Well, painting is coming along nicely.  All I have left to do is the top-side olive drab and to finish the drop tanks and propeller nose.

that they are and i have, once again, overcommitted. i have to either build a lot more or refocus on my root building, which right now is warwheels and trucks, mostly 1/35 and modern, but some ww2 and big 1/72 kits and a few tracks. and commercial trucks, mostly firetrucks.i may have to forego airplanes and boats for a while except the in progress 1/35 stuff.

Yes, GBs are qute addictive!

Nice start bob. And once your hooked on GB's, there no going back.

Eric, nice to see this one under way. I have never added foliage either, so will be interested to see what others say and your end result.

Bob: Very cool! I hate molded on detail like the rope there.

Eric: The Tamiya Cromwell is a gem of a kit, you could probably build it blindfolded it fits so well. Looks like a pile of camo netting draped over the Cromwell and the TD behind her. I have some at home but I don't remember which brand it is.

Bob: if you're interested in walk around pics of an original WWII Higgins boat used in 7 Pacific island invasions, look here: http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/walkarounds/boatsandships/Higgins/

I'm going to start on a Tamiya Cromwell - fits because it debuted at Normandy. Looking at photos from the period make it pretty clear that both sides were using foliage in the campaign. Here are some Cromwells getting ready for Goodwood in July:

I've never used foliage on a model before. There are a lot of products available to emulate it. Any tips on what to look into?

Think I just found my answer on the wing stripes.  White identity bands on green wings and black on NM wings.

I might be doing the "Jersey Bounce" or "Geronimo" since I know the decals are for craft with invasion stripes on the fuselage and wings.

I taught the Longest Day in my history classes yesterday, so I thought I'd make some progress on my LCVP.  After lots and lots of cleanup, I have the deck and ramp done minus the string to hold the ramp.

Next step is going to be removing the molded on rope so I can make some hatches for the rear deck.

There's a lot of incredible work going on, I can't believe how much I'm learning just from looking at your posts.  Now I can see why GBs can be addicting

The single white stripes were Theater ID markings. The P-51& P-47 had white stripes around the wings, & tail planes, on OD over Netral Gray and black bands in the same position on NMF aircraft in the ETO

I have a question on the wing stripes.  amongst the choices I see single white on top and bottom, single white on top with a single black on the bottom and the traditional 3-2 of white and black all around.  Are the single stripes supposed to be or did they just misprint in the guide?

Looks to be a good kit and well equipped with bazookas, bombs, metal tanks and paper tanks.

68, welcome aboard, your now on the roster.

SP: More nice work there- the stringers or whatever you call the interior framework look really impressive!

Ed & Mike: Great to see some P-51s here! I tend to hang weapons off P-47s and tanks off P-51s but I'm not sure anyone could tell you it's wrong if you use the bombs and rockets on a P-51. I haven't been able to find many photos of the triple bazooka type rocket launchers hung on anything and they apparently weren't used very often but bombs seem pretty commonly carried.

I want to put the rockets and bombs on mine, but no photos I've been able to find show Old Crow with them on; just the drop tanks.  Does anyone have any knowledge (or educated guess) as to what ordinance they would have had during the invasion?

On D-Day they flew into France for the sole purpose of harassing the Luftwaffe, so I assume they'd just go with the extra fuel if they were anticipating air-to-air combat.  But, starting D-Day +1 they went on strafing runs, so I would think they'd then want the rockets and bombs...?

That's actually the site where I got the mission info from.  The Eagle Strike decals depict a P-51B, 43-24283.  It's olive with the gray bottom and a Malcolm hood.  It also shows three kills so I'm not sure if it was before or after the one in your link or if someone got the graphics wrong.

Was thinking of just hanging metal or the paper tanks below and no bombs or rockets.

That's the kit I'm building, 68GT.  Although I'm just doing it OOB as Bud Anderson's "Old Crow".  I'd love to see someone else do the same kit.

