Weekend armor project: suggestions?

3 recommendations: anything tamiya , anything academy and any subject that is soviet like the t 34

Lawrence
From personnal experience I would say:
From Tamiya - M4 Sherman, M3 Stuart, T34, M3 Lee / Grant, Panzer II
From Italeri - M4A1 Sherman

That one is easy! One of the fastest kits I have ever built was the Tamiya T34/76. Shake the box, coat of green paint, few decals and bam!!!!!!

There are few seams to fill, you can personalize this kit in many ways, and you get a lot of goodies in the box.

The Tamiya T-55 and T-72 are as close to shake and bake kits as you will find. The paint schemes can be either Russian green or desert sand.

How come nobody mentioned any German armors?. They were kings of the
battle (before the demise of the Third Reich). I'd recommend you take the German Panther tank. According to Squadron's "Panther in Action", "An unofficial rule of thumb in the U.S. Army was that it took five Shermans to knock out a single Panther. The German built 4,814 Panther tanks; the U.S. built 52,000 Shermans".

Panthers 1:35 are easy to find, from most major model manufacturers like
Tamiya, Italeri, Academy, in so many editions (A/D, Early/Late)and can be finished in one color - German Gray or Dark Brown (Sand Color used by German Afrika Korps)
(Dragon also produces Panthers and can do better than all the rest. But their
individual track-link makes it too complex for beginners, so I don't recommend.)

To have some clues of how the project could end out or turn out into, look at
this one-color Panther :

http://www.falconbbs.com/model14a.htm

Hey Lawrence!

I will also vote for the T-34, easy-cheesy build, and alotta fun. Only one color, too. GREEN! LOL I also had more fun than usual with mine; gave it a good mud bath! I've posted a pic of it elswhere in this forum, if anyone's interested to take a look.

http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1438

Fade to Black...

I agree with the rest of the T-34 fans.Tamiyas t-34s are an easy build,and leave plenty of room for options.

OK my suggestions are on par with some others, but here are mine:

1) Anything Tamiya...King Tiger if ya have one
2) Do not use Photoetch brass
3) Use Acrylic Paint
4) Skip lunch
5) Skip Dinner
6) Skip Sleep
7) Rotate Saving Private Ryan, Patton, Hogan's Heroes, A Bridge to Far, and Band Of Brothers Collection in your DVD player to remain focused!!!!

moses! i do the same thing! watch history channel! i build a 1/35 t34 in 1 night. i started at 5:00 pm and ended at 10:00 am the next day. my parents were pissed but i made the deadline

hi for me it has to be the italeri DUKW kit , basic build out of box 4 hours rest spent in the small details and paint job , all in your time scale and can be painted with spray can , cheers ian

The Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog is the easiest kit I have built recently. Squadron sells it for under $11. (I know this isn't an issue with you guys but a first time builder would want something cheap). A spray can of OD, a little gunmetal and black. Bing...Bang...Boom you have a real nice display piece

My first thought was the Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog that jdelta suggests. My 9 year old daughter just built the Tamiya Panzer II Ausf. F/G in 2½ hours while we were at an AMPS meeting. Of course she did not paint it, she will select an appropriate color and will hit the booth tomorrow. The kit cost about $8 and it would take a little longer if you blank over some of the motorization holes (she doesn't bother with this). Quick and easy weekend build, superb entry level armor kit for a youngster just starting out with glue tank kits.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Rob Gronovius ...for a youngster just starting out with glue tank kits.

LOL!! I'm sure Lawrence will appreciate the suggestions.

Just to be the oddball...how 'bout one of Tamiya's half-tracks? Easy build and a good transition model from autos to armour (not to mention they just look cool).

Yeah, a T-34 would be nice 'n' quick, from both the easy kit and simple vehicle standpoints.
How long did it take 'em to make the real ones in that frenzied time? Less than a day? Surely you could beat that!

a halftrack is a easy kit to build but it has several sub-assemblies. the german halftrack with the aa gun in back is a hard kit. i forgot the name but its from tamiya. whatever u do dont get it. the roadwheels supporters are very brittle and track is too tight. not a good combo.

QUOTE: Originally posted by claymore68 Just to be the oddball...how 'bout one of Tamiya's half-tracks? Easy build and a good transition model from autos to armour (not to mention they just look cool).

I was thinking of the American personnel carrier specifically but the mortar carrier might be a good choice as well. I wouldn't recommenn any German arnour except early war because the camo patterns got to complex for a spray can. American armour you can just sprau on a coat of OD paint the rubber on the road wheels and go. I have built 3 of Tamiya's American half tracks and any of the three could be done in under 15 hrs. incl. figs and look good.

