Awesome work!  I love the paint job on the C-47, and to my untrained eye those tracks look pretty good

No worries Barrett. I've worked on more tracks than I care to remember, the bain of any AFV drivers life.

Just goes to show how much (little) I know about AFV's and tracks!

The C-47 looks good, B-17pilot.  Nice work with the paint!

After a lot of filing and sanding, I think I've got the seams conquered.  Now I still have a few panel lines to re-scribe.

I've discovered that superglue as a filler doesn't take overly well to scribing.  Must be it cures too hard.  I found it worked best to cut a preliminary line with an x-acto, then scribe along that for the engraving.

The black electrical tape is there because I used it as a flexible way to guide the scribing tool.

Probably more than I know about ships.

Its coming on check. I can't say I have ever tried to scribe over super glue, I will make a note yo try and avoid it.

Okay, where to start...

68GT (Ed)>  The P-51 looks great to my eyes.  The stripes are fine, and after looking at a few pictures of the aircraft with invasion stripes, I think it just looks odd because the stripes cover so much of the airframe.

Shiv>  Good work on Pips' 190!  Like the colors.

BarrettDuke>  Not an armor guy.  The tracks look fine to me!  Splash some mud on 'em and let her go!

CMK02> She's coming along nicely.  You and I will once again race to get our models done before the GB ends!

B17Pilot> That's really a great rendition of Revell/Monogram's C-47.  I follow your's with more than interest because I'm doing her little sister.  Everything looking good!

As for my own build, I've managed to get the invasion stripes on.

One thing I didn't do was follow Italeri's instructions about the width of the striping.  I checked with another build and looked in "Osprey Combat Aircraft 24 - C-47 / R4D Units of the ETO and MTO".  At 1:72nd scale, Italeri was calling for stripes on the wings to be 9.5mm and the body 8.5mm.  This didn't jive with what I read and the color schemes in the book.  They should actually be about 7.4mm on the wings and 9mm on the body.  I went with the other two sources instead of Italeri's.

Now I'm getting wheels, props and minor things painted up.  I've also started masking for the de-icing boots, so those will be done soon.

I still have a bunch of seam and touch up work to do (including putting a finger into a still wet invasion stripe).  Well, I can't say I didn't leave my mark!  Need to start work on new decals sometime!

She'll be ready for the big day!

Gary

Nice job on the masking and painting, Gary.  Stripes like that are a challenge.

Managed to finish scribing (I think--there's probably something lurking out there I missed).

Now I get to start masking the canopies, which is always fun.

Dak all over the place. Nice work GAF, and those stripes look god to me. And I think its usually a good call to go with the references rather than the kit instructions.

Actually the invasion stripes should be the same width on the fuselage and wings. Instructions specified 18 inch wide stripes on single engined aircraft, and 24 inch wide stripes on twin engined and larger. So a C-47 should have 24 inch wide stripes on both the wings and fuselage. In 1/72 scale that translates out to 1/3 of 1 inch, or a bit under 8.5mm as 1 inch equals 25.4mm.

CMK02 & Gary: Those look great guys! Keep the photos coming.

My invasion stripes are the same width. I actually took a period photo and referenced bits on the aircraft to see where they stopped and then measured the whole distance on the model and divided by 5. Kinda a round about way of doing it, but I only had measurements for the P-38, P-47, and P-51, all of which had different widths from each other.

Bish, Thanks for a great experience with this Group Build. I appreciate you letting me join it late and with a partially finished project. This is my second completed model since about 1966! I built a 7.5cm PAK 40 for practice, got bogged down on a King Tiger, and then decided to enter this GB with a Bronco Models 10.5cm LEFH18(SF) auf Geschutzwagen 39H(F). I learned a lot with this build, and plan to revisit the King Tiger with my newfound skills. Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and pointers. This has been great fun. OK, now to the pictures. There are plenty of mistakes, so don't look too closely, but I hope everyone enjoys something about them.

BD: Looks good! I really like how the interior came out.

Funny I think the Tiger will probably be easier to build simply because it's a bigger vehicle, I find smaller stuff like this harder to work with.

Thanks, Gamera. I feel pretty good about how it turned out. I think the Tiger will be easier, too, not only because the pieces are bigger but there's practically no interior work to do! This sparty had all kinds of little pieces that had to be detailed. The Tiger has a few tools and some cables, and that's about it.

That's a really nice job there Barrett. If that's only your second model, I certainly hope your not got to wait 48 years before your next one.

Do you do armour, or other subjects as well?

Thanks, Bish. I've bought some model car kits in the last few months, but haven't started any yet. For some reason, the WWII period really fascinates me. I still have a lot to learn, clearly. Last November was the first time I sat down to build a model of any kind since I was around 12 years old, way back in '66. I'm going to finish my King Tiger, partly to try to improve some skills and partly for a break from the demands of lots of detail. Then, I think I'll build a Dragon Wagon or a FAMO, both of those look like pretty intensive builds. I hope you keep doing Group Builds. I want to sign up for another soon.

That Dragon Wagon and FAMO sound like nice ideas. I have actually been hosting GB's for the last 3 years I think, I do feel that I am hogging things a bit. But even if I am not, there are always some great GB's on here. There are the two armour in the west GB's starting on June 6th. But failing a GB that suits your build, there always the chance to do a separate WiP thread which often gets to a far bigger audience, so there's plenty of scope to share your builds.

You have made a great start on the forum, look forward to seeing plenty more.

Great work Barret, I love the weathering, especially the rust spots.

