That's Amore (Italian GB) Jan 1-June 30 2012

hey tigerman what is the big cat rumor? my club has a july bi cats theme and all i have is a canadian un COUGAR.

waynec

i'm confused. this reply and the badge says this ends 31may12 but the post title says 30jun12. not to worry for me. will be powder weathering my VRC-105 on sunday and than add the mg and antenna since i know i will knock something off doing the weathering. like my MAS this went from "it looks like crap" to "it still looks like crap" to "i wouldn't enter this in a local contest" to "wow it's looking pretty good." maybe it's an italian thing.

Yes, the badge wasn't updated. The build does end June 30.

As for the Big Cat build, I was thinking along the lines of German Tigers and Panthers, with maybe some Leopards thrown in for good measure. I suppose a Cougar could comply.

The badge was re-done a while ago to reflect the new end date and I had posted it on page 6 to replace the original one - I had PM Eric about this but I guess the word wasn't passed on.   So here it is again - it will require resizing to one's preference:

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack. My bad. I'll have to repost it on the first page tomorrow.

tigerman

Thanks Jack. My bad. I'll have to repost it on the first page tomorrow.

Ops.. i read the correct end but, as we used in italy to put the day before the month, i read 1 june... LOL

depending on the time frame i might be interested in the BIG CATS build. i could do the revel 8x8 LYNX which fits my genre or a ww2 PUMA. this 8x8 thing is getting crazy. started the base for CENTAURO. probably be a generic muddy rutted road, highr on one side than the other. it's on a 12"x12" beveled stained plaque. all filler for the rises is down and the modeling clay for the road is done. am going to sit outside and do the weathering. experience shows i can over do it in artificial light. also got out the white cotton gloves so i don't leave fingerprints in the powder.

finished. that makes 2 italian (MAIALE) and i am working on BARCHINO attack boat and will be doing an italian floatie thingey for gb. also have a ca POLA started but it need some deck adjustments, add 13mm HMGs and new anchors and screws. this turned out nice. the side rail was a problem and i screwed it up but was able to hide it. headlight pe was not fun and i left off a couple of pieces on the side because any "accuarcy" would have been destroyed with poor looking modeling. hell there can't be more than 6 people in colorado that would even know though i'm sure the WARWHEELS guys would catch it. the paint is MMA green drab, mud is artist's acrylic and dust is weathering powder. ration boxes are from LAV-III, camo net is bandage wrap and straps are tape. the cables are 32 gauge white artificial plant stems rubbed down with metallic gray and weathered. i like these because they are easy to bend to shape. may be a tad big. i am going to talk to my wood ship club guys and see if i can use speaker wire strands and a rope walk. if so i will spend an afternoon making 20' of 3 twist and 4 twist cables. i always luave the tools bare metal though i know we painted them in my unit. just provides a bit of contrast. it is a mean looking ***.

Did someone say BIG CATS????

waynec - the Centauro came out great!!  I really like the look of that vehicle and your's looks just like the real thing!  Excellent work sir!

bsyamato - what can I say?  Superb interior detailing on those planes!  Very inspiring!

Being the slowpoke that I am, I managed to get some work done on the M-13/40 this weekend. 

Removing the incorrectly positioned radiator louvers was quick and easy (less than 5 min).  Adding the darn PE flange around the base was a pain!  The Eduard PE is for the Tamiya kit, not the Zvezda kit, and the inside opening of the flanges are smaller than the outside of the louver housing.  It took a lot of sanding, scraping and swearing to get them to fit.  In hindsight it would have been quicker and easier to have left them off and just add some rivets to the original kit flange. 

With those big openings I felt I had to add something underneath.  After some research I found out that there are simply two horizontally mounted radiators facing up with some type of fan system below.  With that in mind I decided to just scratchbuild a couple of radiators to fill up the empty space.  Nothing fancy, just enough to give an impression of engine workings underneath.  The radiators were made with sheet and strip styrene.

With that done the build progressed pretty smoothly.  Front panel installed:

Rear panel cleaned up.  The big hex bolts on the idler arms were pretty misshapen so I removed them and punched replacements.

Upper hull ready to be installed.  I decided to install all the hatches and the twin MG assembly.

Did a little extra detailing on the twin MG assembly.

Painted the interior Tamiya German Grey, the radiator fins Tamiya Flat Alumium and then gave it a heavy wash with MIG Dark Wash.

Dry fitted together.  Fit is actually pretty good with minimal gaps to fill!

The lower and upper hulls are now glued together as are most of the major panels.  Also did some work on the turret and main gun assembly.  Photos tomorrow.

