International Scale Modeller

Okay so i'm in guys....
I have toyed with various ideas and kits for this but have finally settled on my original plan.
This will be a little diorama 1/76 scale, to include Airfix's New tool "King" Tiger Ausf "B" and a cheap and nasty Fujimi M3A1 Halftrack and Willy's Jeep.
I am still to purchase a squad of figures but got plenty of time to fine tune this build...
My plan is to have a little confrontation down the lanes towards Caen and will include some hedgerows, a farm building and a small road with a surprise just around the corner...

My ideas have come about after reading various campaigns based on the attempt to capture Caen over the first few weeks of June/July 1944..
Many attempts were made by the British forces to capture the town and try as they might the Germans fought hard and well..
Here are some links to various Wiki pages and History pages detailing these missions..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Caen

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/WWI ... f-Caen.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Goodwood

I was going to copy pages of info into my post but thought you guys would sooner check out the linked pages as opposed to scrolling down sheets of repeated facts and specs..
I will post up some info, just not it all..

The Battle for Caen from June–August 1944 was a battle between Allied forces of the mainly Anglo-Canadian Second Army and German forces of Panzergruppe West during the Battle of Normandy. The Allies aimed to take the French city of Caen, one of the largest cities in Normandy, on D-Day. Caen was a vital objective for several reasons. Firstly, it lay astride the Orne River and Caen Canal; these two water obstacles could strengthen a German defensive position if not crossed. Secondly, Caen was a road hub; in German hands it would enable the enemy to shift forces rapidly. Thirdly, the area around Caen was relatively open, especially compared to the bocage country in the west of Normandy. This area was valued for airfield construction.

On D-Day, Caen was an objective for the British 3rd Infantry Division and remained the focal point for a series of battles throughout June, July and into August. The battle did not go as planned for the Allies, instead dragging on for two months, because German forces devoted most of their reserves to holding Caen, particularly their armoured reserves. As a result German forces facing the American invasion thrust further west were spread thin, relying on the rough terrain of the back country to slow down the American advance. With so many German divisions held up defending Caen, the American forces were eventually able to break through to the south and east, threatening to encircle the German forces in Normandy from behind.

Various Operations took place to secure the town, Ending with Operation Goodwood.
Operation Jupiter in early July saw two Heavy Tiger tank Battalions involved in the conflict, mostly from the 10th SS Panzer Division..

I am going to involve one of the Tigers in this Dio, and have my Ambush involve the M3A1/M5A1 as it will be most probably and some British troops making their way towards the Village clearing Axis forces on route..
If I end up using US troops then the Halftrack will stay as an M3A1.. The reason I say this is because some reviews point out that the Fujimi Halftrack is actually a lend-lease version used by the British....
I am no rivet counter, nor a Historian so will let the availability of the 1/76 figures decide the version..

My inspiration for this build is based on a few images I came across while reading up on D-Day a short while back...

The Tiger in Normandy...
















The M3A1 inspiration.....











...and lastly the diorama itself.....









Okay I will stop for now....
Next time I will show you guys what I have been up too this last week...
Thanks for dropping by, more soon...
Happy Modelling..

Very, very nice idea Andy
Going to watch this one for sure!
Good luck and happy modelling!

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Very, very nice idea Andy
Going to watch this one for sure!
Good luck and happy modelling!

Hahaha... Settle back with some popcorn Frans, I will see what I can do for you!
Might not be 1st class like most of the other entries in the GB, but it'll be a picture loaded piece of small scale modelling...
NO PE.... .... but a bit of scratch building and diorama making for sure...
..and all done on the cheap because I am a tight fisted git with a really small budget....
Thanks for dropping by buddy, more soon!!

Great stuff Andy looking forward to it mate.

Nige201980 wrote:Great stuff Andy looking forward to it mate.

Thanks Nige...... Best get my finger out and post up some sprue shots eh??

So I am going to be using a couple of cheap "No Box" kits I brought over the last couple of months.
Both kits cost me around £7 each posted so not expensive as postage in the UK nowadays is about £3 or more...

