The Ostfront GBII - 2011/12

Here it is:

SDC17345 by nitsirt, on Flickr

SDC17351 by nitsirt, on Flickr

SDC17346 by nitsirt, on Flickr

The P-39N was one of the versions sent to the Soviets to fight back the Germans. While the tiny plane's unusual design was unpopular with American pilots, the Soviets found its simple and tough design to be perfect for the low level, low speed combat of the "Eastern Front." They also liked the 37mm canon mounted in the nose. In fact, mst of the P-39's with wing mounted machine guns, had their guns removed, increasing the plane's performance. When all was said and done, 4,719 P-39's, nearly half of all produced, had been sent to the soviets. They made up over 1/3rd of all aircraft sent to the Soviets during the war, and were flown by five out of their top ten aces.

Most of the P-39's received by them kept the original paint scheme they wore leaving the Bell factory. In this case, the standard US Army olive/gray scheme. Add a some red stars, a squadron number (White 19 in this case,) and a sloagn on the side, you have a Soviet aircraft! Many aircraft bore the name of a town or community that sponsored the aircraft.

Overall, this was a very simple build, typical Academy with good quality, and pretty good detail, especially considering the size of the tiny plane. Weathering turned out a little heavier than I planned, but overall I'm quite pleased with it.

I hope you enjoyed my contribution, comments and criticisms welcome. (Look Richard! I finally finished one of your group builds!!)

Thanks, Budd

Looks like shes ready to hunt somegerman armor there sub revolution,one of these used to reside at our local airport as a part of the aviation tech. school.Wonder where it went ?

It's good Budd, and definitely makes an interesting little model.

Cheers

Tony

Hey Budd, that turned out really nice!  Fantastic work on the little P-39, very representative of the Soviet use of these Lend Lease aircraft! 

More updates on the GAZ67B:

Most of the chassis is done, just adding the fiddly bits to it.  (Wheels are just dryfitted on, that's why they're a little askew!)

The rails for the canvas cover were pretty woeful .  Different diameters between the parts, poor fit, oval shape......

I decided to make some new ones from .032 dia brass rod bent to shape.  I soldered both ends first before bending so that the bends would match.  After I cut off the lame plastic rails, I'll drill out new holes and fit the new brass on and glue onto the chassis.

Somehow I lost one of the little tow hooks for the front bumper.  Spent several hours looking for it; if it doesn't turn up before painting I'll have to scratch a replacement (sigh).   Spare tire, steering wheel column, steering wheel, tow pintle, a few PE parts to add a little detail and she's all done.  Before I paint the GAZ I'll start work on the 76mm Regimental Gun.

sub revolution

Doogs- Someday I will do a Tu-2, but in 1/72. In the meantime, I expect some good photos from your trip!

Well, the War Eagles museum was certainly fascinating. Not much to report from the Ostfront outside of the Tu-2 and a Storch in amazing condition:

*Droooooooooooling.........*

Seriously. Want one.

And thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated!

Thanks, Budd

Back with an update and a bump!

The GAZ67 is practically done, I've set it aside to work on the Alanger 76mm Regimental Gun that it will be towing. 

I tried to buid this OOB, but detail is soft and parts fit is somewhat sloppy.  There was a LOT of flash and mold seam cleanup  The two halves of the gun barrel didn't fit together well so I found a leftover 76.2mm barrel from a Trumpeter KV-1 kit that fit the cradle almost perfectly.  I just had to lengthen the back end a few mms and add the retaining straps from scrap PE.  Then I added a little bit of extra detail.

The undercarriage and trails are done.  The lift handles on the spades broke so I had to replace with brass rod.  Detail on the kit wheels sucks so they will eventually be swapped out for Hussar resin replacements.

Dry fitted with one of the shields in place.

Assembly should be done this holiday weekend and then I'll start painting both the GAZ and the gun 

Ooh, I really like the look of that! The jeep is going to be towing it, right?

sub revolution

Ooh, I really like the look of that! The jeep is going to be towing it, right?

Thanks sub!  Yeah, thought the GAZ would look more interesting towing a small piece of artillery.  It was orginally designed to have the ability to tow the 45mm anti-tank gun, but that gun has a really long barrel that I thought would visually overwhelm the GAZ model, so I went with the smaller 76mm Regimental gun.

How quickly we fall to the second page! 

Well, the Alanger 76mm Regimental Gun is done except for the Hussar wheels.  They should be arriving some time this week (I used the kit wheels for these photos).   I did some detail work around the breech area, replacing poorly molded knobs and handles.  Also, most of the tubular braces and broke during handling so these were replaced with either styrene or brass rod.  On the real gun the outside of the shields had bent steel bars to support the upper shields when they were folded down.  Only part of these bars were molded on the kit shields so I carved them off and installed some I made from PE scraps. 

and one last one with the trails open....

