Hi bob,
I like the T-97 tank, it came out really well.

Feeling a little better thanks made it upstairs for 1st time in 3 weeks and that was painful and walking i am walking around a little without the crutches.
Thanks for asking Guys

Bob, thanks again for the photos. The last three you posted are great! I was planning on a fairly plain base, but now I'm rethinking it based on the photos. Your dio is really coming along nicely! What colors did you use for the palm trees - trunks and fronds?

I was able to get a little bit accomplished over the weekend. Finished up the figures (minus a few touches here or there) and applied the decals and gloss coat to Colorado. I started the pin wash last night, but didn't get too far.

Everyone, great looking builds!

Michael,
Everything is looking great, I especially like the Marine with the Thompson

Sal,
Make sure you give yourself enough time to heal, joints are a lot of trouble, I still feel it when the weather fronts come through.

Michael,
Great job on the figures, nice camo pattern also. I’m saving my figures for last, never been that great at making them. Colorado is looking great also. The only other thing I can pick out for future info would be the weld on the side bar where the sand skirts are attached. This is the best side view I have of any tank from Tarawa, Commando and you can see where the bars are spot welded. I’ll bet 9 out of 10 people would probably not even notice but I have to find something to pick on you about since you’re doing such a great job.


Edit; Man I just noticed I forgot the welds on my Composite, I can add them fast enough, thanks.

Turning out to be an excellent build, if you decide to do a diorama next to the Steel pillbox let me know, I actually have a lot of info on them. Thinking on the time line, I do not think that the pillbox looked like that until the 3rd day; they make great mention of it being one of the main things holding them up on the left flank and I don't think they would have made much of a difference if they were in that condition.

Thanks for the update,
Bob

Bob
Great job on the diorama so far. Can't wait ti see the finished product
Michael Great looking Marines
Tom

Robert, really great work on the Stuart.
Michael, the figures look great. I put the slings on mine yesterday, and I'm finally getting them finished. I had some help as one of the kids "painted" them with glue. Don't know if it was the boy or our three year old who got the glue after he left it out. Makes the fabric cover on the helmet look a little wrinkled.
Bob, the dio looks great. I'm sure from reading that army tanks were used frequently to support Marines. Tankers pushed their Shermans places no one thought they could go to support infantry during the battle. Nice type 97, too. Did you use actual IJA colors, and if so, where did you get the brown. Was that the Tamiya kit?
I'll post photos as soon as I can. Rain is keeping me out of the yard, but SWMBO is keeping me off of the modeling table.

Hi Guys,
Was able to convince my daughter to bring down the Water Buffalo to me to finish it up. Here are my results

Did go to crazy with the weathering

Also converted the Marine in the back to a GI by giving him and OD green helmet cover

Any constructive comments are welcome. Im calling this finished, for now, but then again are they ever really finished? Bob is running a great campaign here and I really enjoyed it. I have learned so much from the guys here and I will continue to read this tread. Thanks again Bob and guys thanks for the help

Sal, it looks good if any thing it is not dirty enough.

Bob

Thanks Bob, Your right as I look at the photos I could use more sand on the treads. Gonna have to get some pastels and dirty/sand it up a bit

Russ,
When can we see some work from the “kids”? You already have them started on the glue, just a natural step to go to “here put this together”. Aren’t kids great, my Granddaughter can’t stand “Grandpas smelly room”.

Sal,
Congrats on the completion. Did you use a wash? Basically it’s a much diluted brown that’s painted over the entire model; it will tone down the shiny parts and settle into the crevices to form shadows. Wash the entire model,even your Army dude and let it sit for a day. Depending on which type of paint you use take 10% paint to 90% thinner. It also helps the powders or pastels to adhere in weathering. I really like all the colors I can see in your weathering, a lot of people miss that, I’ve never seen anything in heavy use that hasn’t various shades of color in it. And this also makes you the 3rd completer of the Campaign, Congrats. Thanks for the kind words and any help with the rest of the Campaign would be much appreciated. You take care of that ankle,
Thanks,
Bob


So far the completion status
1st. David Carlson CALLSIGN: TheDiggs, USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE 413)
2nd. Thomas F. Sweeney, CALLSIGN: tsweeney, Diorama Tarawa Marines at the wall
3rd. Sal CALLSIGN: ltb073, LVT 4 Saipan
Close to completion;
Grant Voakes, CALLSIGN: GVoakes, to finish just pick one of the models submitted in the gallery and select the reference for it.

