undercut the lapels, tunic, hands, belt, etc, trying to give him more releif and a place for the wash to flow into. I also picked out a Verlinden head with the correct side cap of this period. A coat of flat black and now it's time for detail painting.

Here it is guys, warts an all

Airfix 1/72 Huricaine of 87 Sqn UK. August 1940 - Pilot is Flt Lt. Ian Gleed (RAF)

Theuns

Tim: Sharp work on the panzer commander- looking forward to seeing some paint splashed on him.

Theuns: Beautiful Hurricane! She looks all ready to gun down some Stukas!

Hi, Eric,

its been a life time since \i got to update my progress on the Char  B1. Well I finally shook off all the cobwebs and knuckled down. Here is my progress and I hope to bring it in on time.

.

I hope to get back on line at the weekend when I have more time.

I need to go back quite a few pages to see everybodys work.

Terry.

Jack, liking that camo.

Ernest., keep plugging away brother.

Tim, the commander is looking great. Wish i could paint figures

Theuns, lovely Hurricane.  Makes me wasn't to watch "The Battle of Britain"

Terry, I thought you were done. LOL Thanks for the update.

Guys, its been a busy weekend, but I managed to plug away at the A13:

I sprayed some dark greenonto areas that would be hard to reach with the AB later on.  Tamiya XF-27 Black Green was already on the bench so I just used that.

The muffler assembly took several hours to assemble!  First I had to fill the gaps in the muffler and exhaust pipes, open up the "fishtail" exhaust ends, scratchbuild some flanges for the pipes to sit in (otherwise there's a big gap that's barely covered by a stupid, thin PE disc with bolts??), figure out how to bend the muffler bracket PE without breaking it (which I did of course! ), and position those exhaust pipe brackets!  In the end it wll worked out but I did manage to install one of the PE muffler straps on backwards (or outside in?)

Here's the assembly before adding to the back plate:

and after installation:

I also assembled the air intake covers and the muffler shroud and presprayed the interiors with dark green:

While some of this was drying I managed to assemble the basic parts of the turret.  The front turret plate isn't glued on yet as I need to figure out how to tighten the pivot points on the mantlet.....its a bit loose and the main gun keeps falling down!!

most of the major assembly is done.  A few more items and then I'll move on to the tracks.  All the little bits and doodads hull will be added after I get the tracks fitted and right before painting as I'm notorious for breaking such things off during construction! 

Sorry that I haven't responded to any posts!  I'll check things out tomorrow after work!

Terry: Beautiful job there! Love the rust on the mufflers and the dings on the hull. And it's pretty cool that all of us that did the Char B1 used a different camo scheme. I really starting to love these French paint jobs

Ernest: Again nice work, looking forward to seeing how she comes out in the end.

Slow work on the H38, found some differences between what the instructions show and the painting on the box top. I went with the instructions and now find out the box painting is right...

Ernest, this wonderful. I've never seen one of these oft over-looked tanks. It's great to see it all come together. If I ever get a Crusader or Valentine, a North African GB is on!

Tim - Nice detail work on your figure!  I'm looking forward to seeing the completed figure...I've only done one myself and admire good figure painting!  Yours looks like its heading in the right direction!

Theuns - that's a beautiful looking Hurricane!  You did a bang up job on her!

Terry - the Char B1 is looking mighty fine!  Outstanding work on the muffler!  You definitely have a way with rusting up parts, don't know HOW you do it!!  One of these days you'll have to share your secrets and post a blog just on your rusting techniques!

So I've been working on the tracks.  Most reviews I've read about the kit vinyl tracks say that they are just too short and getting them to work properly is a headache so I decided way back when to get the indy link set from Bronco:

You get 4 sprues like this with 124 separate links per sprue. 

There are two type of links, the smaller link with the guide horn and the larger "joiner" link....so there's 62 of each type per sprue, and they are SMALL!!  I assembled a few links and set them next to some common types of indy links to see the size difference.  From left to right: Tiger, Pz. IV, Pz. II, A13

I'm not sure how many links per side I'll need, but I think I'm going to go cross-eyed working on these tiny buggers!!

Ernest, you now feel the pain of my H-39 tracks. Minute and they didn't connect all that well either.

tigerman

Ernest, you now feel the pain of my H-39 tracks. Minute and they didn't connect all that well either.

Yeah, I've started some work on the H38 tracks.

GRRRR, FINGERS TOO BIG!!!!!

I think I need to get a sweatshop going of small children with tiny fingers to help me...   

