Semper Fi War in the Pacific

CARL - Beautiful turret details  That extra scratch work really dresses things up and it looks great.  Agree with you about trying to figure which PE to get for a kit???!!

I'm pretty happy with the domes myself.  Using the boiling water did not work.  Instead I cut over sized squares of the clear plastic, heated until soft and flexible over a candle then had an end of a paintbrush in a vise and used that to pull the soft plastic sheet over the end of the paint brush.  After making the shape, cut the end off with a #11 blade then carefully sanded the bottom flat and even.  Took a few hours per dome.

Love the Semper Gumby....could have made a good badge

BILL - Thanks buddy.

SKI - Good to hear from you.  Will put something together about the Iwo sand for you.  Will post it up soon.  There really was not much to it.  The main ingredient was some ground material made by Arizona Rock & Mineral Co., All Scales Scenery.  #1030 ASPHALT.

Look forward to more on your Sherman

BEN - Believe the white would be fine  If you want to wait I MAY be able to send some yellow numbers to you?  Not sure how long you will have to wait or if they will be the right size for you?  I ordered a large sheet of several different sizes of numbers and letters in yellow.  Been waiting over 2 weeks for them to arrive and still have no idea when they will get here?

TONKA - The fig has some nice clean detail  Nice job with putting him together, no seams or imperfections at all.  Had to go back to your original post pic's to see the individual parts.  You smoothed him out so well he looks like it was a one piece mold

interesting you say you like oils to do your figures.  Lately I've heard many figure painters say they like acrylic.  Really looking forward to how you paint him.

Tonka , glad you like the turret .  Lt  S c h m u c k  must have been out in the jungle for a long time . Even has a pet guide monkey now .

Nice looking pieces! The Sherman turret is great! 

I got started on my 120MM fig. It has some nice detail, but the cleanup was like 1st day of qual week!...in the rain!

I don't plan on a scene with it, the base is pretty detailed and it tells a story by itself..I'll have to add a M1 Carbine,, it didnt come with a long gun and I'm thinking this guys is LT Schmuckatilly,,so he needs a carbine!

Anyway he is cleaned up and pieces are primed,, didn't attach his right arm yet,, way it is mounted will interfere with painting the face,,so I see a challenge here with skin tones being consisitent,,but I'll give it a shot... trying to decide on oils or acrylics for the skin,, I normally use oils as they blend so much nicer,,but may try the glazing technique,,,time will tell..

Anyway here is the WIP pics...

Semper Gumby all!!   That's always flexible guys!!

I say go with the white letters / numbers .

So is everyone ok with white numbers? If so Im going to get a sheet of decals from ebay. its the only thing really holding me up right now.

Thanks ski

Rob, your LVT looks amazing, can you post a little "how to" on your Iwo sand when you get the chance?

Carl, digging the progress on your M4, interested to see how it turns out, keep up the good work!

On vacation right now, but I'll get hot on my 4th Tank Bn Iwo Sherman when I get home.  Keep up the good work, fellas!

Semper,  Ski

Thanks to the research on the internet i do more scratch building now than i used to . I'd probably use a p.e. set but i cant figure out which one to get . There's a lot of motivation from fellow builders here also .

BaBill212

Scratch,,      =            

Only one?  No way!    And one for the road...   Scratch building is something I am haven't mastered at but you guys have made me to do more of scratch building since my fourth build Marder II.  `

Scratch,,      =            

Glad you likey guys

Scratch Andy .

Carl- They look great!  Upgrade set or all scratch built? 

Carl,,,   you added a LOT of this, that    and the other.....    it looks great!

I finished the turret . Added some of this and that . .

But I digress,,,,,,      back to work on the jeep and figs...................

I've thought about checking World of Tanks out,,  heard it was pretty good,,  but haven't had time to give it a go.....

You building your own, and being into gaming, I would bet you're going to juice it up....   this Asus I am currently running is pretty hot,,,   tons or ram,  beefed up add-on power supply and a replacement kick azz graphics card,,,  it can handle any game out there.

Good luck with the new unit..........

BaBill212

WW2,,,   Yeah,, a good power supply is not all that pricey.   I've always wanted to build a home PC,,,    let me know how that goes.   What kind of games do you like?

I dont play too many right now because my parents computer cant handle them.  Right now I mostly play World Of Tanks. I have Aces High downloaded to fly around offline though. Id probably get Battle Field 3 if I do build my own.

Deat,,  the LVT is looking great,,  I like the shield idea,,,,,  

Tonka,,  cool figure,,,  comes with the monkey and the tree stump, right?  You plan on doing a full scene with it?

WW2,,,   Yeah,, a good power supply is not all that pricey.   I've always wanted to build a home PC,,,    let me know how that goes.   What kind of games do you like?

