Bruce: Sounds good, looking forward to the photos. 

@Piers,

I really like what you did with the storage! It will really dress up this build.

I finally finished painting the road wheels and tracks, I'll get some pictures posted later. I don't believe I'll be done by the first, although, another week should do it. 

Thanks guys! 

Piers: That looks good! Not sure if  the camo would come out different on the canvas cover though, it might be fine as is.

Dunno if I'll meet the end date or not. I worked Sat. and then got yesterday off but ended up spending it on family stuff. Still I am so close. Just finished the pin washes and think I'll skip any dot filtering. Whats left:

1). Finish painting and add tow cables to turret.

2). Spray with matte finish. 

3). Remove masking from clear parts. 

4). Add any mud/dirt and I'm done. 

The base is about half done, and I didn't like the figures so I went back and repainted the base colour to their uniforms. I found a really good internet article on painting the digital camo that I'm using to get the camo right. Ordered a little more junk to fill out the turret bustle rack. But all in all the tank itself is almost done, I don't think Clemens will ding me for turning it in as finished and adding the base, figures, storage, etc later. 

Thats coming on really well Piers. Nice work on the decal for the spare tire and i like the stowage.

Looking nice there Gamera, coming on really well.

Bruce: Thanks! If you look closely it is a little crooked and about a mm gap in some places between the hull and the skirt. Still you have to look carefully to see it, I just want her done at this point so I don't think I'm going to keep fiddling with it. 

@lostagain,

Great job on the camo pattern! I'm looking forward to seeing how you weather this one.

@Cliff,

To me it looks like the skirt fits quite well. The camo pattern looks really good. And I'm like you, I hope I can get this one done by Sep 1st.

Grumble the right side skirt still didn't fit perfectly but well enough I think I'm going to leave it and move on. 

She's pretty much together, still need to add a few small details. The semi-gloss is on her and I started applying a pin wash, lotsa details to pick out. There are some flaws in the camo but I think I'm going to leave them and move on. Dunno if I'll be done by the end-date or not- I shouldn't overshoot by a week or two though. 

Piers: That looks fantastic! 

Slow moving here, I finished up the tracks and the road wheels. Went to put them on last night and the friggin' skirts on the right side simply do not fit. I think I said before they didn't want to fit correctly when I tack glued them in place to paint the camo but I hoped with some work they'd fit better when I put them on for good. But nope, not sure if one of the sections is slighty warped or too big or small. And I had no issues with the left side skirts, going to put them in place this weekend. Will take photos when all the running gear, skirts, etc are in place.  

Some very nice work going on here guys.

Piers, love the camo on that.

Bruce, the preshading has come out really well - great modulation.

I have done no preshading on the Bushmaster - I will mess it up after painting...

But I have done the tan, green and black Auscam. I have used blue tack for masking, it was really sticky and a pain to get off but worked out okay.

It's under here somewhere...

Next decals, then the weathering starts...

Bruce: That looks terrific! The pre-shading came though so well! 

Just a quick update. The IDF Sand has been sprayed. Now that I've got a good idea of how to use these Mission Model paints, I am liking them quite a bit!

Currently cleaning the guns and spare tracks for paint. Then I'll have some detail painting of the tools on the turrent. I hope to start weathering by the end of this week.

Piers: Those rebuilt door handles look about a zillion times better than the originals. Great work there!

Bruce: Nice work there too. Gotta love those track link templates, it's a huge advantage. I still hate the fiddly bit track links but the templates make them so much easier to work with. Great job there on the pre-shading, going to look great with the base coat on. 

The Abrams is painted, decaling now- all eight of them. Will get some photos up soon.

I'm making some progress on the Merkava! 

The kit supplied some very well engineered templates for the tracks, which made assembly easy. 

I just put the first coat of MM Gunmetal on them.

And here is my rendition of the black and white technique.

I should get the first coat of IDF sand on tonight.

More to come!

@Cliff,

I'm looking forward to seeing the camo complete. 

@lost,

LOL! I see what you mean about the handles. Great job re-creating what you need!

Ok, quick update, I have completed the tracks, primed the upper, lower and turret. I'm trying the black and white technique. The black has been shot, the white will go on today, and then I'll get a base coat of the IDF sand color. 

I'm using Mission Models paints for the first time. And somewhere here on the forums, I read that you should not use much thinner for prepping the paint for an air brush. But, so far I have had to thin more than I do with enamels. Granted this has only been with the black paint. And this is not a complaint, but, and observation. So far, this paint has layed down very nicely.

I'll get some pick posted latertoday, or tomorrow. 

Well, masked for the black camo last week and sprayed it yesterday. Forgot to take some photos after I took the masking off. I went and sprayed the gloss finish on for the decals so I really don't want to handle the model till it's good and dry. Will try to get the photos with all the paint up soon.

The brown camo is down. Still need to mask it and spray the black camo.

Looking really good, Piers! And I like the idea of the metal handles too.

I have to figure out how to make a good jig that will make the handles as nice as those you have!

Piers: She looks good! I've thought about replacing handles with wire but so far haven't done it except for the ones I lose. 

Did you use plastic sheet or index cards to mask off the windows? I can't tell from the photos. 

Lots of awesome builds maybe next time I can’t build a tank in 30 days lol....

Thanks Cliff,

It continues on making slow but steady progress. Finished off the interior and started preparing the body.

All the handles were replaced with copper wire and brass for a bracket. Plenty of gaps to be filled in around handles, brackets etc.

With the top on, the interior will still be visible.

It took a bit of clamping to get the top and bottom together, but I think we are there now.

Piers: That looks really good! Love the camo on the packs and seats. Great work on the interior storage. 

Thanks Bruce, don't want to get it confused with the MERDC style from the late '70s- '80s though. I want something like the one below. I really need to get moving though, only a month and half to go...

Hey Cliff it will be good to see a different finish on the Abrams.

Gamera

 

I'm aiming the Abrams for the current multi-colour scheme with the green, brown, and black. I'd have to look up the name for it. I'm kinda bored with the dull Iraqi yellow sand and wanted a forest camo sorta thing with this vehicle based in S. Korea. 

 

I believe it's called the NATO 3-color camouflage. Those in the know can correct me. I'm glad you picked that camo, you don't see that many kits painted that pattern. I'm looking forward to seeing it complete.

Bruce: Nice work there! Those road wheels look like the sort of thing to assemble while watching TV or some other distraction. As for losing parts I found that if I scratchbuild a replacement THEN the original part will resurface after all that work. 

I'm aiming the Abrams for the current multi-colour scheme with the green, brown, and black. I'd have to look up the name for it. I'm kinda bored with the dull Iraqi yellow sand and wanted a forest camo sorta thing with this vehicle based in S. Korea. 

Sorry guys for not posting on here in a while. 

@Lost, The bushmaster is looking good. And, wow, that resin looks outstanding!

@Cliff, your M1 looks great with the pre-shading. What camo pattern are you going to use?

Ok, quick update on the Merkava

The road wheels were five pieces

Just to get this one lonely wheel

And the remainder of the road wheels, and sprockets

Then I finished the upper hull

And turret

Lots and lots of very small parts, that took there turns walking off the table on me!

I had a small handle snap in half and one half disappeared. Finally after a couple weeks, I decided to look for it, and believe it or not, I found it. Then glued it back together and glued it on the turret just so I would not lose it again! This has been the worst kit I've had with losing parts. I don't know why. But, over all I really like this kit.

I have the skirts, tracks and guns to finish, but, now I'll start shooting some paint. I'm going to try Mission Models paint for the first time with this build.

Thanks for looking!