"Braille Scale Armor Vacation GB 06" June17/06-June30/06

razordws wrote:

AS promised pics of the Dragon Jgpz IV L/70, straight OOB and weathered with artist watercolours.

AS promised pics of the Dragon Jgpz IV L/70, straight OOB and weathered with artist watercolours.

Sorry for the delay but I really enjoyed this one.  Thanks!

PanzerWulff wrote:

taxtp wrote: Duke, They both look to be excellent models. The weathering has really brought them to life. Cheers Tony on the Kudos Duke,Taxtp hit it right on the button great job

Hiyas,

I just wanted to say that it was a very enjoyable experience for me, too.

Cheers, guys!

Bruce

taxtp wrote:

Duke, They both look to be excellent models. The weathering has really brought them to life. Cheers Tony

TAXTP keep an eye out around November for my "Playin in the snow/Winter armor vacation GB 06-07" it will be a 2 or 3 month build probably kicking off Dec 1st 06-March 07.It will probably be just Braille scale or I may make it Small scale and be 1/48 and smaller We lovers of the lil fellers just don't get enough attention and I really want to try my hand at the tamiya 1/48 armor

Guys Great work Love the sherman Duke and that lil Lee & panzer are bolth coming out nice as well Rooster Heck EVERYONE'S builds look great thats what I love about small scale armor the size is a challenge but when you finnish a really good job on one everyone sees the pic and say "Thats 1/72 scale? WOW!!!" TTFN

Pog wrote:

This is my wargames command for my British Army... Built and painted in one day! Figures by AB and the truck is a Frontline one piece resin cast.

Duke, nice work on the Sherman.  I was able to [pick one up while on holidays and look forward to building it.  Just need to find the time and space on my bench.

Pog, nice set up.  Always wanted to try my hand at wargaming but agian time and space are my enemies.

Nice work guys.

This is my wargames command for my British Army... Built and painted in one day! Figures by AB and the truck is a Frontline one piece resin cast.

taxtp wrote:

...I'd be interested to read how people paint tracks in this scale, do you mind sharing your secrets ? I'm onto a Jagdpanzer IV L/48 Lang for the German Armor GB now. It's the Hasegawa kit. The box art vehicle ha zimmerit, but the kit doesn't, so I'm thinking of ading some using Tamiya putty and some kind of pressing tool I'll have to come up with myself. Any ideas ?...

WHOOPS I posted Panther when I meant Leopard 2/A5 the percocet is makin me a lil dopey yea 2 bruised ribs and a lot of scrapes,cuts and bruises I fell off a rather big rock (dont ask looooong story ) that is just the base coat of paint on the leopard and the tracks fit beautifuly and even more no painting of the tracks nessicary they come that way well keep it up guys TTFN

Chris"Hey GRAVITY still works!" Gray

PanzerWulff wrote:

lookin good rooster finally some pics of my own DML Panther2/A5 I would have posted them last night but I banged myself up and sitting up for any duration hurts TTFN

lookin good rooster finally some pics of my own DML Panther2/A5

I would have posted them last night but I banged myself up and sitting up for any duration hurts TTFN

Brews wrote:

They look great. I wouldn't mind seeing some close-ups of them, including the ausf G, and if you could just point out where the problems were on the Lee, that would be terrific. I've been hanging out to make a Lee in Russian use, after I found pictures of them on www.battlefield.ru with Communist slogans, and knocked-out at Prokhorovka.

Thanks, DM. Due, in part, to my Badger 155 Anthem. I would have preferred to use my ancient Thayer & Chandler sidefeed, but I don't like to use it with enamels if I can help it, and I used enamel for the interior. The exterior is all Gunze Sangyo so far (whatever the ones are for German armour- something in the 400s).

I have a Badger 360, but I clearly haven't mastered it yet, because I can get finer lines with the 155.

I wanted to use a Paasche VL for the interior, but I mislaid my Paasche hose. Why can't all airbrushes use the same fittings??

Thanks, Tony. I've gone a bit overboard on Jagdpanthers lately, having bought a couple of Dragon 1:72 kits, and a Dragon 1:35 kit, and I'm doing the interior of an old Tamiya clunker, as well.

I'm happy with the way the StuG is coming along, though. I can even overlook its serious deficiencies!

Did I mention that I might use the excellent figures from the Dragon E-100???

and after the first pass of brown ...

Right now, with olivgruen oversprayed (freehand) over dunkelgelb ...

and to compare for size (and effect of a dark wash!) with my recently-completed Revell (Matchbox) 1:76 Jagdpanther:

I would have sprayed the schokoladebraun, but the History Channel had two hours of WWI action on - Verdun and Somme.

Cheerio,

Bruce

I have a photo of it somewhere, but I'd prefer to "update" the model before I display it here. I have weathered it using pastels, but I really should give it another wash and repastel it (I made it some time ago).