A Russian T-34. Tamiya and Italeri have a couple of easy-to-build versions. Like what the others said, painting is easy as its usually just green. Like the real things, these models were uncomplicated and easy to put together. Shermans would be next on the list but that would be because of its monochromatic paint scheme. DONT DO ANYTHING GERMAN just yet.

if you choose a t34 use the whitewash tequnique. i got it from fsm and it worket great! i finished the whitwash in 2 hours.

Wow! This is great input--just what I was hoping for!

The Tamiya T-34 seems to be the front runner. Classic subject, good kit, readily available.....by the time the article runs, a decent interval will have passed since the T-34/85M feature we did in 12/02. Yeah, sounds good.

The M41 Walker Bulldog also sounds interesting. For some reason, there's some appeal to the idea of doing an American subject....

I agree that a German WWII subject doesn't seem like a good idea due to the camo and Zimmerit. I am actually pretty good at handpainting wavy camo patterns on aircraft (which technique sacrifices the nice, fuzzy, "sprayed-on" effect at the edge of the pattern, of course), but that would still seem to be getting away from the beginner focus of the project.

Well, the decision may be made by what we have on hand in the storeroom. Anyway, thanks to everybody for the input!

juniormodeler: Glad you liked the T-34 whitewash technique article--that was one I edited.

Rob: I wouldn't mind getting a few years back, as long as I could still know what I know now

Yeah stay away from the German armor, a guy can easily get way nuts over the camo and zimmerit. Walker M41 is a great weekend project, so is the Tamiya Panzer II. I did one in less than five hours, that included painting, hair dryers are essencial in speed building.

Hmmmmm, how about the Italeri 1/35 scale M60 Patton tank? I think I found a spare one of those in our storeroom.....

Hey Lawrence,

I was just wondering what happened to this article you were going to be doing, or did I miss it?? I thought it was the coolest thing when I heard that we, at the forum, were going to be able to have input on an article done in the magazine. I have been trying to keep an eye out for the article, and I have not seen it yet. Looking over the preview of the next issue of FSM I don’t see it in that one either. I was just wondering; what’s the story

This was one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time, (letting the public have a say in what you guys write) or at least from the public’s point of view.

edog

Better late than never.

My choice: Tamiya T34/85

Did it in four hours including painting.

Advantages.

1.) Very, very few parts.
2.) Road wheels are big so its easy to paint (the tires).
3.) 1-piece rubber tracks (although not the glueable one)
4.) Very few attachments/accessories (just fuel drum, head lights & towing cables)
5.) Fits well and does not require a lot of cleaning/sanding/filling.

German armor is good subject but I think the time constraint will not favor it.

i vote for the Tamiya Walker Bulldog also... it looks good, is really easy to put together and is very affordable ( $12.50 list price, and i've seen it for about $10 bux online...1/35 scale for the price of 1/72 !)... single color finish, so nothing needed but a careful couple of spray coats. what could be simpler ?
frosty
i just realized this is kind of an older subject, but it might make for a good series of articles ( i'd love to see the Tamiya T 34 build, too !)

As far as im concerned any one who builds and details a kit in 10 to 15 hours or less is not doing the job properly, any one can put something together this quik but they probebly cover up the mistakes and bad fitment, panel lines etc with dirt and mud, to build a kit properly takes time and effort not just slap it together and paint it. I have come to the conclusion that armour modelers do this a lot. I have just started armour modelling and did a t62 which took about 30 hours and i could have spent a lot more time on it, i suppose what i;m trying to say is the more time you spend on a kit the better the final product and then you dont have to over weather it to hide the mistakes.

GT351, I think the point here was to suggest an easy-to-build kit that goes together cleanly and is fairly accurate without adding tons aftermarket bells and whistles. I don't think anyone here was promoting the idea of taking shortcuts or speedily and sloppily slapping a kit together just for speed's sake.

I think it'd be refreshing to do a quick, simple build! I just spent 5 months finishing my last kit, doing soooo much research, adding soooo much detail, and spending soooo much money, that I'd love to sit down and build a little 1/72 JS-II or something that is good OOB, and only requires the modeling basics to make a fine model.

I respect your opinion, but I don't think it's a good idea to so strictly connect the actual time spent on a kit to the quality of its finish. "Doing the job properly" is entirely up to the individual, IMHO.

Heck, I'm sure most of you guys and gals out there could've put a much better-looking E-100 together in one third the time it took me!

Hulk very slow!!!

J-Hulk Fair enough it was probably the wrong thread to air my opinions in and as i also model cars you can see why i'm a bit fussy, i will now pull my head in.

Hey, the more opinions the better! They all make us think.

I do agree that the rough-and-ready finishes of most armor may be easier to reproduce (but possibly more time-consuming!) than the perfect, mile-deep gloss finishes cars demand. I've built quite a few cars, too, and just getting a perfect, blemish-free paint job always drove me bananas!! [:0]
The dust!!! Where does it come from??!?! Maddening!

Heck, I welcome the dust when I'm doing armor!