I thought I posted this here, but I have my WIP thread up and running. Am I supposed to post my updates here too? 

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/169631.aspx

Thanks guys! 

Dan: Nice work! The Academy looks as good as the Dragon one and looks like she went together in about a fifth the time with that much less hair-pulling and cursing than my last Dragon T-34!*

*Which is still unfinished, I didn't like how the paint came out but wasn't sure I wanted to repaint everything so I shoved her back in the box till I could make up my mind, that was about five years ago ). 

Thnaks Dan. The 76 is a light blue, but it does have a greay look to it. I always used to think it was grey when looking at colour plates of aircraft.

Good to see the 34 together. Looking forward to seeing the paint go on.

Gamera, looks really nice, some nice effects on those guns.

Thanks Gamera: I think there's very good detail on the Academy model, the cast texture is a nice touch. Nice work on your Chi-Ri, interior painting looks great.

Bish: Excellent job on your Arao, is the RLM 76 a light gray or blue?

Thanks Hogfanfs.

I'm calling the assembly stage finished on my T-34. Those Academy tracks can be tricky, there's a top piece and a bottom piece then single links that go around the idler and drive wheels. For these photo's one of the links on the right side broke when I was dry fitting them on, so that's why there's a piece of tape on them. This has got to be the fastest build I've even done, the finished kit consist of 197 parts. Part fits are great. I'm planning on washing the model down with soap and water on cotton swap's, then airbrushing primer. I didn't know what it was till I had glued it on, there's a hand saw on the drivers side of the tank. It would be to hard to remove it, so I'll just hand paint it after the main color is appled.

I've gotten most of the interior finished. Looking at the photos I think I need another coat of matte before I close her up.

The 75mm and 37mm guns:

The 37mm in place in the hull front, there's a bit of the seam there, but it's on the bottom where it won't be seen:

I added some simple seats to have something inside there. I also blanked off the area under the air intakes:

Not a whole lot visible from the tiny hatches but I wanted something in there:

What i normally do Moff is post in the GB thread and then cut and paiste into the wiP thread.

I got my WIP thread up and running. So, am I supposed to post updates here and there? 

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/p/169631/1872155.aspx#1872155

Bish

Thnaks gamera. Thats why i like having a stash of weapons and vehciles as well as the aircrfat kits themselves. And seeing as the SS100 doesn't fit under the bomber, that stash has come in useful as i have ha to make a change of planes.

Mof, these bombs never existed and as far as i know they are a fiction of the model companies only. Even Luft 46 website does not mention them. I am guessing these are just ideas by the model companies of what the Germans could have developed.

 

Thnaks gamera. Thats why i like having a stash of weapons and vehciles as well as the aircrfat kits themselves. And seeing as the SS100 doesn't fit under the bomber, that stash has come in useful as i have ha to make a change of planes.

Mof, these bombs never existed and as far as i know they are a fiction of the model companies only. Even Luft 46 website does not mention them. I am guessing these are just ideas by the model companies of what the Germans could have developed.

@Bish: 

Could you give some backround on those bombs? I've never heard of them before and I'm having trouble finding information on them.

Again nice work Bish. I like that marbling technique, I'm going to have to try it. And I'm sure you can find some use for the second bomb. That's one of the big reasons I like having everything on hand before starting something, you never know what's going to fit and what isn't. 

Thanks Bruce. But be careful, i may have to impose a penance if you keep useing the S word like that.

I know what you mean about the kora bomb, but if all goes to plan, the bomb might not be seen that clerly anyway. I am sure i will find anotehr use for the kora bomb.

The blackbasing is a nice method, i like being able to have plenty of control ove rthe resulst. I did find that once the paint had dried, i found i wanted to add another coat. But thats easier than going to far and trying to remove a layer.

@Dan,

Very nice progress on the T-34. Looking forward to seeing some paint on it.

@Bish,

The 555 is coming together very nicely! I'm really intrigued with this blackbasing technique. I plan to use it on the Spitfire I'm currently building. Oops, my apologies, I said "spitfire"! lol The kora bomb does look more impressive, however, I have faith you will configure the Antares bomb effectively.

The Arao has been coming on slwly but i am really happy with how its going and its nice not to be rushing things. With everything else done, it was time to add the vertical tails and close up and mask the pit.

And also masked the bomb bay and wheel wells.

I have decided to try out the Black bashing method as used by a few otehr members of the forum. So after looking at several builds, and bending a few ears with question, i decided to go for it. I like to try new things if i think they will give me the look i want, but at the same time i don't want just one look as i like to approach each build differantly as to the finish as it will all depend on a number of factors. This being a Luft 46 build, i felt it was a good one to try out something new.

So first of all, it got an overall coat of Black Alclad primer. Some may have seen my thread where i asked about an issue i ha with the primer blistering where it was over some enamel overspray fom the unit and Eastern front markings. That was an easy fix but somthing i will look at to avoid in future.

But the rest of the aircraft was fine and i do like the finish Alclad gives.

Is it just me, or does anyone else thinks this looks like something Batman would have.

next up was a random dotting of RLM 76 on the underside. I am useing the new colourcoats, first time i have tried these since WEM closed down. They go down really nice, typical Enamel's. I did have a bit of splattering at first, but after a drop more thinner, it was fine.

