Thanks Robert!

That's a real gem, Gamera!

Rockets are on, not the best paint job but they'll be harder to see under the wings so it's good enough. Not too much left, canopy and prop and hopefully done...

Freem: Sorry, somehow I missed your post... The foil is really looking good, that's some nice work! Have you finished the entire plane by now? I'm looking forward to seeing how she looks all shiney aluminum.

John: Nice work, glad to see you getting the running gear up and well... running...

The F-51D's landing gear is on and she's on her feet. Finished up the drop tanks and attached them last weekend. Sprayed the rockets and am detal painting them now. Hoping to have some more photos up when they're done.

Just need to get the canopy painted (the masks I bought for it have vanished...) and the prop painted decaled and installed and hopefully I'm done...

Under a month!  I've GOT to post some pics. I got to work on the track treads of the tank by now. 

Here's an old pic that I hadn't posted of the parts that I've airbrushed. Colors seem different because some of the pieces were weathered, others weren't.

Keep goin', guys!

Freem, how did you apply the foil? :)

Man 2020 sucks!! Been crazy at work so bench time has suffered, but I have managed to get the F-80 foiled:

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I'll post more later

Good job, buff! Are you going to preshade it all black with white accents?

I've done a bit more with the T-34 myself. For one, I airbrushed some small pieces and the track treads. I may post some pictures in the near future.  

Ernest: Looks good, looking forward to seeing her with some olive drab laid down. 

I haven't forgotten the Forgotten War GB!

Been busy working on the M-26.  Lots of fiddly little parts and work travel has slowed down the build, but its in the last stages.  Just a few more fiddly bits before she's ready for primer!

Thanks very much, Gamera! That's the tin-foil fender; I suppose it presents kinda an odd contrast with the other side, though. :)

John: Great job there on the weathering. I love the bent and battered fender on the left.

Thanks, Brandon!

John 3:16 KJV

I got some washes from AmmoMig and weathered the tank. :)

 

BK

I got some washes from AmmoMig and weathered the tank. :)

Good work, buff! Keep pressing on with those tracks! 

Looks great! Good to have you back with us! 

Whoa!  Was it really Feb that I last posted an update on my M-26A1 Pershing??  Sorry all for being absent from the GB (and all the forums here) for so long.  I'm sure you've all experienced all sorts of modeling setbacks and delays due to the craziness of 2020.  Same here.  Suffice it to say that modeling took a back seat starting in March and I wasn't able to get back into it until August.  I had to finish up a couple of other builds before getting back on track with this GB. 

From what little I've seen so far (the last couple of pages really) there are some nice kits being built!  I'll try to take a more detailed look and post some comments as soon as I can!

OK, here's where I left off eight months ago!  Suspension pretty much complete:

A few weeks ago I started working on the tracks.  The kit tracks are indie links and BOY did they take a good long while to remove and clean up....all 166 links PLUS the same number of guide teeth!  However after gluing up a set (83 per side) and installing on the tank I really wasn't happy with it.  Turns out that if you glue them too tight, like I did, the 83 links end up being a half link too short, but 84 links are too long....GRRRRR  I went with 84, but you can see in the pic below the big gap at the front roadwheel/idler.

What to do, what to do??  I decided that I really didn't like the look of the tracks at both ends.  You can see that the fit at the sprocket is also a little funky.  So I decided to splurge on an aftermarket set of workable tracks:

While I was waiting for this to arrive I worked on the turret and prepped other smaller parts and assemblies and did some online research to determine paint and marking schemes.

Now if I thought that the cleanup of the kit tracks was a tedious, painstaking chore... that was nothing compared to this Bronco set!  Each link consists of seven parts!! Yes...SEVEN.  And in order to keep them workable glue must be applied to a very small area making sure glue doesn't get on any of the working parts!  After two weeks of cleanup and assembly I managed to create ONE set.    But what a difference!

The instructions stated 85 links, but I actually used 83 links and the fit was perfect!  The kit even comes with a set of sprockets to fit different M-26 models (Tamiya, Hobby Boss, Dragon).  Here's a pic showing the kit tracks one one side and the Bronco tracks on the other (biased towards the Bronco tracks!).  Still have to install the remaining guide teeth to this run and then assemble another track run.  Not really looking forward to that!

To be fair the kit tracks aren't all that bad and being forewarned about the fit problem would allow a track run to fit much better.   Here she is with the turret on and fenders and hatches dryfitted in place.

I've decided to use the kit markings as they match the Pershing in this photo; Hamhung Korea, 1950:

Great job there on the figure John! And good to see the road wheels coming along. 

Cool prize too! 

The prize has arrived! I’ll post its picture up front on the first page. Here it is:

As for my modeling progress update...

- Some more work on a figure’s face and equipment.

The figure below now has hair, eyes, eyebrows, and mustache. His hands aren’t done being painted yet.

I cut a thin arc-like piece of masking tape and glued three of pieces of his equipment to it before gluing the tape “strap” to the soldier.

- Then, of course, some of the wheels with halves glued together...

John: Thanks! And looking forward to seeing more of your T-34!

I still haven't masked the canopy yet...  

Good work, Gamera! You are near the finish line on that mustang! Rounded pieces can be troublesome, can’t they?

The work on the wheels continues for me, but progress is being made. I’ve placed a few orders, too— one for weathering supplies from AmmoMiG, one for a mud kit for the diorama, and one for the GB prize. 

I’ll let y’all guess at the prize until I confirm that it gets here. 

Well, the decals are on and I'm working on the landing gear. Still haven't done my most hated part- masking the canopy yet. Hoping to be done by the end of the month. We'll see how it goes... 

John: Yeap, road wheels are so much fun! But at least a T-34 has big manly road wheels instead of a zillion tiny ones like a Panzer III or IV. 

I've finished decaling and really need to get some photos up. I'm going to try to get the landing gear on next. 

Ok, well, I’ve been pretty slow; and I haven’t kept posts comin’ in. However, I haven’t forgotten my Forgotten War GB. I have worked a bit on the wheels....ugh, wheels.... 

I have tried to add green paint to their centers. Hand-painting, not airbrushing. More to do to finish the wheels of course, but here’s a pic. :)

 How‘s it going for y’all? 

Thanks John, three-and-a-half months to go. Most of the decals are on. Haven't done the canopy yet. So hopefully I'll be done before too much longer.

Your model is looking good, Gamera!

Progress continues on the F-51. As I said the anti-glare panel is painted: 

As I said there was a finger print somehow in the starboard wing. So I sanded it out and repainted. Then the airbrush decided to blow a bunch of big goobs of paint onto the wing. I sanded it down several times and repainted. It still ain't perfect but I figure I'll be here to doomsday sanding and repainting so I went ahead and started decaling. Thankfully the decals have went down perfectly so far. Cross your fingers... 

The one that's up is fine. Just wanted to show the other side after being fixed

Tempestjohnny- I realized upon looking that I already put a picture of your build up front. Pls let me know if you want to update the photo or if you like the one that’s up. :)

Hey, y’all! Congrats on the finish, tempestjohnny; I’ll get your photo up front! 

Time does fly; I’m gonna have to get the prize announced soon! For those who don’t care about being in the competition, you can always keep building your models into next year if you have to or want to, though. I might do that myself. ;)