Rob,,  holy crapoly,,,, you have been busy - - lid, headlights, guards, handles, brackets, and the domes...  they look awesome!        Wonderful work pal

Nice details Rob . The domes came out looking pretty good imo .

TONKA - Thanks.  Yes, break out those LVT's along with your 120mm fig

Work has a way of getting in the way with the important things...modeling

BEN - Good luck building your computer.  Good news your old computer is not a complete loss.

LVT-4 update.

Added the cleats, two fore and two aft.  Put on all the grab handles.  There were two extra and there were suppose to be 4 more on the forward top section of the cargo bay, so I added the two extras and took two more handles out of the LVT (A) 1 kit and added them.  The handles were extra in the LVT (A) 1 kit so it worked out good.  Made the domes, they are only sitting in place and are still removable for painting.  Looking at the pictures, looks like a little more work is needed on the starboard one so that it will match the port.

Bow

Aft

PANZERWAFFE

BEN - Thats no good, at least yall will get a new computer out of it

Nah its just the power supply I guess, shouldnt be too hard to fix. But I think Im going to take $1000 of my profit sharing this check and build my own computer. Much better for playing my games on.

Rob , nope i have no better idea on how to form the domes . Will wait to hear how your idea works out . Your detail work is looking pretty sharp .

Looks great Panzer!  Nice job on using the brass sheet and the PE scraps.

Makes me want to break out my LVT kits and start on them.. 

Just need more time,,,dang work keeps getting in way of what I really want to do!!

CARL - The domes should be interesting indeed.  My plan is to use a piece of clear flat stock, its a little thinner than 1/64.  Use maybe a dowel or old paintbrush end, round it off to proper shape.  Use the dowel as a mold and hold the flat stock on top of it while holding over a steamy, boiling pot of water.  Hopefully the heat will mold the flat stock to shape?  Have any other suggestions?  Will give it a try tomorrow.

BEN - Thats no good, at least yall will get a new computer out of it

Little work done on the bow.  Worked on the headlights and bow armor.  The kit supplied headlights were to high and too thick.  So, used the resign headlights that came with the Trakz kit set and scratch made the headlight guards from brass sheet.  Mounting the actual headlight, there was not a locater tap or anything to keep the light up right and the light kept falling off / not staying in place.  Took the kit light, cut the locater tap off and glued it on the resign lights.  Here you can see one resign light with the added tap and the light on the right is still waiting for it's tap.

This made mounting the lights very easy.  After the lights, added the guards.  Also in this next picture you can see the added bolt heads for the bow armor plate.  The bolts were made from cutting small pieces of .020 hex rod and gluing them in place.  Once the bolts were dry used a piece of flat stock to lay flat against the armor plate and butted up against the bolts, using it as a guide, and sanded the bolts down to the same height.

On the back side, top of the armor plate used some scrap PE and made the brackets that attached the armor plate to the deck.

Here is a pic showing the scratch lights compared to the kit lights.

I wont be able to post pictures for awhile, parents comp fried. Will get you updated when I can.

Tonka , i agree that is different pose than usually seen . Looks like he has a pet monkey .

Rob , sounds tediouse , all of the filling and sanding , but its got to be done . Good results . Those domes will be interesting to make .

DEATTILIO - That makes a big difference with modifying the headlights.  The shields look like they are right to scale to me.  Looks good

TONKA -  Will be fun to watch how you paint and achieve the skin tone, something I'm still trying to learn how to do.  These larger scale figures have always interested me.

Will go and update the roster.

Glued the the lid on this can last night and let cure overnight to ensure the bond was strong. 

Starting this morning, have been filling many gaps with Squadron putty and then sanding.  Does not show much in the picture (which means the sanding was successful, right) but every join in the cargo bay had to be filled and sanded then filled again and sanded.  Things came out better then expected.

Next will be to add some of the smaller bits such as the cleats, MG mounts, tow hook, bow armor plate and then it will receive a coat of flat black primer.  Forgot to mention, had also finished installing the cab crown screws.  Also still need to attempt to make the Plexiglas domes that go over the periscopes.  Will see how that goes.

Deattilio --nice work on the LVTs -- looks like the YAT YAS parking lot!  :-)

Thanks everyone for the welcome..

I decided to go with this fig..it is kind of unusaul pose...120MM by Miniature Allliance.

Yesterday’s progress pictures; the headlights have been modified, aside from the starboard one on the LVTA4.  The bottom picture shows the outline of the gun shields I will be cutting out.  As mentioned, they look a bit large but the paper cut out looks right.  Doubt I will make much progress during the week but should be able to retackle it next weekend.

CARL, BILL - Thanks my friends

ANDY - April for NOLA still gives me some time to figure out if I will be able to get over there, will let you know.  No, still waiting to find out where I'm going next.  Should not be much longer to find out.

Been sanding away all day and just about finished and ready to get some primer on.  Will get some pics up real soon.