G, like those figures and your a brave man for doing the kilt. Well done.

GS, the touch up has worked a treat.

And thanks for the info, i am hearing the same thing from a few people. If the subject is right, i don't mind paying a bit extra for a good kit.

Did you get the correct clan patern Cliff?

Excelent job on the kilt!

Gee, should I do a William Wallace figure next???

Thanks guys!

And Steve, I have no idea if it's the correct clan pattern or not- I just copied the back of the MiniArt box.

EricB

Harold

I completed steps 4 through 6 and started step 7. The undercarriage of this model is much more detailed than I realized. Steps 1 through 9 is a full running gear with drive lines and transmission. If AFV Club had included the upper half of the engine it would be a complete model inside and out. There is a full interior in the cab and the bed has all the detail you would expect in a truck model. I am very pleased with the way this model was engineered.

If you are interested in classic military vehicles like the AEC Matador here is a good resource http://www.classicmilitary.co.uk/aec-matador-gun-tractor-classic-military-vehicle/

GreySnake

Harold, you are making some very good progress. 

 

I had one minor problem with assembly today. In photograph #1 and #3 you can see a white part next to the frame. It is a transmission mount that I had to build from styrene. The instructions show installation of a transmission mount before the transmission is installed, but you cannot get the transmission in place with that mount installed. I try to plan ahead at least two steps during assembly, but sometimes I overlook this kind of problem until it is too late.

Harold

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Harold: She's coming along great! A pity all that detail won't be seen unless you pick up the model and hold her upside down. 

That is looking very nice harold. And yes, a pity to lose all that detail.

Finished her up Sunday and finally got the photos taken this evening. As usual click on the photo for a bigger picture:

Hello Cliff, that is quite a finish for your Comet - nice one!

I like how the tree adds depth, and the rough edges of the turf gives a sense that it could have been torn from the ground specifically for the base.   What prodructs are these?

regards,

Jack

Hello and sorry for long time no see.
Good to see this bunch still working their way through these  difficult times!

Lots of great stuff already completed and on the way - will need the rest of today for ketchup :)

With my Staghund and Valentine stil in quarantine in Germany, my W.O.T.8 stalled (to many misstakes) I have now managed to pull together enough motivation to ask if I could re-enter with one out of two new candidates:

#1 Chevrolet "Gun Tractor" 3rd British Infantry Division - Normandy 1944. Italeri 1/35.
https://www.italeri.com/en/product/2334

#2 Triumph 3HW, military motorcycle. Italeri 1/9.
https://www.italeri.com/en/product/2517

As always
Svenne

Thanks guys! Ya'll are way too kind. 

Svenne: Both of those sound good! The motorcycle being smaller might be easier to finish by the end date though. 

Jack: Funny, it's my standard quick, cheap, and dirty base. The rough edges are due to the static grass not wanting to stick to the edges of the base. I thought about spreading more glue there and adding more grass and decided to just leave it. 

The base is just Durham's Water Putty, it's like plaster but waaaaayyyyy stronger. It doesn't crack or splinter unless you hit it with a hammer. Shep Paine turned me on to the stuff in his 'How to Build Dioramas' manual. I'm not sure you can get it in Canada, I talked to Bish about it a year or two ago, and they don't sell it in the UK. If you want some and can't get it send me a message and I'll mail you a container. 

http://waterputty.com/

I just press the tank down into the wet putty to leave ruts and then remove it and wash the treads off carefully to get rid of the excess putty. When the base is dry I paint it using cheap 99 cent craft store paint a light earth colour. I then add what's basically a wash of darker earth coloured paint mixed 50/50 with water to settle into the low spots. Then a liberal coating of glue and a good sprinkling of static grass. 

The tree was added due to Shep Paine's manual again- just to balance out the figures on the other side of the dio. It's made from Scenic Express's Super Trees, a dried weed type paint with lots of branches, painted grey and then a coat of glue and sprinked with their Super Leaf product. It's made for railroading but it works fine for larger stuff. 

 http://scenicexpress.com/

Cliff, thank you for explaining your landscaping methods.   I looked up the Durham putty and found it at Canada's Amazon site, albeit at tripple the price.

regards,

Jack

Jack: You can do the same with plaster- it's just a lot more fragile than the Durhams.

Guess as a small company they just don't have any international distribution network. 

Thats a brilliantly done build gamera, all round great job.

