Braille Scale Blog

Another quick update

2011-08-15T20:24:00.004-04:00

I shot a lite coat of Tamiya clear gloss to seal the decals, and prepare the model for weathering. I then used a thin pin-wash using Mig Dark Wash and Brow Wash i all the seams and crevices, and removed the excess wash after it dried with thinner. The model was looking pretty dark at this point, so I shot it with a light coat of Testors Dull-coat, which lightened it up a good bit. and now it's ready for weathering in earnest.

I also took the opportunity to start painting the figures. I decided to go with the 3 half figures by AB Figures. Th figures are about done, just a little touch-up and highlighting to do before they are done.

Decaling Derby

2011-08-06T21:51:00.004-04:00

I started decaling "Derby" this morning. One word of warning if you are anal like me, Dragon didn't get the decals completely correct. I used the 2 pictures of Derby from the Concord books as the primary reference, along with Jim Lewis's Derby build mentioned previously. Most of what you need is on the kit supplied decal sheet, Dragon just doesn't show you were to put everything, and you need to cut up the extra decals to get them correct (or close to correct). I ended up using decals from 2 Dragon M4A1 Normandy kits, a Dragon M4A1 76 Op. Cobra kit, and lastly some Archer US stars. You need the second Derby Decal for the "D-32" decal on the turret bustle rack, and the Cobra kit for the unit marking 2Delta67Delta (the Cobra kit decal is a close 2Delta66Delta).

I've also picked out some AB Figures from my stash to use on the kit. I'm not sure if the co-driver will be sitting outside the hatch or just have his head visible or not, so I picked one of each.

Oh well that's it for now. I still have a few decals to cobble together before I give it another coat of gloss.

Another quick update

2011-08-03T19:19:00.002-04:00

I decided to do more than a little touch-up on the camouflage job. I didn't like the sharp demarcation line between the od and black. It didn't really match the pictures of other camouflaged Shermans that I have. So I loaded up my trusty Iwata HPC with some thinned Tamiya mixes and carefully work on the transition between the two colors freehand. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good.

I also took the time to paint most of the stowage using various Vallejo Game Colors. First I painted them Dead Flesh for the greens and Bone white for the Khakis. I then used Vallejo thinner and glaze medium, mixed with Cayman Green lightened with the Dead flesh for the green mid-tones, and Khaki for the khaki mid-tones. Finally I gave everything a quick coat of Vallejo's new Washes Green and Sepia on the greens and just Sepia on the khakis. I really love this stuff, it makes things really pop, lightly coats everything and really settles down in the folds. I'll definitely be experimenting with this stuff in the future.

Coming along

2011-07-29T20:17:00.002-04:00

Derby apparently was camouflaged, although I couldn't tell from the one picture I have of it. Dragon would have you use od and earth brown, but most of the reference I have seen say the 2nd Armored Division used od and black. So I used the blu-tack trick I tried out on the Stug IV and Jagdpanzer to mask off the camouflage of the OD areas so I could spray the black. must confess I copied the pattern from another modeler, Jim Lewis, has a 1/35 scale buildup of Derby om his website, Guntruck. I particularly liked the camo pattern he used on his Derby build, so I copied his. I still have some touch up to do, but I'm pretty happy so far.

As for the Horch I laid down a coat of Tamiya German Grey lighted with a paler grey. I also found a great online reference Vincent Abbott's Smugmug site has a great album with 100 shots of the Horch, and will be a great resource for the second kit.

Derby and something new

2011-07-24T18:54:00.004-04:00

I managed to get Derby to the point where I can start laying some paint down. I shot an initial coat on the tank using the "Zologa formula" U.S. O.D. (ie, Tamiya XF-72 & lightened with XF-60). I've got a lot more painting to do, but I'm happy with the results so far.

I also started work on a new kit: Dragons "Heavy Uniform Personnel Vehicle Type 40." Why Dragon chose to name it that is a mystery to me. I guess some other automaker must own the rights to "Horch" and Dragon must not want to get into a copyright/trademark fight. I've got mixed feelings about the kit, it's only made up of about 54 parts, and assembles very quickly into a reasonably nice looking kit. Dragon also gives you two kits in the box, which is good. I decided to build one "out of the box," well as out of the box as I can build it. I'm probably going to replace the cloth convertible top with one made of 2 part epoxy.

I have almost zero references on the Horch. I guess this gives me an excuse to buy the WWP book :). From what I've been able to find on the internet it looks like Dragon did a good bit of over simplification, but otherwise produced a kit that looks like the real vehicle. I'll probably also add some stowage clutter to the rear storage bin, and maybe add a Preiser figure or three.

Small Derby update

2011-07-18T20:02:00.003-04:00

Just another small update on my M4A1, "Derby." I managed to glue the siren to the bracket, and the bracket to the hull without getting too much super glue on anything. Dragon actually includes a bracket on the PE set included in the kit but it didn't look dimensionally correct to me, so I scratched it. I'ce also carved off the lower half of the periscopes on all the hatches, replacing them with a bracket made of aluminum beer can.

I've also added the tools to the back of the tank, adding a little more detail to the kit parts. Dragon's tool layout doesn't look like most of the pictures I've seen of M4A1's, but it appear to be correct for Derby. You can just make out the sledge hammer in the picture in the Concord books, so I went with Dragon's layout. It's probably a case of Dragon getting it accidentally right, because there are so many other details they got wrong on Derby.

That's it for now, I've got a club meeting tomorrow and should probably have something to bring.

A Small update

2011-07-11T19:03:00.003-04:00

Shamefully I've done very little modelling the last few months (other than expanding my stash), jumping from one project to the next with the attention span of one of my nephews. One of my problems has been taking the time to finish a model, getting bogged down in small details, which is getting a bit ridiculous for 1/72 armor...but for me it's all in the details. The M4A1 75mm "Derby" is a perfect example. Derby has lots of interesting little details, and the latest for me to get stuck on was the siren bracket that was typical of Sherman's in the ETO in the summer of '44. I was debating making it in Evergreen strip or sheet brass without actually making it.

This past Sunday I was at the monthly Washington Armor Club meeting, and one of my buddies (one of the only other braille scalers in the club) put out a few of his finished recent projects, and mentioned one of his favorite scratch building materials....beer can aluminum! Well it's pretty hot here in DC (several straight days in the mid to high 90's), and a beer can conversion sounded perfect to me. So a very recently emptied can of Yuengling sacrificed itself, and after about 1 hour I had finally crafted the siren bracket. Ok that's it for now, back to modeling.

New Tool

2011-03-16T21:46:00.004-04:00

Just a brief update, I ordered a couple of Punch and Die sets from UMM that arrived today. One is a set of round punches in 6 sizes(0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 mm) ...

...and the second is a set of 4 hex punches (0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4mm).

I've have a Waldron Punch and Die set for 25+ years, and it has served me well (and will continue to). The UMM round set has several sizes that bridge some size gaps, and the Hex set was something I've always wanted. It probably won't be very useful from braille scale kits, but the .8mm punch looks like it will come in very handy for 48 scale Sherman's, and the larger sizes look great for 35 scale kits.

I was a little concerned about the design of the sets., but they appear to work just fine to me. I've included pictures of some .010 plastic that I punched out.

Oh my!

2011-03-08T20:54:00.009-05:00

It's almost been a year since I've posted anything. It's not that I haven't been building anything, I just haven't felt like blogging about it. My modelling interests have been straying away from braille scale armor subject too. So I think I'll start posting about whatever is currently catches my modelling fancy.

Fist up, a friend has been bugging me to share pictures of the finished Cromwell. I've competed it at a couple of shows: my own IPMS club's MarauderCon and 2010's IPMS Region 2 show, and placed in both. I might bring it to this years AMPS, I might not. It depends on how long I plan to stay at the show.

...and just to prove I haven't abandoned braille scale altogether, here's my Dragon M4A1 which I'm modelling as Derby. A 3rd Armor Tank from Normandy. The "big" progress I've made is adding the rucksacks to the turret. I've got a few more tidbits to add to the turret before I start painting. Missing from the picture is the pile of stowage that sits on a pallet strapped to the back of the tank.

Now is when I start to stray from the braille scale a little. After working on the Tamiya M4, I caught the 48th scale bug, and I've been picking up various 1/48 scale armor kits. Here is the Hobbyboss KV-1 "Ehkranmi." A vary nice kit, and a scaled down Trumpeter KV-1 from what I've heard. It was a lot of fun to build, and went together without any major problems. It's basically out of the box, although I did add an RB barrel (the bore of the kit part was off center) and some PE engine grills by Hauler.

and then I stray a little further. I've had the 1/35 Skybow Beep on the shelf for years. Well now it's in my build pile. I've downloaded the Tech Manuals (available for free on the internet archive) and plan to wire it all up. So far I've got most of the engine wired. I tride using brass and lead wire, but ended up using stretched spue (a lot easier to glue).

