Looking good with that camo

I spent the best part of the weekend painting so thought i would share the results. I have goned for  green base that the Germans were useing as the war came to an end. And i don't know about you, but i reckon if Marvel had ever come up with a Hulk Mobile, this would be it.

And then the otehr colour colours were added. I rather like the German schemes where the DY is bordered by thin red brown, so i went with that idea but with a differance. I did have to do some tidying up afterwards but did leave some areas of overspray.

And then the barrel, which was painted off the vehicle, was added and the markings applied. For them i wanted low viz markings. I decided not to go with the coloured numbers the Germans actually used. I did wnat black outline numbers, but the only ones i could find were from Archer. despite being bigger than i wnated, i got a set, but i just couldn't apply them. I lost about half dozen numbers before i gave up and went with some 72nd German black numbers form my Luftwaffe decal stash, as are the black crosses. On reflection i should have gone with these from the start. The whole thing then got some light oil dry brushing.

This would normally be followed by a coat of future before weathering. But i have decided to give Alclad Aqua gloss a try. That should be here in a day or so, but as i am in no rush, i wil leave this to dry for the week. In the mean time i can get some work done on the figures and get the tools and exhausts painted up.

So thats all for now.

Hey Lostagain, that looks really good! 

68GT: Nice subject! 

Matt: Beeeeautiful detail on that 335 man. I've got one of the Tamiya 335's in the stash. Looks like I'd better get busy building aircraft subjects again. I've gotten behind in the last couple of years.

Lostagain: I'm liking the details on that pit you're building as well. I always love building pits and then hate covering them up when the fuselage halves go together.

Ed: I'm definitely in on that 229 build!! I've got a 32nd scale ZM 229 kit that I'd gladly trade straight up for a 48th scale ZM 229 if anybody's got an unbuilt one out there. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.

Here it goes.

Thanks lost, ye, it is a bit of a whopper isn't it. I would not fancy being in anything that got hit by it.

Some loevly work there, i was going to ask if all that pit was part of the kit until i read it was mostly scratch. Thats great work there.

Good to see you 68, looking forward to that one.

I havnt completed anything in a while so this might help shake that monkey off my back.  Going to finally build that PM Ho-229 in 1/72.

Matt, Mustang, Tony: Those all look great guys, please keep the updates coming!

Looks good matt. I have not trie those Eduard belts yet, they do them in 72nd as well, going to have to get some.

And get yourself some armour, its nice not having to be all neat and tidy

Thanks Joe, been getting into the painting today but taking my time with it.

Lovely work on that pit, some very nice dtail there.

taxtp

The tip was long gone by the time I noticed it Bish. I'll have to cast one, buy an aftermarket cannon or scratchbuild. At the moment I'm leaning towards the latter.

Cheers

Tony

 

Looks like it should not be to bad to scratch. I think i would go for that option as well.

Everyone: tons of amazing work going on here.  I have not been much of an armor builder (ever) so am in awe of the builds going on here.  Might have to try my hand at a tank or two in the future.

The Corsair, spitfire and 110 are looking great, keep up the great work!

I have had very little bench time lately, with it being summer here and all the sports and traveling and all that.  I did manage some late last night, was able to get the cockpit complete, the fuel tank mounted and more work on the rear engine bay. encountered a bit of a problem last night as well, there is a large gap between the engine bay firewall and the fuel cell fire wall that is not there in the real aircraft.  Believe it is the product of multiple manufacturers and resin sets not designed to be used together.

The seatbelts are the new Eduard Super Fabric seatbelts, and are pretty nice.  They are really easy, as they glue on with white glue.

I believe I will look at removing the fire wall from the Fuel tank part and attaching it to the front side of the engine part, that should fix the issue well enough for my taste.

Dan: Man those interiors are busy on those things. Great work so far on it and can't wait to see some paint start flyin' on this beauty.

Joe: I like what I'm seein' so far. Pre-shading on this one?

Bish: Excellent work on this one. All these details are really gonna make this one pop.

