lol. Well......if it equals 10 grams that'll do.

Nice progress here guys!

Modelcrazy, Your Eugen is marvelous!!!

Well I think I call my Tiger as done:

I have another kit in my mind to this GB, but let´s see do I found time to build it.

Great litle build there Trabi, i like what you have done with that. I have aded you to the front page, and thank you.

And don't worry to much about time, if builds are not done by the time the GB ends, its no problem if you want to keep posting until your done.

Ok so be prepared for a word and picture dump, I got a fair bit done today :)

The brake lines are being installed. Holes drilled to accept the solder and then some careful bending and fitting with a dab of glue to secure it.

I used some bare metal adhesive foil to make the hose clamps around the lines and gear.

Here you can see the clamps installed and the lines painted.

After this all of the shiny spots on the gear from the glue got a very light coat of some yellowed dirty thinner as a wash to remove the glaze and give a little extra wear in the crevaces.

I painted half the line red and the other half black to emulate the dual lines on the original. I didn't have any finer solder to do dual lines.

Next I finished off the camera equipment. They were assembled and given a final touch up coat of paint on any sanded areas and to dull out the shiny bit of glue.

Both wheel wells were then installed along with the recessed bomb rack and camera equipment and bulkhead.

Now I was ready to button everything up.

Now I have a fair number of sub assemblies done, it's starting to look like an airplane!

Next I decided to mask the cockpit glass. Talk about nerve racking!
I put some Tamiya tape over the areas to be done and held it up to one of my bench lights to see the lines and carefully trace/cut them out with a blade.

I am pretty pleased with the results.

My only complaint is that the glass is very thick and the nose glass has a mold seam line right down the centre, no realistic way of removing that.
I was talking with a friend who does tabletop gaming scenery about this and it led to us deciding to build a small vacuum forming machine. So I think I'll take a crack at making my own cockpit glass, see how it actually works out.

Once this was done I started on the lines for the instruments, that much to see, it'd be a shame if i didn't add the plumbing for the works.
I took some thin fishing line, clamped it on a shelf and put a clamp on the bottom for weight and gave it a coat of matte white for primer. 
Then I gave it a coat of yellow to match my reference.
I held a sheet of paper behind it to both prevent painting my walls and to see where I was going and actually "hit" the line.

Looking at the reference, it's going to be some wicked eye strain but well worth it :)

Aww shoot! I already posted something in your WIP. Looks good anyhow Colin!

Thanks :)

I managed to shoot an enamel coat of RLM 66 on top of the black base tonight which really brought all the molded in details of that resin pit out. Tomorrow I'll mix a slightly lighter batch of 66 to shoot on the high points of the pit to make it pop some more. Will post pictures soon when I have enough progress to mandate it.

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.

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. 

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-

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-

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 :)

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. 

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).

Looks good Mustang, very cool. 

Greta work on the pit Joe.

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

Great start Joe. 

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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:

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.

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.  

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

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.  

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?