After leaving that to dry, i have it several thing coats over all of the same RLM 76. I really like this approach as you can build it up until you achieve the level you want. If its not subtle enough, add another layer. I wanted a finish more on the subtle side and am really happy with how it turned out.

I have also been working on the vehciles this wek, the Kubelwagen and truck are now ready for primer, no pics of those yet. But yesterday my SS100 arrived from Kora.

But clearly i had misread the box when i ordered it. The otehr bomb i have is a 4ton device, this is a 4.5 ton and is some what bigger.

Kora left, Antares right.

So, not only is the Kora bomb to heavy at 4.5 ton, it won't fit in the bomb bay. I kow its a What If subject and the bomb won't actually be in the bay, but i like to be some what realistic. So the plan is to use the Anters bomb and just scratchbuild the cradle the bombs sits in on the trolley.

Thats all for now folks.

Thanks guys! 

Dan: I like the looks there of your T-34, looks about as detailed as the Dragon kit and a lot less work. Seems you're about halfway there with having her assembled. 

Great great prgress on that armour guys, coming along really nice.

Thanks Hogfanfs: Yeah the cast texture on the turret is great.

Gamera: Looks like the only difference is on the turret. Korean War version has large commander's cupola one-piece hatch, and forward and rear ventilator. World War II has small commander's cupola, two piece hatch and rear ventilator.

Construction is pretty simple on the Academy T-34/85. The kit comes with a one piece barrel, all that is needed is to clean up the mold seem. I wrapped sand paper around the barrel starting with 600 grit, and working up to 2000 then white printer paper to polish. By just turning the barrel with the sand paper wrapped around it, the paper removes the mold seem. The kit says it a level four but I think it's pretty simple to build.

Thanks guys!

Dan: I say the Dragon kit probably has about two-three times the parts, over half the links for the tracks. And then as typical Dragon engineering about 30% - 60% of the parts are marked 'not for use'.  The Academy kit probably builds much easier. On the Korean War version though that's interesting, from what I'd read the Soviets just handed a bunch of late WWII T-34s over to the North Koreans, I wasn't aware there was any difference. 

Bruce: That's an interesting question. I'd figure they would have been knocked out almost as soon as they were built but who knows? There's a bunch of stuff about 'Operation Downfall' on the internet, lots of room to come up with your own scenerio. I'm aiming for a little fading and rust on my Type 5 but not too much. 

@Cliff,

The cupola looks good, and that is an interesting exhaust.

I'm still deciding on how beat up and weathered I want to make the Type 4. Would these tanks have been take directly from the production line and put into service in 1946? I would think so. If so, how much ware would be visible? How much rust and dents? Where would they be placed to defend?

@Dan,

That Academy kit looks very nice. The cast texture on the turret is a nice feature. It's coming along very nicely.

Thanks Hogfanfs: There are nubs inside the covers for the suspension, I could see if you wanted to pose them in a different way you would need to cut those nubs off.

Thanks Bish.

Thanks Gamera: Wounder what the part count is on those Dragon T-34's, this Academy is 370 total. It also comes with parts to build a Korean War T-34. Nice cupola and muffler.

Construction is moving along smoothly. Have the mantlet and it's top cover in place, the upper hull glued excellent to the lower hull. When I was gluing the two side parts to the bottom I should have also glued the rear angled part, there was a nice gap after I took the tape off. It's on a curved area so that was a little of a challenge filling in a sanding it, but I think I cleaned it up well. When you look at the wheels it looks like Panzer tank, 20 road wheels in total, five doubles per side. And final the suspension arms went in with no problem.

Just finished the cupola, FM gives you a sprue of clear parts for the periscope. I masked them off last night with a few dabs of white glue and cemented it to the turret. Hopefully I'll ready to paint the interior soon. 

Here's the muffler, the instuctions tell you to paint it burnt metal, I'm guessing a rusted out finish would make more sense? 

Looks good Dan, I've built a couple of Dragon T-34s that are engineered in a simular way. Looking forward to seeing more. 

Nice strat Dan. That is an interesting suspension there. Looking forward to seeing how that come together.

Dan,

Excellent start on the T-34. I have never build a T-34, so the suspension to me is interesting. Is this a working suspension, so you could pose the tracks running over uneven ground?

Excellent work everyone. I started my Academy T-34/85 yesterday, the lower hull comes in four main parts with springs that go into covers. First I glued the two sides to the bottom and dry fit the center part to help in alinement. Next was gluing the springs into there holders, then when the lower hull had dried I glued the springs with the covers in. So far the part fit has been excellent, very thin, tiny gaps. My next trip the my local hobby shop I'll be pick up some of Model Master's Russian green colors, along with a tank crew.

thats no problem Aaron, look forward to seeing it when you can.

Bish

Sounds good enough to me Aaron. Glad to have you on board, i'll add you to the roster.

 

Thanks, I was going to get some photos of the kit up ,but just haven't found the time (in the middle of a home repair project). It doesn't look like a bad kit for a short run.

Bish

Thnaks G. Ye, they are really nice. Only problem was cutting out the rund ones. I tried going right round the edge with a fresh blade in the knife, but ruined a couple. So i definatly need somthing to remove them properly.

 

Thnaks G. Ye, they are really nice. Only problem was cutting out the rund ones. I tried going right round the edge with a fresh blade in the knife, but ruined a couple. So i definatly need somthing to remove them properly.