Tony: Looks like you're on your way to painting. Sorry 'bout the cannon. Is there an AM company that makes these cannon barrels so that both of 'em are uniform?

Everyone:I've been throwing a lot of time and energy at the Chevy as of late just trying to get it finished.

You know how it is when you want something finished and it just won't cooperate? That's what's happening with the wagon. It's one thing after another but I'm getting through it. I had an opportunity while paint was drying on that to switch back over to the Arado this morning. Pilots seat is done to include the armrests and installed. I'll be working on the back wall where the battery and other details are and working my way forward after I take care of the nose gear bay on the bottom side of this whole assembly. Here's the progress as of this morning though: ( The seat belts are actually dirtier than they look in the picture-here they look practically brand new....wow)

The tip was long gone by the time I noticed it Bish. I'll have to cast one, buy an aftermarket cannon or scratchbuild. At the moment I'm leaning towards the latter.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Tony.

Good to see some paint going on the Spit. I had to look hard at the guns, but i can see it now. Did you manage to keep hold of the tip.

I love the work you've done on the Jagdpanther Bish, the running gear looks excellent.

Dan, your 110 detail work is looking very sharp.

Joe - good to see that Corsair progressing.

I've made a little progress on my Spitfire XIV, here it is with primer and preshading. You might notice that I need to do a little repair work on one of the cannons.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks for the explanation Bish, the whole no zimmerit late-war thing confused me. You cleared it right up. 

Thanks G. Fortuanatly, Voyager do the cleaning rod tubes as a tube, just got to fit the ends. Thats really handy because i am useless at rolling it up.

Yep, no Zimm. They stopped useing it around Sept 44. Main reason was it slowed down production, i believe it took about 2 days to apply, just at a time when they needed everything they could get and needed it now. There was also a view among crews that it could catch fire so probably was not very popular with the guys at the front. And to be honest, i think it was pointless anyway. The main user of magnetic AT weapons were the Germans ( the Russians may have had some but i am not sure about the western allies) and they are best suited for use by defenders against attacking enemy armour, and the Germans were not doing much attacking by that stage.

Joe: The Corsair is coming along nicely! Sharp work. 

Bish: Lookin' good! Love the work on the PE, that barrel cleaning rod drum on the engine deck must have been a bear to get right, I hate rolling up PE like that. And I can see why you need more cobblestones, looks like a honkin' big dio base.

Btw: I'm guessing no zimmerit on this vehicle? I know the Germans stopped using it reguarly around the end of the war. Was this intentional or did were they just throwing AFVs into action without time to paint the stuff on or ran out of supplies of it?  

Progress has been good on the big guy. Its now all ready for some paint. The first thing i did after the tracks were done was stick the top on.

Then i started to add all the bits and pieces. Its been nice to get a chance to dig into the spares box, especially the Panther one which is a bit full after a few Dragon Panther. I replace the kits old style exhausts with some panther muffler ones which look a bit more meaty and i think much better suited to a vehicle this size.

Also, the kit provides an antenna mount for a Star Antenna. But the Voyager set provides a resin replacement. But as any good command vehicle should have 2 antenna's, I used the kit provided mount without the ceramic pot for the 2m antenna.

You can also see i sprayed some green along the bottom of the superstructer where the side skirts will go. I did the same to the inside of the skirts.

The skirts were then added and all the last bits fitted. The kit includes some unused parts clearly intended for the E-100 tank kit. These include the spare track holders and vehicle tools. I decided to use both these so the spare track holders were fitted and some PE brackets from the spares box as the Voyager PE does not include any.

And some with the barrel dry fitted so you can see what it will look like.

There are a few parts that will be painted seperat;y and fitted later. These include a nice resin night vision device from the AM set.

Overall, this has been a really nice kit. But there are a couple of really minor negatives. While the Trump AM tracks reminded me of the best of Dragon. Some otehr features made me think back to the Italeri panzerwerfer i recently built. This include location indicators on the outside. There are 4 locations, 2 on each side, for a device i have not yet fathomed out. Each location has two mounts, one above the other. Here you can see the upper one fitted after the raised area was removed. Below it the location of the lower piece.

