Hi Jesper,

As far as I know, that Panzer IV J is a little beauty. Since I don't like the 1/72 scale much myself, I don't have an idea personally, but a couple small scale building local modeller friends built that kit and they all praised it as a must have must do if you are into WW2 German modelling. I would still be careful with the tracks though, I can ask my friends if they had any difficulty with the tracks if you like.

Hi Emre

I have also heard it should be a beautiful little model that comes together very well without problems.

I will probably start on it tonight or during the week and will post an update when construction is finished.

An update on my "Father" build again; and I have a question about painting. Would it be easier to put the turret on the upper hull before I paint, or do them separately?

The link: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/104029

Until next time!

Lewis, I would paint turret and hull separately. It is much easier that way and you minimize the risk of having "blind spots" left unpainted.

I have now finished construction on my Pz. IV ausf. J. It came together without any problems and the tracks look really good - especially considering the scale.
Now on to painting - with a little luck I will finish it this week.

Here are my finished entries for this campaign. The Revell 1/72 Leopard 2A4 and the Revell 1/72 Pz. IV ausf. J.

Both build OOB without any problems. The link and length tracks on both models worked very well - especially after my disaster with my ESCI King Tiger

Thanks for a good and well run campaign

Hi all

Looking forward to this one in a big way. I started working on the "Father" a Tamiya Panzer IV J with zimmerit coating. Need to pick up a Leo for the "Son"

Almost got all the Zimmerit on, it is looking really good. Can't wait to see how this looks once it is all put together.

Hi Andrew

Sounds good. What are you using to make the zimmerit. Putty? Some after market item? Other?

Looking forward to see some pictures.

I just started building the new M51 kit and after doing a few of the newer HVSS dragon kits I'm getting it done like greased lightning. I have an SEP and a Merkava in the stash. Should I do the SEP as a successor to the Sherman series or the Merkava as the Israeli MBT successor?

Here's the M51 in the works. Really hit or miss kit but I like it. I had no issues building it, but some things like the fenders are too narrow by a smidge and some other nitpicks. Color is off in the photo, its just MM IDF sand grey over black primer. A couple lighter coats and one basic yellow orche filter so far with an extremely faint paynes grey wash thats pretty much invisible other then the basics have a slight bit more pop. Going to keep it pretty light on the washes as the photos I see really don't have a ton of grime in the corners, and some relatively mild chipping and dirt, and do a little grime and streaks with the airbrush rather then washes or pigments. Seems like I am getting vacummed into the 'pigment' kick and forgot how much I liked just a good clean build and some airbrush shading.

I got a couple really in-depth projects coming up so I just want a few new buttoned-up and rather 'clean and mean' builds to keep me in it until the winter. If I try to do too much when the weather is still nice I tend to get bored with builds as building time is short when its warm out. I forgot to put the center jerry can racks on the side but oh well. I really want to do the Merkava in the Lebanon War '82 grey but I think the MkII's came out just after it??

hi all! i'm normally an aircraft modeller,but do have a few armour kits around, mainly WW1. i was intending to have a british armour through the ages vibe going,and also have a chieftan and a centurion tank in my stash so this one for me might turn into a family going back about four generations

The Merkava would be the right choice since the M51 is an Israeli MBT

I got the Academy MKII Merk, and I want to do it when first released in 83. I am hoping the 'Lebanon War' grey was still being used. I could of sworn I saw pics of a MKII in that grey as well??

Gentlemen, peoplez, fellow campaigners, re-greetings!

I've been tied up with real life lately, so haven't had much chance to do much of anything, but to show that I'm still alive and interested:

Jesper, well done, man! (And thanks for the advice about the painting! )

Kevin, whose M51 kit is that? I've got Academy's sitting on the shelf waiting for me... heard good things about it. What you've got done so far looks really good.