...andthen I really start to stray! Back to my first love 1/48 scale WWII Aircraft....well really any aircraft. I just took pictures of the Accurate Miniatures Yak-1. A really nice kit, although I hear it's got some serious shape issues because they tried to make too many Yak varriants out of it. It doesn't matter to me as it's such a nice kit, that looks the part enough for me. The build is basically out of the box, with the exception of seat belts that I made from lead foil.

I've been working on lots of other aircraft that I'll probably post later, as well as some 28mm War Gaming figures, that I'm primarily using to try and improve my figure painting skills. Oh well that's it for now.

A minor update

2010-04-25T16:06:00.003-04:00

Not much to report on lately. I just haven't managed to get much modeling done. Other priorities, bad weather, colds, allergies and a bit of modelers apathy have combined to sap my modeling mojo. I've been trying to figure out how to make the distinctive antenna mount that is seen on the Cromwell. I've tried to make one using a bunch of different materials: fine wire, shim brass, metal tubing, styrene; only to be unhappy with the results. I got close using just styrene, and decided to make one more attempt, and am very happy with the results. It's made of 7 tiny pieces of styrene!

I'm oh so close to being done!

2010-03-15T20:11:00.003-04:00

Boy it's been a long time since I posted anything, but life's priorities get in the way as usual. Nothing to complain about though, a month in New Zealand, lots of work, yada, yada, yada...

Anyway, I'm so close to being done I can taste it. I wasn't happy with the weathering, so I decided to try something new, streaking the model with various shades of heavily diluted Tamiya Acrylic. I still need to do a pin wash in a few areas to make some of the details pop a little more. The figures were finished, so I added them in for the picture to see how they'd look, and I'm very happy with them if I do say so myself, my best effort yet! I did manage to break off the coaxial machine gun. I'm turning some evergreen rod in my Dremel mini-mite to replace it. Now I just need to figure out how to do the distinctive antenna guard, and a few tine bits and I'm done!

Cromwell figures done

2009-10-28T21:26:00.003-04:00

Well the figures are about done, and pretty much all that I need to do is give them a sealer coat, and add them to the Cromwell. Not my best, but defintely not my worst. Overall I'm very happy with the results, but feel that I need to improve my technique a bit more...which of course means I needs to build, paint and buy more! :)

Just a quick update

2009-10-16T21:03:00.006-04:00

I haven't had as much modeling time of late. My wife and I had our fifth wedding anniversary to celebrate, and autumn has arrived with lots of weekend chores. That being said, I have chosen the figures for the Cromwell, blocked in the colors and started the detail painting. There still a little bit of work to do, but AB Figures are just so easy to paint. I should have them done soon, and can finish up the Cromwell, and get to work on a little diorama base for it.

The figures are painted with Vallejo Game Color and Model Color. I painted the uniforms Game Color Bonewhite (34), followed with several thin coats of Model Color British Uniform (921/141) mixed Vallejo Glaze. The result was pretty good by itself, but I followed up with a mix of Bonewhite and British Uniform. Faces where painted with various Vallejo Game Color flesh shades (Elf Flesh, Filthy Brown, and Dwarf Flesh). Then I used a thin glaze mix of Beasty Brown (43) to provide depth and shadows. I've still got a little cleanup to do on the faces & uniforms, and I have to paint badges on the berets.

AB Figure galor

2009-09-13T13:50:00.002-04:00

Here's a sample of the AB Figures I picked up the other day, and boy do I love them. The detail on them is very impressive. Each fgure has it's own personality, the poses are natural, and the sculpting lends itself to easy painting. I can't wait to pick four out, clean them up, prime them and paint them.

A little Sherman madness

2009-09-12T22:27:00.005-04:00

I haven't touched the Cromwell since my last post. I've been waiting for the AB Figures to arrive from England. before I finish it. The figures arrived Tuesday (I only sent my order in via Air Mail 10 days before!), and I picked them up at the Post Office Friday. I went a little crazy and order a bunch of US and British tanker sets, since my stash of allied kits is quite large. I'll try and shoot some pictures and send to On the Way! as previews, since they're celebrating 10 years on the web. Then I'll pick four figures for the Cromwell, paint them up and at least have the Tank finished.

Today also brought a package from Luck Models, with six decal sheets from Bison. Unfortunately two sheets were out of stock (US Shermans in Normandy, and US Tanks in NW Europe '45), but I can get to work on several other kits, mostly British Shermans. So the AB Figures will come in handy.

My wife and I have been camping several weekends over the summer, and I've taken various kits to work on when we aren't hiking, all Dragon Shermans (Firefly Vc, M4A1 76mm, M4A3 105mm, and M4A1 75mm). It allows me to do the gross assembly, and keeps me from going too nuts with the after market stuff. The Vc will probably be a Kiwi Firefly from Italy, I still have to look over the Bison decal options for one that tickles my fancy. Overall it's been a very nice kit to build, with only the 3 piece drive housing offering any trouble. I've added a cast texture to the drive and turret using liquid cement.

I've also done a little more work on the M4A1 76mm by Dragon. It's almost ready to prime, just needs the photo-etch parts added.

I've been working on the M4A1 75mm most recently, over the Labor Day camping trip. I can't say it's my favorite Dragon Sherman. Dragon included a cast texture that was too heavy and course for my taste, but fortunately only required a few minutes with some wet/dry sand paper to subdue to a more realistic texture for 1/72 scale. I'm leaning towards using the kits decals and building it as "Derby." As near as I can tell, you can build it out of the box with what in the kit (correct running gear), although there is some question as to whether it had open spoked or solid spoked road wheels (a result of several hours of google searches, and paging through various Concord Sherman books...I sad and pathetic I know).

Decals are on

2009-08-31T20:48:00.003-04:00

...and the weathering has begun. Decalling was relatively uneventful, although I'm not 100% happy with the star on the turret roof. It laid down perfectly, but looks very distorted over the vent. The entire model recieved a coat of Tamiya Gloss, followed by decals, small details where hand painted with Vallejo Game Colors, then another lite coat of gloss with a diluted drop of Tamiya Buff. This was followed by a pinwash, lite gloss again, then I used the "oil dot" method that is currently in vogue, blending the colors to add more depth and character to the finish. This was followed by one more lite gloss coat, which is what the pictures bellow show.

I looked in my figure box and to my surprise I had no British tankers on hand. So I'm waiting on a set (or two) of AB Figures on the way. I'm thinking of doing a little diorama based on the photo. I see a rubble pile, French resistance fighter with sten gun, bicycler, and woman awith to dogs in the crowd, that would make a great little scene.

Cromwell deja vu

2009-08-22T13:39:00.002-04:00

It seems like I just painted and decalled this thing not too long ago. I'm finally ready to re-decal it. I changed my normal OD mixture to match the British OD mixture Steve Zaloga used in his Road to Falaise diorama (Military Modelling Volume 35 Number 8, 2005) , adding a drop of XF-18 Medium Blue to the 50%-50% mixture of XF-62 Olive Drab - XF-60 Dark Yellow Tamiya mix, to give it the greener hue of British OD. The lower hull trcks and running gear were sprayed with XF-72 Brown (JSDF), followed by mottled XF-59 Desert Yellow and XF-57 Buff.

While surfing the web I discovered that Aleran Decals made a copy of the division marking that Revell got wrong on the kit sheet. I found Aleran decals dirt cheep at a wargaming store, and went ahead and ordered several differnt sheets. The scan bellow shows the green over blue 45 marking darker than they actually are on the sheet. I'll be decalling the Cromwell one the gloss has had another day or two to harden up, it's pretty humid on the east coast USA right now.

Cromwell progress

2009-08-09T21:42:00.004-04:00

Well the old Cromwell is about ready for the paint booth again....seems like I just painted it a short while ago...oh yea I did.

Here's a list of the modifications I did, king of fun to try and do once you've assembled the kit!

Opened up the gunners/loaders turret hatch, and replaced with Evergreen sheet stock
Added bolt detail to commander's hatch
added searchlight wiring and handholds
added perscope visors
opened the driver's hatch and replaced with Evergreen stock
opened drivers visor and replaced with part cast off another kit
opened auxillary gunners hatch
replaced grab handles with brass wire
added fender headlights and wiring
sawed off left front fender
added drivers corner aid

I've still got to scrounge up some helmets to put on the lift rings, a bren gun to set on the roof, and a box or two to put on the back fender, then it will be ready to paint.

Oh the humanity!!!!!

2009-08-01T22:47:00.005-04:00

When I was finishing the M4A3 I used Vallejo Model Air Flat, and noticed a slight frosting to the finish that is common to many flat coaits. So when it was time to flat coat the Cromwell I decided I would use my trusty Polly Scale Flat. It's never failed me, and always gave me a dead flat finish. The only trouble was I couldn't find my trusty bottle of flat coat. So it was off to the hobby shop to pick up a fresh bottle! Well I sprayed on a light coat mixed with distilled water, and bam! The worst fogged milky white finish I had ever had!!! I tried all the tricks I could think of let it dry...maybe it would clear...nope...try various thinners....nope....try a light coat of gloss it will clear it up....nope. I ended up putting in my ultra sonic clear with some soapy water, and still nothing helped....I had finally had had enough of the Cromwell....in it's current condition.