Guys, thanks for the comments on my photos! I'm at a point on this build where I start to really slow down. I struggle with how I want to finish and weather. I think I'll be ready for a matte coat this weekend, then I need to start working on my base so I can maintain consistent colors, etc.

Bob, I've been looking at a few photos of the steel pillboxes, and I think it would be too far outside my scratch building abilities. I like to push myself, but I was happy just to get the water can rack built for the back of my Sherman! I'm keeping it in my journal for a future diorama, though.

Sal, nice build! The only comment I have would be to add a wash as Bob mentioned. It's a comment I get on most of my builds too.

Hi Guys,
Michael, Bob Thanks for the comments, I think i may be missing something here please let me know. What I did was mixed a solution of 80% water and 20 % Blue Green acrylic and used that all over the outside after I added the rust strikes. That I guess is the colors that Bob is talking about. I used a Tamiya weathering kit (Birthday gift) on the figure. Its good for small items but not so great for larger things. I think my flash makes him look shiner then he is. So my question is should I be doing another wash with a diluted brown after the sand on the tracks or before and dark brown or light brown?
Thanks guys,
Sal

This question is for everyone. I am looking for US MARINE GREEN for WWII tanks. Which manufacture captures the closest shade. I know that this is a prickly subject, but I am lazy at the moment with finals this week and all of my time devoted to study. If you can help me out I would really appreciate it.

BTW I have a product report on GATOR GLUE.
1. Application is a dream, not as tedious or labor intensive as super glue in applying. Just use a tooth pick, fine brush, or any small syringe (they can be cleaned with water.
2. Cleanup is a snap with a wet brush, cotton tip, or paper towel. It does not destroy the paint.
3. The glue dries clear and in some cases can simulate weld seams with a little influence before dry.
4. The work time depends on the quantity of glue used, but at least you have the option of moving an item/PE/small part before it dries.
5. As the bottle states, the part attached is there to stay it does not pop off because the glue dries with some tensil.
6. The bottle contains quite an amount of glue for what you need to use.

I have become a believer in this product and Kenny Loup gave my questions his personal attention.

Bob

Sal, sounds to me like you have a good process. The wash I was thinking about would be a dark wash to make the details stand out. You could apply it before the other, lighter wash. I've been working on washes and pin washes a lot lately, b/c I always seem to hold back on using a dark wash. Thus, I get the same comment when I post photos. I do agree with you that a lot of weathering can't be seen in photos. I have the same problem with the pictures that I post.

Here is the process I've used over the past week or so on my Sherman:

After a Future/gloss coat, I applied an overall wash with about an ounce of thinner (Daler Rowney Low Odor Thinner from Walmart) and a pea-sized amount of Black (Mig Abteilung oil) followed by another wash or two using Wash Brown (Mig Abteilung oil). I let those dry a day or so between each wash, then I started applying a pin wash using Mig Productions Dark Wash. When I'm finished, I plan to spray a matte coat then move on to some other steps.

I've been experimenting with various wash products and, so far, I like the Mig Dark Wash the best. It's easy to "fix" mistakes with a little thinner and if you let it sit a minute or two after you shake it, the wash won't be as heavy. I practice various washes and techniques on an M3 Stuart I built up as a test kit. It really helps to have a "dummy" model to try things out on first.

Overall, I really like your build! Did the kit go together well?

Michael

Bob C., I forgot to mention the welds on the side bar. I would never have thought about that, but once you pointed it out, I started thinking. I'm pretty sure the welds are already on the PE part, but I guess I ended up sanding them down after I added the PE to strips of styrene. Good catch!

