Sunday, October 16, 2005

Jadar delivers

Sorry for the long delay in posting anything, but I just haven't had the time or inclination to model or blog. My "care package" arrived from Jadar on monday, full of goodies, including some stuff for Tiger 100.

Here is Aber's jewell like early 88mm kwk36 gun barrel. It's georgeous and will be a nice addition to the model.




Next are three pictures of Part's Pz.Kpfw.VI Tiger Ausf.H set (P72-092). I already have Eduard set, but prefer the Part sets due to their level of detail. The engine intake screens are much nicer.








I'm still waiting fof the book from Aviapress, they shipped on a slow boat I guess, but I can resume work on Tiger 100 now.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Sorry it's been a while!

First an M10 update. I won "Best of Show" at my local IPMS's monthly contest. It's just a small contest, and club members vote on it, rather than IPMS or AMPS style judging, but it was nice to see how much others liked it.

Now on to the Tiger I. I don't have any pictures to post at the moment. I stumbled across another picture of Tiger 100 taken while it was on display in Moscow. This picture is shot from above and behind and clearly shows that engine deck and top of the turret. I based my top of Tiger 100 on a Tom Jentz's Tiger I Modification list as wheel as a friends copy of Germany's Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. Well, I got the engine deck wrong, and need to re-do it. The picture clearly shows that the opening for the air cleaners is there, and not sealed over. You can also see that there are FOD screens on the air intakes. I've gone ahead and order the book "the pictue" came from (along with several other books). Hopefully it won't take to long to ship from Avia Press in Russia. There are a lot of other details I want to check out, hopefully the pictures in the book are sharper than the ones on their web site. I've also refered to David Byrden's excellent Tiger I site.

I've also order a care package from Jadar in Poland. Among other things I've ordered the Aber 8,8cm KwK 36 gun and the Part Tiger I Ausf.H photo etch set, along with a few other thing. ;)

Here's a list of modifications I've come up with to build an "accurate" Tiger 100, after it was captured by the Russians.

The Turret

  • Assymetrical Turret - I'm seriously debating this.

  • Storage bin on right side of turret.

  • Straps for bin lost from the right side of the turret.

  • Smoke mortars - three on the left, two on the right.

  • Lug and four pads for missing rear turret basket.

  • Armored air intake on top of turret.

  • Welded prop for the Commander's hatch.

  • Sun shade over gunners sight.

  • Elephant and ",100" decal.

  • Early style gunner / loaders hatch

The Chassis
  • Mirrored Tracks - I might pass on this one, but I have sanded off the ice cleats.

  • sand off all tools and tool mounts.

  • Early style front fenders.

  • Spare track rack on front of tank.

  • Wing nuts on hull machine gun mount (for water-proof cover).

  • Drivers side periscope holes above the armored site (partially covered by armoured site).

  • Horse shoe.

  • Small elephant emblem on upper right corner of front glaciss.

  • Headlight brackets and wire fittings

  • German crosses on chassis sides.

  • Spare antenna holder along top right rear of chassis.

  • Prominent weld marks on the chassis sides.

  • Early style exhausts eith flapper vlaves.

  • Large antenna mount on right rear glaciss.

  • Rear fender brackets.

  • Add tie-down fittings for missing tools to the rear glaciss (the locations are different from the molded on tools).

  • Air intake screens.
It also looks like there are some brackets for the missing tow cables, and there are a few other details I hope to be able to see ones the book arrives from Avia Press. I plan on going to the IPMS-USA Region II convention in Hagerstown, MD this weekend. So I might not be able to do another update till next week. So that's all for now folks; I hope to have some more pictures up soon.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Details, details...

Here are some masters that I've made for the Tigers radiators, and fuel tanks. I've made a rubber mold, and cast the parts. I don't plan on opening up the access panels on the engine deck, but there would be a gaping black hole into thase grates, and the tank would just look incomplete if they weren't there. Anyway, I plan on doing another Tiger, that's in the middle of an engine change, so the detail will come in handy.

I'm also toying with making my own photo-etched parts, and have started making artwork.




Here's the artwork for the turret, I manipulated a picture in photoshop to get the mamoth artwork. I still need to make the number "100," and the German crosses. Fortunately I have an Alps printer, and can print my own white decals.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Is any body still there?

Sorry for not posting in so long, but we went on another camping trip, and I got busy with other summer things. Consequently I haven't spent much time modeling. My trusty old Sony F707 has started to get a little flaky so I decided it was time to get a new camera. I wanted to go with a digital SLR, and I read that the Olympus E-300 Evolt had an adapter that would let you use old OM mount Zuiko lenses. Well I'm an old Olympus OM-2 user, and have a bunch of OM lenses, so I decided to go with the Evolt.

I've done a little more tweaking to the M10 diorama base, adding some boards and rubble after a suggestion from a kind soul on Missing-Lynx. The pictures were taken with the E-300. A digital SLR is much more complicated to use! The close-up of the soldier was taken with a 5+ diopter close-up lense. I've also updated my P-40 kit for my clubs build the same kit contest. So go take a look if your interested in things other than armor.