I wasn't happy with the way the model had turned out

The front number on the kit decals was too small.
The unit markings, while correct stood out too far from the surface of the kit because of the number of layers
a fellow missing-lynxer pointed out that the left front fender was missing on the actual tank

I didn't know I had a picture of the actual tank in my reference till well into the finishing stages. The picture would make a great little diorama, but I had missed way too much detail (for a really anal modeler like me that is). Hatches are open all over the tank, there are small headlights on the fenders, the side toolboxes are missing some subtle details. All small things tat I could have easily included into the kit. Then it hit me this could be a message from the big model guy is the sky. I've got a spare set of markings from a second kit (don't tell the wife I have multiples of almost everything).

So it was back to the ultrasonic cleaner, this time in a bath of 409. Boy did that do the trick, I was back down to the Tamiya Fine Grey Primer in 10 minutes! I've started carving the left fender, plan to open the driver and co-driver hatches, along with the other turret hatch. Then there are the fender headlights, wiring for the searchlight, detailing the toolboxes, helmets on the lift hooks. There looks to be a Bren Gun on the turret roof, anyone know where I can get a Bren Gun? Most can all be done with Evergreen plastic. More to come soon....

Corrected Cromwell markings

2009-07-30T19:41:00.003-04:00

A friend on the missing-lynx braille scale discussion group informed me that the marking in the kit were wrong, and the unit markings square should be green over blue with white numbers, not red. So I breathed life into my old Alps printer, and managed to print up a the new markings. However, I wasn't very happy with how they looked, so I wipped out the old paint brush and Vallejo Game colors and hand painted the markings. It's far from perfect, but should work fine one the weathering and chipping is done.

Cromwell Progress

2009-07-29T21:16:00.004-04:00

The Revell Cromwell has been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to finish it. I seem to have gotten some modelling mojo back with the Panzer IV group build, and M4A3 finished, so on Monday I pulled it off the shelf, painted the wheels and tracks, and shot a coat of Future on it. Yesterday I decalled it, and I shot another coat of Future tonight. I used the kit decals, and am reasonably happy with how they turned out. I used my trusty Waldron Punch set on the top turret star, punching out the center ring that fits over the turret intake. It took a heck of a lot of Mr Mark Softer to get it to lay down right. I finished off the star by touching up the arms with Vallejo Game Color Bone White. I did have one small mishap while decaling. I nicked the front glacis paint right by the "Black Bull" decal, but I just lightly sanded it out shot a coat of Future over it, put a few drops of lightened OD in the airbrush and touched it up.

Next up a flat coat and let the weathering begin!

Sherman Finished!

2009-07-23T19:44:00.005-04:00

Well I finally finished another one! This is shaping up to be my most prolific year yet! It might be a lame total by other modelers standards, but 2009 is shaping up to be quite the modelling year for me. At this rate I mite complete my stash....that is if I live to be several hundred years old, and stop buying more kits. Both are very unlikely variables.

Oh well, here's the completed M4A3 Sherman. The figure are by AB Miniatures, painted with Vallejo Model Color. I made the stowage/tarp and id flag using Apoxie Sculpt. The tank was painted with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics, and weathered with Mig Pigments and oil washes.

BSMC Panzer IV build done!

2009-05-14T18:25:00.005-04:00

.....well sort of. ;) I still need to do some figures, but for the BSMC monthy group build ther're done! I had hoped to get four kits done, but it was obvious a couple of weeks ago that I didn't have a prayer to finish all four. So I decided to set the Panzer IV Ausf. J and Nashorn to the side, and concentrate on the Jagdpazer and Stug.

Missing-Lynx Panzer IV contest

2009-05-05T22:38:00.004-04:00

It's the home stretch of the missing-lynx Panzer IV contest. I was trying to build four kits for the contest, but it looks like I'll only finish two in time. I can't say I'm particularly pleased with how they turned out so far, but I haven't started the weathering yet, so they might turn out better once they're done. I decided to do a hard edge camouflage on both kits, as it's more interesting then just plain panzer yellow, and easier to apply than soft edge. I used "blu-tack" [technically yellow blu-tack] as the masking medium.

It's the first time I've tried using blu-tack. It's a little tedious, but over all it turned out fairly well. The Jagdpanzer was the first one I tried it on, I learned a little bit after the first model, and am happier with the second [the stug].

Jagdpanzer & Stug's

2009-03-26T20:54:00.004-04:00

I managed to out get a little time in the paint booth the last few days. The Stug III is in the finishing stages, and the Stug IV and Jagdpanzer IV are in the early painting stages.

Jagdpanzer IV L/70

2009-03-21T22:03:00.003-04:00

I'm also working on Dragon's Jagdpanzer IV L/70 for the group build. Like the Stug IV, it's very nicely molded, as a matter of fact it's a little nicer than the Stug IV. This is probably because it's a later release, and Dragon has been gradually improving their kits to the point now they have reached the pinacle of 72 scale armor (in my opinion), with their recetly released Panzer IV ausf. F (more on that in a later post). Anyway, I do't have much in the way of reference material on the Jagdpanzer IV. So I've been relying on what google searches pull up to add any extra detail to the kit (not much). Hopefully it will warm up a bit, and I can get the Jagdpanzer and Stug IV to the paint booth soon.

Dragons Stug IV Late

2009-03-21T20:12:00.010-04:00

I've got a couple of kits I'm working on for the Panzer IV group build on Missing Lynx Braille Scale group. The group build is being done in conjunction with Braille Scale Monthly Competition. The group build runs from February to May. Rather than competing, I'm using the group build as inspiration to build several Panzer IV class kits that have been shamefully accumulating in my "stash" (my wife would probably call it my own private hobby shop). Anyway, I'm trying to build the kits out of the box as much as possible. Only adding after market goodies if I already have them handy.

So without further ado, here's a couple of shots of my nearly ready to paint Stug IV late, by Dragon.

I can't comment very much on the accuracy of the kit, as German armor isn't really my thing, atleast not the Stug IV (why was it in my stash then....because I'm sick!!!). I don't have very much if any reference material on the Stug IV. Fortunately there is the internet, and a google search eventually set me on the trail of a Stug IV recently pulled out of a river in Poland. The museum restoring the Stug has a great website, sturmgeschutziv.pl, that is documenting the restoration process, and was a veritable treasure trove of information while building the model. The only modification to the kit was a slight modification to the spare roadwheel box, replacing the molded on lift rings with ones made out of stretched sprue, and hollowing out telascopinc sights and machine guns.

Back To Hurricane

2009-02-08T19:20:00.008-05:00

It's been too long since I posted anything, but the usual Holiday, family, and work excuses are the reason. I haven't been able to to do as much modelling as I would like, and continue to expand the stash wel beyond my life expectancy, especially at my current build rate! That being said, I have managed to putter around on Hurricane a little.

First up is a picture of Hurricane with the modified Calibre 48 wadding stacks.

Since the resin parts were solid cast, I scratch built the upper portion of the stacks using the Calibre 48 part as a pattern with some Evergreen sheet styrene.

Next up is the Commander figure. The kit doesn't come with any figures, but Tamiya offers a coupe of US Army figure sets. This figure is a Tank Commander from the "WWII US Army Infantry GI Set." The sculpting was pretty poor, so I carved it all off, and plan to sculpt a tanker coveralls suit. The helmit is a part I made using the driver figure in the set as a master.

The last three pictures are of the modified driver figure. Again this figure was poorly sculpted, with sof detail. I scribed and carved the figure to enhance the detail, paying particular attention to the Rawlings Tanker Helmet. I like the way it turned out so much I made an RTV casting, which is how I got the helmet for the commander. I have yet to get a buble free copy of the figure that I'm happy with, but atleast I got a good helmet for the commander!

and back to the Panzer IV

2008-11-16T20:15:00.005-05:00

The rain gutters that are above the side turret hatches, as well as the grab handles the crew would use to extract themselves out the hatch, are missing from the kit. The brackets for the turret basket is also missing. All these details were added compliments of an empty beer can, some fine brass wire, and my "hold and fold" tool.

I also took the opportunity to shoot a primer coat on the model. It was really too cold to paint outside, but I managed to get a coat of Tamiya grey primer on. I'll let it dry on a few days before painting anymore.

Back at work on the Cromwell

2008-11-16T12:23:00.004-05:00

First I shot a coat of Tamiya fine grey primer on the model. Next I mixed up some British olive green using Tamiya acrylics: 50-50 olive green (XF-58) and olive drab (XF-62), and sprayed a light cover coat on the model.

