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

mucker - very nicely done on the BMF! good "mixing" of shades, good job.

moose421 - good job on the Adams! More special the context, thanks for sharing your story. I never sweat the "anti-fouling" red, so many different "hues" in real life, as long as you dont use brick red or flaming pink, you will be fine. Thanks for sharing!

Here is a couple of pictures of my Adams before the guns and sam launcher were installed. 

Next up is the completed model.  The paint and decals are complete.  Only decal that I left off was the naval flag on the forward mast.  It was to small and would not form around the mast.  I also changed the color of the hull to a different red.  I used gunze color #327 red.  I think this is a closer match to hull red.

I finishing touch that I did for this birthday present is to put the build in a case. I also added a print out of the ship patch for balance.  I know my father will appreciate the gift, even though it is not one of my best builds.

Mucker,

Looking good, bare metal finishes are tough to pull off.  Glad someone is having some success with their build.  Think I've got the hull ready to go, so I start adding things like grab rails, hinges, etc. One problem, there are no numbers on the sprues and the parts pictured in the instructions bare vague resemblance to those on the sprue.  If anyone out there is planning on building an Eastern Express kit, be warned that if these were on Monogram's scale of difficulty they'd be a 12.  Good thing I've built a couple of Dragon's kits before this, at least I have an idea where everything goes.

Well I'm down to decals, touch-ups, weathering and the small fiddly parts. Slowly but surely making progress...

Alclad II Polished Aluminum with Chrome and Airframe Aluminum panels

I just want to let everyone know that I'm leaving to go to the cottage tomorrow morning, and I probably won't be able to get back on here till somewhere around the 16th (depends though, I don't know if the laptop will get internet up there but I'll try and chime in when I can.)

moose421 wrote:

I am going back to armor  much more  fun.

 Well atleast there is some good news

Seriously though, bummer about your Adams Kim, Hopefully you'll gain some momentum on it and I'm sure your father will appreciate the work.

Well, I am not having fun with my Adams.  Let see were to begin.  HAving fit problems all over the place.  Managed to bend some of the railing.  Didn't get it straight and afraid to try to fix that!  Trying real hard to motivate myself to finish this build verus hitting with a 10lb hammer.  I will finish just because it willbe a gift to my father. 

Will post some pictures tomorrow. Just have to finish removing some mold lines, one small piece of railing and paint.

I am going back to armor  much more  fun.  Might have to think of something else to earn my badge for this GB.

mg.mikael wrote:

dupes wrote: Wait, isn't that the same gun you're building for the "Forgotten War" GB? I haven't checked, but generally crossover builds are not allowed...have to defer to Townsy on that one. I checked with both GB's and crossovers are allowed. And I met all other guidelines so.... no harm, no foul.

Sorry Mg.Mikael, crossovers are okay, but the main guideline for this GB is that your entry can't have been involved in a shooting conflict, so if your building it for "The Forgotten War GB", then I'm afraid you can't have it entered in this one.

Aggieman - glad to hear the Tenax works... I guess takes practice, I always have to putty fix my welds, your fix looks PRETTY good! nice repair work!

... I had a deja vu for the howitzer post, thought I had just commented on that one! ;)

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Nice save, Steven. Looks like a top notch repair.

As for me I've sprayed the initial cotes of Alclad  on tonight, With any luck, painting will be done over the 3 day weekend.

lewbud wrote:

Townsy11 wrote: Very cool vehicle Lewbud! What kind of paint scheme are you going to do?   Candy apple red with gold flames, wide whites and sombrero wheels.  Got some fuzzy dice to hang off the rearview.

LOL! You've just given me an idea for my next build!

and nice work Aggieman, I can't even tell there was a seam.

I fixed the horrid fuselage seam that was more evident in my recent photos that it was to the naked eye.  I applied a generous amount of putty after sanding it down as much as I could bear to, then sanded it smooth and let it sit over night.  Tonight I put down an initial coat of paint but it will need a second coat to finish off that area.

Townsy11 wrote:

Very cool vehicle Lewbud! What kind of paint scheme are you going to do?

Candy apple red with gold flames, wide whites and sombrero wheels.  Got some fuzzy dice to hang off the rearview.  Seriously, gonna be boring ol' Soviet green.  The -1 will be green with the white cross.

Almost ready to post my T-72,just a little more weathering,and finishing the machine gun,and I am going to give the figure a shot !!!

However,maybe you saw my post I lost the 2 parts making up the commanders hatch,so it may be sans the hatch,as the parts are NLA from Tamiya,but it still is coming pretty good.

Very cool vehicle Lewbud! What kind of paint scheme are you going to do?

JMart wrote:

lewbud - Interesting variant! Seems the EE has good detail but bad fit? Look forward to the rest of the construction!

Jmart,

Basically it's if it weren't for bad fit, there'd be no fit at all.  Actually, the fit probs with the hull are problematic, just fill and sand.  The real pita is going to be attaching the fording board at the front.  It's attached to 4 spindly arms at the front of the vehicle.  I've built two of the BRDM-2's, one of which was properly attached, the other I broke two of the arms and had to glue it to the hull.  Hopefully I can find some resin wheels for these kits as they're going to the Nats in August.  A buddy of mine had a very nice BTR-80 almost ruined because of a bad reaction between the vinyl tires and the plastic wheels.

Jmart, I actually did use Tenax to mate the fuselage halves, so I must have not aligned them properly.  I've sanded the seams down somewhat then put on a layer of putty that I will smooth out tonight.  This will probably alter the fuselage shape somewhat but I doubt it will be noticeable.  I'll do all that work tonight and see how it looks then.

Aggieman - nice progress so far... I concur with the couple other comments re - seam. "Been there done that" myself, you think seam is gone, take a picture and voila! Flexi-files have helped me, as well as the use of Tenax to join fuselage halves (or any cylindrical part, like fuel tanks or torpedos).

here are a couple links that have helped me inthe past:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT068_gluing_Wilder/tnt068.htm

http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=111677&page=1

looking forward to the rest!

lewbud - Interesting variant! Seems the EE has good detail but bad fit? Look forward to the rest of the construction!

Here's some pics of the BRDM-U (command variant).  The kit is by Eastern Express, not for the faint of heart.  As you can see, there is still a lot of filling and sanding left to go.  This one will be a closed top, the BRDM-1 (observation variant) will be open as it comes with a full interior at the request of a friend.

http://www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/groupbuild2.html

http://www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/groupbuild005.html

http://www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/groupbuild006.html

http://www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/groupbuild10.html

Hellcat man wrote:

Since no one liked my Mutt I went to my LHS and bought Dragon's 1/35th scale UH-1N Gunship

Hellcat Man,

You did a good job on the MUTT, better than what I could have done at your age (guessing between 6-12 grade).  Part of the fun of these builds is getting to see the model progress, something you didn't have time for in a 20 hour build.  Look forward to seeing pics of the Huey.

THat's too bad, Andrew.

Are any of the kits recoverable? THey say either brake cleaner or oven cleaner will take the paint off nicely, althouh I've never tried. It would be a shame to see a good kit go to waste...