DML Grille H Smart Kit WIP *COMPLETE Pics p.9* 05-03-09

Me to. He hasn't updated his build lgs on his own site for a few years either.

Wow,I really miss having Bill around and really loved his work.

Last time I communicated with him,he was really immersed in his teaching job,the Covid with the online teaching really kept him off the forums and the bench.

Love it

terry35 wrote:

Bill a really superb finish on what ranks as one of my favourite vehicles of all time, God bless the 38t chassis, it gave us modellers so much.

Thanks Terry and I echo the sentiments about the 38t chassis. Here's to the design brilliance of the Czechs!

Bill a really superb finish on what ranks as one of my favourite vehicles of all time, God bless the 38t chassis, it gave us modellers so much.

Terry.

Marc,

No, I didn't keep a build log of the TIE...it was actually one of those "build in an afternoon" type things. It was on sale at Hobby Lobby and I picked it up for under $10 IIRC...so I had fun with it while on a Christmas vacation break. Sold it to a coworker for $40 because he was a huge Star Wars fan.

As for the four corners spot, it turns out that with the modern GPS surveying gear that the spot currently marked with the monument and bronze plate that everyone likes to have their photo on showing they were in "4 states at the same time" is not actually at the right place. The survey done in the late 19th century used the technology available at the time and was only recently proven to not be as precise as previously thought.

wbill76 wrote:

Ah...but you don't know what I did with it...

No I don't...do you keep build logs of any of your non-armor stuff?

wbill76 wrote:

...now I feel like the guy that reported the "4 corners" location is actually 2 miles off!

Is it really? We've been hornswaggled!

Bill, (even as clean as it is) I personally think it's your best to date.

Orion, David, appreciate the comments!

Boyd, thanks for the kind words although I'm not sure I'm deserving of the master label. I still consider myself a student in many ways.

Great work Bill! I can't wait to see #96 on here soon.

I particularly like the dirt on the lower hull and tracks.

Ah...but you don't know what I did with it...it was painted in panzer gray and I used armor weathering techinques on it...and it is armored (just ask any Sci-Fi person!) and armed.

You have a fair point though, it's not a tank. So the tally stands at 94 after all (I will take it off "the list")...that may mean that in fact I won't cross the 100 mark this year. Thanks Marc, thanks a lot...now I feel like the guy that reported the "4 corners" location is actually 2 miles off! 

Bill, after some careful perusal, I'm afraid we're going to have to downgrade your tally to only 94 due to the following entry:

As much as I'd love to see what you did with it, it certainly doesn't qualify as armor.

Anthony, Andy, thanks for the comments!

Steve, I'm still trying to decide if you're the little cartoon angel or demon sitting on my shoulder in that regard!

wbill76 wrote:

Steve (panzerguy), thanks for the comments and also for keeping the subtle reminder of figs/bases always there in the background.

   I'm not giving up on ya Bill

Thanks Eric! The Grille H was always one of those vehicles that I've had a soft spot for...can't really point to anything in particular, it just looks very effective and "solid" I guess. Thanks for following along and glad to hear there's some common ground in the build list. The Bison I kit bash exercise was timed perfectly...about 2-3 months after I finished it, DML announced their all-new tooled kit of the same vehicle!

Marc, you're right in that there were "patterns" that emerged over time...when I first started out, I was building vehciles that I saw in the game "World War Two Online" and, at the time, Tamiya was the only one making those...and the LHS had them readily available and they were cheap...but didn't take long before I moved off of them to other manufacturers. The "Experimenting with Crappy Russian-made Kits" made me smile! I even dabbled a little in the Allied realm before committing fully to the German sphere of influence.

You're right about the builds before the Elefant not existing in build-log form. That was the first one I kept as a full blown log...before that I would post WIPs that were mostly photos with minimal text here on FSM but didn't keep my own site records other than photos. Happy to answer questions if I can about those earlier builds but it's been a while...I kept the instructions from all my built kits so can at least refer to that to try to jog the memory!

Bill - that list is NUTS!

I really wish I had done something like this since my second modeling stage began...wonder if I could reconstruct a list. Hmmm. Interesting to me to see the different phases you went through - the "Early Tamiya" Bill, the "Found DML" Bill, the "Experimenting With Crappy Russian-Made Kits" Bill.