However, I did take a photo earlier of my Nashorn, which I could have easily finished on time for this build if I'd concentrated on it rather than the StuG IV.

taxtp wrote:

That's a very clean build, Tony. Is that supposed to be a France 1940 machine? I've seen unit markings like that on Poland vehicles, but of course they only used plain white crosses.

I'll dig up my Airfix SdKfz 222 for a quick comparison, although I'm sure it will come out rather poorly!

Cheerio,

Bruce

I didn't stay up very late last night.

However, I did manage to get this far:

I'll now draw on the privilege of using the 2-week time period starting from when I actually started on this kit, which will give me until Monday to complete it (and I should do it within a few coats of GS acrylics).

I lied. I used Modelmaster Enamel Light Ivory to paint the interior. That's all dry now. I'll paint the exterior without cementing the hull to the superstructure, so I can paint some details later. I have 3.5hours of Friday left ... but I didn't get back to NZ until Monday two weeks ago...

I have today free, so I'll be using some acrylics to paint the interior, and exterior. I might use the crew figures from a Hasegawa Tiger I, but if I do, a lot of the interior detail will be invisible ... which, I'd have to say, would be a shame, as I think the interior, for all its roughness, is better than the exterior <G>.

Berlin or Bust!

Dont worry about the deadline guys as I said it's not written in blood the object is to see What you can do given a 2 week timeperiod. after that take your time and finish your kit the way you like it

BTW on the plan for the "Braille Scale Armor Winter Vacation GB 06-07" it will be a full month of working time Dec1st,06 through Jan 1st,07 or maybe even 2 months but the challenge will be to build your kit in a winter setup be it painted cammo faded whitewash or as the americans used in desperation even white sheets it should be interesting

Today, I chucked the gun barrel into a motor tool, and used a file to machine the muzzle brake closer to scale.

Here's the latest pics (taken with my 3.2mp camera, rather than my 1mp phone):

Thanks Duke. I just passed a major personal milestone, which is the completion of the breech to my satisfaction. Again, I stress that this was not done to scale accuracy, but merely to provide the impression of realism.

I based the appearance on pictures and photographs, rather than plans and measurements. Accordingly, it's a bit rough, but as only a small part of it is visible through the hatches, it's fine for its purpose.

This will be finished by friday come hell or high water!

A few little trials and tribulations. SNAFU:)

I didn't paint yesterday, though I did fire up the compressor, which now has a full tank.

I noticed a picture of a StuG III with wheels so muddy that the Matchbox wheels wouldn't be wasted...

I continued with adding interior and zimmeritt using Milliputty. It started to go off before I was done, so I made a transmission case out of it. The intention of the interior is to add a "feel" of realism rather than outright scale accuracy.

Pics as promised:

My Reference

the superstructure interior - breech incomplete and unattached. Commanders episcopes to be added.

superstructure exterior

hull interior - still to come - gun mounting, drivers seats, gunner and loader's seats, ammo racks etc

Right. Spanner in the works - "Significant other" refused to allow me to spray today grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Issues at hand at the moment, other than paint:

• Decided to use kit bogies and return rollers in order to assure finish within 2 weeks. These have been cemented in place
• Test-fitted AM tracks - these are too long, which is no real problem (superglueable tracks - thanks CMK!) but the kit drive sprocket width exceeds the tracks' allowance.
• Decided to use kit tracks
• Decided to amend appearance of lousy tracks and running gear by posing in a diorama whereby the vehicle is crossing a shallow watercourse. Water running off the vehicle and tracks will be simulated by glad wrap (or similar). This will allow me to use oils for the wetted surfaces.
• The Extratech PE (including schurzen) would be wasted on this vehicle. I'll either thin down the kit skirts, or make new ones from either 5 or 10 thou card, or K&S Brass shims.
• A see-through situation could exist between the hull upper and lower through the fighting compartment. Sheet styrene will be used to fix this.
• The ventilation ducts over the engine compartment have only two partitions instead of three. This is a job for razor saw and 10thou card.
• The kit wheels are "solid" - razor saw required to simulate "double" wheels.
• Muzzle brake would suit a 122mm, rather than 75mm. Maybe this crew had seen "Kelly's Heroes". Perhaps I should find some loudspeakers and attach these to the superstructure.

Tomorrow, I will paint.I'm looking forward to this.

Those tracks look good.

I did a bit of modelling last night. I'll slap something together today and take some pictures.

I assure you that I AM having fun, though.

Nice looking kit Tony, I look forward to seeing it built.

Duke, nice progress and a nice looking kit too.  So many kits so little time.

I've got most of the detailed parts on and the tracks painted but they are a bit too snug and I tore one trying to get them on .  I'll have to deal with it when I get back from holidays.  Hopefully I'll be able to check in once in awhile while I'm away.

