I wouldn’t worry if I were you. This is my first Mustang in over 20 years and I’m going straight out of the box. Plus I don’t think I’m as good as others may think.
Maybe when I get to the last plane on the decal sheet though.
PM, nice progress on your M4 so far. I always enjoy watching those take shape.
SS, Gabby’s Jug is an excellent choice. I has such a unique look with its one of a kind camo pattern and invasion stripes. And fortunately it was fairly well photographed as well.
68, you’re making great progress as well on your Mustang. Almost ready for paint!
Looking good, Ed!
Stik: That’s why I chose it over Kepner’s Aircraft. I actually like Kokomo a bit more, but There is no photo of it with full stripes and I don’t really want to build a what-if aircraft for a GB tied to a historical event. Do you know of any good company that makes decals for this bird? I just had a (brief) look at Hannants and I wasn’t able to find a set…
I used the decals off of the Testors 1/48 P-47 kit for mine. I gave that kit to my kids to build, I just wanted Gabby’s decals. I used them on the Monogram “hi Tec” P-47D release. IIRC, Academy also does a kit of that Jug with some top quality Cartograf decals, not their standard mediocre ones. That P-47 kit has a good reputation from what I have read. I am pretty sure at one point that both Aeromaster and Superscale did decals for his mount, but I do not know of any current sheets out now.
Looks like some good things coming down the road. I’ve really got to finish my tank soon enough that I can build a US DD to shoot at Stik’s Eboat. (Kind of looking forward to it. I build a plane-tank-ship cycle when possible and in three years of modelling I’ve never built a modern ship kit that could be described as “state of the art.” The DML USN and KM DDs are supposed to fit the bill. But there will be heart attacks - always are with ships.)
Speaking of the Cromwell, the thing has built itself. There’s a Comet “Walk Around” online and it’s pretty clear that the Brit armor was pretty clean but still textured. Tamiya did a good job emulating it, but it’s so fine that it won’t survive painting and weathering - so I overemphasized it with glue/putty. Had time to let it cure so I used Vallejo’s primer which I like a lot (or maybe I should say that I really dislike using lacquer paints like Tamiya Surface Primer.)
I look at modelling as a work in progress which means I look for different things to try as often as possible. (Probably means I’ll never get good at anything.) A fine modeller I know says that addicts are made up of people that when kids liked either erector sets or finger painting. I’m a finger painter. (Not alone - Mig Jimenez has written he doesn’t really like to build kits - probably not seriously. Mike Rinaldi gives a mega weather to a Firefly beautifully constructed by someone else in Vol 2 of Tank Art.) This build I’m looking at webbing and foliage, two embellishments I’ve never tried. I’ve got a good recipie for “Hessian Tape” and it calls for aftermarket webbing instead of bandage, so I got some from Verlinden. I’ve been looking at various artificial trees etc used by railroaders but they all look artificial. So I blew $30 on dried arctic sage. It looks real because it is. It will take some serious futzing to fill it out and make it look like something a crew would have stuck on a tank. I’m hoping this will work okay because I’ve got a lot of late war armor and foliage was widely used by everybody, especially the Germans. We’ll see.
I’m going with the Tamiya tracks. (It’s either that or halt the project for at least two weeks while a Hobby Boss flew in from Hong Kong.) The first three tanks I built were ancient Tamiyas and the rubber bands were perfectly sturdy if not very detailed. But I’d guess they were made out of different material. The set with the Cromwell have adequate detail, are very flexibile, can be glued with plastic cement (instead of melted) and the holes fit. The fenders and mud flaps pictured above are on with white glue and I’ll take them off if the tracks work out okay. If not, we’ll put them on and hide as many sins as possible. I’m going to leave the Normandy cowling on the rear - many Brits believed it helped the exhaust somehow and left them on throughout the war and it looks neat. Now how I’m going to get a decal star to fit on top of the turret, I’m not sure.
More later.
Eric
Looking good Eric.
Wow, great work all around guys!!!
Eric: Looks great, the Cromwell is a gem of a kit. Frankly if you go with the Tamiya tracks and they do snap in the future shouldn’t be too hard to replace them.
