Small Derby update

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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).