First up is the Tiger II as I purchased it...


...and the M3A1 Halftrack ....


So I will get them on the cutting mat and have a look see.....







and the Halftrack...











These are the only Decals I received with the Tiger...



NO INSTRUCTIONS with the Tiger either so a quick scout around the Interwebs found me all I needed...





The planned scheme...









Cut open the bag and lets have a look...



A little worried about these track as I know Mick.. aka Old Git, had some fit issues and had to cut his and re-make a couple of links...



Detail seems nice and crisp for Airfix, unlike their older mouldings....





These are also a worry for me....... lots of wheels and sprockets.... Gonna need to paint these first before fitting then I suppose...



Plastic is nice, not too soft...not too hard or brittle.... wonder how the Fujimi kit will fair??





That's it for tonight's little update.
Hope to post up more tomorrow, Thanks for taking a look guys...
...as always, stay safe and well, Model Happy and enjoy the styrene time.....

Whoahh! That's a lot of parts! Good luck, mate!

UKguyInUSA wrote:Whoahh! That's a lot of parts! Good luck, mate!

Thanks Buddy......
I hate wheels and sprockets... never know whether to paint them before or after fitting...
I guess at 1/76, before would be the best option... lol..
...and as a teaser, I have made a start on the Fujimi kit today.... !!
Thanks for the well wishes, think I may need them.....

Great stuff - a build to watch, for sure! Lovely photos, the one of the six pounder is fantastic.

Rob wrote:Great stuff - a build to watch, for sure! Lovely photos, the one of the six pounder is fantastic.

Thanks Rob.... Hopefully I wont let you down with this one matey...

Okay so another quick update as the wife keeps finding me things to do ready for the new baby that is gonna "pop" out in the next couple of months....

I will give you a look at this Fujimi kit, well mostly the Willy's Jeep for now...



Not many parts for the Jeep...





Not gonna use the figure as I think I will do this as a British build as opposed to a US.. Purely for the idea of the battle for Caen was initially a British objective... the US troops were busy having a real tough time further down the coast..

Best open up the Jeep bag then...





Hmmmm.....







Big gun!!! Over scaled I think!!



Bit of flash and loads of plastic tabs all over the place..














Okay, gonna get to some build pictures up tomorrow.... I have made a start on the Tiger, the Jeep and the Diorama to date..
Probably post up where I am at with the Tiger tomorrow, hopefully get a Jeep post up day after..
I have hit a point where suddenly I need to add some paint before I move on any further with these, diorama too!!
As always, thanks for dropping by for a look, Take care fellow ISM'ers, stay safe and well, Model Happy and enjoy the hobby...
More soon.....

Looks good. I have built the tiger. The fit is good. It is probably a good idea to paint those wheels before. They would be very hard to paint afterwards.

Thomas2542 wrote:Looks good. I have built the tiger. The fit is good. It is probably a good idea to paint those wheels before. They would be very hard to paint afterwards.

Cheers Tom, and yeah no worries mate, wheels are on sticks awaiting some paint ...

Back with the building and I am actually behind schedule with this, well post wise anyways...
So the Tiger is looking a bit like this guys..



Nicely detailed and a pleasure to work with for now....











Next step... and I have skipped a few as the others just list the wheel attachment and I want to paint up, primer and base colour anyways, with wheels off..





















Still skipping forward we come to the Barrel build..







Turret detailing next guys...







That's some tiny little bits right there!!

























Bottom on.. and cut off the lugs because.. Damn... that thing was tight to push down to lock in....























Now apart from building up the wheels and adding the exhausts and towing rings and jack, the Tiger is built ready for some paint...
Now I have NEVER painted a 3 tone camo before...
...and I think I may attempt it free hand with a hairy stick.....

I will be back Sunday with the Jeep update, and WOW!!! The kit and plastic quality is in a totally different league!! Hard, Brittle, Horrid stuff.........
Parts do get broken and well I think its gonna be a " Don't sand it" because it scratches and marks like mad!!
Oh well .... I did buy an "OLD" Japanese kit....
Dreading opening the M5 bag up!!
More soon guys, thanks for taking a look....
As always, stay safe and well..... Happy Modelling ...

