Thanks. I'm going to do some post shading to lighten the upper surfaces a bit and add some color variations. I'm still trying to decide how to tackle the hard edged paint scheme. I've narrowed it down to either masking with Tamiya masking tape, using silly putty and then just filling in between the lines, or hand painting the edges and then filling it in with the air brush.

After a few days of inactivity, I had a productive night. I was a bit nervous about the track links as this is my first time with individual links (this kit has link and length tracks). I certainly see why Tamiya included tweezers with the kit. The tow hook mounts (front and rear) are tiny things.

The tilt bin gave me some problems. There is a gap in the center of between the front wall and the bottom. I tried to see if I could fix it before gluing it together but finally gave up. I'll fill it in with putty later.

hello all,
@Scott,
your char b looks great.keep up the good work.
@Gary,
looking good,i can not wait to see it finished.your kit seems to have alot of detail.i might have to get one.

We have 7,repeat,7 days till the end of this campaign.so anyone who signed up and have not posted your finished photo in the gallery,you need to get it done so you can get your ribbon.
cheers,
Bruce

All the builds are looking good guys.

I'm close to victory, here is the latest, base color, filters, and pin washes are done. Now it’s time for the weathering; mainly dust and grime for this guy. These were fairly new when France was invaded. Although the crew might not make it by the 31st.

Since I could not find the missing parts of my Pz I, last week I started a little Kubelwagen...
I managed to finish it this weekend, pics tomorrow since I forgot my pendrive at home with all the progress of a long modeling weekend!!

Re: the Mr Surfacer technique -

I've discovered you can do the same thing with Testors putty if you don't let it dry completely (once it dries you are stuck with sanding, even lacquer thinner won't melt it). Put some on, let it firm up over 15 minutes or so, then use iso alcohol to melt it away. I use the technique on figures, it works well when you want to fill seams without messing up cloth folds, and because the putty is quite thick you can fill substantial gaps.

As for masking, have you tried soft masking with paper templates? It will give you a hard edge that has just enough softness to look professional. Put the template on almost flush with the surface and then build up the colour slowly with your airbrush. Only problem is you have to play with it to get it around complex surfaces.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments and the interest.

Scott, excellent work on the Pz.Kpfw.38(t)! Looking forward to seeing the finished results.

The camouflage has been painted. Much of it was done by hand so the pattern would have a hard edge to it. I used Tamiya Acrylics (as always) and thinned it a bit more than 50% so it would flow well and be brush mark free. I then painted the outlines for the green striping so I could fill them in using the airbrush, although the turret was done entirely by hand. I got the idea of hand painting the outlines from an excellent article that Mike Rinaldi did documenting his builds of 4 different Char B1 bis in MMiR. I had to go back over some of the tan areas, again with highly thinned paint to fix a bit of the green over spray here and there. Up next, decals!

hello all,
great looking builds posted.make sure you post your photo's in the gallery.

5 DAYS LEFT !!!!
cheers,
Bruce

Make sure you read my in-box review of the kit. Because of my last minute entry in the campaign, I decided not to use the Voyager PE set which fixes some problems of the kit (also see my in-box review of that set). It is a rather tiny kit, the UE itself will fit on top of a standard business card. The UE's rear bin doesn't seem to fit as well as it should (front wall to floor) and I probably made it worse trying to fix it.

I didn't work on the kit this weekend but I got some work done last night. I'm probably going to go right down to the wire. Even if I don't make it, this has been the most progress I've ever made in a campaign as well as in kit building for a few decades so it's already been good.

Here's my little kubelwagen..





weather it this morning so the final shots will be here tomorrow.

hello all,

3 DAYS LEFT!!!

Man oh man, serious crunch time here.

