Jeremy, it's always nice to see some build pictures of this monster and especially the one with some paint on it. It looks like a nicely detailed kit and I just love the way you have those small hatches partially open.




Glad to hear that we might have another convert to the wonderful world of Braille Scale. But, the "proof of the pudding" will be when those kits in the box start making it to the workbench. I'm glad that this campaign has encouraged you to give this scale a try.

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To everyone else slogging away, let me know where you currently stand with your builds. I am trying to keep on top of things but to err is human.

Cheers,
Jan tic...toc...tic...toc...tic......

Thanks Jan, there's more that I wanted to do with this kit such as replace the fenders but I need to keep things realistic for the moment. I figured having the hatches popped open would add a little life to the beast. I'm wondering if I should have held off on the primer to help keep the details crisp, but I didn't want to run the risk of having problems with the base color.

The Trumpeter Ferdinand and Elefant are next on the list, I'll post build logs once I start them

Haven't made it to the wash yet. Applying the decals has been no simple task and has taken up all of my available modeling time for the past two days. Only two decals left to go, will post photos if I'm successful tonight.

Alright guys, wasn't sure that I was going to pull this off but they turned out alright. Certainly not what I intended on spending my time doing, but that's how it goes sometimes. Ignore the weird colors, had to shoot these under fluorescent lighting with a flash.







I just realized that I still need to add the front fender brackets before I apply the pin wash. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, just hope that the wash itself goes ok.

Anybody know a good paint/thinner ratio for pin washes in this scale?

I am not sure if you used acrylics or enamels.

If you did use acrylics or have sprayed on an acrylic clear, then lighter fluid is a good fast drying thinner for washes.

I don't have any lighter fluid atm, but alcohol may do the trick. I'll give it a try and post results if I get a chance to by tonight.

Petroleum based thinners are the way to go for washes over acrylics.

Well Jeremy, it appears that you have become a one person dynamo in this thread. It's surprising how a digital camera can distort colours when not set in a perfect environment. As I have no knowledge of your camera I am at a loss to offer any suggestions other than, if possible, set the while balance to the appropriate light source. (fluorescent?)

As for washes, it depends on what type of paint you are using. In my particular case I use acrylics and my general rule is four drops of the appropriate thinner (Tamiya X-20A for their paints), dip my brush lightly into the colour I want and swish it around the thinner. Depending on the effect or intensity you want you may need to vary the amounts.

Speaking of decals, if you find Braille scale bad you haven't lived until you've applied decals to a 1/144 USN Super Tomcat.



Each Phoenix missile had no less than about six decals the size of the head of a pin.

Cheers,
Jan

Off topic Jan, I have made this Revell 1/144 F-14D 2 years ago and I experienecd how hard the application of that decals to the plane. I have posted my work an ARC years ago, entered this baby in On Track show in Folkestone last Feb. this year and it won gold. Anyway here are some of the pics!...and the decals....









Sorry for the off topic!

Val, your post is and isn't such. It's about building small scale and the "fun" that we can experience in that adventure. I too built the Revell F-14D about a little over a year ago for the Airedale Navy campaign here on Kitmaker. It was my first 1/144 kit and my first aircraft in 15+ years. I didn't know what I was getting into but it turned out to be quite the learning experience. It also made the tire pressure decals on modern wheeled German vehicles seem easy when compared to those microscopic stencil decals on the Tomcat. BTW, it appears that we built the same kit and used the same squadron decals. THe only difference is that you built aircraft 163 while mine was 164.

Now where are those 1/144 Tiger I's that were being built for this campaign???

Cheers,
Jan

Good grief those things are small!

It's not that the decals for this kit were too small, it was that the numbers are all individual decals. I'll tell you the story of what happened if you like, but first I want to finish this kit up. I cleaned up and painted the extra fender components along with the idler and drive sprockets. I used Tamiya TS-3 for the base coat. Will check to see what I have as thinners so I can get that wash on. Then all I'll have to do shoot matte and install the tracks.

I'll check my camera to see if it can adjust for the lighting. More photos tonight

Alright, I mixed up and applied a pin wash to everything but the running gear and suspension.