Back with a quick update for the Willy's Jeep and Wow.... the kit quality difference is crazy..

I believe the Jeep represented is the Ford Willy's like this.....







Minus the canvas canopy....
So here it is...





First few parts and the quality is noticeable, very brittle and hard and easily scratched and broken...



I sanded the seats with fine wet and dry and was left with these scratches on the seats...







Nice dash detail though!







All seats in...







Main body...







Test fit the delicate steering wheel and already I can see the fit issue and bad positioning of the wheel.... Make a new one laters I think...





The engine block is pre moulded to the chassis and needs painting... even though it probably wont be visible... Radiator come separate but again needs a coat of paint etc....





Brittle evidence on the rear arch where I only used my knife to remove the plastic lug...







Made a start....



Oversize 50 cal, and the hinges on the front windscreen/shield give me stress later on....









Now going with a British finish I sourced a driver and will use a white metal spare figure for the back seat passenger....
The driver is from a kit that had the Willy's Jeep missing but still had the driver... Alas I think his flesh wound was the reason for leaving him behind...













Engine paint....







Driver test fit....







flashy wheels!!





...and fitted as per instructions....









AND...... Disaster!!!

Shock....Horror......!!!! Oh well out with the scratch building ideas and materials then!



Jerry can, Spare wheel and black out light....



Grill and main lights...



May work!! But needs some T.L.C I think....










...and I will continue this post tomorrow guys....
Hope you enjoyed this little collection of pictures of poor plastic quality parts...
As always, thanks for taking a look, all comments welcome....
More soon...
Take care and Happy Modelling ISM'ers......

# Long post with lots of Pictures...... #

...Back with another update on the Jeep guys and I WILL win the battle with this aging, brittle old Willy's kit....
...and there's still the M3A1/M5A1 kit to fight all the way, and of course the Tiger II sat patiently in grey primer along with a half built Diorama base!
Lots to get done and little time to do it in!

So grey primer time, and again I go at it with the cheap £1 shop spray can.....















Tape off and yep, the engine is still aluminium with a black oil wash...



Bonnet and grill added....









So while that dried I worked on a couple of figures for the Jeep. The Guy with the missing hand had a new one glued in place and a spare
http://www.mms-models.co.uk/ White metal British Carrier crew member was added for the back seat...









Not the best figures, the MMS metal figure I had left off a previous build because I felt his face was a little misshapen but for a back seat passenger he just might pass.. I have some British Soldiers on order from the same company as they are quite cheap but a nicely crafted piece of metal after clean up.

Lets have a look at sorting out the windscreen/shield for that Jeep then eh??
Fitted in the upright position, just gotta craft some metal screen stays....









A little more figure work while that dries....
Colours used were Model air Olive drab 71.043 and Khaki Brown 71.024. Sand 71.028 was used for the belts, straps and putties. Various blacks and browns for hair and boots..
First coats...









Oh well, they get better I promise...
Those windshield arms and some detail to break up the flat plastic of the screen is added ...



















Figures again, and they are getting better.....









...and of course, the left arm.....



Everything gets a couple of coats of Revell 45 light olive to start with....











Then I coat with a couple of thinned coats of Model Air 71.043 Olive drab as I used on the uniforms.
Thinned to reduce the brush strokes as this is a tiny kit and well........ its rough enough as it is!! lol..







Metal figure gets his arm and a gun to keep him quiet in the back seat....













Still working this old Jeep.....









Seats get some Humbrol flat Earth and the dash gets a dry brush of Aluminium to pick out the clocks and dials and buttons....















Rebuilt steering wheel after the last one broke... I did expect it though!



Engine sump and tyre time...







Fuel can and spare wheel....





Look mirrors painted too!!



He's happy, he has a weapon.....









Little fingernail in shot for scale....







....And... we nearly there!!!









...and as the driver waves goodbye... we'll come back and see the finished Jeep again soon....

