No More Excuses GB: Part Deux. Closed to New Entries But Finish What You Signed Up For

Owl, good idea to use a black marker for all those road wheels.  Must have made quick work out of a dreaded task.  I was gonna try the color modulation technique sometime.  I am looking forward to seeing how the shading holds up  under the weathering.  Nice work as usual.

Sub, you're off to a good start with your ship models.  I have yet to give one of those a go.  Good luck.  I will be taking notes incase I decide to build one.

Waynec, way to go starting and finishing other projects.  I hope this GB has given you some motivation to finish newly started models as well as completing the shelf queens. 

68GT, glad  you decided to blow the dust off another one!  I like the look of the F-111.  Can't wait to see it completed.

Nice piece Waynec!! i love the 16 (but don't have one yet! )

Other day put on the n° number of white on the 66.. seems never enough to it

Feels like i'm near to put here one or two kits not finished in time for various gb

Great work Waynec problems about decas could be "they are academy" :) i love this brand ..but decals.

Recently i see one of my contact resolved in thi way the problem:

"The stencils are from the Academy kit. It was thick and produce a lot of silvering. I used tiny drops of lacquer thinner to "melt" the decals to the paint surface - creating a flat bond which got rid of the silvering problem. "

here the picture of his flanker cured in this way:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmminiatures/7093213239/

and between the comments the complete procedure.

PS wishing to see soon the cant z-501 wip

Apologies for the late reply.

Another nice buid waynec!  I will have to agree with bsyamato on the decals.  Academy's decals can be a bit tough to apply.  

Again, nice job.

another later responder here!  Just checked in and found your lovely little I-16 waynec!  Sweet build, great paint job and markings and I love the dirt base you put her on!  Kudos on finishing this shelf queen! 

woops, fogot to post this the other day!

I finally had another day off! Time to get to work.

dark panel line wash on the M41

then my first attempt at track weathering. I found some old makeup powder and liked the red-brown color, so I slopped it on.

it wasnt until after this was completed that I held it up to the light....and little sparklies reflected back! I guess makeup has shimmery stuff in it...well dang. Tanks dont sparkle!!

I thought quickly, and remembered the construction equipment along teh highway and how dusty they are. SO I ran out side, and got some good ol' Nebraska dirt  from my back yard. I made sure to scoop the really dry stuff, and then mortar-and-petsle'd it to make it even finer.  Then covered the road wheels in thinned tan paint as an adhesive and dropped them in my dirt. Brushed off the excess, and voila dusty tank pieces! I did the same for the tracks and tank sides/belly. It seems to stick pretty well. The red-brown still shows through, and the dirt/flat tan mix covered op the shimmer, so yay!

Who said tanks don't sparkle?!?

yeah, you've gotta be careful with makeup and other household stuff when it comes to painting and weathering models!  Unless you want to have a tank named Ziggy Stardust!!

Nice recovery from the glitter faux pas CSO!  The M-41 is looking very nice and the running gear looks realistically dirty now! 

OWL -- great fix on the weathering, it showed initiative and fearless experimentation! Well done! Great visual result, you'll be very pleased with this project!

Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379

OWL -- great fix on the weathering, it showed initiative and fearless experimentation! Well done! Great visual result, you'll be very pleased with this project!

  Fantastic work as usual Owl.

thanks, guys! ill get final pics up soon. Im really pleased with how this has turned out!

Awesome work on the tank as first work Owl 

Owl- amazing work on the tank! I doubt when I attempt my first armor that it will turn out near as well! As for the sparkle, well, maybe "Twilight" would have been better if there were tanks in it....

Wayne- excellent work on a rather unusual subject! My Russian-obsessed side is telling me I must get one.... I have never seen a ruskie bird with two different slogans though, that's very interesting. I think one side says "stop fascism" and the other says "for Stalin." do the directions say what they are?

