Canadian GB

Outstanding Sherman, Jack.  I've read Mark Zuehlke's books about Juno Beach.  An amazing service and sacrifice by the Canadian troops.

Great build Jack.  I'm not an armor builder, but am very impressed by those that are.  The history lesson was cool too

Beautiful work, Jack.  Believable in every sense of the word, gorgeously weathered and I love that paint colour.  Simply stunning.

Chris, thanks for that.  

Yes, researching a specific subject is to to me, like many others out there, part of the build process.  Sometimes you can get lucky and find some very exact details to provide that last bit of info.  I was fortunate to find some actual war footage of 'Chaser' filmed by the Germans after it was knocked out.

regards,

Jack

Jack,

The Sherman is awesome.

And the back story just adds to it, thank you for that.  It's truly something I find fascinating about this hobby learning about specific points in history.

My build is now done.  For those interested, here is a brief history for this particular vehicle, followed by the photos:

The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment was the reserve armoured unit for Juno beach, the Canadian sector during the Normandy invasion.  Due to congestion on the beachhead, it would be almost noon before they began unloading.  Further traffic jams were experienced on the roadway, as there was only the one leading inland.   By evening they were within view of the main objective, Carpiquet airfield.  Out of friendly artillery range and no ground troops in the vicinity, the Shermans pulled back to a more secure position.

On D-day+1, the drive forward continued.  Unknown to the Canadians was the arrival of elements of the 12SS (Hitler Jugend) Panzer Division during the night.  Two companies of Panzer IVs along with panzergrenadiers were given specific orders that afternoon - simply put, drive the allies back into the sea. 

During the afternoon the two offensively minded sides would meet.  Both forces were new to battle, resulting in some reckless behaviour.  For two hours, tank versus tank battles raged in the area between Authie  and Buron.  Final figures vary on losses. but Chaser was one of the them.  Though the Canadians were given a bloody nose, they did managed to straighten their line and hold ground, stuffing the enemy's counter attack.

regards,

Jack

I don't think I really posted a lot about the paint, Vance.  My overall colour was a mix of Vallejo paints to match the colour chip on the decal sheet, pre shaded with greys, whites and dark blues.  The roundels were so faded because I was using Maketar masks, and I didn't want to 'challenge' the mask too much, so I just did a very light spray over white, letting the colour build slowly.  My final finish included a bit of Mig's 'beach sand' pigment powder, just very lightly worked in around the wings and forward cowling, a little bit worked over the stabilizers.  

My big trick with the Vallejo paints is mixing a bit of their mediums into the final layer of paint after pre shading.  This gives the paint a lot of transparency, allowing the shading work to show through a lot easier.  It's taken me a lot of effort to really learn how to pre shade.  I think I'm finally getting close to where I want to be with it.

The other thing I think I've finally worked out is my oil pin washes, finding a technique that works for me.

Johnny, I'm looking forward to seeing that Hornet come along.  I have a Hasegawa E in the stash, waiting for a bit of time somewhere in the distant future.  Just debating unit / markings.

And Andrew - nice finish of the Spit as well. I like the muted colours you ended up with, I'll have to read back through to see how you made that happen.

AndrewW

That Chipmunk turned out really nice Tony, and not something you see a lot of.

taxtp

Tony.  The fuselage is molded top and bottom. Wings and stabs are molded with top.  The only drawback is the cockpit has nothing for detail.  John

Thanks for the comment Jack, very much appreciated.

John - that's a fast start, looks good. It crossed my mind to do one of these for next year's build, but  I think I'll go with a CF-104 for that one.

I'm really interested in how it goes together though, as I might get a few myself for some other projects.

Cheers

Tony

Started my Hobby Boss F/A-18A Hornet

Very simple kit but nice lines.  Have five of these in the stash.

Tony, wonderful job, and a fine example of this Canadian trainer aircraft. 

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack and Johnny.

Here's my completed RCAF Airfix DHC Chipmunk. I hope you like it.

Thanks for hosting this GB Chris. I hope you run it again next year, I've already planned my build if you do.

This is a good subject area for me, I'll stay tuned.

Cheers

Tony

Tony, that is looking very smart, quite colourful and different.

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Andrew and Tony, thanks for your comments on the Firefly.

regards,

Jack

Nice chip....

I agree with Andrew, Jack, that Sherman is looking fantastic.

