Battle For Germany 45 GB Starts Now - 08 May 06

Thanks Karl.. Your 162 is looking great so far.  I have the kit & plan on building it "someday".

Regards,  Rick

The Panther is looking good Bob.  Nicely painted.  I've never used Silly Putty as a mask, but I've seen posts from others that had the same reaction.

Regards,  Rick

Boyd-nice work.  Looking forward to the finished product.

The Panther is painted.  The Silly Putty mask seamed to 'repel' the paint...or at least some of it.  I had some older, used putty that worked fine.  Opened up a couple of new eggs and that reacted with the paint....or the base coat hadn't cured (MM acrylic, 24 hrs.).  Anyway, after some touch-up (nice thing about armor....mistakes can be covered up with weathering) here is where we are now:

Thinking about using the kit one-piece treads, since I am leaning toward using the side skirts (currently attached with rubber cement).  Finding myself running short of time and not sure if I want to tackle the Tamiya indy tracks (too many other projects-modeling and otherwise-in progress).  Would like to build another Panther G (after purchase of  a double-action ab and many hours of practice) so I may save them.

Thanks Sean, glad you liked the Jug.  As far as the camo schemes goes, I guess some of Tom's fringe urges have spilled over .  Looking forward to your pics.

Regards,  Rick

Can't beleive I've missed so much in so little time.

Great builds guys! Some really impressive stuff.

Rick whats with the 'different' camo schemes you've churned out this GB??

That last one looks extremely cool

Well, the Spit has been finished for a couple of weeks now, but I have been stuck out in the scrub 600 k's from home thanks to shonky weather so didn't manage to post any pics

Should be able to snap a couple of pics this weekend hopefully.

Darren the BoB badge looks fine from here

Looking good Boyd!!!  I still need to get me one of those artillery kits... lots of detail to those!!

News on the home front:  I got 99% of the German markings on and will snap a pic tomorrow after I get the gear on.  Next is painting the RAF Dark Green over the German markings and futuring and putting down the British markings.  I found a good site in French with TONS of pics of Do335-A12 number 112, I wish I had found it before... in addition to the nose it appears at least the lower unit of the intake scoop was also NMF, the 'ceiling' of the nose gear bay was NMF (as were the other 335's and some 262's at that time)  It also appears the inner wheel bays excluding the ceiling were RLM 66 not RLM 02, I can't confirm this as they are in black and white but I went with it all the same, as a color wartime shot had a bit of the wheel bay showing and it appeared a dark gray.

Also contrary to references with the decals and online, it appears the Dark Green was hand painted on, as soon as I find the period pic again I will post it for an opinion from the GB.

I would like to do one of these again, having now massed a moderate amount of research material on it.  With the PE and Resin set this thing would look extremely good!!!

Very nice work Boyd.  Keep us posted.

Regards,  Rick

OK, time for an update:

Since last we left our intrepid adventurer, I had joined this GB to get some motivation after being overseas last year.  I decided to do something fairly simple - a Tamiya PAK-40.

As of this printing, the Tamiya PAK is done, minus final painting and I am building the Dragon PAK-40 as well.  I was motivated by one of the scenes from "A Bridge Too Far" in which XXX Corps runs into dug in PAK 40's during their advance.  I figure I will use these two guns for an AT roadblock.  It is also interesting to do the build of the same model from two different companies.  The Dragon kit is head and shoulders above the Tamiya one for detail (but also complexity).  At this point I am still building the major subassemblies of the Dragon PAK to get them ready for paint. 

The motivation factor has definately worked because in addition to the two guns, I am also building Accurate Miniatures Sturmovick fighter/bomber as part of the GB.  Knowing my pace, I may have trouble finishing it by the deadline, but at least I will get a good start on it.

Now, for some pictures:

All of these are of the Tamiya PAK.  The first shows the sub-assemblies completed and ready for base paint.  You can see in the photo that I replaced the Tamiya wheels with one of the two sets that came with the Dragon kit.

In this photo, the base coat is on and I am prepping for sanding, fillilng, and final assembly.

And, finally, a shot trying to illustrate the detail differences in the carriage of the Tamiya and Dragon kits.  The Dragon carriage is on the bottom.

The picture quality is not great, I know, but they will do for now.  These were taken a wekk or so ago.  When I can borrow the in-law's camera again I will try to post some more recent ones.

Boyd

darson wrote:

Also between you and Rick giving the thumbs up to Cutting Edge decals, I have definitely made up my mind to use them for the Allied Aces GB.

