Thanks, Bish. I appreciate it. I'm really enjoying this build.

Waynec, Thanks for that info. I have read a bunch of conflicting opinions on the color to paint tracks. In the end, I think they're probably just mostly going to be earth colored. So, it sounds like what the judge said. Now, I just have to get that effect on my tracks that I have already painted rust colored! From now on, I think I'm going to start with a brown black base coat. And then I'll lighten it up with lighter dirt and dust colors and some exposed steel spots. Pretty much as you suggested.

I like that scheme Barrett and nice work on the running gear.

Thanks for the information on what you used and how, I'm kinda still trying to figure stuff like this out. I really like how the oil stains came out.

Wayne: Lol, Steve Zaloga in a manual I have sprays everything an earth colour under the fenders.

weathering is the fun part after the building. painting and decals not so much. i presume these are indy tracks. karl logan, aka THE DOOG, has a great how to in the armor forum for indy tracks. i will review it when i get ready to do them on my JGSDF TYPE 87 spaa.

on the tracks, unless this thing is a wreck, don't do much rust on the tracks. they just don't get rusty when in use. a little dark red brown with a lot of dark gray what add just a hint of color which i like to do.

i was talking with mark, ipms head judge, at breakfast last week and painting came up. one school of thought, which sounds like cheating but makes sense, is any ww2 german armor start with painting everything under the fenders dirt and muddy. wipe off for where the road wheels rub against the track but don't even bother with a base coat.

Gamera, I replied to you earlier, but it doesn't seem to have posted. Thanks for the compliment. I had a lot of fun doing the suspension. I especially like how the wheels turned out. In the end I mixed up some flat dark grey, flat black, rust colored paint, and some AIM rust powder and worked it in on them for a while. It seems to have given them some depth. I like the grease stains around the bolts, too. That's non-diluted black oil paint worked in a little with a cotten swab. Yes, the camo works but I was hoping for more. I'm really surprised how much of an art there is to doing the camo right. A good fading job should eliminate most of the problems. :-)

Thanks, Wayne. I am very pleased with the suspension. I described some of what I did in my reply to Gamera just now. I'm starting to work on the tracks now. I'm making the rigid sections right now. It's a challenge how to glue the rest together, still have them flexible enough in the right places for the bends and sags and also get them painted. I've already hit them with a coat of grey primer and rust while they were on the sprues. I may just have to settle for a couple washes of brown and black and then some light grey and silver highlights. Should be fun--at least if I'm very patient!

you should feel good about the suspension. it turned out really nice.

BD: The camo looks fine to me, and the suspension system looks great!

Eagle90

Hey wayne, well I'd be very interested in seeing that used!  Do you have any reference pics from the internet or anything where you have seen it used?

Eagle90

well the green camo on LCVP went south yet again. in the process of stripping it down, again, i may have discovered an interesting technique for blending camo lines and acrylic paint; spray a litthe SIMPLE GREEN and work it with a green scrub pad. so will try it once e again. OTOH the base coats for 4x6 and 37mm FLAK went great. think i will sponge the truck as it is more likely to be parked under trees.

I figure it's time for another installment of pictures. I haven't attached the body to the chassis yet. I think it's easier to do the various kinds of work on each section if I keep them separate as long as possible. That's why some pieces are still off. They join the two sections together. I decided to apply the 3 color camo scheme in full color. That way I can do fading and weathering effects based on different kinds of exposures. So, for example, I figure the upper vertical surfaces will be more faded than the lower surfaces just above the tracks because these would be in the shade most of the time. They would be mostly discolored from dirt and contact. I'm glad I'm going to do a lot of fading. Some of the camo is only barely passable.

I feel pretty good about the chassis. All I feel I have left to do there is blow on some dirt and dust, and then put the tracks on.

Eagle, your very welcome. The photo is indeed such a great piece of reference in so many ways. I LOVE the Life archives for the gems that I find in there.

Bish, the panels are defintely a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Just like the M2 .50 cal. some things need no improvement. Even from back then. From what I have read, they also used colors such as blue and white, in addition to the red and orange ones currently in use. I know from the air that they are tiny,  but they are visible and it's better than nothing.

stikpusher

jgeratic

Greg - good call on the recognition stars, my Canadian Firefly should of had them too, including one for air recognition, but my photo references did not show any.  I think in many instanceces they did not have time to apply them, or were covered up after a few days in the battle zone.

Boy it has been busy in here the past few days... Great stuff all around! Cody, your 190 is tops! Priller's D-Day mount has long been one of my favorites.

As far as air recognition panels go, they are quite similar to the ones in use still today. Floursecent colored fabric panels with tie down straps in the corners to attach them to the vehicle upper surface. The panels are usually two sided and orders from higher will specify which of the colors will be displayed for what time period. Here is an excellent photo from Life of a typical M4 in Summer 1944 where teh air ID panel can be seen tied down over the engine deck stowage... oh yes the M4 not plain OD but also sports the typical 1st Army camo of black over OD for that time period.

I was wondering if they were the same as what we use now, but I had only seen B&W pics and its hard to tell. But that defiantly looks like the ones we used for both AFV's panels and for markings HLS sites. I guess its something you just can't improve.

Hey wayne, well I'd be very interested in seeing that used!  Do you have any reference pics from the internet or anything where you have seen it used?

Eagle90

Cody nice looking fw.

Eagle i have not tried the sponge technique. May try it on curent 37mm flak or truck.

Cody: Great job there! The camo really does look perfect.

SP: That is a great photo find. I'm trying to finish a Sherman with the black camo stripes right now. And the top hat is pretty cool, maybe I should give one of the the guys a cowboy hat though...

stikpusher

jgeratic

Greg - good call on the recognition stars, my Canadian Firefly should of had them too, including one for air recognition, but my photo references did not show any.  I think in many instanceces they did not have time to apply them, or were covered up after a few days in the battle zone.