I tried messing with the white settings on the camera and here is what I came up with for flourescent:


And incandescent just for comparison:


Seems like it made things worse taking it off of the auto setting. Anyways here are a couple more shots of the pin wash.




The wash is heavier in some areas than others, but this is my first time applying a pin wash and it was pretty fun

Suspension and running gear tomorrow, then matte coat, details, and tracks and I'll be ready to call this done! .. Oh, and with some good pictures

be quickly Jeremy we are waiting for finish...

Working on it bud

Done with pin washing, just letting it dry so I can apply matte clear on top. Then I can paint a couple details and pop those tracks on

Applied Testors Dullcote, about to work on painting details, then more Dullcote tomorrow and tracks

Hi Jeremy,
Looks like you're moving right along on that Elefant. I'm getting closer with my Sherman, still lots of things to do though. I got the base coat and some detail painting done. I ended up scratchbuilding some brackets for the tracklink storage on the back and a periscope for the driver's hatch as I'll leave it open. Here are some pictures:

All parts:


Brackets:






Still lots of stuff to do, including camo (black spots), pinwash and weathering, painting the tracks, decals, and final assembly. Wish me luck!!

Nice work Mark! Doubt you'll need the it, but good luck tomorrow

Great to see the progress on your builds, Jeremy and Mark. Hopefully you won't run into any snags in finishing up.

Speaking of finishing, today is technically the last day of this campaign. As far as I was concerned, once the time at the International Date Line in the Pacific tics past midnight it's over. That still gives you all quite a few good hours.

By my calculations or whatever, we have four people so close to finishing that I believe that they can taste it. Due to inclement weather and roof issues in my location I haven't been able to participate in this thread lately as much as I would have liked. It also doesn't help that my Internet connection has been affected by the storms and has been prone to cutting out at the most inopportune times. Add to all of this is the fact that our contractor said that they hope to start the preliminary roof work this week but timing is subject to the weather conditions.

SO, what am I rambling on about? While I have received a couple of subtle inquiries about a small extension, I am prone to say no. However, and please read the following carefully, I will not be anal or Draconian about the timing of people posting a finished build in the Kitmaker Gallery or pictures in this thread. If you can get those pictures posted within the next few days then you will still qualify.

Don't think of this as an extension but a small temporary (very temporary) reprieve. Personal and world events (earthquakes, floods, tornados, storms) during this campaign have made it very clear to me the global nature of our membership. I will hopefully start awarding ribbons within the next day or so.

As for the Feature, don't expect it anytime soon. Matthew and I have a lot of work cut out for us so I can't foresee it being prepared until later in the Northern Hemisphere's Summer. I'll post further information either in this thread or on the campaign's offsite site.

Thanks for your understanding and congratulations to all as we just broke 48,000 views. Everyone's posts and especially images has made this campaign what it has been.


Cheers,
Jan

...All good things must come to an end.
...As we bid "farewell" to another successfull campaign.
...It was the best of campaigns, it was the worst of campaigns (not really).
...Nothing left but the crying.
...This is not 'goodbye' but a 'till we meet again'...

...on the next campaign. But I believe everyone needs a well deserved rest. Just watching the builds unfold and progress after completing my one measely model was exhausting enough!

Congrats gentlemen on a well planned, excellently executed, and extremely fun-to-participate-in-as-well-as-follow-along event.

But now what am I gonna occupy my time with?

Keith

Thanks Jan! I'm still waiting for the dang thing to dry so that I can set it down and take some pictures for the campaign gallery which means I'll have to wait until tomorrow so that I can have some good lighting for the gallery pics.

I had left off the jack for ease of painting, and when I took it out to apply Dullcote the wind became really gusty and just about yanked the paper bag I had everything taped to out of my hand. It launched the jack right off and I haven't seen it since

Soooooo, down by one tow hook and one jack....

This has been a blast even though I didn't have the time I wanted to dedicate to it. I think that I've broken through a lot of ground in regards to improving my skills thanks to this campaign. Now on to my T-34/76 for the getter done campaign

A few days back Jan asked if the campaign had gone quiet due to feverish building to meet the campaign deadline. Well in my case I was trying to meet the 'six builds' challenge that Jan had previously thrown down at my feet many, many pages ago.

