Heya Dan. I started on one of those Eduard Bf110's back in 2010 and still have the built front flooring with IP completed. It looked like a lot of "fun". lol.

Great start on the building so far and am looking forward to painted up pics.

Excellent work going on here guys. Been away from the group after finishing my T-34/85, think I jump back in. Started work on my Eduard 1/48 Bf 110 G-4 bird three days ago, and have completed the cockpit assembly. Only a few parts to go on the 20mm cannon assembly. So far there has been no fit problems, just glue and go. After those pictures were taken I brushed on a first coat of model master enamel RLM 66. For this model I plan to have the forward cannon assembly open along with the canopy’s, I'm used to closing up everything. The radar antennas should be fun to assembly.

Hey thanks guys!!!

Moff I wish I could tell you there was a story that I'd planned there other than that of how things just fell together. The torii gate and geisha are a few things I think of when I think Japan and I couldn't figure anyway to work Godzilla, samurai, or Pokemon in there...

I'd thought about having a Shinto priest standing beside the senior officer blessing the tank. But no one makes a figure. I thought about modifing one, and I might still yet do so, shouldn't be an issue just to drop him in there. Other than that the gate in simply scenery, I thought that being big and red it's pretty eyecatching. And not too hard to build. All I know about them is what I've read on the internet.

And that's awesome Bruce, looking forward to seeing how you use yours. I looked at a few for sale, including aquarium scenery and figured hey, it's pretty simple I'll just build one! I didn't say anything about it till the photos since if I mucked the thing up I could drop it without anyone being the wiser!

And Bish, yeah they often seem to be near or in water, I didn't see anything about why. Guess I should read up more on the subject.

Steve, I tried the water stuff before and made a bit of mess out of it. I will be trying it again but no idea when or where.

I'm going to try for a trip to the local craft store this evening to pick up the black paint for the bottom and top of the gate. This weekend I hope to sand down a few of the rough spots and then putty the gaps. A good coat of primer and I'm going to go with Jack's suggestion of a little pre-shading to add a little interest (I did it to the tank and car, no idea why I didn't think to do it to the gate). Then a little dust and grime around the bottom.

And the geisha was supposed to be beside the staff car. I thought it would be cute to have the officers talking about tactics etc while the enlisted guys were talking up the pretty lady. But as I said she's 1/32nd scale so she comes out to about 6'6" or 2 meters tall! So it was either drop her or move her away from the 1/35th figures. The area over on the side looked empty so I moved her to just walking down the street. Guess she should be connected some way but she's just there now for local 'colour'.

Again BIG thanks to everyone for the advice and support!

@Trabi,

Your Tiger looks fantastic! I really like the comp pattern you chose! Great job!

@Colin,

Wow! You are really doing some masterful work on the detailing of this 234! Looking forward to more.

@Mustang,

The resin office looks great! The weathering is spot on, just enough to look used, but not abused. Great job!

@Cliff,

Your Dio of the Type 5 is outstanding! I hope you don't mind, but I purchased a Torii for my Type 4 Dio  I didn't realize you were adding one to your dio, sorry, for not paying attention.

I agree with Jack, weather the Torii a little more. I'm sure the Priests kept them extremely clean, but, I believe this is a time of war, and maybe they didn't get cleaned as often as they were supposed to.

Gamera: Man I could sit and just look at that stuff for hours and continue to see something new. Good show man.

Hey yeah Cliff, where's the WATER?

G, i did a search and i noticed sevearl of those gates are in or on the edge of water, not sure what that is about.

Steve, over to you

Gamera, awesome job on the Type 5! I really like the inclusion of the torii gate and the geisha, I think it helps give the tank some cultural grounding. I personally think the torii gate could use a wash and maybe a little dust, but I agree that it shouldn't be overdone given how much attention and cleaning the gates get in real life. 

P.S. What's your idea of what is going on in the diorama? Why is a geisha present, and why does the Type 5 look as though it is about to enter or exit a Shinto temple? 

Jack: Big thanks!

I downloaded a bunch of photos of the gates for research for this one. And you're exactly right on most of them the base as well as the top part (I've got a diagram on my home PC with the exact names for everything but not here) are painted black. I bought the red paint since I already had the black at home. Then I find out the black had dried up in the bottle so I'm waiting till next week to make a trip to the hobby store

As Bish said they seem to be very well maintained by the Shinto priests, I suppose as gates between the profane world and the holy area of the temples they are considered sacred in and of themselves. Still I like the idea of some dust around the bases, does seem like it would work them into the scene more.

Thanks guys, glad I posted this here incomplete now since I can really use the advice.  

Trabi - great idea with the Finnish Tiger, and nicely executed.

---------------------------

Cliff - Definitely a unique scene with both the Torii and geisha. 