I made some more progress on the Chipmunk. It's getting close now. I broke both undercarriage legs off when removing the masking, but I've fixed them now. I got the decals on also.

taxtp, thanks for the kind comments.  Jack, that is coming along GORGEOUSLY.  Stunning work.

Hi Cris, the Priest is looking good.  I think I see some weathering (earth tones) on the tracks already.  Smart move there.

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Just some progress pics from the past few weeks:

regards,

Jack

I've masked up the Chipmunk ready for the Dayglo Red patches. I've had to try Lifecolor acrylics to get the color, and I've never used them before, and I believe that Dayglo colors are tough to get coverage on.

Anyways, I'll let you know :)

Cheers

Tony

Nice work on the Spitfire Andrew. The extra work is evident, and the markings look 'painted'. I don't mind your weathering, this one took a hiding, right ?

Glad to see the Priest coming along Chris, the finish looks like a good base for some weathering.

Cheers

Tony

I've added the ammo tubes, though I made the yellow bands a bit large, added the decals for the 13th RCA and did some paint touch ups.

Weathering to come next.

Andrew thanks for joining in, I updated the main page.

Keep an ear out for round 2, early in the new year.

Chris,

Again, thanks for the opportunity to participate, some great work here.  I'll take the second from the bottom as my finished photo, thanks.

Andrew those really look good. I can't decide, which one would you like on the front page as your finished photo?

My fault, I probably should have put them in their right folder first, instead of posting and them moving them. 

Jack, the code letters, roundels and fin flashes were actually masked and then painted, thanks to some Maketar sets.  Really, my preferred way of working despite the massive headache involved, when I can.  The weathering went a little further than I'd wanted, but I'll put that off to the hard use that the plane got, lol. 

Anyhow, reposted photos.  And this time with an unbroken link!!

I think the fuselage and landing gear were the only things that really remained of the original Tamiya kit, an Aires pit, CMK guns, control surfaces, wheels, prop, spinner and engine, Eduard etch throughout.  One day I'll have to try it again, but get my gloss coats right so the weathering works out better.

Tony I love that yellow, looks great.

Andrew - your photos say they have been moved or deleted.

I made up and added the decals for the 13th RCA on d-day.  I was going to start some weathering but I decided to put it on pause for the weekend for the Weekend Madness build.  More next week.

Hi Andrew, that is quite the veteran look on that Spitfire, a good reflection of it's pilot - the falcon of Malta, George Beurling.  I think you captured very well the scrubby look of these island defenders.

Are the code letters in their original decal colour, or did you alter them with a wash or something?

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Tony, that Chipmunk is shaping up nicely, I'm looking forward in seeing it decked out in it's colourful livery.

regards,

Jack

Well, I've reached a point where I can call my Spitfire Vb Trop (marked out for Canadian George 'Buzz' Buerling in Malta) about finished.  The only thing left to do is buy a new (not dried up) bottle of super glue, attach some e z line for an antenna and glue the plane to the base (still debating building a set of wheel chocks).  Not exactly how I wanted it to turn out, a had a layer of gloss go all orange peel on me which really threw a wrench into things.

 I had to walk away from it for a while, but on coming back into it, I was a little less angry with the result.  Not the very best I could have done, sadly, but I don't think it's my worst either.

 I'm hoping this will live on the desk of one of my work associates (he is from Malta, and apparently a bit of a fan of Buerling's) and pass for reasonably good looking.

I went with the decal kit's recommendation of Malta Blue Grey for the time period, and a few references I've seen show the plane in either the blue grey or middle stone / earth / azure.  I figure I've already done a Tiffy in the three tone, I would do the Spit in the single colour topside.  The bottom is of course Sky Blue.  The Malta Blue Grey in this case is a mix that came pretty close to colour chips that I've seen (at least to my eye).  The entire aircraft was painted using Vallejo's model air acrylics, pin washes were done at first with Flory's Dark Dirt, but as I mentioned with the gloss going south, I finished by using a combination of oil wash and dot filtering (as I felt I could control these a little better).

All in all, a lot of fun, the first group build I've entered and posted finished work in, though mine does not come close to some of what's posted up here.  Excellent work, gents.  Chris, thank you for the opportunity, much appreciated.  Cheers

I think in the end, I was most impressed by how much of the airframe is power plant, really puts into perspective just how much of a meat and potatoes approach this airplane was.

Last night I got the 2nd primer coat down on the Chipmunk, then sprayed it all yellow. Maybe we should call it a canary. I'll let it dry for a day or two, then mask off the day glow red panels.

Cheers

Tony