Cold War GroupBuild 2008 (1/3/08 to 1/3/09).

I-Rex - niec job so far... maybe try putting the model on top of a white background to take pics? I think the cam cant focus too well with the 'wood"/dark background, some of the pics are fuzzy.. I know it used to happen to me! Cheers

Is it better like this:



I think the problem came from the camera: all the previous pictures were taken using the lousy built-in camera of my Motorola mobile phone, which obviously lacks the macro feature (on top of that, the cover lens, smartly made of plastic, is also completely stripped and worn out, giving a "fuzzy effect" to the pictures). I have just bought a digital camera, so the quality of the images should be much better from now on... (on the other hand, now that the blurry effect is gone, it's also more difficult to hide my own mistakes!)

I'll post some more pictures later.

Best regards,

Chris

Looking good so far, Chris.

Congrats on the digital camera...it's one of those "how did I ever live without it" gadgets.

 

Definitely better with the digital cam - although, as JMart was saying, getting a big sheet of white or blue paper to put your builds on top of for photographing would be a big bonus.

dupes:  I started my T-55A!!!  I plan to go with the Russian Scheme 'A'.  When do you plan to start yours?

I'm glad I'm doing this kit for a GB, otherwise it would have found its way in the trash a long time ago. The more I progress, the more I find L'Arsenal's extra PE set totally and utterly unreliable, and disgusting to use. It's a nightmare. The instructions are a mixture of Heller's worst instructions sheets combined with the most obscure Russian minimalistic instructions. Almost nothing fits. Some parts are so brittle that they instantly break when I try to manipulate them, even with the greatest possible care. A lot of other parts are either too small, or too big, and have to be reworked. Useful and preeminent features have been simply "forgotten" by the folks of L'Arsenal, and have to be either built from my reserve of spare parts, or scratchbuilt. I don’t know how the guys of L’Arsenal did their research work, but they were obviously inspired by Heller’s standards of low accuracy.

All in all, I get the feeling that the set has been prepared by a noob, who knows nothing about ships nor about how to write useable instructions. L'Arsenal didn't seem to have tested their set before releasing it. The amateurish feeling is overwhelming. Even Polish or Russian model companies manage to do better nowadays. The set is definitively meant for advanced users, who love scratchbuilding - and all the research work that goes with it. It really puzzles me, given the fact that L'Arsenal, a French company, had direct access to a lot of sources about this French destroyer - not to mention the steep price of the set.

Anyways, I’ll keep going, and try to make the best out of this set; and get myself a book about the Art of Zen...

I-Rex - bummer about the frustating build... heads up for anyone contemplating PE from that company, and they ARE expensive in either side of the pond... good luck!

Too bad that's turning out to be a "dog" of a kit I-Rex, congrats on the digi cam though, looks to be of pretty good quality from the detail of your pic

Guys:  Well I finally got the T55-A and have started building!  I have the Tamiya kit and it's a real winner!  There are 5 options/ variants that can be modeled, I chose the Russian version...of course.  It is a newer kit so the molding is great and the thought given to assembly and gluing is exceptional.  There are some ejecter marks to deal with, especially on the fenders (at least  a dozen), and to make matters worse, several are on the curved portions.  The fenders also require puttying because the gluing portion of triangle fender supports on the top-side punch all the way through.  Here is the completed hull:

There are a lot of areas that are tough to reach with an airbrush so I decided to lay a coat of flat black down.  This has several advantages, one: it will add depth to the base color, two: there will be shadow areas that I may not reach with the base color, three: it will act like pre-shading, and lastly: it is like a primer so I can find any "mistakes".  Here's what it looks like: sorry if it's a bit out of focus...

I used an Eduard Zoom PE set, but didn't buy an aluminum barrel.  Here is the barrel and fuel drums getting ready for some serious sanding to hide the seams.  The turret just happened to jump in the picture...more on that later...

 

 

Wow, SMJ your T-55 is looking great so far! I have this kit too but mine is sitting half-finished on my shelf after other GB's got in the way. It is a great kit however.

Also, those are some pretty nifty tools you've got there for holding the gun barrel together, what are they?

Looking good SMJ! I have an old AMT T-55, not sure I ever will get to it!

Townsy - I think those are some of the plastic clamps sold by Micro-Mark, which carry several different types, I know I have a few. I love their tools and accesories, reasonable prices, look for their sales.

SMJ,

You may know this already, but if you chuck that barrel in an electric drill set on low speed, it'll make sanding a whole lot easier and keep it a lot rounder.  A Flexi-file is great tool for sanding curved surfaces if you don't have one.

Townsy-I've got a couple of sets of those clamps in various sizes by different manufacturers, X-acto and a couple others whose names escape me.  They should be available at your local hobby shop or art supply store.

Guys: Thanks for the comments...this has been a fun build, I'll be posting more WIP real soon.

Townsy11: Those are x-acto plastic clamps and they are great!  They come in different sizes too.  They REALLY come in handy for gluing the top deck to the hull.  You can set the clamps, THEN add the glue.  Go to your LHS, I'm sure you can find them.

lewbud: Great idea about the drill, too late though...I already did it the old fashioned way with the flexifiles.  Good results, the seam lines are not visible AT ALL!  I'll keep that tip in mind for future reference though.

Thanks for the tip on the clamps, I'll be sure to check them out next time I stop by my LHS.

I've gotten a start on the Voodoo I'm doing for this GB.  So far I have been working on a few minor things on the kit that others have noted, such as slime lights and hinge lines on panels, and also panel lines, all need to have the relief subdued.  Too  prominent but easy to fix.  I'm not going to rescribe the kit, I have had good results with the raised detail on other kits.  I made a master and mold and cast some grills to replace a cooling vent on the right wing root.  Monogram did both sides the same and that is not the way the airplane is.  If I didn't have 3 or 4 more of these kits in the stash the cast part would be a lot of work for not much gain, but I'll save time and frustration later.  I am a crew member on the F-101 at the McClellan museum, so It's not like I lack for references.  I'm going to paint this one in the scheme that the one in the museum represents, but changed to reflect how the museum airplane will be, not how it is now.

