Hey everyone!  My apologies for the delays in posting.  Have been out of town doing some NEXRAD stuff and have been having a heck of a time with "life" stuff.  But, it can only get better from here!

Awesome work so far everyone!  I'm loving the builds in here.  Great work and lots of knowledge being shared!  Thanks to all for participating!  If I missed any completions, just let me know and I'll fix that!

Eagle90

She's looking really sweet Dan!

cliff: I hear ya about the tracks. Getting them to look right ain't really one of my strengths in armor building...

Dan: Looks good! I'm guessing there aren't a lot of decals so you should be moving right along to weathering.

I'm putting the tracks on the Jumbo now, I was trying to do something a little different but didn't like it so I ended up spraying the whole running gear and lower hull with 'mud' again- I think I'm getting in a bit of a rut!

Gamera & Schattenspartan: Thanks

Blitzwing: Nice work on your Cromwell.

I used up the last TS-5 olive drab that I have, then I airbrushed two light coats of XF62 to lighten it up.  Tamiya's olive drab TS-5 is much darker than XF62.  I did use a circle template on the wheels, and there's some over spray on the flat black.  So after touch up on the wheels, and adding the renaming parts to the cargo truck, this 6x6 will be ready for Future floor polish.

Bish I had planned to have my Firefly completed before the Orphaned build but I've had a lot of delays on the Brummbar so I'll complete it after that build. Never built a Firefly, looking forward to that one.

Ah good to know Shiv, I wasn't sure there!

Salvaging the tracks isn't an issue. I just made more work for myself is all.

Thanks guys! And good to know I'm not here in an echo chamber all by my little ol' self!

Shiv: Ouch that sucks, I'm assuming you can still salvage them?

And I do know what you guys mean, I haven't gotten much done since I posted those photos. I had hoped to at least get the base set up but nothing...

It's been a busy week for me but I'm looking to have some quality time this weekend.

I know eagle has been having some drama's with his basement/mancave and work has been keeping him busy lately. Some nice work there gamera, looking forward to seeing this dio progress.

Clemens- thanks!

The Tamiya Pak-40 was one of the first 1/35th models I built waaaaaay back when. I looked at some of the more expensive kits of the AT gun but this one works, plus if you're going to bust up a model I'd rather go with a cheaper one like this!

BTW: where did everyone go!?!

Man, I can't wait to see that dio, Cliff!

That Tamiya Pak-40 is the perfect diorama addition IMO: Dirt cheap, easy to build and still looking quite well!

Started on the tracks for the M4A3E2, meanwhile here' s the other parts for the small dio I'm going to try to get set up:

No, things do not end well for the PaK 40....

Blitz: Nice work! I didn't even start on my projects yet so you're a whole lot further along than I am...

Dan: Nice to see her with her wheels on! I'm really looking forward to seeing you paint her now!

BW: Yeah, the Cromwell is an excellent kit. Looks like she's about half assembled.

I've finally started on my Cromwell tank and embarrassingly enough, making very slow progress on a kit that is almost falling together like a lego set. This is definitely one of Tamiya's best efforts. I'm going to be building mostly out of the box, although I have a set of track links by Hobby Boss, and a barrel from Aber. 

I'm looking to painting the interior of the turret tomorrow so I can put the rest of the turret together. 

This is what I've done so far.

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Dan: Nice work there- looks like she's ready for the Red Ball Express!

Gamera: Thanks,  I used Tamiya Olive Drab TS-3 on my first sherman, there's mix is pretty dark.  But XF-62 looks much lighter

Blitzwing: Thanks,  looking forward to seeing your Cromwell.

Daddydan: Welcome aboard, I have not built a Tamiya Sherman.  But the Dragon ones are pretty sharp.

Schatten Spartan: Thanks the US cargo truck is a pretty easy build.  If Dragon made one of those, you could pop the hood up.

After gluing up the wheels and the cargo bed roof supports, this work horse is ready for Primer.  I plan on painting the front window frame separate from the main body.  I used double sided tape to hold the roof over the cab for photos, that along with the seats will be glued on later.

I don't use an eye-dropper but a short length of straw (the one with a larger diameter) works just fine for me

Did I mention I'm cheap when it comes to mixing paints?

Ah, I don't see any reason you couldn't get the exact same results with a little tan. If you've got an eyedropper and just add a few drops and mix it in good it should work the same way.

That looks nice, but I have 2 problems with AK's sets:

First of all I AM cheap. Actually I'm not, but I don't like spending extra money on paint i can mix myself by adding a bit of tan to OD.

In addition to that, I absolutely dislike Vallejo and AK paints for airbrushing. I just don't get the nice results I normally get with Gunze or Tamiya paints, so I prefer to stick with those brands for everything that's not brush painted. I do use Vallejo for all the little bits I don't spray with my AB though...

Dan: They work pretty well and it's easy as pie. They have different sets for Soviet green, German grey and mustard yellow, and primer red. 

Link

That is slick!  I'm going to have to look into that when we get all moved into our house and I can have an airbrush.

Clemens: Yes, I used the Tamiya as the base coat but built up the paint using a colour modulation technique with an AK Interactive Olive Drab paint set. You get six bottles of pre-mixed paint and you just start with the darkest and then work your way up the tank using lighter and lighter shades from bottom to top. If you were cheap you could do the same thing by adding a couple of drops of white or tan to the OD each time but the AK set is pre-mixed and makes it so much easier. You don't even have to clean the brush- I just spray all the paint out and then add the drops of the lighter shade to it, then mix it up. 

Cliff: Nice looking Jumbo! I really like your OD paint job! Is that the Tamiya color?

Dan: Looking very good there! I gotta get me one of those trucks myself...

Thanks BW! Looking forward to the Cromwell and Sherman guys!

Dan and Gamera, those are some very nice looking builds there.

My group builds for my local IPMS club are now finished so my Cromwell is ready to start after I clear the bench a bit.

Dan: Thanks, your truck is coming right along- nice work!