And also there is lots of small flash especially around smaller bits. Its something i would expect from a small company not a big one like Trump. This, combined with things i have heard such as the issues with the 32nd Ju 87B, makes me think they are a company that can really produce great kits but get lazy when it comes to the finer detail.

Thats my view on it anyway.

And finally the base. You can see the one piece of cobble stone section i have laid down. On the right you can see the markings for the path and building. I need to build up that side to raise up thoose bit.

And thats all for now folks.

Looks good there Dan. I like the look of those exhausts.

Corsair is looking nice Joe, i do like the look of that bird.

I've actually managed some decent bench time here lately. It's better known as motivation.. The fuselage halves are together. The seams were lightly sanded then touched up a bit with some Mr. Surfacer 500/1000. This was followed by some more light sanding and then the seams were checked with my trusty Testor's Silver Paint Marking Pen. Any further detectable blemishes were then dealt with and then finished up with finer grades of sanding & polishing. The wing halves were glued together and are in the same process as the fuselage seams. No, the wings are not glued on yet. Just some test fitting going on. 

Excellent work so far Dan.  I like what you have done so far. That's a right sharp looking cockpit. Sounds as though you have those narly seams dealt with. 

She's lookin' good Dan.

Thanks Bish. I sanded down the fuselage this evening, starting with 400 grit and finishing with 2000 grit. The two half's went together well, very small gaps. After sanding I washed the sanded area's down with soap and water.

On Tuesday I started airbrushing parts to be added after the main camouflage is on. I used a circle template on the wheels, the outer part is XF-85 Rubber Black, middle is Testors Aluminum, and center is Model Master Flat Black. As you can see there was a little over spray of the Aluminum, I plan to airbrush a dust coating of XF-57 Buff on the landing gear when fully assembled, that should cover up that small amount.

With the propellers I used three toothpicks to hold the propellers for easy handling, I airbrushed four coats of XF-27 Black Green (RLM 70). I started out with using Pollyscale, put it just kept drying on the needle so I switched to Tamiya.

The Exhaust were painted with a mix of X-10 Gun Metal and XF-10 Flat Brown, at first it was a one to one ratio but I added another drop of X-10.

Well that makes sense Dan, and thanks for the comment. Its almost ready for painting.

Great work on the pit, really nice. Look forward to seeing how those exhausts come out.

Thanks Bish: Wish I had hidden treasure in them, those X's were a reminder not to set that side up. Before the engine cones were put on there are some parts that could break off if sat wrong side down. Great start to your Jagdpanzer E-100. Always love painting all those roads wheels that German armor has.

Thanks Joe Rix: Yeah that has been the only problem I've ran into so far.

Thanks Gamera.

Trabi: Nice start to your Moskito, looking forward to your build. Looks like Dragon got it wrong with the warped wings, using a metal rod to fix the warp is a nice solution.

Thanks Mustang1989: I went the putty way. If I would build this kit again I would remove plastic on the wing where the engine cones attach. Was going to do that but I went the putty way first. And great work on the Chevy. The seat looks great, nice seatbelts.

Crown r n7: Great work and painting on your Meteor engine, the weathering you've done is a nice touch.

Tony: The spitfire looks great, looking forward to the Belgian paint scheme.

Hogfanfs: Great work on your Type 4, the tank crew will add your build.

Thanks Lostagain: I'm happy at how well the Bf-110 has built up so far. Great detail painting on the cockpit.

Finally finished with the cockpit area, used Tamiya, Model Master & Testors paint's.

The engine exhaust are ready for paint. I plan to use a mix of Tamiya X-10 with XF-10, in a two to one ratio.

The fit with the cockpit area inside the fuselage was a tight fit, so first I glued the bottom together with taped wrapped tightly yesterday morning. Then later that evening I glued to the top half, from the back of the cockpit to the rear I used testors glue. In front of the pilot I used CA glue, that small section was a even more of a tight fit.