Val, that Challenger looks amazing and is a pretty seriously complicated looking bit of modelling; it sounds a little like you might have got to a similar stage with all your detailing and scratching that I got to with my scratched rocket launcher rails - like, it all got so fiddly diddly and complicated that it was a bit of a relief to finish the construction...? The base is also very nice and neat, any clues as to how it was done?

I almost had a disaster as well with the said launcher assembly. Using a dark oil wash with a lot of white spirit thinners had a bad effect on some of the rails. I'm sure no-one will recall from what seems like years ago that the rails were sandwiches of two styrene strips cemented on to two square rods; unfortunately the cement was very quick drying and I think in a few places the joins weren't fully bonded. The white spirit seems to have cause the unbonded styrene to buckle, and some of the rails got some nasty bendy separated edges. I managed to rejoin them with cement, but washes of the solvent had the usual effect of removing paint, so some retouching had to be done. Hopefully that will all get covered over by some of the blackening that I plan on doing for the rocket exhaust stains.

Tonight I created the basic groundwork for a base, from polymer clay, with lots of footprints courtesy of the lying down bloke that comes with the Airfix Blitz truck, as well as tyre marks, etc. Last night I did a bit of oil paint drybrushing so I am really now waiting for that to dry, probably a few days. I also attached fairly acceptable home made SS number plates; these were ink jet printed on to glossy photo paper, coated a few times with Liquitex gloss varnish, then the paper backing removed by water soaking and scraping leaving the varnish layer with the image. This was then cut out and glued on. I still can't quite make up my mind whether to leave it in the dark yellow / green scheme or to winter camouflage over it.

John, I won't suggest the above method for your M60 decals; the problem with it is that the resulting decal, though quite thin, is nowhere near as thin as a normal decal, but is OK for something like a number plate, which in real life would be a metal plate, so the thickness is acceptable.

Painting the markings is obviously an alternative, but the normal way would be to paint the colour for the markings first, then mask them before painting the main colour over them. Painting the markings using a mask is a possibility however if you can spray paint them. I must admit I don't know what markings are appropriate for this vehicle - is it these V shaped things like on the Revell M60 A1 with ERA box art ?

Thanks for the suggestions, I thought about masking but my spraying skills are pretty awful (my 'workbench' is a wooden board on my lap, so the airbrush comes out so rarely that I've never mastered it) Instead I'm taking the easy way out by bidding for another copy of the kit on eBay (I'm pretty sure the different versions use entirely different decals and I'd already decided I'd like to build another M60 without ERA, so it's no real loss to apy for another kit). Hopefully I'll get one in time for the end of the campaign, but if not I'm happy to wait (I've got plenty to keep me busy).
And incidentally, yes, the markings are as shown on the Revell M60 A1 with ERA box art.

Cheers
John

Val

That is pretty damn impressive and shows off the menacing lines of the Challenger really well. Nice work there!

Do I still have a chance to get credit for this build, I forgot to post to the campaign gallery (I need to figure that out). Anyway, I finished this on back in early March and have been enjoying everyone's builds and forgot to add to the gallery. Thanks.

Thanks for the comments guys!

@TankTurk74- Adrian, I have two of your pictures in the offsite Feature Gallery but could use a couple of more for that purpose. Those you can post here in this thread.

No, you are not too late to post to the official Kitmaker campaign gallery. To do so you can find the instructions at our separate Braille Battlefield Site. You only need one picture in the Kitmaker Gallery and then I will "blue you out" in the campaign chart.

@Sudzonic - Scott, I did a similar M1 to yours years ago so I thankfully don't remember any difficulties with the tracks, other than my usual dislike of the L & L type.

Cheers,
Jan

Evening all,
I've just done some weathering to the soft top of the 88 tractor: I was trying to suggest fading around the support struts with darker areas between, as might occur when the top is down for significant periods. It's my first attempt with this effect, I'm fairly happy with it:


Other than this, the Comet and the Chally are also progressing, but the M60A1 is still sat bereft of decals.

Val, I take back my spurious comments about 4 foot tall paint pots. Having seen the finished article it's obvious that you've created a 1:1 scale vignette and then parked the real thing on it. I haven't quite worked out how you mocked up the hand holding the real tank, either lots of concealed scaffolding or Photoshop
It is an absolutely incredible build, a true work of art. You should be justly proud!! (and no, I won't be posting photos of my Chally on the same page!)