Some possibilities to add to the gate, change the bottom discs at it's base to either black or something like cement pillars?  Over emphasize light and shadow with the airbrush?  If it's location sees a lot of vehicle traffic, maybe some dust buildup near the bottom?  Heavy rains might leave some staining at the bottoms due to flooding, and finally, maybe some sparse vegetation growing around it.  Again, most of this might be cleaned up locally with the srtucture being kept in pristine condition, just as Bish mentioned.

regards,

Jack

Thanks Bish. Yes the knobs on the sides of the turret fit the antenna, I don't think I have a drill bit that small. And good job spotting the lack of exhaust staining, it completely slipped my mind.  

Now i do like that. Nice idea for a dio, the gate makes a great backdrop. I did a search and the pics of gates i found most seem to be very clean and well looked after. The antenna's would be nice if you can fit them, i take it the mounts are the pertrusions on the sides of the turret.

A little exhaust staining would be a nice touch.

Well, almost to the finish line now. I'd hoped these would be the finished photos but there are still a few small things that jumped out at me after I took the photos.

1). Type 5: Think she's pretty much done. Probably needs radio antenna but I'm not sure how to attach them without drilling out some really tiny holes on the mounts.

2). Kurogane staff car: Light on the rear needs to painted with translucent red.

3). Figures: Senor officer (in green)- still can't find his blasted katana.

4). Torii gate: Few gaps here and there, need to be puttied. Some brush marks, I used craft store paint- this stuff was really thick but didn't cover very well so I had to put on about five-six coats. Btw does it need some bird poop maybe???

Anyway, if anyone has constructive criticism please lemme know before I finish the whole shebang up:

Nice collection of picture Colin. Thanks for the added reference.

Yeah those are some great photos Colin. I had to double check but yeah it's the Udvar-Hazy annex to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I've been there twice and thought the Arado looked familar.

Colin, no, your not worng. It is, unfortunatly, the only surviving example. Thanks for the link, some great images.

I uploaded my reference photos to a shared album on photobucket for anyone interested.

http://s172.photobucket.com/user/colinrickards/library/ar-234

Thanks guys :)

I may be wrong but I believe the only surviving example is in the national air and space museum in the US.

Here is a walk around of it. Of all my research it's one of the few examples that aren't generic ww2/post war b&w. Pretty good to get some decent resolution color shots.

http://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/ar234/ar234_walk.shtml

Great start Joe. 

Thanks guys. Still a loooooooooooong way to go in there.

Greta work on the pit Joe.

Looks good Mustang, very cool. 

Trabi : Great looking Tiger you've got yourself there!

Everybody: Thanks for the comments so far. I managed to shoot a base coat of RLM 66 emamel last night before going to bed. I woke this morning and hit the bench at about 3:45 a.m. and started by hitting the highlights with a little acrylic RLM 66 with a drop of white in it on the high points. I set that aside to dry and then hit it with a coat of Tamiya Clear and allowed that to dry. I followed that up with a wash of MIG Productions dark wash lightened some so as not to be overbearing with it. After that dried under a lamp for a while I brought out all the details and dry brushed some silver over the corners and over some of the more frequently used controls through out the side consoles. I then went over everything with a coat of MM flat clear with a drop of grey in it to give the sun faded look. I still have to install the instruments at the R/H front console and at the upright panel at the front of the L/H console and then it'll be down to the PE details, resin pieces like the control yoke and seat with belts and then the main instrument panel. There's alot more stuff I didn't mention but the list is just too dang long. You get the picture though(no pun intended).

Trabi: Very cool! She looks like the real thing there, if only the weeds were to scale! 

Colin: The landing gear and bays look sharp, love the yellow wiring you're putting in the cockpit. 

Mustang, GH: Sounds great, looking forward to pictures. 

Hey Brandon, can you let me know the name of that book? Share a picture of it at all ?  :)

I've got an Amazon card here burning a hole in my desk and another good reference book could be good :)

Mustang - definitely add one tot he stash! It also includes a second engine and a trolley so you can display it opened up if you like (or open it up on th eplane itself). I don't think I will do that, but will be saving the engine in case I want to add it to another plane for an opened up option at some point in the future.

THe fit really was fantastic, and the detail is nice. Plus, if you don't want to do the boring scheme, the Kagero book I used for my markings has the bare metal and putty options, and the wins were wooden, so modeling them unfinished would be fun, too. However, I figured if it had gone on into '46, they'd likely have found time to paint them.

-BD-

Thanks all for the kind words. I appreciate it!

Qlabs - that looks like a fun subject, and I second Bish on the thanks for sharing the original pic. Didn't know any of those were still around, and that's seriously cool.

Trabi - excellent work. That tiger looks really nice.

-BD-

Trabi - Fine finish on your Tiger. All of your efforts really paid off in one sweet build. I'd like to encourage you to getin with another build.

Colin - You are putting in some very outstanding detailing. Great stuff indeed. 

Some great work there Colin. And thanks for posting that pic of the real pit, nice to gte a decent pic of the back on the instruments.