Sorry for the long post guys, thanks for staying till the end if you did..
All comments welcome, Take care and as always...Happy Modelling..

Off to a great start andy

I love that Jeep and crew (adds jeep to shopping list)
More please!

Thanks Paul , and yeah Rob go for it mate, just if its gonna be a small one avoid the crappy Fujimi piece.....
It sucks big time... lol....
....and the Italeri 1/35 scale don't seem much better according to Alextheblue and his fit issues...

Hold out for a decent Dragon kit..... Hmmm... instructions may be a little iffy....
.....Erm.... build a Tank!!

Thanks again guys for taking a look...more soon!

Looking good Andy your tameing it buddy.

Thanks Nige, much appreciated mate..
Its a teeny little piece of rubbish styrene, but its MY teeny little piece of rubbish styrene....
.... and I will tame her and make her look nearly okay.... If I'm lucky....
Hahaha.... Thanks again Buddy for taking a look, I know time is precious for you at the moment..
Good luck with the Foiling ...... Braver man than me!
More on this build soon!

Nice jeep - really biggg . Now Time for ending Kingtiger - oh yeah . Well done mate



P.S
After this set, dio time for bigger models Andy -
I propose scale 1/72

AchtungPanzer wrote: Nice jeep - really biggg . Now Time for ending Kingtiger - oh yeah . Well done mate



P.S
After this set, dio time for bigger models Andy -
I propose scale 1/72

Hahaha..... Thanks Eryk..... lol.. Bigger scale, 1/72... hahaha... Thanks my friend, maybe I will..

...but just for you, a couple of pictures of the Jeep, scaled to a match and matchbox.
The jeep is 99% finished, just some decals and a little weathering to finish..































Sorry, got carried away with the pictures again!

More on this and other elements of the build soon guys..... Thanks for taking a look..
Stay safe and well, Happy Modelling.

Just a quick update to show how I got to the Jeep pictures above, and a few pictures of the Tiger all grey primed up ready for some base colour...

So after a wave off from the driver last time, we have a "Hello!" from the back seat passenger to start...





So a quick spot of CA glue gets these guys all snug in their Transport..



















Steering wheel in place....





...and apart from some decal and weathering and a matt coat I think the Jeep is done..
Now where was we with that King Tiger??
Oh yeah..... Wheels and Sprockets.....



















Drilling out the Teeny Exhausts for the back.....





























Towing eyes......













Primer time and again I am using the cheap £1 shop Grey.....













...and that's where I am at with the Tiger for now....
Made a start tonight on the M3/M5 Halftrack so hopefully over the weekend I may get some building done.
Painting I will leave until in the week when the Wife and kids are at work and school as I will spray in the Kitchen area and they all moan as they don't like the smell of Vallejo Model Air??
Thanks again guys for taking a look... More soon....
Stay safe, Have fun and Happy Modelling..

Dang!
Some tiny parts there!
love what you did with that jeep.
Keep it up Andy! Looking good from this side!

oops.... one popcorn to many. ..

Great build thread Andy!!

You can really see the difference in the quality of the plastic between the Tiger and the jeep, but in the end the Willys was no "match" for your skills!!

Excellent progress and looking forward to your next update!

Hahaha...Thanks Frans, glad you liking it buddy....Just hoping some of your modelling goodness would rub off on me and my builds... lol....

Thanks Alex matey, yeah the plastic quality is quite bad, luckily the M3/M5 is the same but a little different...Dunno how, it just works a little better....Still rubbish though but apparently this kit is the most detailed version of the M3/M5 at this scale.. Hmmm.....
Hopefully I will beat these old pieces into something worth looking at!

So as I mentioned the M3/M5 I will post some WiP pictures to show where I am at with it....
... Oh and some teeny White metal figures arrived from MMS Models yesterday so as we go I will post up some pictures of those too..
M3A1 kit then...









































So as you can see, some of the parts are a little iffy, I will not be using any of the figures as I am portraying the British version of this Halftrack and in the instructions the option to portray an AA Gun version is given...
Just the common or garden variety for me I think...

