Bruce, I just realised I don't have you down for anything. Do you want me to add all 3 of those kits.

Nice to see more builds under way. Gary, I have still not been able to come up with anything on those tow ropes. I do have some photo's in the inside of the BBMF's C-47 if you need any for references.

tax, nice looking little kit you got there, and I think that the first time I have seen anyone with one of those Brengun kits. I have been using there PE for a couple of years now but not got any of there kits yet. How does that one look in the box.

Yes Bish, put me down for all three. I was in Support in Nam and might as well run support in Normandy

I've been super busy these last few weeks (Little League, B-day parties, etc...). Going to order these in the coming weeks:

I haven't decided which Spitfire Mk.IXc kit to go with but either way, I'm planning on building it with Invasion stripes markings:

hasegawausa.com/.../hsgs9079.html

OR...

www.1001modelkits.com/.../18855-supermarine-spitfire-with-pilots-ground-crew-airfield-equipment-and-a-dog-1-48-icm-aircraft-model-kit-48801.html

B-26 Marauder kit:

hasegawausa.com/.../hsgs0556.html

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

I've been super busy these last few weeks (Little League, B-day parties, etc...). Going to order these in the coming weeks:

I haven't decided which Spitfire Mk.IXc kit to go with but either way, I'm planning on building it with Invasion stripes markings:

hasegawausa.com/.../hsgs9079.html

OR...

www.1001modelkits.com/.../18855-supermarine-spitfire-with-pilots-ground-crew-airfield-equipment-and-a-dog-1-48-icm-aircraft-model-kit-48801.html

B-26 Marauder kit:

hasegawausa.com/.../hsgs0556.html

Those are great looking kits. I wantto do the B 26, it will have to wait

I've had a few busy days as well on the home front , so there's been no new progress on the LCT boat .

Although it's not far off from heading to the spraybooth .

In the meantime two more large D-day/Normandy posters arrived at the front door

Here's a pic of al three posters in the D-Day cabinet

John .

John: Cool idea and they look great in there.

Blacksheep: Those all look really good- maybe you should do them all 

Really nice posters, John! I like the idea of using them as a background!

John, that display cabinet looks stunning. That's defiantly going to be a show piece.

Thanks guy's .

I'm looking forward to filling up the cabinet with lot's of D-Day builds .

I forgot to add titles to each poster , the top poster is General Eisenhower with 101st Airborne ;

The middle poster is titled Normandy D-Day invasion June 1944 ;

The bottom poster is Omaha beach reinforcements .

Hopefully more WIP pic's shortly .

John .

Bish, here's my first entry. The M3 Armored Scout Car.

The kit is of average quality, with allot of clean up on almost every part. Here she is in black primer.

Bruce: I presume, since there's no engine, that's the old Peerless/Italeri issue M3?

Nice start Bruce.

Thanks guys. No Greg. Wish it was, but it's a ZVEZDA 3581. Even the directions are in Russian. This is my first kit by them and hopefully my last.

Bruce: I have the ZVEZDA offering, kit #3519, and it IS a re-pop of the Italeri, formerly Peerless.  The sprues are designated "triange," "square" and "circle." - same as Italeri/Peerless Max. Let me know how it goes together.....so I know what I'm in for.

Bruce, I wouldn't let this put you off Zveda all together. many of their newer kits, which I think are there own, have some good reviews.

Stick with it, the more of a challenge it is, the better you will feel when its done. At least that's what I always tell myself with faced with a difficult kit.

Well, I managed to throw a few more parts together and slap a bit of paint on, too.  Here's what got so far...

I still have more to add and paint, but here's the partialy completed firewall/instrument panel

I've installed the floor, ammo box and stowage bins

this is the rear wall - fire extinguisher needs a lil more detail painting.  I'm waiting on putty to cure in 4 ejector pin marks on the rear doors  

Anybody know what Luftwaffe units might have been involved that day?  I read that Luftflotte 3  flew 139 “strike” sorties in the landing area on June 6th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_3  Has a list of all of Air Fleet 3 but needs to be narrowed down I think.

Bruce: Nice job there! I built the old Peerless Max ambulance kit years ago, it was lacking in some detail compared with newer kits but personally I didn't think it was a half bad kit.

Greg: Looks good! Fun thing about open tops of course is you get to detail the inside too.  

That's good to know Greg. Yes this kit comes with the canvas cover. Plan on robbing the large radio and ditch roller from the M21 kit from Dragon. They weren't used in my version. Ed, the movie showed, that they only had 2 aircraft and enough ammunition and bombs for one run, which devistated the beach on D Day and flew back empty. It was a miracle many more thousands of Allied lives weren't lost that day, because Hitler took sleeping pills that night.

68GT, I could find any info on which German units actually attacked the invasion forces on the day. Keep in mind that the GB does cover the period upto the end of June, so that would probably widen it a little. I will see what else I can dig up, I might need to look through some of my books.

68GT,

These links might help a little.  You will have to copy and paste the first as it seems to fail when I make it a link.  Probably forum protection.  But the link below contains links to the above and one other.

http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=26632

and

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107538

Gary

"Keep in mind that the GB does cover the period upto the end of June"

I'll keep that in mind and see what kinds of decals I have.

Hey everyone, slow progress for me, I'll try to take pics tonight before bed.

I'm wondering though, I came across Model Masters enamel stains.

www.testors.com/.../Rust_%231_Detail_Stain

I picked up Rust #1 thinking I could somehow use it on either of my models to try out. Has anyone ever used these? whats the best way to apply them?

Made a little more progress on the Scout yesterday.

Bruce: looking good!  Are you going to mark it as 2nd Armored Div?  I read "Armored Knights" about a year ago and there's a pic of an M3 Scout car marked as M Company 66th Armored Regt.

Greg, how would I get my hands on markings or decals for either one of these Divisions? The kit doesn't come with them.

Bruce: I have good news and bad news about the M3 Scout Car.

• Bad news: During 1943 most US Army units replaced the M3A1 with the M8 Armoured car and similar M20 utility car.  This included 2nd Armored Div, which the 66th Armored Regt was apart of.
• Good news: The M3A1 was also supplied via Lend-Lease channels to Britian and used to equip Free French Forces.  In British and French service M3A1s were used as observation vehicles for field artillery observers, as ambulances, and as scout vehicles.

You would be better off marking it as a FFI (Free French) vehicle. Markings from Archer Fine Tranfers can be found here: http://www.archertransfers.com/AR35256.html

Greg and Bruce , excellent WIP's on both vehicles

My LCT boat is finally ready for the spray booth . Things got a little frustrating with the handrails as I kept bumping different sections with the side of my hand while fitting other pieces in place , so there was quite a few broken pieces which I had to keep replacing . Anyway it's all complete now . One other minor issue was the top edge of the lower hull and the deck edge which over hung the hull slightly on both sides of the boat

I fixed this by adding styrene strips to the lower hull section to bring everything flush

At this stage I finally figured out what these four little pieces were for

I also ordered some fine cable from Hannants to wind around the winch , which will hold the large anchor in place at the rear of the boat

So here's all the pieces on little clips ready for painting

The instructions suggest the colour black for the lower hull , I was thinking about using a red/brown , like you see on a lot of other ships and boats but I think I'll go with what the instructions say ?

Thanks Greg. The French decals come with the kit and in the movie, the British were driving them too. John, the LCT is looking great! After seeing yours, had to buy one. So all your detail work is really helping me. Also bought the tools from Micro Mark and the Edward PE sheets along with a crew. Maybe I'll have time to build mine and we can come in on the landing together:)