After that dried, I sprayed the lower half of the model and running gear with flat earth (XF-52) and JSDF brown (XF-72). I followed up on the upper surfaces by progressively adding more dark yellow (XF-60) to the olive green mixture (50-50 XF-58&62). I tried using the pre-shading technique by filling the center of panels with the lighter mix, and leaving the darker under coat visible along the edges.

Nest up will be a gloss coat to add the kit decals, followed by a sealer coat, then let the weathering begin.

....and more panzer progress

2008-11-04T21:30:00.005-05:00

I've added the schurtzen hangers, and turret armor using the kit parts. The turret schurtzen is just dry fitted to the hangers, so I can remove it for painting. There still a few small parts to add, but otherwise it's nearly complete.

Panzer progress

2008-11-02T21:47:00.004-05:00

Here are a few more pictures of my Revell Pannzer IV Ausf. J. I've added the tracks, and they are beautifully done, just like on their Cromwell kit. I took the opportunity to do a little judicious bending to impart the track sag that is usually seen on most Panzer Iv's. I really prefer these solid link and length, then the one piece vinyl included in most Trumpeter kits, or the "DS" glueable tracks that Dragon currently uses. I've also started to add the smaller details to the kit including the turret "shurtzen" hangers, two hooks, tools. etc.

Modelling on the road

2008-10-28T19:42:00.007-04:00

I was on the road most of last week, and since I was driving, and didn't have to navigate through airport security, I decided to take my travel/camping toolkit and a couple of kits, both were 1/72 scale kits that I'd had sitting on the shelf for too long.

First up was Dragon's Nashorn. The amount of detail include is just incredible, but boy what an over engineered kit! My only real problem was getting the road wheel spacing correct. Dragon has them packed in tighter than my teeth were before my parents got braces put on my teeth! I've still got a good deal to do on the kit, but this is all I could manage while on the road.

Next up is Revell's Pzkpfw IV Ausf. J. It's another great Revell kit, just like the Cromwell I built a few weeks ago. Boy I wish Revell did more armor in 1/72 scale! It goes together so easy, and is engineered like the best Tamiya kits. I did make one addition to the kit, and Aber gun barrel. I picked it up last year, cheep on the discount table. There isn't really anything wrong with the kit barrel, but it makes an already nice kit that much nicer.

Back to Hurricane

2008-10-14T19:14:00.003-04:00

My "care package" from Great Models arrived on Monday with the Calibre 48 wading stacks, and few other goodies (who'd have thought on Columbus Day!). The Calibre 48 Stacks are very nicely molded in grey resin, and are much nicer than the stacks I was trying to make with evergreen sheet plastic. The stacks are made up of five resin parts, and two PE screens. You have to remove all parts from their casting blocks before the stacks can be assembled.

I was digging around trying to find any and all references on Shemans with wading stacks, when I came across an issue of Military Modelling (Volume 33 Number 6) with a great article by Steve Zaloga on D-Day Shermans. It's a typical Zaloga article, ie, part modelling how to, and part reference treasure trove! Who could ask for anything more?

Unfortunately after reading the article, and looking at the Calibre 48 stacks do I realize that the stacks are wrong for D-Day! They aren't totally wrong, most of the shape is right. The rear exhaust adapter on American D-Day tanks only partially covered the rear engine doors. The Calibre 48 parts completely cover the doors. This would be correct for a 1945 tank, but not for June '44. So now I have to decide whether to just use the Calber 48 part "as is," grind it down and fix it, or make a replacement part. A couple of other thing I noticed were the front intake adapter doesn't just press fit onto the hull, like they show on the instructions. You have to do a little carving on the hull flange to make it fit. Another is that the stack openings themselves are solid resin. The screens simply glue on the fronts. I'm not sure if I'll grind them out, or what, but they don't bother me too much.

Back to braille scale

2008-10-12T14:00:00.004-04:00

I decided to work on a simple 1/72 scale kit, while I waited for Caliber 48's Sherman wading stacks to arrive in the mail from Great Models. Looking over my over large stash of unbuilt kits I spotted Revell's Cromwell IV. I've always heard that this was a nice kit right out of the box, and those reports turned out to be true.

So here is the Revell Cromwell, built straight from the box, waiting to hit the paint booth.

I did manage to make a mistake or two. I managed to glue the exhaust shroud (Part 2) too low on the rear hull (Part 1). I didn't catch it until I glued the upper and lower hull together, and had to pry it off, clean up the damage, and reglue it in the correct place. You can just make out the Mr. Surfacer hiding the damage.

One of the neat construction techniques I've seen on the web, and at club meetings is building the tracks and running gear as a seperate assemble, so it can be painted and weathered off the tank. I've alway wanted to try it. and it turned out pretty good. My second goof up was with the individual track links around the drive wheel. I was a little too aggressive with the sanding stick during clean-up, and ended up having to glue some evergreen stock to the ends of these tracks to make them even with the rest of the tracks.

Hurricane update

2008-09-15T20:38:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of Hurricane's turret. I filled the pistol port on the left side, thickened the cheek armor on the right side, drilled out the periscope. and added a weld bead to the bottom of the bustle.

The weld beads Tamiya used on the M4 chassis are all wrong. So I glued down some .001x.002 Evergreen strip plastic, then softened it up with liquid cement, and then sculpted the softened plastic with a sharpened eyeglass screw driver. It's hard to make out in the pictures, but turned out pretty well. I added other weld beads using stretched sprue around the smaller castings, and added various drainage holes that were on real Shermans.

I've also worked on the bogies a little. I carved out the the top roller, replaced the skid with the one in the Aber set, and added various holes, nuts and bolts where appropriate.

Lastly there is the lower chassis. I ended up sticking with the Tamiya part, the the Adalbertus one piece housing. I also used my Waldron punch and die set to punch various sized plastic disks to use for panels and bolts.

Still building braille scale

2008-09-14T14:51:00.004-04:00

I haven't abandoned 1/72 armor by any means, or aircraft modelling for that matter either. I'm still buying and building a little of everything, and sadly never really finishing much of anything. My wife and I went camping a couple of times this summer, and that's where I've done most of my 1/72 armor. I took several kits to work on during day light hours.

First up is Dragon's Firefly Vc. I've always loved the Firefly with it's long barrel, and I really like this kit. I've built it almost entirely out of the box, with the exception of adding 3 Tichy Train Shops bolts to each VVSS bogie.

Next up is Dragons M4A3 105mm. Again I'm building this out of the box, just adding bolts to the bogies.

and speaking of after market items!

2008-09-14T13:41:00.006-04:00

I've been a long time sufferer of AMS (Advanced Modelers Syndrome). I just can't seem to build many kits out of the box, and since Hurricane is being built for AMPS competition, I've pretty much given myself [or my wallet] free reign. I've made a few additional purchases besides the Adalbertus parts.

Aber's photoetch set for the Tamiya M4. I'm going to try and use almost all of it.

Fighting 48th's Type 51 rubber block tracks, very nicely molded.

Hauler US tank tools. Shave them off the kit only to glue them back on?

ArmorScale 75mm barrel

Archer stars and shipping stencils

Archer casting symbols - these are cool 1/35, 1/48/ and 1/72 symbols all on one sheet!

Is my shopping spree done? Of course not! I found a Tamiya M4A1, and went ahead and picked it up so I would have a solid drive sprocket. I'd kind of like to have some figures on the tank, I still need to either make or buy the wading trunks, and there's always more reference material!

Hurricane's transmission cover

2008-09-14T11:37:00.007-04:00

I really liked Iron Divisions Sherman lower hull, it has a lot of detail that the Tamiya die cast part lacks. However, I just couldn't get the Iron Division lower hull to mate with the Tamiya upper hull without some minor/major surgery. So then my question was how to model the one piece transmission cover? Tamiya includes one in their M4A1, the only trouble was I couldn't find one anywhere. Perth Modeler has a good number of reviews of 48 scale armor and accessories, and I found a company called Adalbertus in Poland that makes a one piece cover for the Tamiya kit. So I ordered the part, along with a Sherman stowage set they also make.

The Adalbertus transmission is meant to be a drop in replacement for the Tamiya Sherman. It's cleanly molded in grey resin, and includes a nice cast texture, factory casting marks, tow pintles, and the top bolt flange that wasn't on the Iron Division part. Mine was a very nice casting, except right at the pour block, were the molding was less distinct. However, I cut the part off with a razor saw, and after a little time with a sanding stick, the cover fit like it came with the kit.

and another sibling!

2008-09-14T09:00:00.005-04:00

I noticed another shot of a 2nd AD contemporary of Hurricane on Missing-Lynx Allied forum. The picture is too blurry to make out the unit, but it is reportedly from the attack on Carenten, between 13th and 21st June, 1944. It's another good shot that will help when decaling Hurricane.

Hurricane's sibling!

2008-09-13T23:01:00.014-04:00

I've hit my normal summer modelling slow down. I haven't abandoned modelling completely, but have been slowly plugging away on a couple of Dragon 1/72 kits, and my build of Tamiya's 1/48 scale M4. I've decided Hurricane will be my main AMPS '09 build, getting most of my extra attention. I'll continue my normal 10 -15 kits at ones, but build the others mostly "out of the box."