Cheers to all,
John

Hard as it seems to me to believe, but this is nearly finished. The wife agrees that it is just about the ugliest thing I've made so far, but I see that as good. Resisted white camo, but went for lots of smoke staining (probably too much.)

The chassis, body and launcher are now united, I just need to add width indicators and aerial. Following trouble with some of the delicate bits I decided to leave these until it is on a base. I'm awaiting some bits and bobs for landscaping from the post office, having been inspired by a few super examples in this campaign and in the Matchbox campaign.

Matthew, your build is awesome, the launcher assembly would be amazing enough, but scratch-built...wow!! I wouldn't call the smoke overdone, it looks fine to me.

I've been trying a paint chip technique that I picked up from Panzer Alexander's excellent Leopold build on my Airfix 88. It's still a work in progress, I took the photos now because I wanted to catch the sun. At the moment I think it looks a bit over-done, I'm hoping subsequent filters and pigment might knock the effect back a little. Even if it ends up a bit of a failure, it's still good to try new techniques.




Whew, that campaign end date is suddenly bearing down rather fast!!

Cheers
John

Thanks for the nice comments John. Your 88 does look a little like it's done a few rounds in one of those potato peeling machines, but I think the way you've done the actual effect looks very good, like it is really chipped. Agree that once you have done some washes / glazes over that it will probably tone the whole thing down and bring it together more. Also these big photos we do of our tiny models are so unforgiving - especially when you use the big yellow ball in the sky as your light source

Hi dear friends,

Val, John, Matthew good job.

@Val, challenger 2 is very fantastic..

@John, it's not Airfix...İt's 1/1 scale..

Matthew, you've caught me!! It's not a hand-painted effect at all. I actually put some thick undercoats on before the final colour and then blitzed the assembled model in my Kenwood blender for a few seconds.
(WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!)

Since taking the photos I've applied a couple of filters in the original sand colour which (under artificial light) appear to have toned down the chipping effect. I completely agree that natural sunshine is pretty unforgiving , but as I haven't got a flash booth I much prefer the image sharpness from sunlight compared to the camera's built in flash.

In hindsight this is probably a good example of the value of forward planning. If I'd decided at the outset that the 88 was going to look like it had been used for target practice, I could've dented and bent the mud guards and bullet pocked the armour and then applied chipping just to those areas. I suspect that would've given a more controlled and realistic finish. It's a shame Erhan's comment about being 1:1 scale isn't true, the level of wear would look spot on if only I could let the tyres down and pose it in a ditch half-covered in trash.

Still, as a test piece I've learned a lot from it, and it's made me want to properly plan and build a really beaten-up and war-torn subject.

Anyone fancy running a 'Fit to Drop' campaign?

So... This is the end My third and last entry for this campaign.
Enjoy!








Thank you to all for great fun and a lot of fantastic projects to share!

I have been dropping by and keeping track of progress but have been distracted with or by non-modelling things. I also notice that in the last few days we have exceeded 46,000 views. It's obvious that interest in this campaign has greatly exceeded my and I believe many others expectations. With approximately two weeks remaining I hope that many of you that are close to finishing can actually do so. I must also say that it is rather sad to see that there are still so many yellow callsigns in the chart. I had hoped that with the extension we would have seen the number diminish far more than it did. Now on to observations.

@namibrain - John, you are really turning them out. Your Airfix half-track looks far better than my last attempt at doing one. I may have to save mine for a Braille Tank Overhaul campaign or such. The 88 is an interesting experiment and looks more like it belongs in a scrap yard after the war or one that I have seen at a museum workshop waiting to be cleaned up.

@firstcircle - The Maultier is looking fabulous and I concur with others that the soot is not over done. I recall reading somewhere that many of these rocket carrying vehicles often had large patches of paint totally burnt off them. Should I even mention the possibility of Katyusha rockets filling the rails???

@eremzet - Thank you for gracing our campaign with a further build. The R-35 looks fabulous and it's nice to see something in a multicoloured camo scheme.

I should have the offsite gallery updated with the more recent completions by the end of the weekend. As it stands right now the gallery has 128 entries and I have about twenty outstanding to place in it. I almost dread the effort that it will take to prepare all these images for the Feature.

Cheers,
Jan

I should know better and have been away for a bit so I've had some serious catching up to do. I am totally at a loss to comment on each individual build, but I can only say that they are all GREAT!!!. The wheels on my Pak gun have broken off no less than another six to eight times and the status of the little Panzer hasn't changed. I am still hoping to complete them before the end date.

