Winter Warriors GB 2008

Both kits are looking pretty sharp so far, fellas!

I've got so many PzIV's in the stash I really don't need any more, but for some reason I want this Kharkov kit. Heh. Weird, huh?

OK here's my progress so far.  Haven't done a durn thing to it for a week....its been all work, work, work for me.  And now I have a major cold . 

Here is the scheme I'm going for. The references stated it was an attempt to blend into the forested areas during the winter of '44-45. Thanks to dostacos for some technical help getting the picture to photobucket.

Bit more progress on the T34 and so far im lovin this kit i finally got the rest of my bench cleared off so i can focus on this one alone, heres a couple of progress shots.

tracks on

started on the upper hull details

keep all those progress pics coming guys i dont always get to comment on them but i do enjoy following along with them

Fyuri - the pics in the link you provided certainly seem to fit the bill. That's what we're after!

Sanderson - pretty neat. Any luck finding anything else out about that P-47? What timeframe it operated in, or any actual pics? 

panzer88,

I don't know if machine is the right word, but I did kick-in the after-burners on this build.  I wanted to stay ahead of everyone in case they were following my tutorial...I didn't want to hold anybody up!!!  Yes, that's the old Tamiya kit circa 1975, thanks for the compliment.  This is my first group build too, I like it a lot, but it sure is hard to keep-up with all the posts.  I'll catch and really re-read everything thoroughly after I finish the SU122. 

Well, it's painted white to camouflage it during the winter, so I think that should be fine... 

Hey again, I just want to make sure what I plan on doing isn't going to be considered "cheap" or a "cop-out". The MiG-3 I want to do doesn't necessarily have a winter "camouflage", it's more of a plain white paint job, which they used in winter. I was just wondering if this is acceptable. I will post the link to an example of what I'm looking at.

Thanks again.

-Paul

http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/mig3/colors4.html

Hey Dupes!

I was able to get the P-47 in winter camo scanned.  As mentioned earlier, this photo appears in American Fighters Over Europe on page 31.  It is the P-47 of Major Donovan Smith of the 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group.  I don't recall ever seeing an American Fighter in a winter camo scheme before.  I plan on building this using the Tamiya P-47D with True Details wheels and possibly the True Details cockpit. 

Steve 

Man,

There is some good looking stuff in this GB!  I have not started on the 222 yet - gotta few other things to take care of first, but I hope to get crackin' on it soon.

Dupes, arki, SMJ, and everyone else who has posted progress pics - lookin' great.  Hope to have something to add shortly.

Must have been a busy day yesterday...lots of great progress! Keep it coming!

Fyuri - absolutely not too late to join the build (you're added!). Looking forward to that MiG-3!

Tellis - build on that Jackson looks real solid - can't wait for the winter scheme. Do you have a pic of the whitewash pattern you're going after?

Panzer88 - glad the GB is meeting all of your expectations! I know for me at least they're a great motivator a) to build and b) to stock my stash will all of the other good stuff I see rolling by.

SMJ - that's some serious snow.

Winter Warriors, here is my M36 Jackson TD WIP.  The kit went together well, the only issue I had was aligning the ammo racks inside the hull. The only aftermarket products I've added are some AFV club 90mm brass ammo to the ready ammo racks in the back of the turret, it adds a little color. I've sprayed a coat of olive green and applied a dark wash. The decals were applied after a gloss coat and sealed with Testors dull coat. Next will be the application of the whitewash/winter cammo scheme. I found some photos in Squadron/Signal's US Armor Camouflage and Markings of WWII that showed some TDs with a vertical application of white wash to help them blend into the forrests in the Ardennes. We'll see how it comes out. 

darson wrote:

One question though, how come the exhaust pipes are sticking out so far?  I believe they should be much closer to the fuselage http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0072732 Cheers

They shouldn't be.  Keep in mind the only way to attach the exhausts on the ICM kit is to use the engine, which I chucked because the cowlings wouldn't fit around it.  Now that's likely due to my own incompetence, but that's neither here nor there now.  My solution was to glue tabs on the inside of the cowling to attach the exhausts to, but that causes them to stick out too far.  I haven't exactly solved this one yet.  There are shields that goes over the tops which will help mitigate the issue, but not totally.  It doesn't help they're painted black which sticks out like a sore thumb right now.   

I am not a Jedi yet....

Just wondering if you're still taking applications for this GB... I'm very new to the hobby and just came across this, looks pretty cool.

If I can still join, I'm going to get a 1/48 Classic Airframes MiG-3.

If not, I'll probably work on it anyways.

