Nice start Rob.

I'm starting with the recent reissue of the old Monogram M48A2 Patton tank (originally released 1958) and the Lo Models US tank Conversion Accessory set. I am going to make this tank into a West German M48A2GA2. I also have some odds and ends from an old Italeri Leopard 2 kit. Some items like the TC hatch and smoke grenade launchers look more detailed than the Lo Model conversion parts and some items like German style tools.

The first thing I did was to remove the molded on tool detail on the back rear fenders and the molded on grunt rails on the turret. In this photo, the olive green parts are Monogram, the darker parts are Italeri and the grayer green parts are Lo Models conversion.

I also had to rebuild the bustle rack with styrene rod because it had to be cut to accommodate the searchlight stowage box.  

Here is a shot of the tank with the German style cupola, main gun and mantlet installed. You can see some of the damage done to where I removed molded on tools on the back fender. I'll cover this with German tools.

Nice progress guys, I will be joining you later, probably in October as I have to finish the models I already started :) Untill then I will be keeping an eye on you ;)

Bets regards,

Sasho

Terry: Looking forward to seeing how things come out now that you've got the photo references you need.

Bish: All that PE is a PITA but I love the results you've got with it.

Hi Tim,

Can I join the group build with a Dragon 1/35 Jagpanther G2? I'd like to finish it in Free France markings.

Thanks,

Conky

Jibber - cool pic.  I'm in awe of the resources you armor guys find.

Bish - beautiful job so far.  Can't wait to see where you take it from here.

Bish thats looking awesome, all that PE work really paid off.

After a coat of primer, the 85 got a coat of Tamiya XF-61. before I get to masking and adding the DY, I will be fitting the wheels and tracks and doing some light weathering. I have assembled two runs of Fruils using the kit tracks as a guide, but I am not sure how much sag this will give, so the first thing to do will be paint the rubber on the wheels and get those fitted so I can test fit the tracks before painting.

Good find. It does look like it has left something behind, maybe some remains of the weld. But as you adding Zimm, they will obscure that I should think.

Bish thanks for the help but I think I've found the best picture I've seen and it clearly shows that it the entire hanger is missing. Its easier to see without the paste and probably a bad weld, again I would have thought differently.  Thanks. 

That was my thinking, I've checked a hundred photos. I've found them bent and missing, but they're buried in the zimmerit so hard to tell. Still looking.

Nice work Terry. I guess it would depend on how good the welding is, but I would imagine it most likely to break than to rip off completely.

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Just a quick update, some PE and a wire but I also copied the photos with a couple missing cleats. A question, when a cleat is missing, do you think they bend and break or get ripped completely off. I'm considering leaving the welded part and cut off the hanger? Terry

Nice work there Chuck.

Wow that's pretty cool Chuck, esp in that scale- looking forward to the halftrack.

Tim & Aaron: Hope you guys had fun. A bunch of guys from our club went the show since it's only a five hour or so drive. I fooled around to the last minute and ended up skipping it. I'm guessing at our meeting tomorrow everyone is going to tell me about all the cool stuff I missed... 

Great work folks!

I got a bit more done at lunch the past couple of days.  I missed a nuance on the picture of my Israeli half-track…apparently, they deleted the coax machine gun in favor of an external mount.  So after removing the coax I had so gently drilled out , I added an approximation of what the external mount  looks like, along with a couple of antennae mounts from channel stock and a stowage bin from the kit.  I also filled in the searchlight mount with a strip of plastic.  I’m calling the 37mm turret done for now.  The halftrack kit is up next.  Have fun everyone!

Before...

After...

Its good to be the king….

Terry, I have got a couple of those buildings. didn't realise they are that tricky. Will be keen to see how you get on with these4.

Glad to see our host's have returned.

I haven't even unwrapped my kits yet......

Hi Rob,

Excellent! I'll enter you into the rolls.

Tim

--

Holy canoli! I take a few days away to go to Nats, and everybody, except for Tim the Slacker, makes some serious progress. Bish, Deatillo, Jibber, Garzonh, Gamera, Chuck — those are looking good.

Looking forward to more updates and by the looks of things, some finished models very soon.

Cheers, Aaron

We'll see, its the only way I could do it. The one pic shows them connected with the bracing and taped together but I haven't glued them yet. I think it'll work out but this is my last MiniArt Bldg unless they find a similar way to connect the halves.  

Terry: I've tried a few of those MiniArt buildings and hadn't a lot of luck with them, good idea there on bracing the thing from inside like that.

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I took a break from my Tiger to try and make sense of this MiniArt kit for my diorama. It was obvious right from the start that the thin plastic pieces would not line up and really no practical way of glueing them. So I took some stock styrene and formed out around the walls and windows and that allowed me to make a solid connection that I can connect and it also gave it some weight. Theres a lot of pieces in this kit and I think it'll take some time to finish but the detail is actually very nice. Terry

Thanks Chuck. It does look a lot of PE, but there is close to half of one set un used. The kit itself is pretty basic so it all went together quite easily, there's lot of bit moulded on that in more recent kits would be separate. Hope you had a good time at the Nationals.

Nice work gamera. The joys of doing a little tank, even smaller tracks. I imagine they are similar to a Pz I track.

Wow, Gamera…that looks painful!  I’ve heard of rubber band tracks, but…

Just back from the U.S. Nationals.  Great time.  I hope to start modeling again soon.

Rob G. – thanks for the info on kit options for the M-8.  I’ve looked for that kit months ago and can’t find it anywhere.  Thanks for the M-16 mount info – if I ever do find one, now I know where to get the mount.

Deattilio – the shot with your cat looks kinda like an old Japanese sci-fi flick.  Can’t wait to see more progress.

Bish – holy cow!  That’s a lot of PE…and you’ve got a nearly completed tank!  Man, I gotta catch up.

Nice work everyone…looking forward to more progress…

Wow, those look great guys!!!

Anyway, my first photos:

Nationalist Chinese Version:

This is what I'm doing to get those tracks on the kit:

This is the blasted tracks- the paint bottle top there is slightly larger than a US quarter. The pointy things at the top are the tiny pins, about the same size a needle that are supposed to be inserted into EACH and EVERY track link.... 

AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

Bish that's looking great, lot of nice parts there. It should finish up nicely.

Thanks garzonh. I seem to have been doing some speed building lately. 3 weeks for a Stuka from start to finish and managed to get the construction done on this in 10 days. that's the plus side of not having any work for a while. I have just got the pimer on and it looks much better. I will probably leave it to Tuesday before I get the green on, that will give me a chance to get started on the base and figure.

Hi to all,

Hey  deattilio, going very nice, looks very solid construciton and already you had put on all PE, wow!.

Bish, you also have passed the most complicated part, all PE in place and ready for priming.

You both guys work very fast.

Im anxious to see how it would look like once painted....

On my updated for the SDKFZ165 Hummel with Russin markings, I had a week lost of work on then bench as I was making some changes to my "studio" 

I did finished all the plastic parts it seems I will use from the kit, everythhing else will be PE.

So, here it is my progres.. plastic primed with black to kill the brightness of it. I will now start adding the PE, afterwards I still have to put to brown red for the real base color of the tank...Im still deciding on what to use for top color....hmmmmmm.....

So , this is where Im at......not much....pfffff......