I'm not even sure that children would help in this manner. they just wanted to keep buckling on me. I made the mistake of not adding an extra link and then it tightened up at the end, so I had issues when they broke after installation.

Ouch, thanks for the head's up Eric. So far I've just been cleaning them up and tossing them into a small empty paint bottle. I've only glued together a short run of about dozen together just to test the fit and mine didn't fit very well either.

Since Hobbyboss has an aftermarket set for about ten bucks maybe I shouldn't even fool with them. Still I figure I'll give the kit tracks a whirl and if they don't work there's always the aftermarket alterative.

Good luck. At $10, it seems worth the risk. 

My Dragon Jagdtiger tracks were a dream to put together, but again, that one extra link might have made a big difference on installation. Hinsky gave me the tip. 

hi guys :  )

Theuns :  Nice work on the Hawker Hurricane ... looks excellent

Terry my bro'  :  )   looks real good buddy... always like your chips with the white around em'... gonna look real nice with the tracks on....I agree with what you told me on FaceBook  there is almost TOO much info on these tanks and it gets confusing... your Indochina looks cool  & I like the white on the fenders.

Ernest : Hi man... the A 13 cruiser looks really cool... Have fun with the tracks !   ... and speaking of tracks,

Cliff, you have fun with your Hotchkiss tracks too !

keep a goin' guys !

tread

A little bump, so this doesn't disappear.

I'm with you Eric,,  here is another bump

Thanks for the bumps guys, if I ever get my friggin' camera back I'll post some photos of the little H38.

I'm starting to run into some problems now, the upper and lower hull parts don't seem to fit that well though it may be my fault. Using lots of rubber bands and clothes pins.  

BTW: Just to be posting something I found these photos on my PhotoBucket account, don't think I ever posted them to the aircraft forum since I wasn't totally happy with the model. I loved how the paint came out but after finishing noticed several constuction flaws I should have corrected.

Anyway she is a Battle of France subject - being a French Air Force Potez 631 night fighter. The French produced a number of versions of this airframe as a heavy fighter, light bomber, and ground attack. All were hampered by smaller engines being used than the original design making the 630 and 631 slow and sluggish - easy prey for maurading Bf109s. The night fighter was even more ineffective since radar light and small enough to fit inside weren't developed until later in the war. The Potez 631 relied on ground crew with searchlights to spotlight German aircraft. It didn't work very well for the British, Germans, Soviets, Japanese, or the French.

When I first saw it I was thinking Bf-110. Well done.

                                   Still slugging away here although I will not get the Dio. part built I will present a mock-up with the completed vehicle.Great looking builds coming out of this one so far,my hat is off to all.

                                                Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

Ditto Greg. I'm try to compile all the finished builds to present to the armor forum. I should have done that at the start for I had to go through a lot of pages. Hopefully it will work.

Thanks Eric. Looking back at them I'm thinking another reason I didn't post them is I was going to take some clearer photos

And yeah she came out of the whole twin-engine heavy fighter fad that also gave birth to the Bf110.

Gamera , good looking build there .

Hey, Shellback- thanks!

Gamera- What a BEAUTY!  Great job on the camo and doing dark washes. 

Hey guys

Just wanted to give a quick update, though I can't offer any pics right now.

The 222 is done. Just have to add some decals (I'm marking it as a member of the 7th Panzer Division "The Ghost Division" under Rommel). and then some weathering. I'm going to be real basic in the weathering for now - just a couple washes and filters for now. Then when I put it on a base, I'll do some weathering that is more specific for the setting - but that won't get done for this GB.

Currently I'm focusing on building up and painting a couple of figures to go with it, so that is where my focus will be this weekend. I'll try to have some 'final' pics of you by Sunday.

DP Andy: Thanks, though I think I may have overdone the panel lines somewhat.

Boyd: Looking forward to your photos, always thought the 222 was a sleek looking vehicle. The figures sound great- love seeing figures posed with an AFV to give an impression of just how big/small the vehicle is and better put her in context.

Cliff

Nice to hear Boyd. We await your pictures.

Gamera- I really like they way you camo that French plane and the panel lines look fine to me. I kind of like darker panel lines. The underside looks awesome with the streaking and dark panels lines. Very good work.

Well, I got a little work on my panzer II done the last few weeks. Between building jigsaw puzzles with my daughter and catching up the last season of "Fringe", not much has been happening.

Here are some in-progress photos. I did a dot filter and then did some rain/grim streaks all with oils.

Still working on the figure, did a little dry drying and now to do the details on the body and the head.

Enjoy the weekend.