Onward we go to tackle the plastic beast....



Engine and Radiator parts... and I best paint it again or else it will bug me if I know it hasn't been done!





Tracks, Sprockets and Bogies.....









Rear section....





Engine and Rad fitted...







Now its these Hinged tops that are supposed to represent the Lend/Lease Gun Carriage that was supplied to the British and Shipped as a Personnel Carrier/Halftrack M5A1... I am No Historian or do I understand any of the Lend/Lease activity between the Allied forces so it will just be an M5A1 British Carrier in Normandy.. I don't count rivets etc... so I wont get technical..





Bottom Seat/cab installed...







Started filling the Pin marks and sink marks... I do more later after a coat of Primer...



These on the back cab part get some filler later....









Armoured Doors can be constructed top open or closed... I will build the drivers open to show a spare White metal driver I have lying around...



Passenger closed.......



Driver open..... Sink mark still to fill here....



Dash constructed and glued to the Bonnet/Hood...





Gonna do some priming first.....







Sink mark still to fill.....







To be fair, the detailing isn't too bad on this really....





So I will show the figures then call it a post for now....

























So not the best figures by far.....
Hopefully I can swap some arms and clean up some flash and seam lines and improve some of the facial moulding a little...
For £2.95 plus 44p postage I guess you get what you pay for.... They should serve their purpose, though I think they may be the wrong Soldiers for the Landing, they are the only 1/76 I could find at short notice. Sorry......

So next post I will add some colour to the cab of the M3/M5 and sort the driver out, maybe even get a base coat on the Tiger...Who knows??
Till then, Thanks for taking a look, Stay well, Have Fun and Happy Modelling.....

Ooh, nice work. After seeing your builds i have decided that I will buy that airfix Tiger and NOT buy those delicate Fujimi kits.

Looking forward to seeing you working your magic on the half track as you did with your super Jeep. Those new figures look good and I am sure they will scrub up nicely. For future reference, here is a link to a maker of nice resin figures, including infantry, in 1/76...
http://www.dantaylormodelworks.com/figures-14-c.asp

It's getting better and better Andy!
Love those figures!
Keep it up, and happy modelling!

Trainboy153 wrote:Ooh, nice work. After seeing your builds i have decided that I will buy that airfix Tiger and NOT buy those delicate Fujimi kits.

Thanks Mate, but really... don't be put off buying an old Fujimi kit... having worked on it like mad this week I can safely say its a ( not ) too bad a kit for an oldie.... Plastic's a little brittle and doesn't like gluing together but apart from that its cool....
The Tiger kit from Airfix is nice....... but the tracks and wheels/sprockets are a right PITA... So tight and awkward..

Rob wrote:Looking forward to seeing you working your magic on the half track as you did with your super Jeep. Those new figures look good and I am sure they will scrub up nicely. For future reference, here is a link to a maker of nice resin figures, including infantry, in 1/76...
http://www.dantaylormodelworks.com/figures-14-c.asp

Thanks for the link Rob, will check it out mate.... The Halftrack has turned out quite well mate.... For an Oldie she's not bad....
More on this soon...

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:



It's getting better and better Andy!
Love those figures!
Keep it up, and happy modelling!

Ah Popcorn..... my favourite.... but you know this! hahaha.....
I never realised until this week that I have 3 kits 2 lots of figures and a Diorama base on the go!!
Better start posting up some more!
Thanks again Frans, much appreciated mate..


Okay so as promised I will get up some M3A1 pictures soon....
...but for now I think the Tiger needs some love....

So I was crawling the net for colour schemes etc... and found a guy painting his in Vallejo Model air colours....
30, 22, 41...... Green Brown, Cam Green and Armour Brown... I will spray the Green Brown but most probably hand paint the Camo as I have a rubbish Airbrush setup and am not very confident with it...















Sprocket fitting......



















Now for some track work..... Hmmm could be fun.... OldGit Mick added extra links to his tracks.. Fingers crossed..