Tony sure youre welcome to join and dont worry about starting a little late the whole premise of the build is to see what you can do with a small scale model in roughly 2 weeks time. Give or take a week that is

Duke your Greyhound is comming along nicely and the underside does indeed have some nice detail

Yes, Razor, that's good progress. I have a couple of questions for you.

Firstly, why are those first two roadwheels different from the others? I'm especially curious because the first two look like the ones on my Matchbox/Revell/Monogram StuG IV, while the others look like the ones on my Dragon StuG IV! Until I saw yours, I was just about to make resin copies of the Dragon wheels.

My second question is ... how did you get all that done so quickly???

I have cemented the hull sides and rear to the hull  floor, and I will now spray everything dunkelgelb before I progress further.

I have decided to leave hatches open, to distract attention away from the too-flat-superstructure (the height is ok, I think, but the facets taper too far away from the centre). I was considering copying the Dragon superstructure as well, as it would fit ok over the Matchbox hull, but you have to draw the line somewhere. I also thought about scratching the panels ... but I may simply flatten out the outer strips which are angled but should be horizontal, and whittle away at the adjacent facets. It's a bit dodgy, but what can you do other than major surgery? A bit of live camouflage, perhaps <G>.

Cheerio,

Bruce

Thanks Duke.

Here's a pic of my progress so far.  Not a very good picture but it shows I actually have accomplished something.  Don't know how much more I'll get done this week before my holidays but I'll try to finish it up.

razordws wrote:

Duke, nice grab on the Sherman. Any idea when those are supposed to hit the stores?

Gotcha Maddog glad ya made it I'll go take a look at your newest next

Ok gang were off have fun and happy building !!!

Looks like fun Grant, I'll be looking forward to your M3 build.

Duke:  What took you so long to join in?

I'm looking forward to starting on my build for this and hope that I can get it mostly done before I leave for my real holidays in a week!

Brews wrote:

Just one little thing (if you'll excuse the pun), Braille has two "l"s.

Well, if you really want one, some are still "out there", you know.

It was an Ausf L, IIRC.

Cheers,

Bruce

AAAAAAAARGH NOOOOOOOO the TYPO DEMONS have returned (Frantically swings a flyswatter about trying to hit the typo demons)

BTW Bruce I used to have a Bunch of the 1/72 scale Matchbox kits back in 1978-80 the one I remember most was a Panzer III that came with a little sand dune display base I sorta miss that one

I'd like to have a go at this. I'd appreciate it if you could put me down for the mediocre Matchbox StuG IV. I'll order some AM tracks to go with it.

Cheers,

Bruce

2 more weeks to go guys 

BUMPITTY BUMP BUMP !

Rooster np on the changes

FrogFoot added you to list and welcome aboard

about 3 weeks until kickoff date TTFN

Ok, sorry for pulling out though, hope I can jump back in later

Will

Hi everyone

I know i'm probably breaking an unwritten forum rule here or something , but can I pull out of the build? I can't get my hands on either of the kits I wanted, when I joined I thought I could.

Sorry

Will

Thanks Rooster

Will

Will7813 wrote:

Hey Mr.Wulf, since this is my first GB, I'm having difficulties getting the badge onto my signature. What am I doing wrong? Will

Hey Mr.Wulf, since this is my first GB, I'm having difficulties getting the badge onto my signature.

What am I doing wrong?

Will

Thanks!, I still don't know what I'll build yet though. I saw a nice M-8 Greyhound I might get.

Will 

I know I am in late, but could I join in? I don't know what kit but possibly a Trumperter 1/72 German Elefant 

Will

Sorry it has taken me so long guys but here is the fixed up GB badge. 

Can I play, I have a few Dragon T34's (I seem to be over run with them) Probably 1941 T34/76

Ray

Hey Chris, I havn't forgotten about the badge and I took a stab at it on the weekend.  let me know what you think.  I think I need to lighten up the background more so that the tank stands out more and I also need to fix up the text.  Can we come up with a shorter title for the badge?  I'd like to make the text a little larger if possible so that its readable.

PanzerWulff wrote:

Hey has anyone else seen the DML 2 in 1 1/72 HUMMVE kits where you get 2 hummers in 1 box? looks like a good deal esp if you want to do a Desert Storm or OIF Dio

Gotcha Sid list updated your'e in and good to have ya with us

Hey has anyone else seen the DML 2 in 1 1/72 HUMMVE kits where you get 2 hummers in 1 box? looks like a good deal esp if you want to do a Desert Storm or OIF Dio

Grant I have no clue! M1A2 is a tank I've never built and I couldnt think of a tank to build.

willjanuary wrote:

Count me in with a 1/72 M1A2 Abrams

315rooster wrote:

I believe that osher is going to enjoy the Merkava III.  I've seen it finished at a show, and it would be impressive without paint.Grant

Rooster & Charlie welcome to the build I added you to the list

The GB badge will be posted later Dave I believe is working on it

Put me down for an ICM BTR 152V as an Israeli Gun Truck

Ch