I've got the two famous pictures of Hurricane, which are great, but they aren't the best resolution, and leave a lot for interpretation. While poring over my Sherman references I found an interesting picture in Michael Green's "M4 Sherman at War." There was a nice clear picture of an M4 taken from the left front corner. The remark under the photo mentioned said that it was a "staged shot," but it remarkably resembled Hurricane!

Hey, is that an H on the turret???...Hmmm...it's got a one piece transmission just like Hurricane...Hey those tracks are the same T51 rubber block Hurricane had...wait a second it's been water proofed for an amphibious assault.....look at those unit marking....2 delta 66 delta...Hurricane was 2nd Armored Division, 66th Armoured Regiment, wasn't it????.....What's that name on the side....Hawkeye!

While doing research for Huricane earlier this year I remember reading a comment on Missing-Lynx Allied forum that Hawkeye was a sister tank to Hurricane. However, I've never seen a picture of it. Now I've got this great shot of Hawkeye, and while it's not Hurricane it's reasonable to assume H Company would make their tanks the same and have similar stowage arrangements, etc. This picture also has made me decide to do Huuricane in amphibious configuration. Now I just need to build or buy some deep wadinf trunks!

Also a little blog house keeping has been done. A bunch of the braille scalers have gotten together and reserected Doug Chaltry's "On the Way" (including Doug). In the mean time Doug has put together another great braille scale site dedicated to 1/72 scale Shermans. It also looks like my wife took down her blog, so I've removed that link. She got quite the following on blogger, but got all blogged out with the pressure. She's now big into all things fiber (spinning it into yarn and has directed her web aspirations to something called Ravelry. So all the female followers ~~I had~~ Jo/Kiwijo had, will know where to find her!

As luck would have it.....

2008-05-17T10:51:00.004-04:00

I was searching the web for images of M4's, and I found my way to Toadman's Tank Pictures when I came across a review of Iron Division's Resin replacement hull (48006/48007) for the Tamiya 1/48 scale M4/M4A1. While I was going to use the Tamiya hull, the replacement hull also was sold with solid or three piece transmission cover. Toadman, aka Chris Hughes, gave the parts a thumbs up. He also had a review of Iron Division's low bustle late turret. However, it was solid cast, and the gun cover was wrong for Hurricane.

I was aware of Iron Division, as they produce so 1/72 scale Sherman conversions I've been meaning to buy, but haven't gotten around to it yet. So I went on over to Top Gun Military and while looking around noticed a new lower hull, 48017-Resin Lower Hull with Sharp Nosed Final Drive. What caught my eye was this version of the cover included cast stamps/serial numbers. The price was reasonable so I added it to my order. While I was there I did a little more shopping, and found a new product line, Xtra Detail Series. The series currently consists of four low bustle 75mm, in various configurations, an early/mid high bustle, and a 105mm mid production. The turrets are hollow cast with separate parts for copulas, hatches, periscopes, etc. Again the price was fairly reasonable so I added it to my order.

The hull parts have pretty good detail, much more detail than the Tamiya die cast part. The is a bit of casting flash and some minor bubbles, typical of resin cast parts, but nothing major.

The one piece transmission cover has a nice subtle cast texture, and you can see the casting symbol and serial number of the manufacturer.

The turret has lots of parts many optional depending on the version your doing. Over all it's a very nice part, but I'll have to do a little work with the cheek armor, as the undercut is a little indistinct, and it doesn't blend well enough into the turret at the rear, nothing major.

The turret also has a subtle texture. The casting numbers on the turret roof look pretty good, as does the weld bead around the ventilator. I'm not sure if the number are corret for the turret nuber though.

Overall, I'm fairly impressed with Iron divisions parts, and think I'll be getting a few of their 1/72 conversions.

and something a little different

2008-05-16T20:48:00.013-04:00

A friend in my local armor club gave me a Tamiya 1/48 scale M4 Sherman last year as a gift. I've been debating what to build since I was given it and decided it would be good blogging material. Sure it's technically not "braille scale," but it's my blog and I can do what I want!

I decided I would build an M4 called Hurricane, which was used in the allied landings at Normandy. Hurricane was in H company, 66th Armoured Regiment, 2nd Armored Division. There are a couple of well known pictures of Hurricane, and I can't decide whether I want to model it during D-Day with the wading stacks or after D-Day during the bocage busting days when Hurricane sported a two tone paint scheme.

Hurricane had some interesting features for an M4. It has a late model low bustle turret, without a pistol port, and loaders hatch, and with the thickened cheak armor incorperated into the right side of the turret. It also has open spoked wheels, which are included in the Tamiya kit, and a solid drive sprocket which is not. It also has a sharp nose transmission cover which is also not in the kit.

There are a couple of good articles on correcting Tamiya's 1/35 scale M4 kit, on Tim Streeter's US Army Models website. Since Tamiya's 1/48 scale kit is more or less a scaled down version of its bigger brother, the articles are extremely helpful. The turret in the Tamiya kit is an early production, low bustle turret. To make it a late model the pistol port must be filled on the left side of the turret, and the cheek armor needs to be thickened on the right side.

Steve Zaloga also covers this modification in his Osprey book, "Modelling the US Army M4 (75mm) Sherman Medium Tank." It's a great book, nd as usual I will ~~steal~~ borrow his research. So armed with all of this great information, I broke out the Evergreen plastic and Apoxie Sculpt, and went to work.

The gun shield in the kit is also incorrect for Hurricane, so you need to cut off the flange on the left, then cut the gun shield to widden it, and insert a plug to make up for the width of the flange you cut off.

While I was at it I cut off the molded on tools using my handy dandy JLC razor saw.

Back after another break

2008-05-16T20:26:00.004-04:00

The wife and I went to New Zealand for three weeks in March to vist family, and I just haven't had much time or inclination to model or blog. We had a blast while we were there, and I got to play photographer. Among the thousand of pictures taken were at the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow, so check back soon if you're into vintage aircraft, armor, etc., and I'll post a few pictures, and a link to my smugmug album.

Now on to the model blogging! First up are a few pictures of the T34/76 model 1942, alittle further along. I still have to do the weathering, add the figures and other details.

Next up are a few pictures of the Stug III, painted and decaled. Again it's wating on weathering, figures and decals.

Finally, there is Dragons M4A1 76mm. I've detailed the turret similar to the way I did with the M4A3, and tried to make the detail around the pistol port look better.

Ready for paint!

2008-02-01T15:28:00.000-05:00

I made a few changes since the last post. I pried off the drivers hatch so I could display a driver through the hatch, and replaced the turret vision slots with ones made of .01x.02" evergreen. Next I used the hand rail provided in the kit, and used a rail from a second T-34 kit for the other side of the hull. I also used the turret rails from the second kit on the engine deck. The engine screen is from an old Eduard set that I had in the parts box (it's not glued on yet). I used Mr. Surfacer 500 stippled on with a cheep brush to try and reproduce a rough cast texture on the tank.

I also used the external fuel tanks in the kit, and replaced the rear fenders with some aluminum from a beer can.

Here's the commander figure I'm going to use with the Stug. I just chopped up the arms on a Preiser figure, and stuck some binoculars in his hand. I still need to sculpt in some putty to fill in the arms.

Did I mention how much I like Dragon's Stug.III? Here's a shot of the pe screen they include, but you'll never see.

I'm bored, I'm broke and I'm back....

2008-01-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

OK I'm not broke, but I figure it's time to start blogging again. Next month my local IPMS club's
contest them is the Eastern Front. Participation in the monthly contest has been pretty bad the last few years (especially by me). So seeing as I'm an "officer" I should be setting a better example on the contest table. Since I've only got a month decide to build them largely out of the box. I've chosen two Dragon kits: T34/76 Mod. 1942(7266), and the Stug.III Ausf.G early production (7283).

T34/76 Mod. 1942(7266)

I couldn't resist a few tweeks. First the kit provided pe intake screen doesn't fit their own part. I'll be using an Eduard screen meant for the Cooperateva T-34. Next I added louvers to the big intake since you can see throught the screen. I also drilled out all of the lightening holes in the wheels (a fun evenings work!).

One last thing I modified on the T-34 kit was the rear transmission cover. I can't find a single picture of a T-34, where the transmission cover looks anything like the kit part provide (A15). So I carved the extra little housing away from the part A15, and the lower hull sides. I tride Jolyon's trick with the tracks (thank's Jolyon!), and it works pretty well. There was no cupping were the tracks go around the return or diver rollers. I still have a little more filling and sanding to do, before painting, and I need to find some suitable junkt to pile on it, along with a few Preiser figures. All in all a nice little kit, but lots of little fiddling to get it to go together right.