Jan, I know you were only kidding mate, but a challenge is a challenge. So now I present my final offerings. As always for me 'finished' is a relative term. Having reviewed the photos I've noticed a few extra touches that need adding, but given that the deadline is officially today, I'm going to call them completed...

Revell 1/72 M60A1 with ERA:






My main problem with this build was carelessness. I managed to break off the MG gun barrel but remarkably I found it in the carpet, and then I managed to lose the decals. I eventually ordered an entire replacement kit from eBay, and sure enough the day after applying the new decals, the originals turned up!

1/72 Challenger 1:






I feel that the biggest let-down with this Chally kit is the solid stowage bins. Eventually I hope to make some tissue paper tarps to cover them, I suspect this would really raise the appearance of this kit.

Airfix 1/76 German 88 and tractor:




I experimented with drilling out the headlights and then creating glass using drops of Klear. It wasn't overly successful, I think the klear may have been a mistake (however it did a good job of attaching the windscreen). Given the vintage of this Airfix kit, it's not surprising that it required a lot of TLC to get rid of the clumsy feel of the over-thick parts. Given the limitations of the kit I'm fairly happy with the results.

Revell (ex Matchbox) 1/76 A34 Comet:








I love these old Matchbox kits. The quality is well off by today's standards, but for pure nostalgia they are priceless.

Campaign build 'group' photo (minus a Revell 1/72 T80 which is currently on active service in a display case on my desk at work):

(Jan, with the T80 I make that nine!!)

This photo shows the real value of this campaign for me. All of these kits had been languishing for years awaiting completion, and in most cases I'd been putting them off because I didn't have the confidence to finish them. Thanks to the advice and support of fellow campaign members (plus a deadline, they're always good for making me focus) these lucky few are now complete, plus I feel more confident about tackling the rest of my army of partial builds.

Bearing in mind Jan's comment above re having a few more days to submit photos I'll hang fire on uploading to the gallery for a couple of days to see if I can get some better daylight shots.

Cheers to all!

John

Val, where did you get the over-sized iPod?

(Nice work on the F-14 in that scale...)

@John: that's quite a tally you've got there. I wish I could be as diligent, maybe I would have finished the Aber Sherman as well (will probably follow Jan's Sherman to the Sherman campaign.

@Jeremy: Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your finished Elefant...

I'm just waiting for the Glosscote to dry so I can decal and add weathering. Still have to finish the tracks as well, but I'm getting close!

Alright, paint is sorta dry so I installed the tracks. Will have to take better photos tomorrow, but these'll have to do for now.





Cheers

Well, I'm late as usual but I'm still in it. After almost three months of having fun with this project it is finally 100% done.


Airbrushed the primer.


The original Russian armor green (4B0) color lightened with a little white and then lightened even further for spraying over the sun exposed areas.


'What the @#&%!' What happened to that ugly green? Same green just filtered with oils. I plan on doing a build log on another subject and will do a step by step on my painting method, OK! There was just no time left to take anymore photographs I just had to keep going at that point in order to make the extension deadline date.




I took the North Vietnamse stars from the Trumpter T-34/85 Model 1944 kit and used Wooland Scenics dry transfers for the turret numbers. After applying the numbers I had to carefully remove some of the transfer material with a sewing needle to replicate the stenciled numbers.




This shot is for you Jan! I'm really happy with the painting results on the diching log. Credit goes to Jan, aka 'tread_geek' for his wood scribing technique featured on his Matchbox T- 80 build log!





Hope you like the results.

I feel sad that this campaign is come to a close. Jan and Matthew you've both done an outstanding job of putting the braille builds on the map! Also many thanks to Gary Kato aka, 'GaryKato' for all the campaign support.

I so wanted to give a personal response to each of those still posting here after my last post but I'm fighting a terrible fever due to a head cold and its hard for me to concentrate on writing. But I want you to know that I'm very thrilled and glad to be a part of this campaign with so many telented and interested braille builders. Hoping to see more of your builds on the Braille Forum.

-Eddy