75th Anniversary of 1943 (World at War)

Front page updated, Griffin.  And you are the first to finish a 1943 project!  Congratulations!

Thanks for being part of the GB.  Your entry is a gem!

Steve, Nick, Scott and Mr. King thank you for the kind words. I think the first photo would be cool. I appreciate it. Here's a link to the Battle of Nikolayevka to anyone who's interested. I model out of a love of military history more than anything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nikolayevka

Well-done, Griffin!  The way you've arranged things draws the viewer in and engages the attention very well.  The background does a great job of setting the scene.  Exceptional work! 

Which photo would you like to adorn the front page?

I agree looks fantastic 

Wow Griffin, really did a nice job of balancing your colors and with your presentation.  

That looks great Griffin! 

They better pick up those guns or they may be looking at some rust later.

I've rapped this one up. I am trying to take better pictures. Took me some searching to find the right background photo. First time trying snow effects. It came out alright. Looking forward to seeing everyone's builds. 

 

Working on some ancillary pieces. Getting close to finishing! 

 

A hole in the base!! I am a dumb a##. I didn't even think of that. I do it with trees I never thought of it for grass. Thanks Bish

Looks good Griffin. I use the Greenline tufts a lot now. I there there are several companies which make those long strands of gress, i think i have some from Noch and Woodland scenices. I always make a hole in the base to fit them into, helps keep them up right.

Thanks bud. The tuft is Green Line from Germany. The long grass I forgot and don't have the packaging. Its a bag of loose individual strands. Not easy to work with. You have to cut it to your desired size and keeping it up right while gluing is difficult

Looking good, Griffin.  What did you use for the grass?

Making progress on the base. Slowly but slowly. 

 

Cheers guys.

Looks great Bish. Love that camo scheme. 

I think you overcame all the issues you encountered, Bish.  What you accomplished looks really good.  The light weathering and the camo scheme are very effective.  Great work, again!

Chers Steve.

Looking great Bish.

Fell behind on this build a bit for sevceral reasons, one of those being the tracks. I had hoped i would have been done by this weekend, but i reckon it will be anotehr week or so now.

So, while i am on the tracks, i managed to get them all together. As mentioned earlier, i didn't follow the instructions as i thought that would risk breaking the pics on the links. But the way i did it meant some glue got on some of those pins so the tracks were not as workable as they should be.

Next time i will try it their way.

The vehicle its self got the decals on, all 2 of them, the number plates. The Div Insignia was included but these broke up when i tried to apply them. I didn't have any more amongst the spares, but before i ordered some spares i checked some pics of 1. Pz Div Pz IV's in Greece in 43, i could not fins any of 251's. This vehicles didn't show any sign of unit markings, so i decided to leave them of my build.

Then onto some weathering. After 3 coats of Alclad aqua gloos i did some dot filtering and some streaking. I have tried to keep this light, somthing i struggled to master for a number of builds, but i think i have nailed the look i want with this, so really pleased with that.

After doing the filters and streaks i got the toiols and tracks on and this is where issues started. One problem i have noticed in the past is that after doing old washes, the white spirits seems to attack parts of the plastic and soften it. This means that thin parts can often just fall apart. I have had axel arms come off with just the slightest touch. And with this build, some of the track links just fel apart. This combined with the not fuly workable track meant i had to put the tracks on bit by bit over 4 nights. I think i'l try useing Humbrol thinners for washing tracks next time.The tracks are not sitting completly right in a few places but they wil do.

The gun had also got the filter and streak treatment.

And then this weekend some dust effects. This was added and then excess is removed. I wanted to keep this on the light side, giviong the idea of driving through a hot dusty region but still leaving the scheme on show.

I just gave it a flat coat this morning, so the final touch will be some pigments, after i finish and add the exhaust. With a day off work today i am hoping to get a good session in, mainly working on the figures, ammo and other sundries.

Griffin25

Thanks Bish. Vallejo snow effects and reality in scale dry snow effects. I have no idea what I'm doing  But I will suss it out hopefully

 

I find that often gets the best results. I am doing a Lowe in a few months and going to try Precision Ice and snow. I have used a little of a 72nd aircraft build so am looking forward to doing it on somthing bigger. Looking foward to seeing how yours come out.

Thanks Bish. Vallejo snow effects and reality in scale dry snow effects. I have no idea what I'm doing  But I will suss it out hopefully

Very nice Griffin. What you planning on useing for snow.

Exceptional work on the MG, Griffin.  Nice work with the weathering and detail.

Good luck with the snow!  

I got the Russian Maxim mg done. Now on to the base. I have never tried snow effects before. I'm going to give it a go. 

 

The engines turned our really well, Nick.  The wash pops out the details.

Griffin25 nice work on those figures !!

did the engines started with mm black wash and then some clean up

Thanks guys! 

Those look fantastic Griffin. Nice job man!

Nice work, Griffin!  Shadows and highlights are superbly realistic, and the faces are great.  Very attractive painting!

I've got the figures done, for the most part. Now I'm going to start working on plusmodel Russian Maxim machine gun.