Stug.III Ausf.G early production (7283)
Boy do I like this kit! Unlike the T-34 this thing almost falls together (but not quite). Dragon really out did themselves on this one. I hope it's a sign of better things from them. Even the DS tracks are pretty good. I really like their Sherman's, but if only Dragon put the same king of effort into their allied stuff.....the Stug.III is just great. That being said, there are a few problems. Dragon has you put the wrong part on the wrong side of the hull in a few instances: grenade launchers(B7/8), rear tow pintles (A12/13), and the antenna mounts (B1/2 not A1/2!), but otherwise very nice. The only real trick is that the entire upper hull is made up of separate parts (fenders, front hull, main hull, engine deck), but they all go together very well. Care must be take because the front hull and fenders bend down slightly along the lower hull, so I just carefully bent the front third of the fenders down slightly. This is how the actual vehicles fender are, so why dragon didn't mold them that way, or tell you to do it is a mystery to me.

Happy Birthday Sweetiie!

2007-04-22T20:51:00.000-04:00

Not a modeling post, but today was my dear wife's birthday...Happy Birthday sweetie! I took her and the dogs for a picnic at the Arboretum. No modeling was done in the post AMPS buzz. The weather was perfect, even if the dogs were a little misbehaved, and I think my wife had a great day. I even managed to bake her favorite jelly sponge, thanks to her mom's recipe, and pulled of at least a semi passable imitation of the desert. It ain't her moms, but it did in a pinch!

Happy Birthday Kiwigirl!

AMPS Report

2007-04-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

I managed to make it up to Havre de Grace on Saturday for the AMPS show. I was going to try and finish the M4A3 and T-34/76 kits so I could enter them in the competition , but remembered my Tiger debacle from a few years ago (I melted my Tiger chassis under a light bulb trying to speed the paint drying process). So I decided to just take the M10, and enter it. I had to do a quick super glue job for a turret figure that had become dislodged, and it was off to the contest table. I was hoping to get another silver, but was pleasantly surprised later that night to be awarded a Gold! Unfortunately, it's probably the last Medal I'll get at AMPS, as now I have to compete as an "Advanced" modeler.

I was also really looking forward to two events on Saturday. First there was a behind the scenes tour of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Museum at 10AM, then at 2:30 there was the Missing Lynx Braille scale get together. So right after I registered my model I did a quick walk through of the contest room and vendor room, then off to the Museum. The Museum tour was great, I took hundreds of photos. After the tour my buddy and I went for some lunch (12:20PM), I looked at a copy of the schedule and found out that the Braille Scale meeting was moved to 11AM! Duh! I was quite bummed, even ended up missing Steve Zaloga's talk. So we headed back to Havre de Grace for a retail therapy.

It was a rather intense therapy session, don't tell the wife! I managed to find copies of the Nuts & Bolts series Marder III books [Sd.Kfz. 138 & 139] for a somewhat reasonable price. I also found the three Kiwi Armour series books I was looking for when I was in New Zealand, who would have thought. I also managed to spend a few dollars at the Tiger Productions tables, picking up all manner of diorama accessories. Lastly I managed to spend a few dollars at the Archer tables, picking up many of their Allied dry transfers. All in all quite the hall. My wife and I head to New Hampshire next weekend for a stitching show. I guess I'll have to encourage her to do a little retail therapy so I don't feel so bad wiping out the checking account by myself!

To make matters worse the announced that they were doing the best of judging right in the middle of my shopping spree, err therapy, so I didn't get to make it to the contest room for my normal picture session. Hopefully one of the other "Braille Scalers" shot lots of pictures, because quite a few models were back at the judging table when I did my only walk through.

The rumors of my demise were greatly exagerated

2007-04-16T18:36:00.001-04:00

OK, it's been a little while since I've posted anything to my sadly neglected blog. Proof I'm still alive and building. Admittedly at a snails pace, but I'm still plugging away. I've been dabbling a little bit with Mig Pigments. So far I'm pretty impressed with the results. They're much easier to use than your average pastels.

Here is RPM's FT-17, possibly the most over engineered kit I've ever built. The amount of detail is incredible, but so is the number of parts.

and here is Aces' M3 Panhard armored car. Overall a nice little kit, not bad for a limited run kit. One of aces best.

I also tried pigments on Dragons T-34/76 L11. They really rescued the model. I wasn't at all happy with the pastel job I did on it.

Here is UM's BT-5. I really like this kit, it builds up fairly easily, and has pretty good detail. However, I'm adding Part Photo Etch details and tracks.

Lastly I'm working on Dragons AAVP7A1 with external Armor. Dragon first released this amphibious beast with a diecast metal hull. Thankfully they've followed up with
an all plastic version. I obliterated most of the side detail filling seams, but this will all be covered by the bolt on armor.

A little progress

2006-09-18T22:59:00.001-04:00

Here are a couple of shots of my current progress on the M4A3. Originally I was going to do Cool Studs #4, but I discovered that you can't build it out of the box with DML's parts. So, I've decided to just build an M4A3 from lat 1944, "bulge" vintage. I used the Zaloga method and tried to vary the monotone od paint job normally worn on US Shermans, using several shades of a mixture of Tamiya OD and Dark Yellow. The lower hull got a coat of Tamiya JSDF Brown. Then gave the model a coat of Tamiya clear with a drop or two of Dark Yellow. I then gave the tracks a coat of Vallejo Dark Grey, painted the base of the gun barrell Tamiya Flat Silver, and then put some stars decals on using some suerscale decals I had laying around. Finally the model got another coat of Tamiya clear with a little Dark Yellow. Next up filters and pin washes!

DML M4A3 Sherman

2006-08-26T23:00:00.001-04:00

I've been delinquent again with the blog. As usual there are other things occupying my time. Fortunately I have been able to squeeze in a little model building.

Here are a couple of pictures of my latest project, DML's M4A3 VVSS (76). It's a beautiful kit, and a pleasure to build. I’m building it as “Cool Suds”, an M4A3 operated by the 761st Tank Battalion in Europe. I'm trying to build it out of the box. However, I might add a few after market stowage items. I also corrected the VVSS units. I read on the braille scale message board about the problem, after Al Boone the resident Shermanaholic pointed out a few correctable problems with DML's new M4A1 Normandy kit. The fixed portion of the VVSS units are just a little to short, showing too much of the roller arms. I glued a piece of evergreen on, added a few bolts, and the problem was fixed.

I did add a little cast texture to the turret and transmission housing using Mr. Surfacer 1000, and I’ve hollowed out the headlights for some MV lenses. I haven’t added the photo-etch yet, but that comes in the box.

The figures are done....

2006-07-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

...almost. I still have a little touch up painting to do, and I need to give a few more light coats of Dullcoat.

The figures are from CP-Models,from their TQD line, TQD018 Heer 1936-43 marching summer infantry. I broke the barrel off one of the machine guns, and have to fabricate a new one. The figures are painted with Vallejo Acrylics, with highlights and shadows. Then I used some diluted Gamesworkshop Black and Brown inks.

Ok...It's been a while

2006-06-05T22:13:00.000-04:00

I just haven't had the time or the inclination to blog lately (four months)! Well I have taken a little time to devote to modeling...but not much!

I felt my T-34 was looking far too dark, so I lightened it with successively lighter mixes of Tamiya German Grey and Buff. Once I got it good and light I started on the weathering. One of the member of WAC mentioned a weathering technique were you mix pastel powder in water and paint it on. Once it's dry you brush the excess off, leaving the dust settled in the cracks. I decided to give it a try...I used some weathering powders that I got at a train shop. I really wish I had taken a picture after the pastel dried, because I thought I ruined the model. It looked terrible. Worst yet the powders stuck like glue and wouldn't brush off. I pulled out tooth brush, and still it wouldn't budge. Finally I resorted to a little water on the tooth brush, and viola, the powder started to come off. Overall it looks pretty good. I still have a little more work to do, but I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Let the painting begin.

2006-02-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

I was able to get a little painting done today. This is just the base coat. I gave the tank an overall coat of straight Tamiya Field Grey XF65, then sprayed JSDF Brown on the lower half of the tank. Finally I finished off with a light coat of Buff XF57. I'm basically copying Steve Zaloga's BT-7A paint job from his Barbarosa 1941 diorama. I'm following his article in Military Modelling Vol 35, No 13 like it was a recipe.

Early Birthday present

2006-02-25T11:57:00.000-05:00

The other weeks CP-Models was kind enough to sponsor a contest on the Missing-lynx Braille Scale discussion group. I was lucky enough to win the contest and got to choose 2 sets of figures from their 1/72 scale line. The figures are beautifully sculpted by Tony Boustead [I think Tony did both sets] and have incredible detail. I plan to use the Summer marching infantry with the T-34, so stay tuned for more details.

TQDo12 Med. theatre FJ jäger marching half squad inc. MG34

TQD017 Heer 1936-43 marching summer infantry w MG34

The tracks

2006-02-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously, I'm using the tracks from the model 1941 kit. They are made of Dragon's DS glueable styrene. I'm using Tamiya extra thin cement to glue the tracks. They are a tight fit on the tank, resulting in slightly bowed tracks around the return and drive rollers. I tried stretching them, but you have to be careful because they do not stretch evenly. Still you can get the tracks to settle down nicely on the wheels.