Anyway, I've got my T-34 built, and waiting for a couple little touch-ups, here and there, but in the meantime, I've begun building my T-72. Now, I'll confess, it's a HobbyCraft kit, which is actually a re-box of Trumpeter parts. (Yes, Jacques, I know, in case you're reading this... But I'm forewarned!) The parts aren't the best[i] fit, but they're okay. Things go together reasonably well with due attention. Here's the lower hull:


You may notice that there's a little black gearbox in there with a metal shaft for the drivers. I'll get to that momentarily.

The drivers, idlers, and roadwheels are all assembled with "poly caps" in them, as Trumpeter originally intended that a person could motorize the model. (The idea being that the poly caps would spin on the axles, of course.) On the drivers, it makes a [i]poor fit, and this was the first piece modified from the plan. All the others go together well, however.



As I said, I would get to the gearbox: A trial fit of the drivewheels showed that this would not work without major frustration. Therefore, because the whole thing is held in there by one piddlin' little screw, out it came! The drivewheel can now be glued directly to the hull (I'm building a static model, here, okay?) without fighting. And being a realist, and I know there will be stress on it when I add the tracks, I'll either add a short length of sprue trimmed to fit, or perhaps a small piece of brass rod. Perhaps unnecessary reinforcement, but still...



That's that for now. Back with more pictures later! Oh... I'm not going to unveil the completed T-34 until I can do it alongside the T-72. Later, folks!

Oops... I's under the affluence of incohol while I'm writing this! LOL! Sorry for the italics!

you know you should put the lids back on the paint thinner while working at the desk

The M51 is the new DML kit, just ootb. I did something slightly wrong with the bracket or something that screwed up the fit of the center fuel cans and the little filter/exhaust thingie on the fender so I just skipped it. I just did very mild washes, a couple light filters and some airbrush shading(not shown above). Just finished gluing all the guide horns on the DS tracks, so I have got to paint and mount those(had to take one 'link' out of each, they were too long even with the idler all the way back). I'm not going super-dirty, probably just an old fashioned dusting with a little tamiya buff and a couple other basic washes.

I think I've been trying too hard to try all the newest weathering techniques so the next few builds will be a bit more simplified so I actually finish something...If its not perfectly accurate, I really don't care as long as it looks like a tank.

Aw, crap! Is that what I did wrong? Then maybe the booze helps counteract the fumes..... Ah, it's a nice dream!

Seriously, though... Kevin, the M51 looks good, and I'm looking forwards to seeing the finished model!

These are the first models I'm going to use washes and weathering on, so I've been sort of paying a lot of attention to the painting threads. I hope they turn out well. Cheers, all!

Well, when you first start trying to weather, just do it a little at a time. And for washes, after buying several of the same products over and over, go with the top of the line oils from the get-go. The ultra-fine pigments and the ability of them to be thinned and not break up the color make life MUCH easier then getting cheaper paints with larger pigment grains. Once I switched from the cheap stuff I originally bought to the high-end products and artist grade turpenoid, it became fun to do washes. At first it seemed like everything went wrong. The control is sooo much better. You can try just about anything on an acrylic finish, matte or gloss, with the good stuff and tweak/remove to your hearts content.

Cheap oils have you chasing paint that breaks down and leaves grit where you want color. Its like airbrushes or anything else, there is definitely a reason for the higer prices on better products. And most modern kits come with alternate turets/hulls, ect that you can test your paint colors and weathering on while you are building the model, just throw that old Sherman extra turret on the table next to the new model while you're working and finish it the same way. You can get about 6 colors or so to do just about anything: Lamp black, mixing white, paynes grey, raw umber, yellow orche, and van dyke brown in premium Newton and Windsor oils and a can of turpinoid and rock and roll.

Ron Goins "Biffa"'s fanstastic T-34 build mixes a bunch of the main ways to weather and is one of the best how-tos I've ever seen that anyone could follow.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/1458&page=1

And the build thread:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/92729&page=1

You can follow it verbatim building a WWII russian tank and everything works like the photos! And the dragon T34 is a relatively simple kit with the bedsprings being the main 'detail' added. So most of the effects you see are on a model not covered tip-to-tail with etched hull details, clamps ect.

Okay, I'm back with my blog on the T-72.