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the tips I'll try some of them out. It never occurred to me to put more than 1 wash on it.
The kit went together fairly well not many pin marks or excess needed to be removed. The treads however were 2 piece vinyl and very thick which resulted in the front drive sprocket braking off 1 side. This was repaired with a small piece of paperclip melted in place to act as an axle.

Michael,
Next best thing would be the log wall next to Bonneyman’s Hill, which should be pretty simple to make, every diorama is a challenge, that’s what makes it so much fun.

Sal,
Michael gave an excellent example, it’s just an overall wash before and specific weathering is done. It always goes into the recessed areas that accomplishes 2 things, creates shadows in those areas and actually brings out the higher areas. That Tamiya items is for higher surfaces for replicating rubbed or worn areas. I tried mine on the tracks but found out it was completely dry. Excellent idea on the paper clip, I just slap glue on it and clamp it back together.

Bob,
You’ll notice the difference colors on my 2 tanks. The main thing to remember is who exactly is going to be doing the painting. It’s probably the guys on KP and they are given a bucket and mop onboard ship on the way to the battle and told to go at it. There is no specific color specified so shades of OD are the way to go, and hopefully a color photo along the way sometimes helps. For an example, on the way to Iwo Jima some extra modifications were made to the tanks which had to be painted on the way. That’s how you end up with a tank looking like this coming off the boat before any fighting;


I also recommend the Gator glue; use it most of the time on PE.

About the only thing I accomplished this weekend was to give up on the name Adamzapple. I kept messing up and used up all my M’s. So I switched to Arsenic and finished up. I also noted I moved them a bit more forward then I was supposed to but to late now, money’s to tight to keep buying those transfers. Got a bit started on the Army tank but ran out of time.

Hope to see some updates from some of the people we haven’t heard from in a while.
Thanks guys,
Bob

@ Bob C. I had already mixed my own shade for USMC green and will keep on using it. Thanks for the photos and I remember when in that paint was up to the individual painting at the time

Bob R.

Sorry Bob did I miss understand your question, or not explain myself, which I do a lot. Basically there is no "Marine Green", I'm sure there are propably 3 or 4 companys that put out something they call that. It's just easier to mix your own. You can't go wrong since there is no specific example known to man for WWII Marine Green.
Bob

Bob
for Marine Corps uniforms I use Vallejo Green Gray and add some sunny skin tone. It gives the uniforms a faded look.

Tom

Thomas, thanks for the input I had already mixed up some homemade Tamiya color for that USMC green but was not sure about it. After Bob Cards information I will just go ahead and use it.

Bob

Well 60 days left. Remember that there will be no extensions of the Campaign. That was decided on when it was first created.
Have a bunch of Starters with only 3 finishers so far.
Lets see those updates everyone.

I finished all the decals, finished the radio and was in the process of installing the antennas and poles when I had to stop to let things dry. When I finally have everything finished I'll post more photos, then it's off to weathering everythiing together.

Thanks everyone,
Bob

Well the first campaign I've ever led is on the final wind down so now I can get back to other things.

@Bob C - Is it acceptable that my reference picture for Destroyer to be the one that you posted here early on? I've virtually exhausted all Internet and local sources (read: library) looking for a picture or even a reference to the tank in text. If the answer to this question is a negative then I'll have to graciously bow out of the campaign.

As I have written the In-Box review of the Dragon Tarawa Sherman for Armorama, I'll continue my build and submit it as a Built article.

Just for curiosity's sake I'll post a couple of recent progress pictures.

Here's the M4A2 with more body paint applied and an old Hasegawa 55 gal. drum sitting on the air intake. I used the drum purely for dimensional purposes.



The air intake cover with a cut down drum has proven to be a major challenge. To the left, below the circle template, is my second attempt that is basically a soda straw attached to a sheet of styrene with the area below it cut out. On the tank itself is my third attempt using Platistruct doweling. Even after using a Dremel to thin down the edges I think it's still too thick. I checked out the LHS to see if they had any appropriate screening material (like for model trains) but again came up empty.



Another question: When the crews cut the drum down would they bother to put screening over the stump as was not the original grill for the engine compartment still in place?

Cheers,
Jan

Nice work Jan, I use the same template for my scracth build and school work.

Bob