Emre Efli,pretty cool looking build.I wouldve hate to have been on the other side/incoming fire.What paint scheme will you be doing ?

I'll be doing a NATO camouflage scheme, I think it looks way cooler than the plain sandy color of the OIF vehicles.

And here she is, all done. The final stages came in a bit of a rush. So, what’s happened since the last photos?
• One last piece of weathering - the only place where I’ve let bare metal show through is on the recoil spades, done in gunmetal with aluminium highlights (remember, the M109 is all made of aluminium)
• M2 machine gun: black, dry-brushed with gunmetal; ammunition box in green with 6B pencil wear around the edges
• Tools: Humbrol Metalcote polished steel for the heads (left like that because it looks nice), and handles in desert yellow with two coats of chestnut brown ink
• Lights: tail lights in red and orange (which I now gather is quite, quite wrong); headlights in gloss black (infra-red) and Humbrol Clearfix over silver (white light)
Here’s how to get Clearfix to stay in the headlights while it sets!

• Exhaust: base coat of Humbrol 170 (Brown Bess - who was she?), with dry-brushed gunmetal, orange (82), and red-brown (160). The stain beneath is it 170 and matt black
• Bit of tidying up of the end connectors on the tracks
• Muzzle: I couldn’t work out how to weather the inside and I’d stupidly left gaps without filling them properly. So I buried the evidence by painting it forest green instead of white
What’s missing:
• No vision blocks for the driver. On closer inspection it turns out that they’re armoured covers
• No pastels – the idea is that this is a wet, muddy finish, and I reckon pastels look better for dry or dusty ones. Thus, a bit of matt varnish to even out the finish, but nothing more (so no hairspray-related disasters …)
• No spare tracks in the end. Although there were plenty in the AFV Club set – six left over plus six intended as spares – I couldn’t find references for their location and the official spares didn’t have very convincing attachments
• No decals. Couldn’t be bothered, if I’m honest. The official reason goes like this: one of the kit options has only two small markings on the bow plate; the white was applied in a hurry and covers their locations; so it does have markings, you just can’t see them
• No more dust on the wheels after all. Somehow it seemed too much.
• Enough care over the mantlet – there are rather obvious gaps there that shouldn’t be, and the wash under the moving section is too light
And my usual deliberate mistakes :
• The bumper for the travel lock is too far down the glacis – I completely misread the instructions and it was far too late to correct it when I noticed. So the lock won’t sit flat
• There are still gaps around the travel lock hinge that I should have filled and repainted once the need to move it had passed






Also a family portrait of the M109 with its bigger, harder cousin from Italeri, the M107 (whose barrel is in the travelling position).

And that’s it. Pigsty’s verdict: all in all, a very satisfying build. Few problems, largely good enough out of the box, and an OK result with what is for me a new painting style. It was nice to have a canvas to try it on – assembling the kit is mainly trouble-free (even the tracks, once you get your eye in) and you can concentrate on paint and weathering. But really, it’s vital that you ditch the kit’s tracks if you want a good result.

Jeff - very much liking that Panzerwerfer so far!
Emre - nice M109A6, interesting to see at close quarters how much it's changed over the earlier ones. I didn't even know that was what the periscope looked like under the cover. Have you tried 35mm negative for the glass? It's not see-through but it looks fairly good as a glazed finish.
Looking forward to that AS-90 too, as I have one a long way down the stash.

Fantastic work!

Lars

Sean,great build! The cool camo was really offset with the weatering and dusting.It made the camo stand out. Out standing job.

great work thier sean. i have been really struggling with these darn indy tracks from afv. i may go back and just use the kit tracks for this one and stick these on my m109 that will do later in the year for ths gb

Sean -

That is a beautiful M-109A2. I wish I could do half as well!

Semper Fi,
Dave

I know what you mean! I found the best way was to take them in sections, nine links at a time. Detach, clean up, assemble, realise at least one link is the wrong way round and one end-connector upside-down, dismantle, re-assemble. The beastly bit is cleaning up the parts - at first, you need nerves of steel to take the sprue gate off the end-connectors. But the assembly is a push-fit, which is great. You can wiggle them around to your heart's content without worry.

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see the contrast between kit and replacement tracks ...

Hi,

Here's my entry for this campaign: M40 Big shot, from AFV.

I started with the gun and based on the past reviews, managed to lengthen the barrel using 2 Pz IV's road wheels. Tough job, but definitely fun!

Cheers!

23KK02


Back of hull again...

