Speaking of road wheels, has anyone ever tried the QuickWheel brand of masks?

They are like templates, but the product actually holds the  wheels in place.  They are made to specific vehicles, so you can paint up a whole bunch in one shot, and looks like it includes return rollers too.  Seems to be a very extensive line:

http://www.quickwheel.eu/List_of_QW_35.html

The Semovente set was found on ebay for $7.99

regards,

Jack

That would be a good idea. The fit of the bogies is a little loose and would easily allow that. Putting the wheels seperately on toothpicks for painting after clean up, then snapping them in place sounds great!

stikpusher

Oh that was time consuming... I mixed up my faded black color, used a small paint brush, put the vehicle on its side and painted the facing side of those  road wheels while rotating them slowly. All four rows of them. Then I flipped the vehicle over and repeated the process.....

Oh that was time consuming... I mixed up my faded black color, used a small paint brush, put the vehicle on its side and painted the facing side of those  road wheels while rotating them slowly. All four rows of them. Then I flipped the vehicle over and repeated the process.....

Hey guys,I know I'm way behind with everyone's builds,just breezing thru a few pages of outstanding work.

Gamera.............great Crusader

Alan.......love those details on your 222

Thunderbolt,......I love the Spit in the tropical scheme,I have an Eduard I got to get to

Armor86...........chipping looks great

Chazzer.......should be great Tiger

Stik..........two nice builds

Stik,one question about the Tamiya Semovente,how did you handle the painting of the rubber rims on the road wheels

Tojo: Looks pretty cool! I remember the Tamiya 13/40 tank when together without any major fit issues- good kit.

And thanks SP and Jack for the Italian colours there- I have no idea what I painted my tank way back when- it looks sorta like those!  

You can be done by Monday Tojo. It is a very simple build. Although the new link and length tracks and crew figures adds a bit to that.

Stik, thanks for responding.  I'm surprised I missed that in the book, but also a bit shocked that no.2 was the choice out of the four.  Yes,  FS20260 was arrived at by the author, Pignato.  Another interesting coincidence about this official colour, it came about at the same time as the DAK was given their first tropen scheme - wonder if one influenced the other?  No doubt, Italian paints of all kinds were 'lent' out to their axis partners, particularly early in the campaign.

regards,

Jack

Jack, that Squadron book on Italian Tanks you have there (bottom row, center) is my prime print reference. It mentions Giallo Mimetico 2 as the color of Italian armor a few times. On my older Italian AFV builds I used a different shade, but I really like that central color that you have super imposed. it looks like a Humbrol color that I have, Yellow Brown. I may have to use that on some Jerry cans fora bit of variety. Thanks for the compliments on the spares/scratch work. I had a lot of fun rummafing and creating that stuff.

In that Squadron book it mentions that the goniometer is used to show the difference between magnetic and true north. Coupled with the optical range finder that sounds like something involved in artillery fire plotting and observation, which I barely recall how to do from my Army days. I am quite familiar with map reading and magnetic/grid north differences from those days as well. But how the device works is outside my experience, not to mention the name alone...

Gamera's Gonzometer.... now there is a tongue twister ;-)

Stik, continuing to look good, and am impressed to the extra lengths you're taking to add details from the spares bin.

Asking, for myself and anyone else that is interested, but can you share the book that indicates use of Italian aircraft paints?  The notion is not new to me, but I've never seen it in actual print, so it may be a book that needs to be added to the library.  My shelf reference isn't vast, but pictured below is what I have:

The Squadron publication that contains a variety of Italian armour, does make a brief mention of Regia Aeronautica.  The author, Nicola Picola, indicates the air force in 1939 NAfrica was already using a sand coloured paint on their vehicles - for me the interpretation here is unclear.  Are vehicles only the wheeled and tracked type as employed by the Royal Italian Air Force, or does this include  aircraft too?  Anyhow, there is no mention of aircraft paints by their direct name.

Here is something fun, I've taken the FS approximations of the four types of Yellow Camou (Giallo Mimetico), from the Stormo site, and superimposed FS20260 on top for comparison.  This central swatch is suppose to be the official colour arrived in March 1941, though another source states February.  Osprey's recent publication on Italian light tanks further states the colour was only made available to factories in November of that year.  The no.3 shade is pretty interesting, looks to be the same intensity of the official sand colour, but more golden in hue.

regards,

Jack

stikpusher

... and a goniometer (whatever in Hades that is?) ...

Here is a description of a more modern instrument;

Goniometers for target acquisition

The Thor is a high performance digital goniometer designed to provide high accuracy angle measurement for multifunction applications up to 12kg. When used in conjunction with a suitable tripod such as one from Instro’s TriLite range, Thor provides accurate angle data and a stable mounting platform to the connected multifunction sensor significantly improving the overall target acquisition capability for the user.