Here I'm using toothpicks to increase the amount of sag between the road wheels. It just takes a small application of glue where the tracks meet the wheels, and the sag remains.

Ready for paint!

2006-02-20T19:53:00.000-05:00

Ok I think I've got everything done assembly wise. I've added the lift hooks to the turret; I used .02 x .04 evergreen strip to make them. I also added a little subtle [hopefully] texture to the weld beads. I just hit them with a little liquid cement, then added texture to the softened plastic using a tiny screw driver. I also noticed that I had somehow broken off the optical sight from the turret roof. Not to worry though, as the model 1941 kit I borrowed the tracks from also donated the optical sight...and as an added bonus the sight has the cover removed. Next comes the painting.

Dragon T-34 Model 1940

2006-02-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

I've decided to just go a head and build this model "out of the box." Well at least as out of the box as I can stand to build it. I haven't seen too many people actually build this kit, but I've seen a lot of posts as to it's fit and finish. Over all I'm very happy with the kit. While it's far from perfect, there is a real "diamond in the rough" here. There is a lot of detail, some of it simplified or slightly out of scale, but the detail is there.

I've attached nearly all of the kit parts prior to starting painting. The only thing I left off is the bow machine gun, and head lights, both would likely be broken off during painting. I've drilled out the the lightening holes in the return rollers, and drive rollers.

Dragon made a minor mistake on the spare fuel cells on the side of the tank. All four fuel cells are molded identically, rather than making two sets of mirror imaged fuel cells. You can tell buy the straps that would attach the fuel cells to the side of the tank. Dragon would have you put right side on upside down, but that makes the straps look wrong to my eye. Anyway, I didn't catch it till too late, and ended up installing the right side straps too far forward. I doubt anyone will really notice anyway, but I would have prefered to sand the the straps off and put more delicate ones.

Here you can see I had to add rivet detail to the back of the turret. The detail was originally there, but I sanded it off trying to get a better fit to the rear turret armor plate. I also added small pieces of evergreen styrene (.02 x .04) to fill in a gap by the rear fenders and upper hull glacis. I used the glacis from the T-34 model 1941 rather than scribing the engine acess hatch into the glacis from the one included in the kit. Sure it was easy to scribe the hatch myself, but I was going to steal the DS tracks from the model 1941 kit anyway. I was planning on ordering some ACE or OKB photo etch tracks, butit turns out that it's a lot cheeper to buy another T-34 model 1941! I tried going the Dragon cares route, they care, they just sent me another set of theblack vinyl tracks to replace the twisted unuseable ones included in the kit. I'll jut use them on the UM T-34 1940 L-11 cast turret.

Here you can see the weld bead detail that I added to the turret. The real welded turret of a T-34 model 1940 has a nice neat raised weld bead visible where the side plates are welded to the front armor plate. Dragon has molded the turret accurately, but doesn't give you the weld bead. Dragon also includes a nice tow cable. The included metal cable just needs to be twisted a little tighter between you fingers to give it a good look.

I also added the two louvers, made from some evergreen strip, to the engine intake. You need something there, otherwise you'll be looking into a big hole if you use the photoetched screen.

...and speaking of that screen, here is proof that it actually fits. I'm not sure how Dragon wants you to install it. They've molded a nice lip on the underside of the plastic part which the screen fits into nicely. Unfortunately, it looks terrible that way because Dragon included a raised lip on the top of the plastic part, making the screen look too recessed. On the other hand, if you install the screen on to of the plastic part you still have to deal with the raised lip molded on the top of the kit part. My solution was relatively simple. Sand off the raised lip on the top of the plastic part, and trim the lip off the underside of the plastic part. Viola the screen fits perfectly!

Sorry again
It's been a while since I posted anything, but I don't have any excuses. I just haven't felt like blogging lately. I haven't done much work on Tiger 100, but the books that I ordered from Avia Press have finally arrived. I've been pouring over the photos, and have found a few things that I have to change, but more on that later.

I've also been working on a few aircraft for this years IPMS DC contests. We're only doing 4 contests again this year. So hopefully I can finish a few things. In the mean time I've been accumulating quite a few kits lately (don't tell the wife I promised her I would keep buying without a little purging also), and decided that I should post some in box previews.

So.....First up is Dragons T-34/76 model 1940. It's a pretty nice kit, but has a few flaws. The box has a nice painting of the T-34 in combat. What's in the box builds into T-34 model 1940 produced by Factory 183, during the winter of 1940-41, at least according to what I can tell using Model Fan Encyclopedia No5 "T-34 Stalin's War-Horse." What makes it a model 1940? As near as I can tell an early style welded turret, L-11 gun, a single large hatch, with commanders sight, riveted hull bow, lateral box type fuel cells, early engine deck, rectangular engine hatch (missing), solid rubber rimmed road wheels, and 1940 plate type tracks.

The lower hull looks pretty good, but the front armor looks a little wavy. Nothing a little Mr Surfacer 500 won't fix though.

Next the upper hull, also nicely molded. The front fenders have reinforcing straps, which according to my references, will have to go.

The next tree has the turret and upper hull details. Nice detail, and a minimum of flash. The made a pretty big goof by not scribing the engine access panel into the back glaciss. The funny thing is the remembered the hinges for the access door!

Then comes the turret details. The turret hatch is huge you'll easily be able to see into the turret if you leave it open. Fortunately Dragon has included the gun breach and a seat, but more detail will have to be added.

The wheels use Dragon's new "slide mold" technology that is suppose to allow for greater detail, and ease assembly. It works good for early T-34, there aren't so many holes that have to be drilled out, but it will be a major headache on their T-34/76 model 1942 with all those holes in the main wheels.

The tracks are my least favorite part of the kit. They are nicely detailed soft vinyl, but extremely wavy along their length..to the point that they are unusable. I haven't decided yet whether to steal the "DS" tracks from the T-34 model 1941, or get some of the new OKB photo-etch initial production tracks.

Dragon also provides the option of using a photo-etch intake screens, and metal cables. I've heard that the screen doesn't fit, which would be a shame, but it might only be a problem on their T-34 model 1942 kits.

Finally you get a very nice decal sheet. I think it's of dubious value for this kit, since I have yet to find a picture of a T-34 model 1940 with any marking on it, but will be useful with later model T-34's.

That's it, but there will be many more to follow.

I told you I've been busy buying.

2006-01-21T15:45:00.001-05:00

Dragon has been pretty prolific, pumping out one kit after another. So next up is another Dragon kit; this time the Jagdpanzer IV L/70. It's one of many kits based on the Panzer IV chassis. Hasegawa released several Jagdpanzer IV's the last few years. Dragon's are far more complex.

The lower hull is nicely molded, with the exception of some annoying holes that will need to be filled.

Tools that aren't molded to the fenders! Now that's something I like to see.

The running gear is highly detailed, with lots of parts.

Dragon includes spoked and solid road wheels, just like on the reel tank. The road wheels are molded using Dragon's slide mold technology, saving the builder from having to glue the road wheels together. The faces of the spoked wheels are separate pieces, which makes painting the rubber rims much easier.

The tracks are Dragon's DS styrere, which are glueable and paintable. Detail is pretty good, but I might replace them with some link and length tracks from Revell's Panzer IV.

A nice surprise is the turned metal barrel. I hope Dragon has these in more kits.

Decals are by Cartograph. There are markings for 5 Jagdpanzer IV's

Next up is the Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D

2006-01-21T15:23:00.001-05:00

Dragon follows their Ausf.C with an Ausf.D

While the lower hull looks the same, it's a completely new piece.

The upper hull is also new, it shares a few interior pieces with the Ausf.D

The running gear is also the same.

The tracks are identical, here is a view of the inner side of the tracks.

Dragon has included a piece of wire for the antenna, along with the same photo-etch gun shield.

Markings are included for 11 different Ausf.D's.

Dragon Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. C

2006-01-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

The next kit in my buying spree is the Sd.Kfz.251 C. I've already got a couple of Hasegawa 251's, but I must say that the Dragon kits look superior. Fortunately the Hasegawa 251's are different marks, and they aren't bad either. It's just Dragon's look nicer. Hopefully they will fit as well as they look.

The lower hull is nicely molded, with good surface detail.

The upper hull is also nicely done with lots of interior detail.

The suspension and running gear look great. This time Dragon used their slide mold technology in an intelligent way, making assembly of the running gear much easier, without sacrificing detail.

The tracks are made of Dragons glueable DS styrene. The detail is pretty good, and finally they are nice and straight.

A small photo-etch fret is included with a gun shield

Two good sized decal sheets come with the kit, and provides markings for 7 different 251's, and enough numbers to customize the markings even further. Those license plates are going to be fun.

