glad you tightened up the tracks. live track shouldn't sag. just sehr kalt here. snowed much of tues night and yesterday but not a lot of accumulation here. ski resorts did well. glad i can airbrush acrylics in the bunker.

Tight as a fiddle string Wayne.

I spent a year and a half up in Labrador and I got all the winter weather during that time to last me forever.

Winters around here aren't to bad most years

Come on man and get S I L L Y

Tony lee

spent 3 winters in germany. couldn't get mortar tracks into one firing point. also had a bn eercise canceled when at ft carson due to snow and sub zero temps. now i just stock up on supplies and stay home, build, read, play computer games, do puzzles.

in 2 weeks we could have a couple of days of light jacket weather. plus the low humidity helps.

Great progress happening here, Tony! This one will be finished quite soon, methinks!

I've got back onboard the AS-90 and have been making progress on both plastic and etch fronts. Here's a pic from today:

I've fiddled with a lot of PE and very little shows here but the screens, which are the easiest of all... Next shot should be the turret loaded up with heaps of detail, including loads of etch.

I found a shot from HGWT II, when I was pulling the rear of the hull into alignment, I don't recall if it was ever uploaded, probably not -- so here it is. Fit can be a dicey thing in some kits and sometimes you just have to go with a real handyman solution -- no, not duct tape, this time...

...but a couple of C clamps sure did the job!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Tony: She's so close! 

Mike: Looking good! And glad to see I'm not the only one to sometimes pull out the 'manly tools' to beat a model into submission! 

Just to prove I'm actually doing something here... I must have put on the top side pieces on the fighting compartment crooked since they really looked bad when I primed the whole thing. Maybe I should have pried them off but I'm trying to putty and sand them to fit.

Hey thanks for the updates guys I was beginning to feel like the Lone Ranger here.

Keep them coming

Tony lee

I'm sorry for not replying to anything you guys posted. I was really busy lately and I completely forgot about this GB... All the builds here look fantastic! Keep those updates coming guys!

I should be able to start work on my Hummel in January...

I'm cracking on with the turret today, one subassembly left to go and five to attach in addition to the 7 already mounted -- and I just mounted the main gun as well. Getting it straight is almost a philosophic exercise... Small dressing parts underway, some of them etch. I'm hoping to have a pic tonight, with the turret complete to the pre-painting stage, with all locator points treated with masking solution...

M/TB379

Thunderbolt379

...but a couple of C clamps sure did the job!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I remember that part.  I did something along the same lines.  More and better clamps is always a good option!

Jim

Update as promised! It's just after midnight and I've been working on the turret all day. I'm not quite as far along as I hoped to be, but only by a few small parts, the cargo frame (which is well underway, two parts left to make up) and the masking. Here's the turret as she stands right now:

As you can see, I'm not using all the etch sets by any means, there are details it was simply not worth removing and replacing, and etched parts which were frankly ridiculously small and fragile which were not worth even attempting. That said, I've used more PE on this project than any other.

I'll finish the turret to the painting stage tomorrow. There are a few details left to go on bow and stern, plus the flank details, mounting the swing arms and masking the axles. There are two small structures left to work up, a sighting unit atop the mantlet and the topside MG, then this animal is ready for the paintshop...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Nice progress and presentation Mike

Tony lee

Looking good, Mike! Very sharp PE work!

Looks great Mike! I don't always use all the PE either, the smaller bits I'll just make a mess with so I figure the plastic parts will end up looking better in the end.

Thanks, Gamera! I've used a bit more PE today, the bases for the smoke grenade dischargers are folded etch and came out okay, there are a couple of tiny handles to add to them too.

I just noticed on the colour four-view diagrams that the tools are all painted over in the Bosnia scheme. I checked my sources and they agree that on some vehicles the tools certainly seem to be painted over (the desert scheme does not seem to show this, just the Euro camo...) For the sake of simplicity and getting the project done, I've decided to go this route for the first time ever, and am adding the tools before main painting. They can get extra attention with drybrushing to look used...

I'm sure this model would have been done long ago if not for the fragility of small parts -- the number that have fallen off and been reattached is tedious, and what's worst is when you break off one and while reattaching it break off another... Trumpeter's tooling of 2002 was not yet up to speed, I'll be interested to see their newer stuff (it's a few years since I did their S-102 and M1126, I don't recall exactly how they compared...)

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I think I'm calling mine done, well good enough.

I sprayed it with future, added an india ink wash, followed by a poor attempt as a rust wash finally some brown pastels.

Seems to have created a white wash from the india ink wash but as I found with my 88 I was working on the more I fiddle the worse it got so I'm leaving it as is.

Very good to see some updates!!

All of them look fantastic, keep them coming...

Hi guys, I'm calling the AS-90 structurally complete to the point just prior to painting. There are a few small parts and subassemblies left to go on, and I've plumbed the depths of the etched frets as far as I can go, including a variety of parts I had not expected to be able to use but which turned out to be surprisingly cooperative. I'm still not sold on PE, but it's growing on me a tiny bit.

Here she is:

Note the notched front flaps -- Trumpeter put the sprue gates precisely on the thin edge and the damage just won't repair perfectly...

I'm going to put it aside for a while and finish building my M1 for the Abrams II GB, then hopefully paint them as part of the same round of work, as they share the same NATO paints.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

looking good. i really hate trying to get rid of seams in the springy looking parts like truck coil springs, fire hose ends or whatever thst is on the bsrrel. as for the front fenders, even modern vehicle will run into something as beat them up. sometimes the paint isn't even chipped off. we had lots of new A2 tanks that had dinged up rear fenders after our first exercise.. sand as smooth as you can and see if you can slightly modify the camo pattern so they are covered with a dark color. add some dirt and dust and they will look fine. i have been known to modify a pattern to avoid masking half a handle or some hatch hinges.

That's nice really N I C E Mike.

Been too cold around here to open my window and vent paint fumes so i've been gluing a Stug IV together for the past few days.

We'll get a few warmer days now and then and the washes will fly.

Tony lee

Mike: She does look good, a very formidable looking SPG! Yeah I wouldn't worry about the fenders too much, as Wayne I can imagine they ended up rammed into all sorts of stuff.

Did I miss it along the way or is there a badge?

good question. i need to get in a silly putty paint mood to finish DANA

The LVT4A looks great. Love the pre-shading!

nice looking build. i have a 2/35 on the shelf and will do a 3color camo. i really like the way you did the red beach stripes. your painted ones liik like one od my decal attempts. not my strongest building skill.

Very nice build, and very precise in so small a scale! Great work! I'll update p1 right away!

Cheers, and thanks for being part of the GB,

Mike/TB379

I made some progress today, I mixed up a batch of NATO Green and blew the turret in, it looks good! I have some masking to go on the lower hull, axle stubs, mud flaps and such, then I can get the rest of the green laid on. Pics forthcoming...

M/TB379

As promised, here's the AS-90 with the turret sprayed. The mudflaps are also painted...

M/TB379