All I had left to do was to scratchbuild the front tow hook I lost.  I tried a couple of ways including trying to bend thick styrene strip, but in the end I simple stretched some sprue around a small drill bit and then carved, filed and sanded the hook into shape.  I think I did a pretty good job....maybe not an exact replica but its close enough to fool me!!   I'll let this sit until next weekend as I need to get some work done on the Steel Cats GB.

Back with another update!

I thought I would be painting this weekend, but turns out there were a few more details I wanted to add to the GAZ model before I considered assembly done.  The Hussar wheels for the 76mm Regimental Gun arrived and what a beautiful set it is!

Kit wheel to the left, Hussar to the right.  More and sharper detail especially rim bolts around the inside of the rim and the hub!  The Hussar wheels are slightly smaller in diameter than the kit wheels, but not enough to make a noticeable difference.

But its the nicely detailed tread pattern that I really wanted and they don't disappoint!

Here's the detail I wanted to add to the GAZ.  Some hood handles from an Aber generic handle set and some scratchbuilt hood lockdowns.  Took me a while to make those from .5mm brass tube, .010 brass wire and some leftover PE from a Sherman set that I reshaped.

And a few more Aber tie downs to replace the molded on ones that I carved off.

And now they're ready for paint! 

Missing on the GAZ are the windshield and the spare tire.  They're done, just didn't think I needed them in the pics.  Oh, and I figured you gotta have a driver, so I picked up MiniArt's Soviet Jeep Crew.  Even though the set is designed for the US made Bantam 40 brc the driver fit the GAZ pretty well, needing only a bit of trimming and sanding to sit correctly!  Don't know if I'll use any of the other figures....maybe later down the road!

Gotta get these done by the end of the month!  Oct 1 is the end date of the GB! 

Hmmm.....   Its pretty quiet in here.   Looks like this GB is almost dead....BUT I'm trying to keep it alive until the end date!  I FINALLY put some paint down on the GAZ and Gun!

First some primer.  Due to all intricacy of the gun and also the interior of the GAZ, I opted to use some Mr. Surfacer 1200 using my AB instead of rattle can Tamiya Primer.  Took longer but it allowed better finesse and control.

For the GAZ I used Tamiya Nato Green.

The rubber was sprayed with a mix of Tamiya acrylics:  dark gray, flat brown and flat black.  I couldn't use drafting templates for the wheels due to the rounded sidewalls so I made some masks from blue masking tape. 

I decided to paint the towed gun a darker green so I used Vallejo Model Air "Russian Green"

This week I'll add highlights, postshading, filters, washes etc.  Not sure what markings I'l use for the GAZ.  The kit decals look pretty thick....I'll dig around for some other decals for transfers.  Hopefully they'll be done by the end of next weekend allowing time to finish the driver!  

Cool! Yeah, this GB has been pretty quiet, but your project looks very good! Looking forward to seeing a couple of those figures as well!

Thanks SUB!  Nice to know someone other than me is checking things out here!  I'm not sure if I'll do more than one figure,  but at least there will be a driver. 

OK, on the GAZ I added highlights using the same mix I used for the BT-5, then some shadows under wheel wells and undercarriage using Tamiya Black Green, then post shading using Flat Black, and finally blended it all back together using thin coats of the base coat, Nato Green. 

Wheels are also done, using the same technique.  Next I'll add a couple of filters and then the markings.  Still not sure how I'll do that....hoping to fine some dry transfers that will work. 

That Gaz and Gun looks stunning bufflehead. amazing detail.

This Gb is not quite dead, I haven't started mine (172 109G) but will be very soon.  hopefully we can have at least two builds in progress as we get close to the end date.

Cheers

Tony

Hey Tony!  Thanks for checking things out!  I'm glad you like the Gaz and gun!  Its close to getting done; hopefully be done by the weekend!  I'll post the last few remaining progress pics tomorrow and then final pics on the weekend!  I'm eager to see your 109G!  

Subrevolution looks great man !!! I like the weathering a lot

Bifflehead the jeep and gun are looking great too cant wait to see more color on them.

I start spraying my Stuka this afternoon so should have pics of the pit and such up in a day or two. I am going to go for a winter camo on this one, looks like it will be a tough one to pull off so wish me luck.

Frogman, hows about adding an old freind to the roster?

Another GAZ update!  Yeah, I'm slow....just seem to plod along, but progress is progress!

Instead of a few boring pics I decided to show one boring pic of the GAZ's painting evolution. 

and back to a couple of standard boring pics showing just a bit more painting progress.  I couldn't find any definitive color for the seat cushions so I went with the kit instructions and painted them a light khaki-green using Lifecolor acrylics.  The door flaps were also painted with Lifecolor but I added some sand color to make more of a standard khaki color...just for some color variation.  I haven't added any highlights or shadows to the cloth yet. 