Boy it has been busy in here the past few days... Great stuff all around! Cody, your 190 is tops! Priller's D-Day mount has long been one of my favorites.

As far as air recognition panels go, they are quite similar to the ones in use still today. Floursecent colored fabric panels with tie down straps in the corners to attach them to the vehicle upper surface. The panels are usually two sided and orders from higher will specify which of the colors will be displayed for what time period. Here is an excellent photo from Life of a typical M4 in Summer 1944 where teh air ID panel can be seen tied down over the engine deck stowage... oh yes the M4 not plain OD but also sports the typical 1st Army camo of black over OD for that time period.

Eagle90

P.S. you do realize I WILL be looking to add that hat to any figures I use for the D-Day to Berlin GB! 

Cody!  Love the paint job!  Great build!  I think she looks awesome!  

Eagle90

waynec

Eagle90

Gamera

Hey Eagle, she looks great! I wouldn't worry too much about camo on German vehicles since there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason applied- some were very carefully applied with an air gun and others slopped on with a bucket and a mop.

Hey Gamera!  Thank you sir!  It was a blast doing it.  Can't wait to finish her up! 

A mop!  Well now, I'll have to see how I can "simulate" a 1/35 mop and try slapping some camo on with it!  If I could get the scale texture right, it might just work!

Eagle90

the camo is looking good. more importantly IT IS A WARWHEEL!!!!!.  

i tend to paint as if i were the vehicle cdr and when and where i would be fighting. for my 4x6 prime mover and 37mm aa gun, i will do 3 color scheme using MMA for one and TAMIYA for the second. probably a broad blend on one and a splotchy blend on the other. may even try a sponge technique. then again i am considering using this as a practice truck rolled in a ditch to show the undercarraige.

Hey wayne.  Thank you!  You know, as I read your post last night your "sponge" tech really made an impression.  Do you have any examples of this?  I thought I had seen a camo pattern once that looked like you could use a piece of sponge and spot all over a vehicle (couldn't find it last night!).  Like you said, I guess it would depend on the area the yare in and the season.  But that was intriging to me.

Eagle90

Thanks Guys!  I'm glad I was able to squeeze it in for this project!

jgeratic

Greg - good call on the recognition stars, my Canadian Firefly should of had them too, including one for air recognition, but my photo references did not show any.  I think in many instanceces they did not have time to apply them, or were covered up after a few days in the battle zone.

Boy it has been busy in here the past few days... Great stuff all around! Cody, your 190 is tops! Priller's D-Day mount has long been one of my favorites.

As far as air recognition panels go, they are quite similar to the ones in use still today. Floursecent colored fabric panels with tie down straps in the corners to attach them to the vehicle upper surface. The panels are usually two sided and orders from higher will specify which of the colors will be displayed for what time period. Here is an excellent photo from Life of a typical M4 in Summer 1944 where teh air ID panel can be seen tied down over the engine deck stowage... oh yes the M4 not plain OD but also sports the typical 1st Army camo of black over OD for that time period.

Cody - great job on Pips' mount.  

The hard edge markings set against the the soft camou lines really lends to an interesting look.  

regards,

Jack

Lovely build Cody, really nice paint job. Thanks for showing it here.

Here it is finished.  I am happy with the way it came out.  I used all Tamiya Paints and airbrushed it.  It was fun doing an airplane for a change.  

Eagle90

Gamera

Hey Eagle, she looks great! I wouldn't worry too much about camo on German vehicles since there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason applied- some were very carefully applied with an air gun and others slopped on with a bucket and a mop.

Hey Gamera!  Thank you sir!  It was a blast doing it.  Can't wait to finish her up! 

A mop!  Well now, I'll have to see how I can "simulate" a 1/35 mop and try slapping some camo on with it!  If I could get the scale texture right, it might just work!

Eagle90

the camo is looking good. more importantly IT IS A WARWHEEL!!!!!.  

i tend to paint as if i were the vehicle cdr and when and where i would be fighting. for my 4x6 prime mover and 37mm aa gun, i will do 3 color scheme using MMA for one and TAMIYA for the second. probably a broad blend on one and a splotchy blend on the other. may even try a sponge technique. then again i am considering using this as a practice truck rolled in a ditch to show the undercarraige.

Gamera

Lol, what you've got is perfect Eagle. If you should want to try the 'mop' in the future you can use a big fat brush and just slop the camo paint on or just airbrush it in a sloppy intentionally rough finish!

Intentionally sloppy!  I can do that! 

Eagle90

Lol, what you've got is perfect Eagle. If you should want to try the 'mop' in the future you can use a big fat brush and just slop the camo paint on or just airbrush it in a sloppy intentionally rough finish!

Gamera

Hey Eagle, she looks great! I wouldn't worry too much about camo on German vehicles since there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason applied- some were very carefully applied with an air gun and others slopped on with a bucket and a mop.

Hey Gamera!  Thank you sir!  It was a blast doing it.  Can't wait to finish her up! 

A mop!  Well now, I'll have to see how I can "simulate" a 1/35 mop and try slapping some camo on with it!  If I could get the scale texture right, it might just work!

Eagle90

68GT

No, just kind of over this one and want to be done.  measure with a scale and marked with pencil but when I taped thing they just didn't turn out exactly they way things were meant to be.

I'm going to have to make some of the white thinner and black wider.

Wish I could say that is the way it looked but I can't.

Hey Eagle, she looks great! I wouldn't worry too much about camo on German vehicles since there didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason applied- some were very carefully applied with an air gun and others slopped on with a bucket and a mop.