No worries SS, sounds like your keeping busy.

jgeratic, your build is looking great!

I managed to fill in the panel lines at the bottom by masking the area around them (to not lose any detail) and spray several coats of Alclad microfiller on those areas, but I didn't mae any progress otherwise. I'll have a look at how it works out on the upper surfaces, but I have no bench time at all ATM...

SS, how you getting on with those panel lines. Mr Surfacer doesn't seem that easy to find in the UK either. Have you tried Amazon.

Jack, well we all live and learn.

Not much achieved at the bench this past week.  The type T54E2 resins tracks arrived from Tank Workshop, so I set about completing the spare links on the front hull.  I also got the base colours on the two spare wheels.

The quality of the tracks, again, is hit and miss.  Every second link has an excess chunk of resin in one corner.  This has to be cleaned out in order for the adjoining link to fit in .  I noticed too that the odd guide tooth wasn't fully formed, resulting in a broken tip appearance (I didn't count how many as I was already discouraged enough).  

In hindsight now, with the amount of time and money going into this one, I should have opted for  1/35 scale, and I would still have some coin left for several servings of V8.

regards,

Jack

Mr Surfacer is really hard to get here in Austria. I only have access to Alclad's "primer and microfiller" ATM...

Yeah, you might try something like microfiller. I like Mr. Surfacer which is great stuff if you can find it.

I didn't get anything done on my jug, but here are some pics of those screwed up panel lines for you. Any advise would be great:

That one's probably the worst looking of them. It's about twice as thick as all the other panel lines. I don't want it to be completely perfect, because there won't be any NMF in this area because of the invasion stripes, but it should look similar to the other panel lines at least...

The panel lines at the bottom are not a huge problem, I think some layers of microfiller should fill them in enough to make them look good enough...

Looking really good jack. can't wait to add this to the front page.

Jack: The turret looks great, and the hull doesn't look half bad either!

She looks fantastic, Jack! I love the well weathered look!

BlackSheep, yes I've had that happen to me before with an awkward sleeping position resulting in a sore elbow.  Take care and hope you mend up soon.

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Have some initial weathering done.  Concentrating mostly on the turret - I was switching back and forth with that and the hull while dealing with the clear decals that have the vehicle's number and nick name. Didn't keep count, but did well over half dozen  layers of future and sanding, repeating the procedure to get rid of the decal edge.

The upper hull sides have nothing added since last post, just some flat spray.

regards,

Jack

Haven't been able to resume finishing my P-47. Too busy dealing with a pinched nerve on my right hand (my good hand). Didn't sleep well at all Thursday night for it hurts like hell. Took off the hand brace today and still have some lingering numbness on my middle and next to the pinky finger. Wanted to do some masking and airbrushing but it's a no go for now.

Gonna see how I feel later tonight or Sunday.

Note to self - never sleep with your good hand in same position whilst you sleep.

I am with you there jibber.

Great, I'd love to see it. Your basses are interesting and have a nice effect.

jibber

Wayne, I'd like to see you do a separate tutorial on the boards you make. They really look great and enhance the model without distracting from it. I personally would like to "board" a lot of my kits.

thank you. actually i am working on an article for club newsletter that should easily translate into a tutorial and i pulled out a75mm PAK w/crew from an old d-day diorama, pin washed t and may do a new base mit soldaten.

That explains it, we still use those symbols today. Triangle for A Coy/Sq, square for B, circle for C a D on its side for support and a diamond for HQ. They then have a 2 digit vehicle call sign inside the symbol.

Bish and Clemens, thank you.

The circle marking denotes C squadron.  I've not much info the the black centers, but seems to have appeared mid-war, and the Dieppe churchills are a good example.  I'm not sure if their use became obsolete by '44, but photos show Canadian Shermans  sill implementing  the dark centers.  I've even found an example from the Korean War (2nd pic below):

regards,

Jack

Gamera

Thanks guys! Since everyone so far likes the pigments I suppose I'll just leave them as is. I'm going to post her over on the armour forum later so let's see if they have any advice. Just kinda annoying that I did the whole colour modulation thing and some dot filters and with all the sand and dust you can't see any of it!!!

Wayne: Actually I've been staring at the model on and off for about two-three weeks here while fiddling with the pigments!

oh i know that feeling. i did an IFOR canadian GRIZZLEY in black and green camo using silly putty. decided to try something new and airbrushed dirt using REAL DEAL weathering "paints". i like the way it turned out but it hid a lot of stuff

Thanks guys! Since everyone so far likes the pigments I suppose I'll just leave them as is. I'm going to post her over on the armour forum later so let's see if they have any advice. Just kinda annoying that I did the whole colour modulation thing and some dot filters and with all the sand and dust you can't see any of it!!!

Wayne: Actually I've been staring at the model on and off for about two-three weeks here while fiddling with the pigments!

Jack: Marvellous work, as always!

Cliff: She's looking great! I don't see anything wrong with the sand either. Everything looks damn nice to me!

Wayne, I'd like to see you do a separate tutorial on the boards you make. They really look great and enhance the model without distracting from it. I personally would like to "board" a lot of my kits.

i think it looks great. put it aside and look at something new for a day or 2 before going back and making a decision. my FLAK 43 looked like crap right up to putting it on the base. i have found time makes things look better and trying to wash everything may make things worse.

Gamera I think it really works, the wash and the dusting. The figures are a cool, nice build.

Thanks! If you guys think it looks ok as is I'll just leave it, I've been fiddling with the thing for way too long now, I need to move on to something else!

Bish, please go ahead and use whichever photo you think works the best.

Jack, looking good. I like those markings, not seen that circle one before. I have not used Flory's washes on armour, but I like the look of it.

Gamera, I have been looking at that for a few minutes and can't see anything wrong. There would defiantly be sand all over the vehicle especially with all the other vehicles and troops on the beach throwing sand up every where. I really like the look you have.

If your happy for me to put one of those on the front page, I was thinking of second from bottom. If you decide to remove some of the pigment, I can always replace it.

Gamera, thanks for that about my build.

Regarding your's, the profile shots look fantastic!  The two top views do look washed out, maybe the camera didn't help matters here?

If you have a gloss coat underneath, you should be able to remove a good portion of the sand pigment.  Try just water first before resorting to something harsh.  This is sort of a technique Michael uses in his Tank Art books, gently brushing on thinner to remove top layers and expose original paint.

You might try some fine sandpaper in the open areas, just watch you don't obliterate any fine details.  Hope you can get it back to where you wanted it.

regards,

Jack

Well, anyway here she is. The more I look at the pigment 'sand' the more I dislike it- I'm thinking of washing all of it off. I started with a little around the running gear then figured the crew would track it up and on the vehicle. I didn't really like that so I ended up spreading it everywhere - which was probably a mistake. Anyway I thought I'd post her and ask for opinions before I tried to take it off.

Jack: Looks good! The decals came out great and I love the rainmarks on the hull sides.

Weekend was spent on designing, and then affixing my home made decals.  There is a loading number chalked in white on the front, but plan to try to replicate that later in the build using a very sharp  pencil crayon.  

Those markings that were printed on white decal paper still need their edges touched up.  These set of pics looks to have some darker hues on the vehicle, but is all due to the application of the future coat.  I have started some weathering on the lowers.  Just a couple basic washes with Flory's product, followed with some wiping away with a damp brush.

regards,

Jack

ps - forgot to mention the font used for the serial number can be found here, a free download:

http://www.dafont.com/mailart-rubberstamp.font