Ooow...... stretchy, stretchy.............

























So the tracks are on..... Amazingly, a bit tight and the glued joints look a little rough but they are on the bottom and gonna be covered in mud....Hopefully...

Exhausts and rusting effects.... Vallejo Model Air Rust 71.080 paint then while wet, dip the brush in some powdered Black pastel chalk dust and dabbed and brushed on for texture and sooting up a bit...









Scale pictures then a couple of images of the track blacking...





















...and that is where I am at with the Tiger II.
On a plus the Halftrack is all but complete, and I will shower you with an absolute ton of images to show you...
I also included the driver to the Halftrack so it looks the part now too...

Thanks guys for taking another look at my build attempts, still learning so my methods may seem a little odd now and then but we will get there..
Take care chaps, and as always, stay safe and well and Model Happy...
More soon as I have loads to show...

Back for some M3A1 Images..... and boy there are plenty as I have been real busy with the old Fujimi kit.....

Now I think I left this at the part built and primer stage? Well the interior needed attention before construction could continue..
Now for the Olive drab of the British I have been priming in Grey, 2 coats of Revell light Olive then 2 coats of Model Air Olive Drab 71.043... loads of coats I know but the grey makes the Olive drab too dark so I lighten the base colour....

So interior time chaps.....
Light Olive first...







Then start with the Olive Drab...... First coat...







2 coats.....





Test fitting a white metal British driver I had lying around, glued his arm in the gripping gearstick position......









Driver cleaned up ready for some paintwork......









Start on the cab detail.... seats, engine, gearstick etc...









Primer...







1st coats.....



















Fitting time....









Starting to attach the sides....









Front grill on...



Bonnet/Hood dry fit......











Screen attached to the Bonnet/Hood....



...and that is it for tonight folks....
Hopefully you guys haven't dropped dead from boredom following this thread...
Not be long and it will be "Diorama Time!"
Fingers crossed for that bit too!!
As always, thanks for dropping by for a look, much appreciated..
Take care, stay safe and well, Model Happy and we will see you all soon for another update..
Thanks...

Looks bloody great Andy.

Cool progress Andy!
Just one question... did the driver stepped on a landmine?
Poor guy...lost both his legs...
Great job painting him though!

I'm watching this in 3D!

Nice piece of work done Andy . Dio will certainly made ​​an impression. Keep it up buddy.

Nige201980 wrote:Looks bloody great Andy.

Cheers Nige, not a patch on your "Foiled" P51 though!!
Keep up the excellent work matey.... love it !!!

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:Cool progress Andy!
Just one question... did the driver stepped on a landmine?
Poor guy...lost both his legs...
Great job painting him though!

I'm watching this in 3D!

Hahaha...... yeah, it was only a flesh wound so kept him busy driving a modified M3A1... lol... Nah, with the dash in place and the steering wheel so close, legs were not an option....
The build looks not too bad as it stands ready for decals.... will bring the thread up to speed over the next few days.... keep dropping by for a look, i wont let you down mate..
Thanks for taking a look...
3D?? Hmmm.....

AchtungPanzer wrote:Nice piece of work done Andy . Dio will certainly made ​​an impression. Keep it up buddy.

Thanks Eryk, the Dio is under construction and will be documented soon Buddy.... Hope you will like it.... All 1/76 scale so real fiddly work. It should all be good.. Take care my friend and thanks for dropping by with kind comments...

Okay stay safe and well guys, more updates soon!!

Holy smoking plastic Andy, you're ripping through this - it's looking really great!!

You've certainly had some challenges along the way, but you've mastered them all, and that driver has painted up nicely! Although, it's never right to condone drink driving - the guys legless!!

alextheblue wrote:Holy smoking plastic Andy, you're ripping through this - it's looking really great!!

You've certainly had some challenges along the way, but you've mastered them all, and that driver has painted up nicely! Although, it's never right to condone drink driving - the guys legless!!