This set at least is very nice if a little sparse looking (the Do335 had almost no stencilling etc except for the no step signs etc...)  very nice fit to the body, very little Micro Set needed to snug them down.  This is the second set I have used and I am a very happy customer now!  I got mine at www.meteorprod.com, you can get them at greatmodels but some of the more 'fringe' ones are always out of stock...

Smokingun, Bob,  Thanks guys, glad you liked her.  The 56th FG had some pretty wild schemes.

Regards,  Rick

That jug shure looks good thats kinda of a biffrent paint scheme ive never seen that before i realy like it

Darren lookin forward to the next GB build keep us informed id be interstid building a ME-109.

bbrowniii wrote:

Darren, I'm one of those who are MIA, but I am here, really I am!!  If it hasn't been one thing it has been another, but I am making progress on the PaK-40, and am considering a Jagdpanther to go along with it.  I even have pictures, but they are in the in-laws' camera, at the in-laws' house (which is actually where I usually use the computer since I don't have one, but I am at work now - don't tell the boss - so I can't post them until tomorrow).  I have been following everyone's progress and have to say it looks pretty darn good I tend to be more a reader than a poster on these things anyways, so please do not take my silence for a lack of interest or progress.

No problems Boyd and actually you aren't marked as MIA on page 1 of the build.  Most of the guys that are marked are the ones that indicated a desire to join in when I first posted this thread but have not been heard of since.

There's still plenty of time left in this build so take it easy and just drop in every now and then to let us know how things are going.

Cheers

Talk about modeling machines, Rick you are on fire.  Once again another beautiful build well up to your normal high standards as well, great job .

Tom $200 whoa that's a little rich for my meagre modeling budget I'm afraid.  Still adding some of those juicy AM items to a kit like the 335 would sure make it shine. 

Also between you and Rick giving the thumbs up to Cutting Edge decals, I have definitely made up my mind to use them for the Allied Aces GB. 

Jay I agree that the list of usual suspects has grown a lot over the last 12 months and to my mind that is really good thing

Cheers

Tom, No, it's the 1/48 Hasegawa M.

Regards,  Rick

Darren,

I'm one of those who are MIA, but I am here, really I am!! 

If it hasn't been one thing it has been another, but I am making progress on the PaK-40, and am considering a Jagdpanther to go along with it.  I even have pictures, but they are in the in-laws' camera, at the in-laws' house (which is actually where I usually use the computer since I don't have one, but I am at work now - don't tell the boss - so I can't post them until tomorrow). 

I have been following everyone's progress and have to say it looks pretty darn good

I tend to be more a reader than a poster on these things anyways, so please do not take my silence for a lack of interest or progress.

rjkplasticmod wrote:

...being an old, retired, Senior Citizen...

Ahhhh, one of my current goals.

Thanks Jay.  I don't build that fast, actually, but being an old, retired, Senior Citizen I have more spare time than most of you working guys with young families.

Regards,  Rick

Rick, fantastic.  Each time I see one of your builds, I want o go out and make it too.  I just don't have the time to keep up with you, Oh well, I guess I'll just have to add it to my every growing "future project" list.

Darren, I think the list of usual suspects has grown quite a bit the past year! These builds do tend to get the most participation, even though it is mainly the 20 or so regulars . 

I have no problem with you adding the participant name once they start posting progress pics.  There seems to be a lot of overcommittment.  I know myself, I have purposely chose not to participate in some highly desirable GBs as I  know I won't be able to find the time to complete them, along with my current GBs.  It is a good thing these things are several months long.  I still havn't finished my second model for the Canadian GB, I'm about a week away from that one!

BTW, I really like the badge!

Marc, Tom, Thanks guys, glad you liked her.

Darren, the BoB GB badge looks great.  Looking forward to it.

Regards,  Rick

Rick - Another excellent build.  I really like the camo...and the markings look painted on...nice.

Darren - Cool badge.

Darren - sounds good, and I would be agreeable to not posting members names until they actually participate.. (unless it was me haha)  but yeah.. we usual suspects tend to get caught up in too much sometimes but we always deliver SOMEthing!!!

BTW:  doing the Do335 with canopy closed as I am donating it to my sister-in-laws dental clinic (she has a pediatric dental practice and needs things to make a "boys" treatment room) or a co worker with a child who has a terminal illness... don't want them knocked off!!!  She thought my BoB GB Martlet was keen....  wait till she sees THIS monster with all the detail and Alclad and such!