I have the fuselage halves joined and seams are filled which was very little work, and I am doing work on the inlets and wing assembly now as well.  The cockpit fits in after all this is done so I've done nothing there.

Here is detail of the new vent:

 

This should be an awesome Voodoo :)  love the bird, great name, great looks,

great everything :)

Guys: Here's a WIP update on my T-55A.  I finished the base color and added the post shading.  The picture is a bit yellow for some reason, I'll check my lighting for the next post.  The actual color is Tamiya Olive Green XF-58:

 

Beautiful paint work, SMJ. The color does look a littl eyellow in the picture, but the actual paint applicationis beautiful. THis should be a good one!

Since my B58 kit is messed up, I'll change my entry to a Tupelov TU-22 Blinder kitted by ESCI.

It seems like a cool plane to build :) Hope to start either this week or next.

Hey I finally found a Tammy T-62A kit, plus some AM stuff, of which I will use some and stash the rest. I've been looking for a good deal like this for a long time, and finally found it on evil-bay.

I won the auction. Includes:

The old Tamiya kit, circa 1979, with the figure replaced (different Tammy Russian tanker)

MB Models Iraqi T-62A conversion kit, consisting of a resin turret and Iraqi skirts (which will of course not be used for this project, but will await the next T-62A-related opportunity)

AEF resin upgrade, including resin barell, fender-mounted fuel cells, turret-mounted ammo cans, and vaccuformed fenders

On the Mark PE set for T-54/55, which should be pretty close to the T-62 attachments (clamps, straps and what-not)

 

So, point is, work on this build should be able to commence whenever I recieve said tankage.

(and there was much rejoicing)

 

~J

Hey, good score Thurston!

I've been meaning to pick that kit up, really like the looks of the T-62 - but with my current backlog of kits, I may have to wait until the Trumpeter ones come out later this year. Decisions, decisions. 

Guys:  Here's the latest on my T-55A.  I applied 6 layers of oil washes, 2-burnt umber, 2 raw umber, 1 black, and then 1 more burnt umber.  Then I mixed up a lighter version of the XF-58 base color with oil paints for drybrushing (is that new to you guys?)  I tried this because the acrylics, when drybrushed, dry too quick, clump-up and don't spread evenly.  Anyway, after about 4-6 hours of intense drybrushing I was real pleased with the results.  The oils worked great!  Some additional local washes and some more drybrushing to depict the exposed steel I'm to this poiht:

I expect to add more highlights of light green, more steaks of oil paints, more local heavier washes, some thin rust washes, etc.  I like the results so far but it looks a bit too monochromatic...thoughts....comments...

SMJ 

  All your efforts really show up on your work,you really know how to take it to the next level.I wish I had the patience to put all that work in my stuff,some of us make models,others create art.

keep them coming

WIP on the Blinder :

Its going ok, just snip off some of those pesky locating pins!  wings have some warpage, should be ok, took some out with a heat gun.  put a lot of lead shot in the nose :)

anthony2779 wrote:

SMJ    All your efforts really show up on your work,you really know how to take it to the next level.I wish I had the patience to put all that work in my stuff,some of us make models,others create art.

 

...kind words Sir......a humble thank you...

anthony2779 wrote:

keep them coming

SURE WILL!!!

John - great craftmanship and what a cool job! :)  The old Revell/Monogram Voodoo is on my list, such a great plane.

SMJmodeler - Weathering looks great! what a difference... is that a tad of silvering on the decal, top pic? Turret looks specially good.

Thurston - great score... I had a similar one with an AFV 251 kit + voyager PE set, seems many of "us" buy the kit and goodies but then dont have time to build them..

bspeed - looking good! I have (almost) added snipping of locating pins as SOP for my builds, specially older kits.

My own build(s) are still on the queue, hope get to them in late Fall.

Cheers

JMart wrote:

SMJmodeler - Weathering looks great! what a difference... is that a tad of silvering on the decal, top pic? Turret looks specially good.

Thanks!!!...I didn't notice the silvering on the actual model...but I'll take a closer look.

Hey guys,

John- Nice job scratchbuilding the cooling vent for your Voodoo, they had one at the Canadian War Museum last time I was there and it surely was impressive!

Jthurston- Nice score on the T-62! I'll be looking forward to that one!

SMJ- Wow that's one awesome T-55! I think the finish looks fantastic, but if you want to add a bit of a splash of colour to make it less "monochromatic" you could always try adding a flag or something?

Bryan- Nice work on your TU-22 so far, sorry I havn't added it to the list yet, I will make sure to do so now.

 

Chris,

 

Townsy11 wrote:

SMJ- Wow that's one awesome T-55! I think the finish looks fantastic, but if you want to add a bit of a splash of colour to make it less "monochromatic" you could always try adding a flag or something?

Thanks Townsy!...I spruced her up a bit with some additional drybrushing, washes and a touch of rust here and there.  I'm real happy with the results!  I expect to complete the build within a few days!

Guys:  Here's my completed build for this GB, the Russian version of the 1/35 Tamiya T55-A.  It is OOB except for the deck grilles.  I spent a LOT of time drybrushing (which is a skill I wanted to improve on) and extra time on the build portion to pay more attention to detail...I hope it shows.  I intentionally chose to keep this a bit cleaner than I normally due...wanted the drybrushing to show.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks.

-SMJmodeler 

As to not bog this thread down too much, please see my new thread in armor for additional walkaround pic's.