Hey great work guys!

And glad to hear you doing better Black Sheep!

Here's my painted Sherman. Needs a little touching up and other fixes, but not bad I think. I painted a P-40 last weekend with my Aztek airbrush and got good results, but I wasn't happy with how it handled on this model. I figured it would be a good time to upgrade, so I picked up a Badger 350 with a coupon. Looking forward to using it, but I have to get the right fitting for it. BTW, I am in love with Tamiya acrylics.

That's coming along nicely Steve.

Blacksheep, sounds like things are progressing nicely, and ye, enjoy the time off while you can.

Steve: Looks good! And yes, Tamiya paint airbrushes beautifully!

And congrads on the new airbrush- I'm a committed Paasche man now but I owned a couple of Badgers years ago and the 350 was far and away the most trouble-free, dependable one I had.  

Raven that coat of OD looks great. nice and smooth.

Well today I finally began work on my Marauder. I just cut the major pieces off the sprues and did clean up work on ejector pin marks on the interior fuselage surfaces that will be visible. It's ready for base color coat now.

Finally got a chance to work on my LCVP and I can't believe all the flash on this kit.  I think I got most of it on the ramp, interior framing, and the bulkheads.  Still having issues with the ring of flash on the rope bumper though.

Nice to see this started bob, sound like you have your work cut out.

Finally getting going on this.  Here are my sprue pics.

This will be across-over build with the 1944 GB.  It's going to be OOB with the decals for "Old Crow" flown by Bud Anderson.  I've been dragging my feet starting this because it'll be the first model I've built in over 20 years.  But, I gotta start sometime...here goes!

Silentbob, what kit is that?

Tamiya acrylics have been a blessing for me. I've tried almost all of the other major brands in acrylic and enamel, but nothing sprays like some thinned Tamiya.

It's the Lindberg 1/32 LCVP, although as far as I can gather it measures in closer to 1/35.  In addition to all the flash I'll have to do a few other things to accurize it.

It looks like a nice kit, you'll just have to take your time with those clean ups.

The Lindberg LCVP is an ok kit. It certainly shows its age and heritage. But with some work will look the part when built.

Today before work I airbrushed the interior base color in the fuselage- Humbrol 56, Aluminum. Now I am trying to decide if and how much add on detail I may add to spruce up the interior. Photos in the next few days when I am off work.

I'm learning that as I go stickpusher.  I've found some places to add detail, like panels and hinges for the engine compartment, and some hatches on the rear deck.  The biggest pain will be sanding off the molded on rope sitting back there right where the hatches need to go.

Yeah that rope molding is a pain indeed. I also thinned down the gun shields and replaced the kit .30's with a pair from the Academy US Machine Gun sets.

I've been eyeing that Academy set as well...and lots of figure kits much to my wife's dismay.  I keep telling myself all in good time ;)

If you pick up the Academy MG set for your LCVP, you will need two. Each only comes with two .30's and a different pintle cradle mount for each one. So in order to get a matching pair you will need two sets. But then you will have plenty of very nice .50's to replace any mediocre ones on other kits you may have...

silentbob, stik made me get that same kit for my M4.  I'm beginning to think he's getting some kind of commission from these sales . . .

They are nice guns though.  The .50s, not your biceps.

I receive no such gratuities... Only the peace of mind from knowing I have helped a fellow modeler ;-)

Budding Tamiya fans I see. I prefer water based acrylics for a lot of reasons, but Tamiya is the brew of choice for many top modelers because it airbrushes so well especially at very thin mixtures. If you're not doing it, you should use lacquer thinner with either Tamiya or Gunze paints. What defines an acrylic paint is very much in the eye of the beholder, but both Tamiya and Gunze Mr. Color paints are solvent based. (Note the flammable and toxic warnings - getting that stuff on the bottle caused a shortage of both brands a couple years back as they changed their labels.) Unless you're very careless I can't think of any reason to think that either are unsafe. But you will find that both react exceptionally well to lacquer thinner - with the following qualification. Do not use hardware store lacquer thinner on plastic - it's much too strong. (Not bad for roughing up PE before priming though.) There's a "green" lacquer out there, and I use it all the time for airbrush cleaning. But what you want is Tamiya Lacquer Thinner - not their A-20 Acrylic Thinner. The chemical make-up of the two is very different. (A-20 is mostly ISP.) Tamiya's lacquer thinner comes in bottles with a yellow cap. Gunze Mr. Color Thinner is almost the same and either work fine with Tamiya or Gunze paint. But I'd track down some Gunze Mr. Levelling Thinner. You might have to go to eBay, but that stuff does wonders. (If you can't find it, the regular lacquer will do just fine.)  All the branded lacquer thinners interact well with the solvent agent and don't degrade the coherence of the paint seriously. They also come with some drying retarder to help with airbrush tip clogging which will happen very quickly with Tamiya using A-20. (Put some ISP in a little cup and some lacquer thinner - watch how fast the ISP evaporates.) This really shines when you do detailing or camo painting that requires a very thin mixture and low psi. I can see why armor gurus like Mig Jimenez love the stuff.

Eric

Note to self: do not tinker with an in progress build you are considering modifying before bedtime. Last nite after work I did just that. I was mulling over adding the radio compartment detail in my Marauder, so I went thru my spares bin to see what I had to do such a task. Then I went to bed. A few hours later, before first light when I am normally in my deepest sleep ( normally go to bed between 1am and 2am after work), I wake up alert as can be and with ideas on just how to do such things to my Marauder and make it a bit more visible to boot aside from the two very small windows. Eventually I went back to sleep. But now after losing those hours of sleep I suppose I should do it...

Do things like that happen to anyone else here?

Oh yes Stik, I painted my Sherman probably a half-dozen times while dreaming and half awake. 

No, stik.  There's something seriously wrong with you.  

bitbite

No, stik.  There's something seriously wrong with you.  

More than you know my freind 

Raven, glad to know that I will have company when the men in the white coats arrive...

Ok, if there are no photos, it didnt happen, so here we go...

first up, a base coat of Humbrol Aluminum in the interior

then a close up on the cockpit rear bulkhead, front and rear, that my midnite sleep creativity told me to alter... apologies for the poor focus, but you get the idea

first step- open the molded in curtains

then a rummaging thru my spares bin for radio gear salvaged off of old builds now gone...

and finally I put some assemblies together... with glue!!!

Cockpit and bombardier deck

wings

and the horizontal stablizers

more to follow in the near future...

Hmmmmmmm, SP, I go the opposite way- you wake up to model, I doze off while trying to model....

She looks good, I really like the radio gear you're adding. Have the same kit in the stash, I'll be watching see what tricks and techniques you use here on yours. 

Check out this gorgeous dame. 'Dinah Might' - Utah Beach Museum, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Normandy, France.

Now I want to build a bomber. Must focus!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................... NICE!!!!!

Nice to see you started stik.

Nice pic raven.

Yes I am finally in the game!

Which is more than I am at the min.