Kevin, thanks for the advice! It will be taken to heart, count on it!

I'll begin with the roadwheels... I had begun painting them in sort of a sand color, but then as I was looking at pictures, there were basically no T-72s that were done with that as the primary color, so it's being changed to, you guessed it, green. So that explains the tan color you see spilling over onto the "rubber" parts. A little cleanup and some paint, and they'll be as good as new.



While that was drying, I figured I'd begin on the upper hull, which was going fairly well up until I got to the towcable. Now, as I mentioned previously, this is a HobbyCraft re-box of a Trumpeter kit, and I was warned that it had some problems. This is one of them; the molding is poor and needed a lot of trimming, and is rather flimsy, which caused it to break. Being the pack-rat that modellers seem to become, (and I'm not immune, either!) I looked at my junk bin, and discovered some picture-hanging wire. Cut the bells off the OOB part, measure and trim the wire, add a little CA glue, and bingo, we have a scratchbuilt towcable that is easier to work with, needs no trimming, and looks one hell of a lot better.


And here's the upper hull after I got the towcable on:


After accomplishing that, I figured it was time to quit while I was ahead, and call it a night. (Translation: I was too frustrated to do anymore! )

Until the next update!
Lewis

Well the M51 is almost done. Basic washes/filters/post shading. Got a little lazy finishing the tracks and small details by starting on the Merk. Still need to put the .50 back on, add the glazings in the viewports and hatch, and put straps on the jerry cans. I spaced the toolboxes too far apart not leaving room for the little filter thing on the side nor the center jerry can, oh well. The Merk should move pretty darn quick. Kit details look incredibly soft on the sprues, but with a little sharpening/drilling/thinning the parts look a lot better. Turret is done for the most part waiting on the Legend PE basket and chain armor. Quite a bit of fine tuning with the sanding stick is needed to clean everything up. Looks ok though. The basket is no easy task to build, will probably take longer then most of the kit to put together, can't be more complicated then doing complete p/e Russian ship antenna masts though, so it should be fine. Color kinda stinks in the photo, not sure what the deal is with my digicam. Its a bit less intense a yellow-green in reality.

EDIT: heh nevermind, my monitor is on uber-color setting for games...doh

Half way there, finished the Panzer IV and the Leo 2A6 just arrived in the mail. Hope to have some pictures to share this weekend.

Kevin, your M51 looks great. It will be cool to see it next to the Merkava. Looking forward to see more.

Lewis, your T-72 seems to be coming along nicely despite all the fumes and alcohol It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Thanks for sharing your progress

Jesper, thank you! It looks like it's aT-72M, and in all honesty, the decals in the kit are for an Iraqi tank, but my research shows that not all T-72s had markings on them, and, let's be honest, sometimes the markings get painted over, right? I'm trying to track down some Soviet or Russian markings to make it more accurate, though. (Yes, the T-72M did see some service in the Russian/Soviet military!) And as I have noted, it's a HobbyCraft re-box of a Trumpy kit. And all of the problems I was warned about are there, but so be it. A little putty and a little bit of hidden styrene to reinforce a couple of weak spots and fill gaps, and away we go. Forewarned is forearmed!

Kevin, looks good, guy! Looking forwards to seeing the treads on the M-51 and the rest of the Merkava... the turret looks way cool! I hope my M-51 comes out so nicely as yours, dude.

Andrew, pictures, man, pictures!

Quick update on my T-72... the roadwheels are painted, the turret is 99% assembled... just waiting on a chance to do a little airbrushing and then I can start tying it all up! Pictures to come later today when I have more time. Later, folks!

Thanks for the kind words

I started on the Legends turret basket, that sucker is quite a bit of work. Just getting the coiled wire straight enough to make all the little side pieces is a chore in itself, and I havent started the 100 or so small pieces that connect the chains to the balls and turret. Its a shame that Academey decided to mould the basket supports as if they were 2x4 lumber. The wire used in the legend's basket looks a little thin, I may switch to small rod stock, would be hella easier.