Thanks, Bish. I've bought some model car kits in the last few months, but haven't started any yet. For some reason, the WWII period really fascinates me. I still have a lot to learn, clearly. Last November was the first time I sat down to build a model of any kind since I was around 12 years old, way back in '66. I'm going to finish my King Tiger, partly to try to improve some skills and partly for a break from the demands of lots of detail. Then, I think I'll build a Dragon Wagon or a FAMO, both of those look like pretty intensive builds. I hope you keep doing Group Builds. I want to sign up for another soon.

That's a really nice job there Barrett. If that's only your second model, I certainly hope your not got to wait 48 years before your next one.

Do you do armour, or other subjects as well?

Thanks, Gamera. I feel pretty good about how it turned out. I think the Tiger will be easier, too, not only because the pieces are bigger but there's practically no interior work to do! This sparty had all kinds of little pieces that had to be detailed. The Tiger has a few tools and some cables, and that's about it.

BD: Looks good! I really like how the interior came out.

Funny I think the Tiger will probably be easier to build simply because it's a bigger vehicle, I find smaller stuff like this harder to work with.

Bish, Thanks for a great experience with this Group Build. I appreciate you letting me join it late and with a partially finished project. This is my second completed model since about 1966! I built a 7.5cm PAK 40 for practice, got bogged down on a King Tiger, and then decided to enter this GB with a Bronco Models 10.5cm LEFH18(SF) auf Geschutzwagen 39H(F). I learned a lot with this build, and plan to revisit the King Tiger with my newfound skills. Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and pointers. This has been great fun. OK, now to the pictures. There are plenty of mistakes, so don't look too closely, but I hope everyone enjoys something about them.

My invasion stripes are the same width. I actually took a period photo and referenced bits on the aircraft to see where they stopped and then measured the whole distance on the model and divided by 5. Kinda a round about way of doing it, but I only had measurements for the P-38, P-47, and P-51, all of which had different widths from each other.

CMK02 & Gary: Those look great guys! Keep the photos coming.

Actually the invasion stripes should be the same width on the fuselage and wings. Instructions specified 18 inch wide stripes on single engined aircraft, and 24 inch wide stripes on twin engined and larger. So a C-47 should have 24 inch wide stripes on both the wings and fuselage. In 1/72 scale that translates out to 1/3 of 1 inch, or a bit under 8.5mm as 1 inch equals 25.4mm.

Dak all over the place. Nice work GAF, and those stripes look god to me. And I think its usually a good call to go with the references rather than the kit instructions.

Nice job on the masking and painting, Gary.  Stripes like that are a challenge.

Managed to finish scribing (I think--there's probably something lurking out there I missed).

Now I get to start masking the canopies, which is always fun.

Okay, where to start...

68GT (Ed)>  The P-51 looks great to my eyes.  The stripes are fine, and after looking at a few pictures of the aircraft with invasion stripes, I think it just looks odd because the stripes cover so much of the airframe.

Shiv>  Good work on Pips' 190!  Like the colors.

BarrettDuke>  Not an armor guy.  The tracks look fine to me!  Splash some mud on 'em and let her go!

CMK02> She's coming along nicely.  You and I will once again race to get our models done before the GB ends!

B17Pilot> That's really a great rendition of Revell/Monogram's C-47.  I follow your's with more than interest because I'm doing her little sister.  Everything looking good!

As for my own build, I've managed to get the invasion stripes on.

One thing I didn't do was follow Italeri's instructions about the width of the striping.  I checked with another build and looked in "Osprey Combat Aircraft 24 - C-47 / R4D Units of the ETO and MTO".  At 1:72nd scale, Italeri was calling for stripes on the wings to be 9.5mm and the body 8.5mm.  This didn't jive with what I read and the color schemes in the book.  They should actually be about 7.4mm on the wings and 9mm on the body.  I went with the other two sources instead of Italeri's.

Now I'm getting wheels, props and minor things painted up.  I've also started masking for the de-icing boots, so those will be done soon.

I still have a bunch of seam and touch up work to do (including putting a finger into a still wet invasion stripe).  Well, I can't say I didn't leave my mark!  Need to start work on new decals sometime!