Thanks,  Budd

I'd like to sign up with my M2A2 IFV from Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is my first ever tank started 4/2008, been on and off the shelf since then. Still needs the right side armor installed, vision blocks painted, antennas, decals, possibly some stowage, fix some of the weathering etc... I never was truly satisfied with the finish which is probably why it's sat so long, may as well make it resemble a finished project up on the shelf rather than a incomplete one.

looks nice. suggestion on the vision blocks. paint the lens silver (cheapo testors that i use to see if seams are sanded completely) and overpaint with clear green. i have used clear blue also but i think the clear green looks better. if it's too greenish let it dry and paint over it with clear smoke. i have every clear color tamiya acrylic has and use them for side running light lens, headlight and breakklights, road march lights, etc. may try weathering this old zvezda t-34/85 (in egyptian desert sand) using clear smoke.

Welcome Aboard Corvettemike!  I will update the roster.  Is that the Tamiya kit?

It is. I'd like to try the Academy version one day I heard it has a slide molded hull with the side armor already attached. I found the skirts on my kit to be one of the more finicky parts of construction. I'll be picking it back up later this afternoon or tomorrow, I want to finish up my 54mm German infantryman really quick ^^.

finished the tank!! First one ever.

Nice Owl!!  All your extra work paid off!  Your first tank is definitely one to be proud of!

OWL -- your skills have advanced rapidly in the last few years, you're ambitious and talented! This is a great model, with the atmosophere of a hard-used tank in the field. Dusty and dirty, with the red earth in the tracks, markings obscured by the dust sticking to everything, stowage, antennas -- you've done a job to be proud of! My tanks didn't start looking quite like that for a looong time, my early ones are much too clean! You've come over to the dark side with a vengeance, I can't wait to see what you'll do with a Panzer!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Fantastic build Owl.  Nice photography too!  Any specific pic you would like on the front page?

Thunderbolt379

OWL -- your skills have advanced rapidly in the last few years, you're ambitious and talented! This is a great model, with the atmosophere of a hard-used tank in the field. Dusty and dirty, with the red earth in the tracks, markings obscured by the dust sticking to everything, stowage, antennas -- you've done a job to be proud of! My tanks didn't start looking quite like that for a looong time, my early ones are much too clean! You've come over to the dark side with a vengeance, I can't wait to see what you'll do with a Panzer!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

aw, shucks. Thank you.

macattack80

Fantastic build Owl.  Nice photography too!  Any specific pic you would like on the front page?

ummm not one in particular. Surprise me!

Great work on that M41 Walker Bulldog. Actually, great name for a tank too :) I'll use it as inspiration to finish this shelf queen / previous GB incompletion. Really, it shouldn't be that far away. A couple more colours and some weathering, how hard can that be ?

It's the Tamiya 1/48 Panther tank. Can you include me on the GB listing please Kevin ?

Actually, might as well get these off my chest too, this is therapeutic :)

Couple of Hasegawa 1/200 Boeing 727-200s.

One of them has advanced a bit past the previous photo. I butchered the tail decal and have ordered some replacements, which are taking an eternity to arrive. In the meantime, I ripped off the damaged decal with some masking tape.

That makes 3 commitments for this GB. Think I'm gonna be busy....

Cheers

Tony

Thanks for your interest taxtp!  I updated the roster.

Owl, I added a pic of your completed M41 to the front page.  Again, outstanding work.

Well the mere act of showing these old builds here has got me motivated to move a bit further on one. Whilst I can't continue on the first B727 until I can get some decals for it, the second one has its first prime before I stopped.

Most of the seams were good, but some of my rescribing on the wings needed to be improved. I've had a go at it and then washed it, now it's ready for another prime.

Cheers

Tony

I'll be digging in to my M2A2 shortly I hope. Due to ignoring the common sense practice of lift with your legs not your back my entire lumbar region has been declared a total loss to the point sitting upright is impossible which means I can't sit at my bench. I did do the vision blocks before (they look awful). I almost feel like stripping the paint and restarting because I didn't thin enough so it's "chunky" looking....then I go back to the Academy one sitting in the pile and say meh leave it, put it on a top shelf and call it a distance build i/e the further away from it you are the better it looks lol.