Sunday, July 10, 2005

Reference Material Part 1

I have never been a major fan of German Armor, and I prefer Allied subjects. Unfortunately, most of the major companies (Revell, Dragon, ect.) produce mostly German AFV's in their WWII lines. Thankfully this is starting to change; more and more Allied AFV's are being produced (to tell you the truth I think it's bcause they are running out of German AFV's to kit). I'm not a big fan of the Tiger either, it's too square and boxy. So why have I chosen the Tiger as my next subject? Well it's this picture.



I stumbled across it a few years back and it really caught my eye. I plan to base my next braille scale diorama on it. It will have the group of Russian officers (including Marshal Zhukov I believe) walking past the captured Tiger tank. The tank is quite unique for a Tiger. It was part of the first production run of Tigers, and was sent off to Russia as part of the 501. It was captured in Leningrad, and finished off the war as a war trophy. The tank has many unique features, and I've been able to accumulate pictures of all four sides, which have proved to be very helpful.






Wednesday, July 06, 2005

New Blog

Well I've gone and done it. I want my Braile Scale Blog to be small scale armor only, so I've started another blog. Manicmodeler currently has my P-40 build.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Done!

Well it's almost done. I still have a little touch up work to do. I still have 2 crew figures to add, but where to put the seated figures? There's also a few little odds and ends to add, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. The repainted figure, while not perfect are a 100% better than my first painting attempt. Hopefully my painting skills will improve with practice.

What's next? I've had this Revell Tiger 1 conversion on the back of my model table for 2 years! I tried to finish it for AMPS 2003, and left the lower hull under a 60 watt bulb to speed paint drying. Big mistake! The entire lower hull melted, and I had to rebuild it with a new kit. The model is pretty far along, and it wwill free up some modeling time to work on the P-40 for my IPMS club's BTSK contest.










Monday, June 13, 2005

Proof of life

Just a few pictures to show I haven't abandoned the old M-10. It seems that life has gotten in the way of modeling. The warm weather has arrived, and most of my spare time has been devoted to things other than modeling (camping, yard work, spring cleaning, you name it).

I've added the 76mm rounds to the ready racks, and I've continued to work on the figures, and base. I've added more texture to the base to simulate track marks, and just need a little dry brushing to bring them out.

I've also been working on an airplane for my local IPMS chapters "build the same kit" event. We chose the Academy 1/72 scale P-40E/M/N. I'm building a Kiwi P-40N. I've never successfully completed a BTSK project, so this should be interesting. Maybe I'll start an airplane blog!




Tuesday, May 31, 2005

It's been a while

Sorry for the long delay in posting, but I just haven't had much time to work on the M10 lately. I've added more texture to the base to simulate track marks. I still need to give it a new coat of burnt umber, and do some dry brushing before it's done. I've also been painting the figures. The colors are more toned down and subdued. There still a little bit of touch-up to do, but they are basically done. I'm still not completely happy with them, but they will do. Hopefully my figure painting will improve with practice!





Monday, May 16, 2005

Painting the base



Well I've gotten a little more work done on the M10. The base is pretty much done, except for some dry brushing. I'm working on painting the building now. I wasn't very happy with my paint job on the figures either, so I dumped all 9 of them in some Floquil Disol, and I had some nice shiny figures again. I picked up an Osprey book on US Uniforms, and my color choices are looking much better now.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Adventures in Plexiglas




Previously, I mentioned that I was going to do a different base for the M10. Well I decided to use 1/4" Plexiglas as the base. It's inert and won't warp or react to the various materials that I plan to use. So I ran down to Home Depot, and picked up a 24"x28" piece, but how to cut it? A quick google search gave me some answers. The only trouble, I don't own a table saw. One guy said you can score it 10 times, then snap it like glass. Well about 60 scores later and lots of pressure, I finally get it to snap!

Now add some evergreen, Apoxie Sculpt and Liquitex Texture gel's and it's finally starting to shape up. I just need to a little more debris, and add a Tiger Productions building and it will be ready for paint.

And the look I'm shooting for


Friday, April 22, 2005

Post AMPS

No M10 update today, just an AMPS rap-up. I attended Steve Zaloga's talk, Saturday morning. He focused mainly on painting, and weathering, and overall presentation. He had lots of great tips, many have been published in his Osprey books, and Military Modeler articles. After listening to his talk, I think I will change the diorama base. I heavily weathered the M10 with mud and dirt. It will look better on a dirt road than a cobble stone road (it will look more like the picture I based it on anyway). I'll use the old base for another model, which is more lightly weathered.

We had a Braille Scale Meeting after Steve's talk. Meeting the guys from the Missing Lynx Braille Scale forum was great. The guys brought a bunch of kits and accessories to look over. I'll have to get my hands on some of those Astra Models diorama bases. I picked up a few Tiger Productions buildings, Prieser figures, and some other accessories. The braille scale selection from the venders was thin as usual, but better than previous years. I took lots of pictures of models on the contest tables. They should show up on On the Way soon.