She'll be ready for the big day!

Gary

Probably more than I know about ships.

Its coming on check. I can't say I have ever tried to scribe over super glue, I will make a note yo try and avoid it.

Just goes to show how much (little) I know about AFV's and tracks!

The C-47 looks good, B-17pilot.  Nice work with the paint!

After a lot of filing and sanding, I think I've got the seams conquered.  Now I still have a few panel lines to re-scribe.

I've discovered that superglue as a filler doesn't take overly well to scribing.  Must be it cures too hard.  I found it worked best to cut a preliminary line with an x-acto, then scribe along that for the engraving.

The black electrical tape is there because I used it as a flexible way to guide the scribing tool.

No worries Barrett. I've worked on more tracks than I care to remember, the bain of any AFV drivers life.

Awesome work!  I love the paint job on the C-47, and to my untrained eye those tracks look pretty good

Thanks, Bish. That's very helpful. I appreciate it.

B17, nice, I like it. Good job on the tail codes as well.

We have just over 2 weeks left guys, and over half of the builds are completed with a good number coming close, so thanks all for the great builds and all the great effort.

Barrett, nice work there, I like the look of the tracks. The only thing extra I would add is wear where the wheels run along the track and on the track teeth and also on the face of the track links where it contacts the ground.

Rust does build up quickly on tracks where the vehicle is sitting idle for a few days but it very soon comes off once you start moving, and that's just running on roads, never mind dusty conditions with more where.

B17 - I like the way your stripes came out.

Barrett - Rust generally accumulates on track when not in use so the more they are run through dirt the more of the rust will be warn off.  Tracked construction equipment is the same way.  Could be sitting for weeks or months but after a few hours most of the rust or paint (if new) is warn off.

Thanks for your thoughts Checkmateking. Yes, not sure about the rust thing. I actually had them painted entirely in rust originally, but I wasn't so sure one would see the rust on tracks that were running through fields and over dusty roads. Maybe I'll see if I can put some rust in a few corners on the tracks and see what that looks like.

Looks like a nasty seam to fill. I have a terrible time eliminating all evidence of a seam. Good luck on the sanding. Bomb bay looks really good.

Nice!!! I like your code letter stencils too!

Looks good to me, BarrettDuke.  I'm not an armor modeler, so I don't know--do tracks rust?  If they do, maybe a little rust color?  Otherwise, it looks suitably grimy and muddy to me.  I'm not much of a hand at weathering (and getting it to look good), so I'd say your efforts are very realistic and impressive.

Thanks, Bish and Gamera.

But while I was concerned with gaps between the fuselage sections, maybe I should have been concerned about the fit of the nose itself.  The bottom seam closed up relatively tight, but there was a sizeable gap on top.

So I dolloped on the superglue, and will apply myself to sanding this mess down when it's dried.

I've been working on the tracks for my geschutzwagen and I thought I'd see if I'm getting the effect I am trying for. I still want to embed some dirt in some of the links and need to dust them up some, but do the tracks come across as very realistic?

Great work, Shivinigh. Congratulations. The weathering looks fantastic.

Shiv: Looks prefect to me- good work!!!

CMK02: Looks like you've got the nose gap taken care of! Yeah, just a little filler and she's look like any other panel line.

Nice work shiv, I have added it to the front page. Thank you.

Looking good there CMK. I notice that kit comes with the armour plating for the flight crew, that's a nice touch. I had to add that myself on the Hase kit.

I got the rear fuselage glued together, and began test fitting the nose pieces.  Held together with tape, they line up pretty well.  I was concerned about a huge gap between the fore and aft sections.

What little gap there is should be easy enough to fill with diluted white glue; then concealed with a dark wash after the OD goes on.

I've also got the wings and horizontal stabilizer assembled, and painted the leading edges with Floquil's Old Silver to represent the removed de-icer boots.

Nice work, shivinigh!  That type of camouflage is not easy to do.  Congratulations on a job well done.

Look out on the beaches here comes 'Pips". My completed FW-190