The decals are finished on the lower hull. I ran into a problem with the turret though. There are three big blue heart decals that need to go on the sides and back of the turret. Unfortunately, there is a lifting hook on the left side that is right where one of the hearts is supposed to go. I had to pry the hook off so I could get the decal on, and was planning on just reattaching the hook after and painting it blue. I managed to damage the side of the turret in the process as the lifting hook was very securely attached to the turret. I applied Mr. Surfacer last night (two applications), sanded it down this morning and repainted that side. Hopefully the paint will be dried and stable enough to get the decals on as soon as I get home tonight. I'm going to go ahead and start weathering the hull, which is fine because it's going to be a lot filthier than the turret.

Hey Guys
I'm a late entry into the Campaign. There's some great scale artists here, and I've learned a lot.

Here's my Tamiya Char B1 bis. All comments welcome.

Scott E.- I've been watching your Char B1 bis come together with great interest.

Jason - Your Panzer I is sick dude! Love the shell brass on the floor. Great work.











Cheers,

Duncan

hello all,
@John,
great looking kubelwagon.
@Scott,
tough luck about the turret,you have 2+days to fix it and get your weathering done.
@Duncan,
great looking char.make sure you put your photo's in the campaign gallery so you can get your ribbon
cheers,
Bruce

It's finished.

hello all,

2 DAYS,repeat, 2 DAYS LEFT

cheers,
Bruce

Bruce that was a great campaign, maybe next year there will be a Blitzkrieg II campaign like the PC Game...
With all the kits in stash that would be great

I've done several oil washes and am working on building up the streaking on the flanks of the Char B1 bis. I've just about got the blue heart shaped decal that goes on the right side of the turret hunkered down over the hatch and visor. Repeated applications of micro-sol are slowly doing the trick. I'll post some update photos later today or tomorrow. It all depends on how I feel after my outpatient surgery (very minor) at 2pm this afternoon.

Anyway, it will be finished by tomorrow.

As you can see, I'm cutting it very very close. The main UE hull has just about everything I want on before painting. The trailer body is all assembled (sans suspension). The tilt bin is also all assembled (to be added to the UE hull after painting). I'm also in the process of hand painting all the suspension parts for the UE and trailer. I may trot out the airbrush later today or maybe tomorrow to do the UE hull, tilt bin, and trailer.

Hey Bruce
I'm having trouble loading pictures to the Campaign gallery. I get an Upload Complete message, but nothing shows up. Any thoughts?

hello Duncan,
i am not sure what is wrong.i always upload all my photo's through photobucket,and i have no problems.are you uploading your photo's throught your computer or through a server like photobucket?you might want to try a site like photobucket and see it that will work.
has anyone else had this problem?if so let me know.
Duncan,
make sure you let me know if you cannot get them loaded,i might have you send the photo's to me and i will see if i can get them loaded for you.i need to send a message to MarkM about the end of Blitzkrieg and ask him about it.but try doing it through a photo sharing site first.
hope this elps.
cheers,
Bruce

Well the tank is finished, unfortunately the crew well not be participating in this Campaign. I should finish them and the base in the next 2 weeks or so. I'll post the finished project in the regular forum. Anyway here is the panzer 38(t).




I'm having problems loading into the gallery also, I'll try again tomorrow.

hello all,
1 DAY LEFT.
to all of you having trouble posting your photo's on the gallery,there is 4 campaigns ending on the 31st so that might be the problem.everyone is trying to get their photo's uploaded so they can get their ribbons.try early in the morning and see what happens.
cheers,
Bruce

Tonight I hope to finish hand painting everything that I've marked for that and assembling them to be glued on once the major assemblies are airbrushed. For tomorrow, I'm hoping to do the airbrushing, attaching all the other stuff, decals, and a coat of clear flat. As I said, I'll need every minute!

hello all,
if you still have a problem posting you finished build in the gallery,posted them on this thread.i am trying to see if i can get you a ribbon even if you cannot get the photo's in the gallery.this way there is a record of you finishing your build for the campaign.
i sent an e-mail to MarkM about the posting problems.
cheers,
Bruce