Jan, I had a look through that offsite gallery and it is HUGE!!! I can appreciate the effort it must have taken to keep track of all that stuff. This campaign just ROCKS!!!!

Regards,
AJ

Another 1000 and another page in just a little over a week! You people need a life!

Seriously, well done all and keep those posts, builds and images coming. Straight jacket aside, I can still type with my nose.

@weathering_one - I'm glad that you like the offsite gallery. I've had to increase the number of images it can hold at least three times already. Perhaps you might consider reinforcing the wheels/suspension on your PaK with brass wire. Just drill a hole in where each piece breaks and insert the wire into it for strength. I fear that each time you re-glue it with plastic cement you are deteriorating the surrounding plastic (or so I have read).

Cheers,
Jan

Radek,
You have inspired me to start painting my Matchbox FT17. I don't know if I will get all of what I had intended to do for Braille Battlefield done but I am hoping to get the FT17 painted.

Jan: Wait, you mean this isn't a life?

Gary: Go for it!

Val,
That Challenger is one helluva build!

I can totally sympathize with the 'busy with work' and life, as my absence and lack of activity attest to. BUT, looking back at your last progress report to the final product you have skipped some vital steps! (Unless I missed something. In that case just ignore me.) Such as: how did you paint the body vs your applied camo netting; your weathering technique(s); how did you accomplish that tiny slat armor?

Have you been approached about doing a feature article? Hopefully so. Do you have, or can you fake, interim progress photos? That would suffice to fill in the gaps.

What is next on your workbench?

Keith

Thanks Keith! Nobody have approached me yet of doing a feature article but if somebody do then I will be willing. I have the progress of my barracuda netting but not the step by step but I can always do it in blank styrene as step by step, its just my hands is to messy to handle my DSLR for shot. I don't want to mess up my camera.

As for the pictures on the painting and weathering, I usually skip this as I want to surprise people with my build plus ofcoarse painting and weathering is a messy thing though i took a couple of shots doing the road wheel weathering. Its simply doing a colour modulation in a smaller scale to be honest. Nothing extraordinary. So there you go, simple as that. Thanks for liking my work!

Slats are just OOB straight for the kit. All the modifications and corrections are all scratchbuilt. I could says that this is the first 1/72 Challenger 2 2008. Thanks to this GB campaign (BIG thanks to Jan for inviting me) which gave me my inspiration!

Thanks to all!

A couple of light filters of the original colour over the 88 seems to have toned the chipping down a bit. This is how it looks using flash, but I'd have to say it looks better via Mk1 eyeball...


Here's the tractor and 88 together, I haven't given the tractor the same 'maniac with an angle-grinder effect', obviously it missed that battle.

I'm going to call it a day on weathering now so there's just the windscreen and headlights left to add. I'm also going to pretend that I haven't seen the ejector pin mark in the radiator (it only showed itself after a pin wash was applied)... this is why we just love Airfix so much:


Hopefully the next photos of these will be completed shots for the gallery.

Cheers
John

Hi

John, we are not look to radiator this is a small detail, it is bad luck...

I completed my third model... UM Model / Su76 with winter camouflage... and I upload kitmaker/campaign gallery

Other pictures : http://www.modelizmir.com/forum/index.php?topic=2194.90

Excellent!

That whitewash really replicates a mop application in a 1:1 field application sense (which it probably was!)

Greetings fellow BB Campaigners. I am still watching this thread but have been busying myself with trying to organize all the pictures. I believe that this campaign might break a few records with even the number of "official" gallery images. There are 102 images in it and around 150+ in the offsite feature gallery. Great work by all!

@naimbrain - John, the 88 is looking much better now and the tractor should really help when it's dirtied up a bit. There is not too much one can do about the ejector pin mark on the radiator other than to say that it had a traffic mishap with a trailer carrying a log. Accidents do happen in the heat of combat.

@erhntly - The SU-76 is looking quite good, Erhan. THe whitewash looks suitably distressed or should I say typically sloppy and applied in haste by the crew.

With barely two weeks left we are getting down to the proverbial wire, people!
According to my notes there should be at least half a dozen or more that are extremely close to finishing. IMPORTANT - Please remember to post at least one picture of your completed build in the Kitmaker campaign gallery. There are still a couple of people that have not done so. As always, please check the master chart for your current status as it stands.

Good luck to all remaining participants.

Cheers,
Jan

Hi dear BB modeler,

Thank you Michael and Jan... My first whitewash.. I learn from you and would apply..