Sounds like it was caught in the nick of time PJ. I really should post builds over there. I have signed up but not posted in ages.

Look forward to seeing that one jack. Will you be adding it to the list along with the Scout car.

Firefly won't be going into the GB, won't be tackling it this year.  

Already got custom printed decals for it, Canadian 1st Hussars vehicle that came ashore during the Normandy invasion.  In the first five days of landing, the vehicle accounted for 7 enemy tanks - 5 Panthers and 2 Panzer IV's, all belonging to the 12th SS.  No photo appears to exist, but literature/war diaries do include a nick name COMTESSE de FEU (countess of fire) and was first vehicle of third troop, C Squadron.  Only unknown is the WD number.

My Canadian studies indicate the .50 cal seems to have been carried initially for the landings but soon removed after, usually replaced with a .30 cal.

Nothing to report build wise on the Humber Scout.  Was working on another build that requires some custom PE, so working on a PE sheet and have included some things for the Scout to make things easier for me.  Bish, I wonder if you have any experience with the company since they are in Scotland: https://ppdltd.com/

 

 

regards,

Jack

At this point I have completed the major painting portion, only need to start the small amount of hand painting some details and begin some minor weathering, clear and then decals. I painted this UK Light Sand on the upper hull and side armor, the skirts and lower hull are painted Irag Sand to break up the monotone and help with future weathering to the Irag desert buildup on the lower skirts and hull. More to come.

BK

 

Hi all

 As Finescale has decided to restore the email link between the Group Build and my computer, I'll report in. I decided to build the new tool 1/35 Tamiya Valentine. I was thinking of a Asuka/Tasca Firefly, but it would have been a more complex build, I'm under a little time pressure and the build already has a Firefly. Here it is:

 kit by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 Here is what it's supposed to represent:

 ValPic1 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 This is a very interesting kit. First, the tank itself was very small – not much bigger than the Panzer II, although better armored and heavier – figure 16-17 tons. The last tank I built was the Tamiya SU-76 and the kits are very similar in size. This is not a simple kit – part count is 250+, and a modeler is well advised to follow the instructions because the build sequence very important because the hull is made of separate pieces.

 That said, this might be the best engineered model I've ever built. (I'm not done yet, and troubles may lurk, but I doubt it.) In all seriousness, the fit is so good that I could have made almost all of this kit with white glue. I'm working on the pretty complex multi-part suspension now and the thing just clicks onto the side. Amazing really. Tamiya's recent kits all have very thin sprue gates – thanks to my very neat Tamiya long blade nippers, I deal with very little clean-up. And the detail can't be faulted. (Lots of it underneath if you can figure out how to show it.) It's done with link and length tracks which probably aren't needed if you build the British version because, judging from online WWII pics, almost all of the desert Valentines wore the big sand skirts which will hide the sag created by the complex tracks. Many Valentines ended up in Russia (where they were very popular) and there are no skirts there. I'd build the Russian configuration – except that wouldn't fit a British Army Group Build very well.

 Phil Flory did a kit review on YouTube and he did a lot of close up examination of parts showing crisply molded pieces that look like they're two pieces (and would be two or three pieces if Dragon made this kit.) Flory concludes that Tamiya is feeling competition from Meng, Takom etc, and decided to remind the world that they still make the best models available. I am a hard-core Tamiya fan, and can't disagree and give this kit highest recommendation. BTW – Tamiya also put out a version of the Archer – a self-propelled tank killer built on the Valentine frame mounting a 17 pounder. To mount the huge gun on the little frame, it was necessary to mount it pointing backward – looks neat. Anyway, here are two pics showing progress so far. A detail pic shows some of the splendid detail.

 body1 - Copy by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 detail1 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 More soon.

 Eric

 

Glad to have you on board Eric, i will get you added.

Looking good BK, like the colour.

MC You by chance doing the 1/350 Hasegawa Akagi? Looks like a great kit that might take two years to build. Eric

Nice to see all of this postwar British armor. It's one of the oddities in the history of weapons technology that the Brits could build such great aircraft and fine ships during WWII, but all of their home made tanks sucked when compared to the competition. But just before WWII ended they deployed Comet and since then it's been nothing but roses. Kind of bad timing though. I think that the Brits got blindsided by Germany's rapid rise in the late 30s. They did get the Spitfire into production and some good bombers into development, but their tanks were all to one degree or another "rush jobs." No wonder they were glad to get American tanks. The hiatus provided by Grants, Stuarts and Shermans gave Brit designers a little time to think things through and to start putting the design pieces together. The US could take things a little slower because they were never under direct threat of losing WWII. But the Brit wartime armor did work and was pretty numerous. British war production was extraordinary when considering the size of the country's economy and their quickly evaporating treasury. Eric

Hopefully I corrected everything on this build. The sand skirts were scratched out from thin card stock. The wading bars and side clips were made from scrap PE fret frames. The Allakeefek art work was hand painted with a #10/0 brush. The pistol port was carefully removed using a paper thin razor saw then the area was sanded smooth and textured with Mr. Surfacer 500 to recreate the cast iron texture. The missing T number on the left hull side was put together from spares.

Bish is it possible to update the built page with the first picture here since this is the correct configuration for this Vc ? Thanks again for hosting this GB.

Very nice, PJ.  It's nice to have help with accuracy, even if it hurts a little once in awhile.

jeaton01

Very nice, PJ.  It's nice to have help with accuracy, even if it hurts a little once in awhile.

 

 

Thanks John. I'm glad I was able to make the corrections which were actually very easy.

Nicely done!

Will do PJ. I can't see your pics at the moment (work computer) but will check them tonight and get the front page sorted.

Very nice work, PJ. Someday I hope to do one that looks that nice and accurate.

BK

OK PJ, got the front page changed, thank you. Really lovely work on that, thank you.

Thanks BK and Bish.

GS, I like using Aleene's Tacky glue for most PE applications. It's very strong and grabs very fast yet it can be repositioned or even removed if it needs to be.

Sorry guys, just got back from holiday. I had the laptop with me but the Wi-Fi was pretty horrible so I had some issues getting online.

PJ: Grand job! That's one fine looking Firefly, congrads!!!

Greysnake: She's coming along great!

Eric & Brandon: Those look really cool!

Nice work GS, i like the idea for the shadeing. Those PE parts have turned out well.

Sorry gents: have to see if I'm still on this list.

Eric

Thanks gamera.

I put the final matte coat on the Comet yesterday and the base was good and dry when I got back. Still need to paint a few little stuff like the headlights, finish up and mount the figures, and clean up a few messy things on the base.

Still don't know if I want to dirty up the tank or not...

I got some work done on the Conqueror while sitting around in the motel room. Not likely to be done by the end of this GB though.

Really nice detail but some big friggin' sinkholes in the bogies. Not sure it will show but I've ordered some more putty to fill the holes.

Have been enjoying looking at all this work very impressive. 

Gamera

Still don't know if I want to dirty up the tank or not...

 

Yes yes yes.....at least a light touch so it will mate it to the base.  

Thanks guys! 

Steve, yeah a little dust would work for that. I think British tanks should be cleaner than us Yank and Russkie slobs though... 

Gamera

Thanks guys! 

Steve, yeah a little dust would work for that. I think British tanks should be cleaner than us Yank and Russkie slobs though... 

 

I wouldn't bet on that.