On my turret star I applied copious amounts of decal solvent, sliced and diced where it could help, then went back and touched up with white paint before weathering. There is just too much contouring and very prominent raised detail where that decal goes.
If your looking for a destroyer to fight off my Scnellboot, one of Dragons Benson/Gleaves class will fit the bill nicely, although they were on the opposite flank near Cherbourg. For a RN destroyer I think Trumpter recently issued some Tribal class kits. Or you could go big and get HMS Warspite, which engaged Hoffman’s attack. Another David & Goliath encounter at sea.
Oh btw I did the same as SP on the turret star, soaked that sucka in decal setting solution and cut it where it wanted to wrinkle- seemed to work ok.
Looks awesome, Gamera. [t$t]
Hey thanks Bitbite. I posted it here but it was years ago.
I’ve got the DML 1945 “Tokyo Bay” Buchanan - a Gleaves class as were most of the DDs at Normandy. Rick Davis, DD guru on Model Warship, says that the fittings of that kit (things are never simple with ships) make it a good match for Forrest, Corry or Hobson. Hobson was at Utah (picked up Cory’s survivors) and did some proper shelling and then again at Cherbourg. (So that means it missed the E-boat festivities by a day or two, but there in spirit.) It also sunk a U-boat as part of a Hunter Killer Group. That gets the nod for now I think.
Think I’ll try the “Pledge bath” technique (recommended by FS Editor Aaron Skinner) for tricky decals. I used on my last kit - a JU-52 with very irregular surface and it worked pretty well. Obviously this is a place for a stencil - but I’m not putting the project on hold.
Eric
Eric: Nice work so far!
Cliff: That Cromwell of yours Looks awesome!
Clemons: Hey thanks! Old model though, hope I learned a little since then.
Eric: Sounds cool, it’s been a learning experience watching SP build the E-boat, I’d love to see another ship here, it’s one thing I really need more practice with.
I have been wanting to build an Omaha destroyer for many years now
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/131444.aspx
But EB, you planted the bug in my head about something to shoot at my Schnellboot. Yesterday I started researching that a bit and this kit will fit the bill nicely I think…
BTW, here is now my turret roof star turned out with the techniques that I mentioned on my Cromwell a few years back… I still love this kit! Probably one of THE BEST 1/35 armor kits out there.
Here’s the first progress pics of the Panther which was started on Thurs. This is the kit I am doing, its the first time I have done one already Zimmed, I usually add my own. I am not sure how I will add the tool brackets so they are in the zimm rather than sat on top of it.
It comes with a metal barrel and DS tracks, and while I am not that keen on those, they are nicely detailed so I am going to use them. So I only have an Aber PE set which I don’t think I will be using much of.
So far, the turret and lower hull are complete as far as I go before painting.
So next up it will be the upper hull before I bring the two together.
Moving along quickly there Bish. Nice!
Thanks Stik, ye, there not that much on these two parts. I decided to get these out of the way and then tackle the upper hull. Of course, there’s still the running gear to add, but I do those after painting.
Aside from the suspension there, nothing there looks too complicated. But once those roadwheels start going in place…[^o)]
I have been nickle and diming progress on my Schnellboot over the past few days: first I painted the bare wood portions of the deck
then I did the painted metal portions
and the weapons and other fittings such as the life rafts
and not to be forgotten, the props and shafts
then the upper and lower hulls placed together for a couple photos
and posed with my Revell 1/350 Type VIIC U-Boat for size comparison
I still need to add the aft railings, do touch up on the hull white, and then glue the upper and lower hulls together, gloss coat, decals, wash, and flat top coat. But the finish line is in sight. I have one aft railing in place, glue drying right now…
Bish: You are moving along extremely fast there, mate! I love the Panther (almost as much as the King Tiger), so I’ll be following your build with great interest. I have Dragon’s Ausf.D and F (with the experimental turret) in my stash and they are both right on top of my armor build list [:D]
Stik: That’s an impressive amount of details for such a small boat. Very impressive!