If you go with Bill Overstreet's "Berlin Express" check this page out...if you haven't already.  www.cebudanderson.com/357profileberlinexpress.htm

Today's update: last night I added some more framework in the bomb bay. And then I ran out of my thinnest strip styrene, so today it was a trip to the LHS for more. I also picked up some channel styrene, which was perfect for the first task that I had today. Build the ammo feed chutes for the tail guns.

after which I glued them in place along with some salvaged ammo boxes

then I built up a catwalk for the rear bomb bay- again only partially visible once everything is closed up, but it conceals the lower part of that area and the work that I did not do there 

next I created a pair of gunners jump seats from some bench seats salvaged out of an old C-47 build, along with the track rails for the gunner's window hatches

then a test fit of all the rear components in place so far...

getting kinda busy back there...

Bish

Steve, personally, I think the oil wash needs to be darker. Its pretty hard to see, but then I am pretty new to that sort of thing myself.

I agree; I'm going to give it another try, but with raw umber instead of burnt umber....   Thanks for the input, Bish.

Thanks Bish. I blame it all on Shepard Paine...

stik, that's coming along nicely, a lot of work your putting in there.

Eric, that's a great looking build there.

Mike, nice work. As much as we might strive to be as accurate as possible, we can only do so much and some we have to say that enough.

Steve, personally, I think the oil wash needs to be darker. Its pretty hard to see, but then I am pretty new to that sort of thing myself.

Well, you might as well use those spare parts here unless you were saving them for another project. 

I'm just so lazy though it takes me forever to build anything much less then adding yet more detail to something... 

LOL! Well Eduard does make a set of useful things that you CAN see if you choose to add to the interior. I do not know what has gotten in to me here. I know that this is a one time only Marauder build for me, as all the stuff that I am adding from my salvaged/spares bin can not be replaced at this time. unless I just skip building a few kits in my stash and send them straight to the spares bin themselves...

Eric: That is one beautiful Avenger!

SP: Very cool! Though I think I'm going to wuss out and build my Marauder straight-outta-da-box and not add a bunch of cool stuff since those windows are sooooooo small!

EB, that is a beautiful build of that TBM. 

well more scracth work today. this time in teh gunners compartment and rear bomb bay. The rear bomb bay is barely gonna be visible, only thru two small windows in the bomb doors now that I have created another bulkhead for inside the fuselage, and thru an open passageway in that bulkhead. So here we go.

first up, I had to sand off some of the interior aluminum paint and then I added a bit more rib work inside the fuselage using strip stryrene

Then I cut out two circles, for rear fuselage interior bulkheads. Why two? because I needed to create some partial ones, so two were needed. Then on the primary I added and ribbing and cut out the hatchway. In photos that I found, this bulkhead had no hatch and appears to be permanently open into the rear bomb bay- sorry that the flash drowned out most of my work. It took a long time to do the fine tuning sanding here before I could glue things in place

then a test fit in place... not perfect, but close enough

afterwards I had to scratch a shelf for the top turret. the lightening holes are only approximations of what is really there. and the rear partial bulkhead from the second one that I made- with some ribbing work from more strip styrene. Starting to run low. I need to make a run to the hobby shop for more for this project.

next I glued more of that second bulkead to the top of the rear wall of the front bomb bay, added some rib work and the hatch that I cout out of the other bulkhead

then I glued the turret shelf in place on the scratch bulhead and gave them a test fit

more to come tomorrow...

The Accurate Miniature SBD and TBM are both brilliant kits. I built their TBM as it appeared in Atlantic service on USS Bogue for the 1943 GB. (Actually kind of fits here - the some of the US "hunter-killer" groups were covering the Bay of Biscay area as part of the huge and successful effort to keep U-boats out of the Channel during the Normandy campaign.) I have two of their SBDs - one's going to get RNZAF garb and have examined the kit closely and it looks very goood.

Eric

Yup, you can mull over perfection and accomplish nothing, or make a decision and go with what you have or can get and get something done...