The muffler was based painted with Vallejo Model acrylic Salmon Pink.  I painted this very thin to allow some of the darker green color to peek through.  Then I added brown spots using both the sponge technique and a fine brush to get into the tight spots.  A couple of gray enamel filters courtesy of Sin Industries and then a light coat of orange pastel power.  I'll finish the muffler with more brown and orange pigments in the next day or two.

Slowly, but surely!  That end date is getting darn close! 

I see red stars and it's getting me excited.....!

Looking good! And I really like the idea of combining photos, I think I will use that.

Thanks, Budd

Ernest, that GAZ is absolutely breath-taking!  Georgeous....

kermit

Guys,

Just had a chance to go over the entire GB thread and corrected (quite) a few errors on my part.

Noah T,

I failed to awknoledge you finishing up your Henschel. Your build is now displayed correctly on the front page gallery

Bufflehead,

Entirely missed you applying right at the start with your field car and the T70. My sincere apologies and i added you to the roster as i should have right away...

Sub Revolution,

Your Tamyia is now properly displayed on the roster as well. Also my apologies to you sir

Bsyamato,

Yes, people,... not two but three build applications entirely missed... Bsyamato, i have now added your jagdpanzer to the roster. Again,... my sincere apologies.

 

That concludes sorting out the mess i made of things.... Please remind me to go and eat a full tube of putty and go stand in the corner in shame when it happens again. I will change my life to the better now.....honestly...

Your host,

Richard

And i realized just now that you signed me in  really appreciate but actually too busy to start another GB 

High level works here guys  

I volunteered a 1/72 Bf 109G back on page 12, which I had planned to commence tonight. I realise I'm late starting, but it'll be a quick one.

Since the completion date is today, and I never made the register, should I go ahead with it ?

I'm keen, and don't like to miss my commitments.

Cheers

Tony

Haven't heard from Richard in a while, but he does say in the GB introduction that builds in progress at the end can still be completed.  My GAZ and gun aren't done yet, but I'm still working on them and hope to have them done in 2-3 days.  IMHO I don't think he'd mind at all!

Boy am I slow!   I'm still plugging away at the GAZ and gun even though the GB end date has come.  I've  only built one open top vehicle before and this is the first one with canvas/cloth seats & stuff and I've been trying to figure out the best way to go about it. 

So the muffler is pretty much done except for final weathering (dirt and dust).

The door flaps are done except for the buckles and touching up some boo-boos.  I contemplated using oils for this but I decided to stick with acrylics.  Not a great success, but I hope to do better in the future.

The canvas seats just need a dark wash between the seats and the frame, plus some touch-ups.  I wish I could paint these like some of the great figure painters out there paint cloth!

I envisioned this GAZ as a relatively new vehicle so I kept wear and chipping to a minimum.  To make it look used, but not too worn, I lightly drybrushed heavy wear areas of the chassis with oil paints (Abteilung Shadow Brown and Gamblin Raw Umber) and added just a tiny bit of dark brown chipping using the sponge method.   After the oil paint dried I used the oil-dot technique to enhance the base color a bit and to blend in the drybrushing.  I need to add some oil and grime streaks and then it will be done other than adding pigments at the end.  

Still working on the 76mm gun.  I'll have pics up in a day or two!

I'll excuse the slowness Bufflehead, the quality compensates.

I'll get on the with 109G now, hopefully it will be a quickie.

Cheers

Tony

Buffle- that is stunning! It looks spot on to me!

Taxtp- My P39 is looking forward to an opponent to keep it busy....

Thanks Tony and sub, I'm glad you're liking it so far!  Looking forward to the 109 Tony!

So its 3 AM in California and I've got a bout of insomnia, so instead of laying in bed staring at the dark I decided to get on the camera and take some pics of the 76mm gun. 

Its pretty much done, just need to touch up a couple of details before dusting it up a bit with some pigments.  The wheels will get the most.

Breech n'stuff

Maybe now I can get some !! 

Hope it worked Ernest. The model certainly looks good. I had trouble sleeping last night and signed up for a couple of GBs just before 5am.

Cheers

Tony

Julez72

Frogman, hows about adding an old freind to the roster?

Julez!! Good to see you back in the saddle my man. Altough i must admit playing guitar is great fun Ofcourse you can join in the madness at any time you want.

On a more official note....

My own activity has virtually ground to a complete stop at the moment...long story but it all comes down to me not having the right mindset to sniff the paint at the moment. My apologies...

Yes, the GB deadline has officially come and gone but i make it an issue to not have people have to stop before they are finished. So by all means everybody still building just continue your work as usual, no stress! I am not very active but i do follow each and every post and picture and i absolutely love the work everybody is putting in.

your invisible host, (...)

Richard