Thanks Alex, i'm still learning the ropes really.. This is only my 3rd Tank build and probably only my 6th kit build since returning to the hobby from my childhood....
...and still haven't ventured bigger than a 1/72 plane!!
Though I have made plans to enter Coen's YouTube "Kursk" GB....in 1/35...

Hahaha.... oh well I will give it a go... and the drunken driver passed the roadside breath test just fine in his M3A1.. lol...


So I will show some more...
Just a quick update as I am busy decorating the house ready for the arrival of the new baby that my wife will *POP* out any week now!!

So I left off with the screen going in place... here's how I got there...











Prime some more bits up...





Fill some sink holes...









Back door glued in and back wall glued on....









All primed and ready...









paint time AGAIN!!















Quick gloss up of the interior so I can fix the bonnet/hood..... and glossed the Jeep for decaling while I had the can out....





MORE PAINTING!!

















Last few bits now and these mine/storage racks where omitted on some of the converted M5/M3 lend-lease units....
I'm keeping mine.....

































Construction about complete so its time to wash and flat coat the cab and driver and seal him in.....













....and we done for this update....
I said a quick one.... what happened?? lol....
Hope you guys are still here? Now next post I can either bring the M3 up to decal application finish or paint and camo the Tiger...By HAND!... and show you that??
Until then, enjoy the rest of the weekend, Thanks for taking a look, and as always.....
....Stay safe and well, and Happy Modelling..

That looks pretty good
Really of you look at the scale

Good luck with the rest of the build

MarkVerploeg wrote:That looks pretty good
Really of you look at the scale

Good luck with the rest of the build

Thanks Mark.... Still learning so its a little rough, but once combined with the Jeep, Tiger, figures and a little Dio it should look okay.
1/76 is a little small to learn techniques on, but cheap and cheerful to work with...
My builds always look real bad before coming good... Lol....
Thanks again for dropping by, all the best mate....

Looking cracking Andy top draw from you yet again buddy.

I'm not disappointed indeed! lol
Woah... a lot of parts for such a small build... dang....
Looking great buddy!
And I'm happy that the legless driver is still be able to do his job.
Great boss!
KUTGW

Nige201980 wrote:Looking cracking Andy top draw from you yet again buddy.

Thanks Nige, much appreciated buddy....

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:I'm not disappointed indeed! lol
Woah... a lot of parts for such a small build... dang....
Looking great buddy!
And I'm happy that the legless driver is still be able to do his job.
Great boss!
KUTGW

lol...... Thanks Frans, means a lot buddy....

So because you guys are enjoying the build, I best get posting some updates.. lol.....
Now where was we with this Halftrack??

Oh yeah, armoured windscreen build, some primer and a build up...









Now how cool would this thing have been??
Monster truck Halftrack!! lol......








.....oh and yeah I have started to add the top .50Cal gun ring....





















Here we go......Some scale comparison pictures......

















So just a quick post tonight, next post I will coat up the Halftrack using my usual method of light olive/olive drab coating system.
we are not far off all vehicles gloss coated and awaiting decals...
Once decals and weathering and Matt coating is done construction of a small display can begin...
Hopefully this part of the build log will go as planned, I'm a little nervous as I don't find building display bases easy..
Thanks for taking a look guys, all comments welcomed..
As always, take care, stay safe and well and Model Happy!!
Thanks...More soon...

Morrison's matches? They're ok but I think Swan Vesta are more detailed.

Super job on the half track though. It's all coming together very nicely

Making great progress Andy, that's looking really good!

And I love the idea of monster truck half-track!!!

Rob wrote:Morrison's matches? They're ok but I think Swan Vesta are more detailed.

Super job on the half track though. It's all coming together very nicely

hahaha...... thanks Rob... Swan Vesta... The match of a Real Smoker!! lol.....

The "Dragon kit" of matches...

Being a 15 years quit smoker, my matches are the " just in case i gotta light a BBQ " type...
Thanks again for taking a look....
All vehicles are gloss coated awaiting Decals in real time...... will get to the pictures depicting this stage sometime over the weekend... I hope!!

alextheblue wrote:Making great progress Andy, that's looking really good!