Hi
Have started to build an album on photobucket for this build as I'm doing a couple of other build & dont have enough storage space for the picture's on here. The album is called GMC Rocket Truck.
Have completed the main framework & tubes for the Truck. Also I have started to put lots of small nuts bolts rivets etc onto the frame & tubes. still have to sort out the wiring for the tubes & the raising mechanisum.
I've managed to glue 1 of the rocket tube set ups in place, looks ok . going to do the 2nd set so they are in the process of being raised. I've added the link below to the album.
http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/oo218/muddyfields/Gmc%20Rocket%20Truck/

Started the Brummbar, worked mostly on the lower parts and started adding the Eduard Zimmerit.

Woow, thing are really cooking in this campaign.

Sean, A great entry in the campaign. That camouflage is stunning.

Emre, that new metal barrel is really adding the feel of the real thing. Well worth the investment. Looking forward to see more.

Turret is halfdone...


There seems to be issues with the placement of the stowage basket...

Alright guys here's what I've gottin done since last photos.I've got all the weathering and chipping done.I've got a little odds and ins to do yet,put the guys hand on. But otherwise she's almost done.If have any suggestions or comments please let me know.

that looks great thier jeff. as for me i am going to put these indy trakcs back in the box and use them for the m109 build that i will do for this gb later in the year. as for the tracks i will us the kit ones. i have ordered some gator gule and i hope that is the ticket to over come the issues with the kit tracks.i have heard good things about this glue and i hope its better than super glue because that dont work with a darn,

Looking good, Jeff.

what are the specifics on that model - who makes the kit, and how was it?

Looks very good, Jeff. Nice weathering and chipping.

The only nickpick is the tracks. They should be closer to the wheels and sag a little - especially on the drice sprocket where the track kind of floats over it.

Very nice job on the camouflage - both on the maultier and the figure.

Thanks for sharing

Hi Jeff, very nice work on the Panzerwerfer. I have to agree with Jesper on the tracks though. I have built the kit myself and I know the kit tracks are useless, I would advise obtaining Masterbox tracks, the Panzer I tracks they produce is cheap and easy to use. If you look at Features, mine is displayed there with Masterbox tracks.

Ok, back to my build. On my last update, I was ready for painting. Since I used a metal barrel, I decided to give an overal Mr Base White to the vehicle. I knew this material is aimed at priming metal figures and such and I found out why, while it adhered nicely to the barrel, it wasn't very good on the plastic parts and didn't stick on the Paladin.



After letting it dry for a day, I moved on, started painting with Tamiya's XF-67 Nato Green. But of course, after painting a Marder 1A3 and a Panzerhaubitze 2000, my stash of 2 bottles of XF-67 was used up, I ran out of paint in the middle of my paintjob.

No worries, I went and purchased another 2 bottles. But look what happened!



The wet looking paint in the middle is the paint from the new bottle. There's a significant color difference! The color in my newly purchased bottles are similar, but they are very different from the previous XF-67 I sprayed on! I am confused.

This is the end job, as you can see the paint is looking "funny". I might have to repaint everything, I will try applying a coat of X-22 and see if everything blends in.


Did anyone else had such a problem with Tamiya before? I remember one of my friends complaning the Dark Yellow he was using was different from a previous bottle, now I can see why.

Thanks for the input on the tracks,and I agree. I had a set of the Masterbox on order they just came in yesterday. But thats 2 days to late,cause I taking Panzerwerfer to a model show this Sat. in Arlington.Vance,the kit is a 1/35 scale Italeri brand,it was a pretty good build,parts fit pretty good.It could use some more interior detail.The rocket turret is lacking alot of detail as the rocket racks.On the turret and the rack's I added alot that was lacking! But in all a good build,now just have to put the new tracks on when I get back from Arlington. Thanks for the good comments ! Emre hang in there with the paint it all wash out !

You will probably have different color with Tamiya because of the blending. It isn´t allways blended enough before painting so with the last bottle your paint is a little bit different then with the new one. That will probably happen more. When one coat of varnish is sprayed after applying a full coat, the strange effect is gone.

Lars

Painted the Paladin with XF-68/69, Nato Black and Brown. Colors look awful for now, they tend to look bleached because of the thinner I use. After a coat of X-22 they should look OK.

I will make touch-ups with XF-67 Nato Green today, then spray on X-22 clear cote. While it is drying I will start working on the AFV Club M-109 tracks.

Ideally, it should be completed in about two weeks, let's see.

Finally...
My Tamyia Brummbar with some Eduard Zimmerit and a Lion Roar Gun.







More to come... still missing the wheels, primer, tracks, equipment ..

Emre,interesting paint job,kinda looks like it might glow in the dark.no just kidding! John,looks like your off to a pretty cool build.I've had the photo etch for that kit if its 35077 .But can't fine the kit.

That's the one Jeff
http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=TA35077

At Greatmodels they have in stock for about 18 bucks..
I recommend the LionRoar Set