I'm assuming that none of your builds prior to the DML Elefant exist in build-log form? Only pics in  your gallery? If that's the case, then I have tons of questions for you about several of your builds from the early days. Have many of those same kits patiently awaiting their place in the build queue, would love to get some input from you on them.

I can't believe how many of these I've missed since late '06 when I joined the forum...looks like I'm headed to the coffee shop to poach some broadband to DL some build logs.

Impressive...most impressive!

The weathering around the bolts is perfect, really makes them pop out and compliment your quirky, but cool camo. I think it's the unusual camo that sets this guy off for me. Got to get one.

What a list. built a few of them myself. I've probably missed some, but I did enjoy that Bison kitbash.

DaGreatQueeg wrote:

Very impressive build Bill, excellent pics and mini tute on the pigment application too!  I can never get pics of that stage myself - once I start I'm always in too much of a hurry to get it finished as its sort of like rounding the corner and seeing the chequered flag waving ........

Thanks Brent! Have to agree it's tough to remember to take pics once I get into the finishing and weathering stages...especially if I'm trying out something new because there's often some trial and error involved and I'm too busy trying and erring to take pics when it does finally work!

Wow, Bill, that's realy REALLY a good looking SP.  Your stuff appears flawless in the photos, I'm sure there is stuff you notice that others don't, but really, from a technical standpoint, it looks perfect to me.

To be honest, I was not in love with the camo early on, but I held my tongue, and boy I am glad I did, it's just stunning.

Thanks for sharing,

Bill

PS I am laboring away on those Princess Modelkastens!     

Marc, I hope this works out ok...it displayed correctly when I previewed it...but let's see. The gaps in 2002/2003 are when I was still building AC mixed in with the armor but I didn't keep the AC kits listed in the completion tracking since, well, this is supposed to be about armor builds. Some of the dates in 2004 are misleading as well as obviously I didn't complete them all in November...I lost some photos in an HD incident and was able to restore them but they all got the same load date when I did that. They were all done in 2004 though.

Mansteins revenge wrote:

Great looking, Grille...Wow, #95 !!!  You need to pick a really special build for the century mark... By the way, how does your count work---when did you start counting?  I ask because I don't remember when I built my first model and couldn't remember all of them, although I could probably tell you pretty close the number since I last got into the hobby "seriously"....

Thanks MR! I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for #100...the builds lately are taking longer than they used to...this one took 7 weeks (started it on 3/19) so getting to #100 is still a little way off...should get there this year though (I hope!). I started my count based on when I started building armor models in 2002...I have photos of all my builds and went off the timestamp on those photos to establish the "very first" ones. I had a very long break in between building as a kid/teenager and returning to the hobby and when I returned I returned to what I knew...aircraft...and built a half dozen or so before switching over to armor.

Steve (panzerguy), thanks for the comments and also for keeping the subtle reminder of figs/bases always there in the background.

SMJmodeler wrote:

Bill: Thanks for the info on the tank, I'll go look it up!  Hey, I like your dirt/mud technique...pigment/water/rub remove...seems so simple, yet very effective!  I think I'll try that soon, maybe my 251!

Steve, glad the info helped! Not too many photos out there of this little guy even though there were around 200 or so built. I have a few in the references, let me know by PM if you don't have any luck on your own. As for the pigment technique...like many things I discovered that one by accident when I had trouble removing a too thick application one time and found out it created a really nice effect in the process!

dupes wrote:

Bill - awesome finish on this one. Up there with my personal favorites of your builds...not Tiger Initial favorite, but in the top 5. I'm with Manny here - when did you start counting builds? When you got "back" into modeling a few years ago? Got a list of your 95 builds somewhere?

Marc, tough to top the Tiger...that one was such a unique project for sure! Glad this one cracked the Top 5 for you though. I'll post the list of the 95 in a separate response so it doesn't clutter up this particular post. Stay tuned.

Jim, thanks for the comments...and welcome to the forum and the hobby! You're absolutely right about the DML instructions...it's the one area where they continue to seem to not care too much about reader-friendliness or even basic accuracy in the diagrams and parts numbering at times...definitely something to be endured and overcome!