Finally I've added a link to Jason Geelong's on-line Panther Build, in Braille Scale of course! He's really tripped out the Revell Panther Ausf D/A, check it out.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Happy Dance

I forgot to mention that I finally got a copy of Sherman, by RP Hunnicutt. My Sherman Library is now complete! Actually that's not true, but don't tell my wife! I one the Ebay action while in San Diego, and the book arrived shortly after we did. It's a first edition, without the dust cover, that's in fairly good condition. I probably paid too much, but it wasn't my maximum bid.

While in San Diego I did manage to visit a hobbyshop, Discount Models. I picked up an Extrapac version of Eduards M4A3, for only $19. IMHO, Eduards "Extrapac" versions of the M4 chassis are nowhere near as good a deal as the Extratech, but they are a bit cheaper.

Make it dirty!

Ok, it's been a long time since I had an update, but my wife and I went to San Diego last week. It was tough, I know, but I managed to survive out there. Unfortunately, I developed a rather nasty cold, which turned into bronchitis, and knocked me completely off my feet. I haven't been able to devote much time to the M10, and sadly doubt that I'll have it ready for AMPS. Even if I do get it done, I doubt I'll feel good enough to spend all day at the show. Oh well, there is always next year!






Saturday, April 02, 2005

OK, so it isn't the M10....

...but this is the view I have outside of my Hotel window. I'm roughing it at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for the next few days. While the wife goes to a Scientific Conference, I have to figure out what to do??? Well there is the Midway right down the street, the Aviation Museum, the Flying Leatherneck Museum at Miramar. Not to mention the San Diego Zoo, and numerous other museums, and the Pacific beaches. I'm not sure if there are any armor museums close by, but if there are I find them. I've got two digital cameras and a laptop, so I'll be shooting lots of pictures.

Thursday, March 31, 2005

On the Road

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been swamped with a project at work, and I've had very little time to work on the M10, let alone blog about it! Now I'm off with the wife for a week in sunny San Diego. Consequently, I'll have no update on the M10 for the next 6 days. Anyway, check back next weekend, and hopefully I'll be rapping it all up a week before the big AMPS show.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

On to the base...

Hello doesn't seem to be cooperating at the moment, so I'm posting on photobucket. Here's the M10 close to being finished. I've started working on the base. I've got the collors blocked on; there's just a little detail painting to be done, then the weathering begins.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Friday, March 11, 2005

Moving along...

I've airbrushed everything with a light coating of Tamiya buff. The lower part of the hull received a heavier dusting. Next I'll spray on a gloss coat of polyscale, then I'll start with the oil paints. Hopefully I'll be ready to pull out the pastels by Sunday night!







Monday, March 07, 2005

It's weather time

I've hit a slow point with the M-10. I'm painting all of the tarps and rolls, and I've started the weathering process. I'm not too happy with the results so far, but I'm only in the early stages. I still have to give it a wash, and drybrush, and work on the tracks.

Monday, February 28, 2005

Slowly coming along....

Just a little more work done on the M10. I used some acrylic texture gel's to simulate mud on the chassis, and sprayed it with Tamiya Earth, and a 1-1 mixture of Earth and Khaki (Steve Zaloga dirt mixture...Only borrow from the best).







Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Let the painting begin!

Well, it's finally time to start painting this beast. Ofcouse, I've already broken off some photo-etch, thus the grey on the turret. For the paint I'm using Tamiya acrylics, mixed to Steve Zaloga's faded olive drab (1 part Olive Drab 1 part Dark Yellow). This is the first coat, I'll spray the lower surfaces with earth colors to simulate caked on dirt. Then I'll start the weathering! I don't think I'll be doing much decaling, as I can't find too many pictures of the M-10 with visible markings.

I've also taken the opportunity to cut the tiger productions base up. I didn't like the height of the sidewalks, and it was simple enough to cut them off, and sand them down to a more realistic height.




Sunday, February 13, 2005

On to the figures

I've suspended further work on the M10 until after my local IPMS meeting Tuesday. I want to show off the work, and models look pretty cool when you can see all the metal and resin accessories.

The M10 had a crew of five. I'm using some white metal figures from AB Figures. I've blocked on some paint, but still have alot of highlight and shadowing to do.


Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Ready for paint!

On Friday my 16 y/o border collie finally forced my hand, and I had to have him put down on Saturday morning. It was hard, but it was his time, so vaya con Dios Trusty. Needless to say I haven't gotten as much done as I hope on the M10, but I think it's finally ready to paint. One good thing did happen on Friday, I got a little care package from Squadron. I ordered some Czech Masters resin accessories sets, and I really can't describe how incredible they are. Various bed/tent rolls and bags are now piled and tied all over the M10! I also took the time to scratch build an exhaust deflector, and nine track growsers that are glued to the racks. They turned out remarkable well, and the M10 just doesn't look right without a few of them bolted to the racks.






Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Home stretch!

I think I've go enough sandbags on there now. I also added the hedgerow cutter, a log made out of some evergreen tube, and a tarps on the turret and hull . I guess I should start working on the base soon!