Thanks in advance,

-Paul

It's officially winter for my SU122, got the snow on the tracks!!!  It's a little too white...I'll be adding a few dirt clods and wet dirt to it, but I definately got the heavy, wet snow I was going for:

Hey, thanks SMJ! Lemme see what I can answer...

All my pics get a quick sharpening through photoshop - I always resize them to 800x600 for posting on the forums in there anyway, so I figure I may as well hit them with a filter while they're open.

The PE zim actually has come out better than I thought it might. Pretty tricky working with superglue on some of those larger pieces. While this one does look pretty good, I have a feeling that I'll stick with putty or a soldering iron in the future - spent a LOT of time making adjustment to the kit parts and PE to get it all to fit right, which would not be the case with homemade methods. 

Tracks have had exactly one (1) airbrush shot of Tamiya flat brown mixed with some (20%?) flat flesh just to give them a solid rusty base for a pile of washes, snow, and metallic dry-brushing.

Road wheels are not glued on yet. Rattlecan black in prep for the "template" method of painting, then dry-fit them on to get the right shape for the Magic Tracks. 

Heh, I wish I had another one going right now. Sooooo many cool paintschemes I've seen lately...want to try them all!

dupes,

Nice and crisp build there!!!  PE work is superb.  The photo is so sharp it almost looks like a re-touch artist had at it before you posted it.  What did you do to the tracks to get them like that?  is that just an airbrush spray of rust color?

I notice that the road wheels are sprayed black too.  Are they glued in place or just a dry fitted?  I see a lot of articles with pictures at this phase (I'm not just referring to the road wheels) and I have always wondered how they "build" the kit to such a level of completion.  Do they dis-assemble it, or do they have two identical kits going, one for photos and then the actual build??? Hmmm....

Alright, didn't quite finish the assembly, I blame a bunch of good football games. Still have to throw the cupola together, then a whole pile of PE work on the tools...and that will wrap that part up. Should be able to finish this week, I'm assuming. Will post more pics when the construction is ACTUALLY finished. Heh.

SMJmodeler wrote:

dupes, I'll be using Woodland Scenics shaker bottle snow.

Ahhh, that's what I was hoping you'd say...because that's the same stuff  I've got in the closet right now.

Everybody's stuff is looking good, will post a weekend progress pic in a while after I have time to toss it into Photoshop and reduce it! 

In between some weekend time at the office, football ( Chargers), my other build ( Flanker), etc. etc. I managed to get the 109 to this point.  There isn't a part which didn't fight me.  I had to break out the Dremel to get the wings to fit to the fuselage.  I'm not going to complain too much as I've become spoiled with Tamigawa fit and engineering.  This is a nice challenge.

Next to break out the putty.  By the case load. 

panzer88,

Looks like that "Sammies" honey porter beer (that's just for scale reference for us...right???)hasn't affected your building skills!  Looks really sweet!!!  I really admire guys like you who have the patience to put so much effort on those interiors, I guess it's critical on your build though , most of that hard work will at least be seen, it's those tank interiors that get covered-up that kills me.

Here's what I've got done so far.

I've still got to weather the interior some more, than I'll start working on getting the hull halves together.

dupes,

I'll be using Woodland Scenics shaker bottle snow. I'll photo the bottle as part of the tutorial, works like a champ!  It mixes with white glue easily and holds pigments well too; but the best part is that it "behaves" like actual snow, kinda' messy process, but a heck of alotta' fun!!!  I have a section of my toot' just for dirt, mud and snow, I'll explain the techniques in detail...

ahhhhh....grasshoppa', you must be the snow to truuuly understand it...

SMJmodeler wrote:

Perfect for snow forts or snow men, but kinda nasty looking...Coastal Maine...you certainly know the type.

Oh, I know it alright...haven't been doing much other than shoveling for the past 6 weeks! We set some sort of snow-record for December - I think the final tally was around 55 inches? I'll have to check. Yikes.

So how are you going to manufacture the dense clumpy snow? 

dupes,

I'd say Ill be done within a week or less.  For that track overlap, I plan to have that hidden by snow.  The tracks are by FAR the worst part of this old kit, actually beside the tracks it's a nice.  You CANNOT believe how much extra time, and grief they have inflicted.  I explained this to another forum members because he plans to build this kit an even the other old Tamiya T34, both of which I just worked on.  Set aside all the fit issues, they don't hold paint well either.  I consider the snow my savior at this point...I plan to add that really thick and wet snow that comes in late-March or early winter (haven't tried this yet).  Ya' know the type that rolls like a carpet and pulls up the dead grass and small mud clods as you roll it.  Perfect for snow forts or snow men, but kinda nasty looking...Coastal Maine...you certainly know the type.