And lets not forget to all have a GREAT MEMORIAL DAY!

Nice job waynec.That thing looks ready to whip some serious A$$!

Wayne you sure knocked that Centauro out quickly. Great job on the build and the weathering. Thanks for checking into our build.

Ernest, fine work sir. Those radiators look great. I admire replacing the bolts.

For those of you interested, I updated the badge on page 1 with the correct dates.

Thanx bufflehead ,great work on these engine vents !! 

Waynec fine work on the finished centauro!!! realistic weather there

Tigerman with the full june i'm perfeclty in time  

I hope everyone is having a fine Memorial Day! 

I'm back with another update on the M-13/40.  I've been a bit productive at the bench due to the long weekend!

I assembled the main gun, replacing the plastic barrel with the Jordi Rubio aluminum barrel and detailed the rotor a bit. 

The fit of the mantlet to the turret was a bit dodgy and so was the fit of the turret bottom.  I had to trim the sides ot he bottom to fit correctly and modify the shape of the mantlet a bit.  Its not perfect but close enough.

HEY!  Its starting to look like a tank!

There were a few rivets missing from the MG housing so I added them using Grand Line rivets.  I had a mess of those left from my T-26 artillery tractor project last year.

I should be able to get the fenders on, finish up the idler assemblies and start working on all the fiddly bits tonight.

 

waynec, I especially like the camo netting, great looking buld.

thank you. the rear net is elastic bandage wrap that stretches and clings. i rolled it around a fake flower stem. this allows me to bend it to look how i want and be able to wrap it around things. the barrel net is non-clingy white gauz cut bigger and torn to size. that creates some of shreds tangling below. i always liked the way the bundeswehr did that with their leopards.

wayne - cool tips on the elastic bandage wrap and gauze!  I'll have to file that away for future reference.  I would never have thought that's what you used to make the camo netting, you did such a great job!

OK, here's another quick update of the M-13/40.  Most of the major assembly is now done, just need to add all the little details to finish up the assembly and get it painted.  I thinned out the front and back of the fenders to a more scale thickness and then added those oval holes on the inside face of the front fenders.  Don't know what they were used for, but most of the reference pics showed them so I spent the extra time to drill them out.

Now its REALLY starting to look like a tank!

and on to the details....the fast and fun part of the build....

Love all those rivets. Great for weathering and extra pop.

Nice updates bufflehead

heres mine :

first white layer (will use for the fuselage white stripe) 

Sweet Centauro back there!

Ernest - cool 13/40 as well!

Not good about taking in-progress shots these days...but washes etc. have commenced on the 1/48 AB-41, so it won't be long now until she's all done.

Hmmm...are those tumbleweeds I see blowing through here?

The beauty of the 1/48 Tamiya kits is that you can bang them out FAST! Construction was only a couple of days, painting is fast (because it ain't very big), that just leaves a solid chunk of time trying to realistically weather something that small.

Here's my finished product:

Hope you like!

dupes

Hope you like!

What's there not to like?!?!  Snazzy little AB41 dupes!   Nice camo job, beautifully weathered and finished!  I like the base, is it a piece of marble?

Glad you were able to crank her out after hitting the Gb so late. Love the camo and lightly weathered look.

Thanks for participating and don't forget the badge.

Dupes , nice one man

Holy cow!  Nice work Dupes!  That was fast!  Nice idea using the stone slab...

dupes

Hmmm...are those tumbleweeds I see blowing through here?

The beauty of the 1/48 Tamiya kits is that you can bang them out FAST! Construction was only a couple of days, painting is fast (because it ain't very big), that just leaves a solid chunk of time trying to realistically weather something that small.

Here's my finished product:

Hope you like!

We like

these types of wheels was used also after war on civil trucks 

Well done dupes.

very nice. not overly weathered or beat up which is a niice change, especially with axis armor. i have got to practice doing 3 color splotchy camo given how many things used it.

I like very much - nice Airbrushing on the camo.

Hey, thanks guys! Glad everyone likes it.

I may go back and hit her with a little more dust...I think the color I picked out for the mud is a little too dark and blends with the camo too much.

White masked, light grey painted and first try of dark green on ... not totally convinced about the green

what are you trying to do with the green? i like the faded look especially around the tail. would be interesting if the wing streaks went front to back but againg not sure what the end result is suppose to be. what is that blueish grey grren thing in the back? looks like withe a railroad passenger car or a condola for a zepplin. ps finished ths gb but will be adding a BARCHINO some time this month and will be starting on an RO-43 or CANT Z-501 for floatie thingie group build.