Thanks, Silentbob. The weathering is some of the more enjoyable work for me. I don't like how the rust pooled at the bottom of some of the streaks. I didn't really notice that until I took the pics. I suppose I was still not working with a smooth enough surface even though I sprayed on a clear coat before doing them. All-in-all, though, I am pretty satisfied and I learned a lot.

Not quite, the FAMO was an Sd.Kfz 9 and the one in the movie was an Sd.Kfz 8. The 9 is slightly larger, but all these German halftracks do look very similar.

The 8 was mainly used for towing artillery, including the 88. The 9 was largely a recovery vehicle but was also used for towing some artillery.

Barret - really is a great job. 

Particularly the fact that it is your first completion in such a long time - nice comeback to the hobby!

Definitely agree that the Tiger build should be easier having a closed turret, but there is a lot of road wheels which can be tedious for some.

regards,

Jack

BarrettDuke

Bish, Thanks for a great experience with this Group Build. I appreciate you letting me join it late and with a partially finished project. This is my second completed model since about 1966! I built a 7.5cm PAK 40 for practice, got bogged down on a King Tiger, and then decided to enter this GB with a Bronco Models 10.5cm LEFH18(SF) auf Geschutzwagen 39H(F). I learned a lot with this build, and plan to revisit the King Tiger with my newfound skills. Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and pointers. This has been great fun. OK, now to the pictures. There are plenty of mistakes, so don't look too closely, but I hope everyone enjoys something about them.

looks more like freshly remembered skills. that turned out really nice. did you overspray the camo with a base color mist to tone it down? i did that yesterday on a 37mm flak. first time i tried it and liked the results.

yes photographs will show up mistakes. i missed weathering the entire side of a KV-2 turret and didn't realize it until the photographs. a word of caution AND A REMINDER TO ME, looking at a photograph in a graphics program when you can zoom around will show "mistakes" the naked eye cannot see.

Interesting, Bish.Thanks for that.  I found some good footage of 9's on the web. They were huge. Should be a fun build. I have a Dragon Wagon kit with the trailer, but the FAMO kit I have doesn't include the trailer. I wonder if I can buy the trailer as a separate piece. Do you know? I did some searching on the web but came up empty. There's a web page of a guy who built the Dragon. He says it stopped being fun long before he finished! Hmmmm.

Thanks, Jack. It has been a steep learning curve, but I am really enjoying myself. The road wheels are tedious. Fortunately, I got a lot of that done before I put the KT aside for the geschutzwagen. Unfortunately, though, I want to do a lot more with them than I did originally, so I have already pulled them all off their axles so I can get to work on weathering and fading. I didn't know anything about those techniques when I started on the KT. On the plus side, I used Tamiya thin glue to secure the wheel caps to the axles. A little thinner loosened them right up. :-)

BarrettDuke

Thanks, Jack. It has been a steep learning curve, but I am really enjoying myself. The road wheels are tedious. Fortunately, I got a lot of that done before I put the KT aside for the geschutzwagen. Unfortunately, though, I want to do a lot more with them than I did originally, so I have already pulled them all off their axles so I can get to work on weathering and fading. I didn't know anything about those techniques when I started on the KT. On the plus side, I used Tamiya thin glue to secure the wheel caps to the axles. A little thinner loosened them right up. :-)

sometimes, like for wheels, i will use white glue initially in case i need to pull them off. ans sometimes, if i think i may need to remove a piece, i will use cya so i can debonder it. on the TIGER half the road wheels won't be seen anway. i speak from the experience of building warwheels and wartrucks where half the kit is the suspension that isn't seen. but i do it up anyway because that's the fun part.

and now green camo take 4 on this damned LCVP. i could just paint the whole think gray but i want to try a similar pattern on my 1/35 VOSPER. plus now it's a battle of wills between the LCVP and moi.

Thanks, waynec. Yes, I did the camo in full color so I could do a fading effect on areas that would have been exposed more to the sun and elements. Lower areas got spray coated with Polly scale dirt color and so that camo doesn't show up well for that reason. I didn't trust my brushing skills to actually be able to lay down uniform layers on a rough surface, so I air brushed several coats of very thin Polly Scale earth color over most of the exterior. That helped me avoid getting the grainy look of a sprayed on semi-transparent application. I really like the effect, too. In fact, I like it so much, that I am actually taking apart a lot of the work I had done on my King Tiger so I can do a proper weathering job on it!

I need to get some of that debonder! I know what you mean about stuff that isn't seen. There's a complete lower level on the geschutzwagen that will never be seen. I did the full detail work on it anyway. But if I had realized there was no way for it to show, I might not have been quite as careful!

i have a soviet 8x8 KZKT-537L with the shorter engine bonnet which is open at the back but nothing inside, and very obvious. it was suggested i take the engine from the PLA TYPE 83 SPA and use it. it's a nice engine and, if i keep the access hatches closed, no on will see it on the gun.

I just looked that up. Looks like a really cool truck. I can understand why it would bother you to think there's nothing under the hood. A build that awesome deserves to have an engine, even if you're the only one who knows it's there, IMHO. I thought about leaving the rear doors open on the geschutzwagen so you could look directly into the fighting compartment from the back. I would have had to fashion some kind of little piece to represent the hinges the doors opened on and decided it wasn't worth it since you can already see into the compartment from above. In your case, I believe I'd leave the hatches open if the engine actually looks good in the space and make something to represent the hinges. But it does take something away from the appearance of the build if you do that, doesn't it?