Going to check that scenic site out for the trees. I have made my own but its a long process.

Thanks for taking part, will update front page at the weekend.

Thanks Bish! I'm not sure about brillant but I'm pretty happy how she came out. And I'm overjoyed at having something that's been sitting in my stash for the better part of forever finally built. 

I took the model to our IPMS meeting last night- got more comments on the guy's kilt than the tank... 

Bish please use whatever photo you like the best for the front page. 

And thanks again for running a fantastic GB. 

Gamera

Outstanding work!

Harold

Thanks Harold! They weren't in service that long so I didn't see much point in much weathering.

And thanks for the offer, I like the plague but not sure it needs one.

Excellent work, Gamera. A true masterpiece. It looks truly amazing.

BK

Gamera

Thanks Harold! They weren't in service that long so I didn't see much point in much weathering.

And thanks for the offer, I like the plague but not sure it needs one.

 

Cliff, I agree a plaque is not necessary unless you want to give your diorama a theme or say something about the scene you created.

I completed steps 10 through 18 out of 28 which is the truck bed, seating, and accessories. There were a few problems in these steps starting with resin gas cans that came with the kit. Why AFV Club chose to have resin gas cans when their styrene cans are perfect, I have no idea. However, the main problem was the styrene storage rack for these gas cans that is located under the truck bed. The storage rack was incomplete according to the number of parts in the instructions. Anyway I ended up making a storage rack out of styrene strips which is a little different than the original, but it looks similar to an actual rack I had fabricated out of angle iron, so I know it will work.

There were also a few other problems with the instructions, but I was able to work around those without too much difficulty. Step 19 is assembly of the canopy and then steps 20 through 27 is the cab interior. The cab interior will need to be hand-painted before final assembly and painting.

Harold

Brandon: I'm not sure anything I do can be called a 'masterpiece' but thanks nonetheless!!!

Harold: That looks really good, you're making excellent progress. Looks like you're about halfway there on construction. Odd about the jerry cans and their rack though. Never encountered any weird features like that myself in AFV Club kits- just zillions of injection pin holes everywhere that need to be filled. Don't get me wrong, I love their kits but it is a pain to fill and sand so many holes.

Gamera

Harold: That looks really good, you're making excellent progress. Looks like you're about halfway there on construction. Odd about the jerry cans and their rack though. Never encountered any weird features like that myself in AFV Club kits- just zillions of injection pin holes everywhere that need to be filled. Don't get me wrong, I love their kits but it is a pain to fill and sand so many holes.

 

Harold

Likeing the look of that Harold, building up nicely.

Been working on my bust here and there over the past few months and figured it wastime to post some pics.

This comes from a small one man outfit based on Guernsey (Sarnia is the old Roman name for the island). So while its not Youngs Miniatures standard, but its still nivce and good to see subjects from this largely overlooked conflict.

It needed a little filler around the collar where the head fitted to the body, and quite a bit of clean up.

And after black primer, some paint all with Vallejo.

I am rathyer pleased with hosw the wood on the musket came out, and still need to finish off the red leather glove.

More to follow.

Sergeant

 

 

Gamera

Harold: That looks really good, you're making excellent progress. Looks like you're about halfway there on construction. Odd about the jerry cans and their rack though. Never encountered any weird features like that myself in AFV Club kits- just zillions of injection pin holes everywhere that need to be filled. Don't get me wrong, I love their kits but it is a pain to fill and sand so many holes.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Cliff... Regarding the injection pin holes you mentioned, where do you find them? I have three AFV Club models in various stages of assembly that I'm planning to paint in a couple of weeks and I haven't seen any pin holes on the paintable surface, but maybe I'm not looking at the right place?

 

Harold

 

Guess I should have specified on the reverse side from the outside surface. Which can be a pain in something like a M10 or M36 where you can see the inside of the turret. There weren't any pin holes on the inside of your Matador's cab?

Bish: That looks really cool! I've done some larger scale figures but no busts as yet. And I've tried blackbasing but never really liked the looks of it. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes. Please keep us updated.

Bish

Likeing the look of that Harold, building up nicely.

 

I ordered Eureka XXL braider metal wire rope in .40mm diameter to replace the copper wire cables stowed on the tail gate. I have used the Eureka wire rope before and it is easy to use, realistic looking material. I also ordered AFV Club styrene British fuel cans to replace the resin ones that came in the kit.

Harold