Don

Hey SP the additions look good.

Did a websearch:

A goniometer is an instrument that either measures an angle or allows an object to be rotated to a precise angular position. The term goniometry is derived from two Greek words, gōnia, meaning angle, and metron, meaning measure.

Not sure what use it is on top of an armoured car though. Seems like some sort of surveying tool though I guess it could be used to find your location or set up artillery fire- darned if I know I'm not an engineer or a surveyor.

Not to be confused with a Gonzometer...

Well today I went and had a look at my references... low and behold there are a few features on the Carro Commando that are not on my kit. So I spent lots of time rummaging thru the spares bin and a bit of time building stuff up. They are not precise, but look the part.
First up I was curious about jerry cans for this beast. I found a photo of one M13/40 with a jerry can rack on the rear between the spare road wheels, so I made up a rack from some I had from the Italeri Jerry Cans set in my spares bin. Very handy item that they have in theirs. Then on the top front of the superstructure I saw that a 1m optical rangefinder and a goniometer (whatever in Hades that is?) mounted. So I found a rangefinder in my spares bin and scratched up a mount, and cobbled together a bunch of small items for an approximation of the goniometer.
the items themselves

and where they will be on the model after painting and instalation


I still need to scratch up a secong antenna base pot apparently as well...
more to come later in the week. Tomorrow is my Monday and back to work.

The only real fuss in the car is the PE and a bit of the fit in the front end interior framing.

Carl, Inspiring work indeed! I can't wait to see more. Thanks man.

Scott

They're coming together nicely SP, I've built the Tamiya M13-40 and remember it being a pretty good kit, seems the armoured car goes together without much fuss too?

Two more to add to my list, I have to quit looking at these builds. So many models, so little time (and money).

Thank you Jibber. The tank is the old Tamiya M13-40 kit, modified with parts from the Italeri M13-40, and the scout car is the Italeri kit.

Stik they're looking fantastic, I think every part of the build looks great. nice choice of base color, guns, tires, and the exhaust is awesome. I'm sorry I missed the beginning of the build, what company are these? They look great together, very cool.

Thank you sir, and I am most flattered. I have never considered any of my work steller, just good. These two beauties are tempting me to finsh them up ASAP...

Stellar work as always Carlos.

Today it felt like I did more than my photos indicate. I concentrated on these two beasties, and mixed up quite a few custom colors along the way. All colors used today, except one, are Humbrol.

First I did some basic flat black on the Sahariana's MG and some of the interior components such as the shift lever handles, steering wheel, gas, brake & clutch pedals, cannon sight eyepiece... I also used Testors steel on the gun breechblock and Khaki on the cloth portions of the seats and the headlight covers. those could use another coat...

then I mixed up a custom shade of dark burnished steel for the tools using Humbrol Gunmetal and Chocolate... I also mixed up a custom shade of wood using Wood and Hemp for the wood handles

Then I added some Rust to the Burnished color mix for heat discolored  oxidized steel for the exhausts

Then I used Testors Steel for bared wear areas on the sprocket and idler wheels on the Commando Carro. I also  painted the muzzle areas for the twin ball mount MG with Humbrol Gunmetal

And finally I mixed up a custom shade for the roadwheel tires using Flat Black and Tank Gray... all those roadwheels and return rollers (plus the spares on the back deck) were a LOT of work...

and finally I was able to test fit all the rubber tires on the Sahairana to get an idea of she will finally look...

and a shot of them together as of so far...

more to come soon...

It was my day off and nothing got in the way yesterday...

Eric: Thanks!!!

Since everyone seems to like the wash I'll leave it the way it is and work on the wheels.  

Cliff, love the Crusader bud. I love how the wash popped all the details.

Clemons and Scott: Will definitely be watching you two- I really need any help with PE I can absorb.

SP: Have you been sleeping lately my friend? You're on a modeling rampage! Nice to see some Italian stuff here too.

That's what I read in a book about Italian armor that was the color they used.

Stik - looking good, and interesting choice of an the Italian airforce colour. 

regards,

Jack

Chazzer, that is great! I will enjoy watching your work here.

A86, your 8-rad looks great! I love the look of those things!

SS, Yikes! You have some serious work ahead of you there with all that stuff!

Well today I went an airbrushed on a topcoat of the Pollyscale Italian Yellow. I mixed at a ratio of 12 parts Future, 12 parts MM Acryl Universal Thinner, 48 parts paint. Worked perfect, no clogging, tip drying, or any other problems.

I also did the same for the AS-42- as well as a coat of Tamiya Khaki on the canvas parts

and together...

more to come in the next couple of days...