I look forward to seeing your DD here. Can you really complete it before the end of this GB?

Bish

silentbob33

I knew that boat was small but holy cow!  I would have gone blind trying to do what you did.  I'm with Bish, I'll stick to larger scales.

Its not often 72nd gets referred to as a larger scale

Very true! You have steadier hands than I SP. 

yeah, but I need a third or fourth hand in this hobby sometimes...

That's some mighty fine decal work, Stik! Damn that stuff is small...

SchattenSpartan

That's some mighty fine decal work, Stik! Damn that stuff is small...

Thank you... you're telling me about small... in the middle of the process was one of those "what was I thinking?" moments... but it all worked out with no cursing or flying schnellboots...

I think I'll get it done. I've never done a "state of the art" ship model, but the DML DDs are very highly thought. The paint job is measure 21 which is relatively simple and I'll stick with the kit's PE so I won't have PE depth charges. We'll live with it. I'm hoping it will be pretty straight forward and the part count isn't in the stratosphere. If I'm wrong, it'll go to the 1944 GB. But we need a ship in this build - allied gunfire (not to mention supply and communications) was vital to victory in Normandy.

Eric

stikpusher

SchattenSpartan

That's some mighty fine decal work, Stik! Damn that stuff is small...

Thank you... you're telling me about small... in the middle of the process was one of those "what was I thinking?" moments... but it all worked out with no cursing or flying schnellboots...

That's why I prefer building aircraft. There is at least some chance of them simply gliding across the room if I send them flying...

Time for another quick update.  The 1/72nd Italeri C-47 is back on the workbench and is starting to progress.  My last update was in June, 2013, so it's about time to finish this up!

I've managed to clean up the parts and have given the interior a "basic" paint job.  Still need to finish it up, but I'm not worried that much about the insides.  Once this thing is closed up, unless you run a fiber-scope inside, you won't see much.

Test fitting some parts.

I'm off tomorrow for Good Friday, so I might be able to get some work done on this thing.  The weather and God willing!

Gary

Hey Gary, looks good! I hope you're going to put the interior in there before you start gluing- I've started cementing the fusilege together and then looked down 'um, there's a cockpit sitting there on the bench.... DUH!!!'

Nice work, Gary!

Cliff: Something similar happened to me when building Tamiya's P-47 Razorback. I noticed that I forgot to put in the IP after glueing the fuselage together and sanding all the seam lines smooth. Luckily Tamiya kits are very forgiving and I managed to squeeze it in after shortening the mounting pins...

Thanks!  I'll try to remember about the cockpit...  which part what was that again?? 

Really, if I forgot to put the cockpit in no one would notice.  It's just not easy to see anything inside, and I'm building it with the cargo doors closed anyway.

I'm actually concerned about the windshield.  It's a single part and you have to mate it in both sides.  Sounds like a recipe for screw-up.  I'm thinking about cutting it in two and gluing the halves separately.  The center frame after it is painted should cover the cut... if they match up okay.

Does anyone have some experience with gluing windshields like that?  I can't see any way of placing it after the fuselage halves are glued together.

Gary

Here is my fix. It could be better but it works.

That looks sharp 68!

Cockpit blues have hit me more than once. And I look forward to mastering the canopy - that makes sense because it's so visible. But matters like this show different approaches to the hobby. Unless you're taking a model to a show or a club, it's pretty unlikely that matters of detail are noticed by anyone except yourself - and the people on the boards who see photos. I admit that I don't spent extra time on cockpits and wouldn't consider buying after market parts for one because nobody is going to see it - including myself after it's put on a shelf. Other model genres have different places to show dedication to detail. Both tank and ship modelers will go to remarkable extents to - almost literally - create the correct rivets. A real tank fanatic might well spend $50 on metal tracks. (I've got to try that just to try it - probably on some German thing with lots of sag.) Ship modelers often get two sets of PE, do a lot of scratch building (even I scratch brass masts) and track down fly tying line that's almost impossible to see and requires a lot of time to rig a ship with. (And if you build waterline, some kind of base is almost essential.) Actually I'm glad that people will do the research and show respect for technical fidelity of the subjects they model. It's those modelers that set a high standard for the hobby and create a market for better kits, better paints etc. But I'll never be one of them.

Eric

Nice to see this one back Gary, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about us.

68, that's looking very nice.

I'm enjoying building this Bronco Models 10.5cm LEFH18(SF) sparty for the GB. Here are the inside walls of the fighting compartment. I did some chipping on a metal box that looks like it might have been a firstaid kit or something. It looks like it must have slipped in and out of some brackets. I've seen some people do aftermarket of this and there may actually have been three small metal boxes, but I'm just working OOB. I also imagined that the ammo crates were wood. I could be wrong about that, but I liked the look. I still need to do lots more weathering and distressing. 

Nice work Barrett.

When you post pics, use the Use rich formatting link and then you will see the link to post pics directly into the post rather than just the link.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks, in the preview, it shows the pics. I'll figure out what I did wrong and fix it.

So, I managed to get the bogie assemblies built and installed on the M4 this weekend.  I pre-painted the road wheels to make it easier.

Did I mention how I hate painting headlights?  Well, I do, so I drilled them out so I can install MV lenses later.

That's all for now....I'm off to paint the hull.

Nice work Greg, what are MV lenses, not heard of those.

Bish: they are simulated light lenses from M.V. Products. They come in a wide assortment of sizes, colors and combinations.  Just google image "M.V. Products" (www.google.com/search) or "MV Lenses" (www.google.com/search)

Thanks, they look handy.

Bish: they are very handy....especially for headlights, spotlights, and the underwing recognition lights on those wingy-thingies.

I also got the turret sanded and painted.

The markings are next and then I'll install the gun & mantlet.  After that is the weathering phase.

Greg: Looks good! Very nice job with the rough cast texture.

I agree with the rough texture comment. I can't see how tanks during WW2 can have smooth surfaces right off the factory lines. I'm liking the MV links as well. Something to think about for future builds.

It depends upon the type of armor- rolled/pressed or cast. Cast armor has the rough texture, but rolled/pressed armor is pretty smooth

I have just finished up the panther tonight. I still have a figure and the base to finish off before I am calling it done and hopefully I should be done tomorrow.

To finish off, I sprayed AK's Dust effects going from bottom to top and adding slightly less as I went up. This was followed with AK earth effects on the running gear and lower hull. I had intended to remove the excess, but I was really happy with the result so I left it. I am finally getting the sort of finish on my armour that I would like. To finish off I added MiG Pigments European dust on the running gear and lower hull.

If anyone spots anything I might have missed, don't be shy, as always, any comments or suggestions are very welcome. 

I have to say that's looking pretty neat-o!  

Bish,

Really nice looking work. Congratulations. I do have a question, though. It's something I have to figure out on a King Tiger I'm building off and on. It's about the spare links of track mounted on the tank. Most everything I've read says track links rusted up pretty fast. So, I'm thinking that if the links aren't covered with dirt, snow, or whatever, or scraped against rock or something so the steel shows through, that they are going to be rusty. I noticed that you left the spare links mounted on your Panther grey. Did the Germans paint these spare links so they didn't rust up? You paid too much attention to detail not to have thought about the appearance of the links. I'm just wondering how that affects the links mounted on my KT. Do I paint them grey, rust, or what? How do you determine when to represent rust on tracks and when not to? Thanks.