And I love the idea of monster truck half-track!!!

Thanks Alex...Monster truck....Kinda reminded me of one of those Russian Tractor units... A Heavy Tractor Komintern or Voroshilovez or similar... lol...
Thanks again for taking a look guys....
More soon...

Very good work with Halftruck and good progress mate . Much work - three models . Keep it up Andy and forward

Loving it mate great detail on something so tiny keep it up buddy.

AchtungPanzer wrote:Very good work with Halftruck and good progress mate . Much work - three models . Keep it up Andy and forward

Thanks Eryk, 3 kits for this entry...... plus figures and a diorama... lots happening in this build... Luckily its until September 12th... still plenty of time.... Thanks again Buddy..

Nige201980 wrote:Loving it mate great detail on something so tiny keep it up buddy.

Thanks Nige, the kits have been quite good really. The M3 is a nicely detailed piece. A few over sized pieces, and the plastic is hard and brittle to work with but all in all a good solid piece.. The Tiger II is a really nice piece. Only the tight tracks let it down. The fit and detail is again very nice...
Thanks again guys for taking a look..

So I will give you all a quick update again....

So last time I promised a coat of paint... we'll start with the usual Light Olive..











Then after 2 coats I go in with the Model Air Olive Drab with 2 coats...





















The eagle eyed will have noticed the .50 Cal matt blacked then dry brushed with Aluminium....

Time to add the wheels.... Tracks and rack extras....















Some touch ups to do before Gloss coat... also notice the drilled out barrel on the .50 Cal.... Not an easy job at that barrel scale...

Gloss time now touch ups have been done..











All shiny and ready for decals.... well I forgot the detail painting so gotta do that, re gloss then we ready...















Details and re gloss....





















...and that's it for tonight guys...
Both the Jeep and the M3 are ready for decals and weathering.
Next post will be the hand painting of the Tiger camo and detail painting bringing it up to gloss finish for decals....
As always, thanks for taking the time to look in on my builds, much appreciated chaps and any comments welcomed....
Hoping you all have a pleasant weekend, Stay safe and well, Happy Modelling....

Back with an update, and I think I will bring the Tiger into the action for a bit...
So I am still undecided with some of the detailing in the Halftrack, thinking on adding some styrene seating for the squaddies in the rear. We'll see....

Tiger II Camo time and I think we will free hand with the "hairy stick" as I am a little worried it may all go wrong..
Never painted a camo scheme before so stay with me guys....

Colours will be Model Air 22 Green followed by the Model Air 41 Brown....
Straight in with the brush I go.... There will be two coats of each colour....























Turret time.....

















Hopefully the green has come out okay, I copied the camo off the instructions/boxart which I downloaded off the web..

On to the Brown now so fingers crossed it looks okay...

















...and the Turret again...













Starting to paint some of the detail and tools...





















Again, I still have some detail to paint and a gloss coat to apply, but we are close now...
British figures have had a clean up, build up and arms/guns added and a coat of white primer...
An additional figure has been worked to drop in the Gunners ring on the M3/M5, and I have chosen some German infantry and an MG gunner pair for the Axis. These figures are from the DAK 1/76 figure set I have and are the "regular" soldier looking ones, not shorts and short sleeved figures... lol...

I need to start and post up the Diorama build pics to date.... its not finished but we are making progress....
Thanks guys for taking a look, more soon....
As always stay safe and well, enjoy your weekend and Happy Modelling....

nice work on the camo looks just like mine lol

gaz45 wrote:nice work on the camo looks just like mine lol

Hahaha...... Excellent...
You wanna come round and finish mine off?? We can weather them together?? Lol....
You are after all only just up the road from me!! Lol....
Thanks for dropping in for a look mate, much appreciated....

Here is my also in 1:76 scale, but other camo . Together we have 3 Porsche turret King tigers Guys.





Good work Andy, Keep it up -I look forward now to weathering Your "Monster" . .P.S. My Sd.Kfz. 4/1 Panzerwerfer and Pz.Kpfw III N are finished now