...and then there was three

2006-01-20T14:23:00.002-05:00

The Dragon T-34/76 model 1942 is the next in box preview of the day. There are a lot of new parts that make it different from the first 2 releases of the T-34/76. This builds into a T-34 model 1942, built at Factory 183 in the winter - spring of 1942. Although, I think all you have to do is sand off the rivets on the front top and bottom of the hull parts to make a summer 1942 T-34.

The lower hull looks to be unchanged.

Here's were the changes begin. The upper hull is completely new

The early style hexagonal turret is also new. It comes with two turret roofs, but the only difference being the location of the periscope on the roof.

The gun and manlet are all new.

The wheels are a mixed blessing. The good part is there are finally two new style road wheels. The bas news Dragon decided to use their slide mold technology so you don't have to glue wheels haves together. Unfortunately you'll need to drill out 10 holes in each steel rimmed road wheel, and 12 holes in the rubber rimmed ones! It would have been much easier to glue them together.

Tracks are all new, and in the glueable DS styrene. They are reasonably straight, and the detail looks pretty good. I wish they would go link and length though (like in their Elephant kit).

They give you an extra length of cable, and the photo-etch screen, which I've heard still doesn't fit

and finally another nice decal sheet with marking for 6 different tanks.

All in all another nice kit. This is the last Dragon T-34 [for now] I havent gotten their T-34/85 yet.

Next Up in the in box preview parade....

2006-01-20T13:39:00.001-05:00

...is the Dragon T-34/76 model 1941. Dragon tweaked their models a bit corrected a few mistakes that were in the model 1940 issue, and added new "DS" styrene tracks (there glueable). This builds up to a T-34 model 1942 built at Plant 183 in the spring of 1941.

The lower hull looks to be the same as the model 1940.

The upper hull looks the same also.

They corrected the engine panel that was missing on the model 1940.

The turret hatch and gun details are new, and reflect the changes for a model 1941.

The wheels are the same also.

The new "DS" tracks are a big improvement over the ones in the model 1940. They have a little sharper detail, and aren't as wavy (they aren't exactly straight either).

The same cable material and photo-etch are included. Though I still don't know if it fits.

Another nice decal sheet, this one is more useful. I understand they relied on the old Squadron "T-34 in Action" book, and some of the marking might not be accurate for this mark. I'll have to dig it out of my library and see.

Jadar delivers

2005-10-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

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.

Sorry it's been a while!

2005-09-28T10:45:00.000-04:00

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.

Details, details...

2005-09-05T23:05:00.001-04:00

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.

Is any body still there?

2005-08-18T21:03:00.000-04:00

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.

Reference Material Part 1

2005-07-10T18:23:00.001-04:00

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.

New Blog

2005-07-06T22:57:00.000-04:00

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.

Done!

2005-06-29T20:07:00.000-04:00

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.

Proof of life

2005-06-13T21:53:00.000-04:00

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!

It's been a while

2005-05-31T22:19:00.000-04:00

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!

Painting the base

2005-05-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

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.

Adventures in Plexiglas

2005-05-03T21:27:00.000-04:00

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

Post AMPS

2005-04-22T08:43:00.000-04:00

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.

Happy Dance

2005-04-14T22:23:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-04-14T20:46:00.002-04:00

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!

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

2005-04-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

...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.

On the Road

2005-03-31T22:38:00.000-05:00

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.

Photobucket

2005-03-20T18:29:00.000-05:00

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

On to the base...

2005-03-20T18:21:00.000-05:00

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.

Moving along...

2005-03-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

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!

It's weather time

2005-03-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

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.

Slowly coming along....

2005-02-28T22:21:00.002-05:00

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).

Let the painting begin!

2005-02-23T20:02:00.000-05:00

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.

On to the figures

2005-02-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

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.

Ready for paint!

2005-02-09T21:06:00.002-05:00

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.

Home stretch!

2005-02-02T22:39:00.001-05:00

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!

Just a quick update

2005-02-01T22:54:00.001-05:00

Well I'm in the homestretch now. I used Apoxie Sculpt to make some sandbags to pile upon the front glacis. Hopefully, they'll turn out fine once they've been painted and weathered. I'm going to let it sit overnight before deciding to add more on. There's still a lot of "stuff" to pile on the M10, but the end is finally in sight.

One more Picture and reference book

2005-01-30T21:58:00.001-05:00

Another weekend, and not much progrees. Well that's not really true, but you can't see too much of the work I've done from the picture! But first about the book, "U.S. Tank Destroyers in Combat 1941-1945." I forgot all about the book, but fortunately discovered it while browsing through my library. The M-10 on the cover is providing inspiration for my M10. The picture is of a late M10 with the duckbilled counter-weights, but it has a Cullen hedgerow cutter, and sandbag arrangement that is interesting.

I added are the missing fire extinguisher box on the engine deck. I put two coats of cast-a-coat on the gun mantlet, transmission, and counter-weights. I also "borrowed" an idea from Steve Zaloga, and used my Dremel Mini-mite to add two holes to the end of each track end connector, and a groove in all the guide horns.

The joy of photo-etch

2005-01-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

I've gotten a fair amount done the last two days! I used some stretched sprue to replace the tie-downs I sanded off when fixing the warped turret. Most of this detail will be buried under tarps and bags of course, but I'll know that it's their. Gluing on the PE went better than I thought it would, although it took forever.

D@1#mn headlights

2005-01-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

I spent most of my weekend working on the headlights and siren that are glued to the front glacis. I started with the kit parts, and hollowed the lens out of the headlights, using a burr in my Dremel Minimite, while the parts were still on the sprue. I clipped the first light off, and lost the tiny part when it popped out of the tweezers I was using to hold it with. This happens to me far too often, and after several fruitless minutes crawling on the floor with a flashlight, I decided it was time to scratch build the headlight. Well I had to do both so they would match, and naturally lost several of the scratch built headlights, progressively improving the part. I think I ended up loosing three headlights. Not to be out done, I also scratch built the siren. Technically I built four of them, I lost three.

The Future

2005-01-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

I've been putting some thought into what to do with my blog, once the M-10 is finished. Well I guess I can find something to blog about. Anybody know where I can get a copy of Hunnicutt's Sherman at a reasonable price? ;-)

Tool time!

2005-01-21T20:08:00.000-05:00

I have got as much done as I hoped this week, but I've had a chest cold, and haven't felt like modeling too much. I did manage to work on the tools. Out of the box they're a little "chunky," but nothing a little time with a pin vise and #11 blade won't take care of. I still need to add the headlights, taillights, light guards, and various other bits and pieces before it's ready to paint.

Just a little peak before I put the lid on.

2005-01-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

I didn't do too much painting to the interior since most of it will be hidden. I did try my hand at making some decals with my Alps printer. I made some placards, more to test out the possibilities than anything else. You can see a couple of them next to the divers station, and another on the rear bulkhead. I also labeled the periscope boxes that are on top of the gearbox, again, just to test out what I could do for future projects.

Tiny progress.

2005-01-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

Sorry for another blurry picture! I didn't get as much done as I hoped this weekend. I did scratch together some evergreen strip and rod to make a new artillery sight, and added turret and mantlet lift rings. I also added the cover for the gunners sight, along with the lip below the opening. I was toying with the idea of adding cast numbers to the mantlet, but that would probably be over-kill!

Slowly coming along

2005-01-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

I was able to put a few more hours into the M10 this weekend. The gun barrel is just inserted into the manlet for the moment. I glued on all the bolts to the spacers, and put on some more of the PE parts. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more work done on it this week.

A little more work to the turret

2005-01-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the poor quality of some of the pictures, but this thing is tiny! I've supplemented the kit supplied turret parts with bits of evergreen plastic. It's not quite finished yet, but it's almost there. I'm spending so much time on the interior, because I plan to have the tank parked on a village street with the crew at rest. So an open empty turret wouldn't look very interesting. I've added a few more storage boxes, scratch built the ready ammo racks and ammo box, added some more bolts to the inside of the turret for the counter weights, and built the mount for the artillery sight.

Back to work

2004-12-29T11:54:00.000-05:00

I wasn't able to devote too much time to the M-10 over the past few weeks, but with the Holidays mostly over I plan to get back to some modeling. One of the things I've been playing with is Apoxie Sculpt. They make a fine grained epoxie putty, that was mentioned by Steve Zaloga, in "Modeling US Tank Destoyers." I saw it in the vender room at the AMPS show last year, but the vender sold out of it before I had a chance to buy any. This stuff is great, and it's cheeper than miliput. It rolls out nicely, with a little talcum powder, so my M-10 will be festooned with tarps and baggage. Well just as soon as I've had a little more practice, right now all my tarps look too neat, and very unlike typical WW2 military storage.

Well that's all for now, more soon to follow

Baby Steps

2004-12-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

I was able to do a little more work today. I glued 36 plastic lugs to the hull and turret (There will be 40 once I glue the grouser racks to the hull). Now I just have to use some Mr. Surfacer to create weld beads, and glue a small spacer, washer and bolt to each one. I hate AMS.