I am working on a UH-1B Huey Gunship (Revell 1/48 because it was one of the first kits I ever built back in the eighties when I was a kid). Bit intimidated considering I mostly do armour and helicopters are not my thing. Some of the stuff you folks are doing is mind-blowing!

How do I submit the photes for the campign? Do I do it here or in my gallery? I know these may be some silly questions but it is my first campaign submission. Thanks guys.

Matt: welcome to the forums and the campaigns. Somebody will be able to post a link to a tutorial for posting photos, but in the meantime, I will tell you what I do:

This is for pictures in the forum posting: I have a Photobucket account where I store the photos on the internet. I like photobucket because after you upload to their site, when you hover over the image, you get an [img] code which you can copy by clicking on it. Then just paste that into your forum reply and it will go get the photo on the actual post (it will just be a bunch of code when you are typing the reply, but the picture comes up after it is submitted).

At the end of the campaign, you have to put photos (usually just 1 or 2 of the completed build) into the campaign gallery. This one is more tricky to find. Toward the top of this screen click on Photos, then scroll down and click on Campaigns, then Currently Active Campaigns, then find the campaign you are participating in and upload to that. I believe there is a separate login for that, so you might have to login again the first time, but not sure.

Hope this helps and isn't too confusing. Welcome aboard and I look forward to your hog.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Bruce: Indeed! It was very impressive and demonstrated well what those birds could do in the hands of a capable pilot

Matt: I encourage you to use a Photobucket account as Zon suggested. This way we don't further contribute to overloading the KitMaker Network's user gallery.

Hi all,

here is an update i forgot to post: the base painting on my 3 figs. I don't know yet if i'll continue with acrylic or if i'll try artist oil colors....will decide when i paint my anglo zulu war' rifleman in oil ones, whether i'll have good feelings with oil or not...

So, the mid-standing Sherman pilot with primer



and then with base painting



The tank leader







And the para officer, it will wear a camouflage jacket, i'll add color blurs lately







I'm waiting my zulu war rifleman to be ready to be paint for a big painting party...

cheers
nico

Cheers! Appreciate the help.

Nico: Keep up the good work, that's no easy task!

Matthew: Feel free to ask any other questions you may have

Jeremy,

Just saw this, consider me in, as well. Will sign up on the campaigns!

Maybe do my namesake, PBR_Streetgang! From Apocalypse Now! Only just a movie, but it was a Navy PBR.

Will have to get on the stick, here...

Bill B.

Just spotted this too.
I've just started a Chaffee, which was used by the French at Dien Bien Phu.
If there's no objections I'll sign up with that.

Welcome to the campaign William and David! No objections, just post pics of your work ASAP David, and post pics of yours as soon as you are ready to start William

Cheers Jeremy

Some good builds here.
I plan on doing these two.
First off the Airfix Cessna O-1F Bird Dog, to represent the important role of the FAC in supporting ground units.

And if I have time, the Heller T-28 Trojan of the 1st Air Commando's 1963.

Very interesting choices Stephen. I look forward to seeing how the Airfix Cessna builds up for sure, and that T-28 will certainly be pretty unique as far as this capmaign goes

I think thats the one thing that interests me with Vietnam, so much different stuff was in use.
The Cessna's not a bad little kit. I did one a few years back but it suffered an unfortunate fate when a video tape fell off the shelf above it. Not much was salvageable. I have kept the rocket packs and I'll add them to this one.
I do remember that the transparancies are bloody awful, very thick and do not fit well. I'm going to try replacing the window glazing with Humbrol Clearfix stretched across the openings. It usually works well with small windows, just never tried it with windows this size.
This is how it looks at the minute. I've made some initial work on the cockpit and filled in some ejector pin marks on the lower wing panels. These also needed some scraping and sanding on the backs to get them to fit flush with the upper wings.

I understand what you mean about the glazing. Have you tried dipping the transparent parts in Future (or an equivalent) before? It does wonders in reducing/eliminating distortion when looking through parts such as canopy glazing and makes them appear much thinner than they were actually cast. You may want to give this technique before you try stretching a film over such large openings.

I agree. In my experience with Krystal Klear brand, it doesn't dry completely transparent-- always murky. You don't notice as much in small windows, but you would definitely notice it for a windshield.

I'll give that a go for the front and rear windscreens, but having already cut the sidewindows from the sprue they might be a bit tricky to use the old Klear dip method. The main issue with the side and upper windows is that they don't seem to want to fit the openings in the fuselage and upper wing. Given the basic interior distortion is the least of my concerns. It may take a lot of sanding to get them to fit but I'll give it my best before I resort to other methods. Using clearfix may be the easier solution for the upper windows as they are a lot smaller.
I've never had any issues with opacity with humbrol clearfix but I do hear that Microscale Krystal Klear can dry a bit milky so I'm reluctant to give that a go.

Hi all. Great builds going on here and some great looking dio's!
A couple of progress shots from the 1:76 Airfix M113 FSV, sorry about the quality had to take them indoors.
I had Intended to do a quick, straight OOTB build but after collecting some reference photos and reading some history on Australian 3rd Cavalry Regiment I felt the kit needed some improvements!
Here's the completed turret ready for priming. Main barrel and co axial MG drilled out. Distressed the canvas barrel cover wit hobby knife to get a material look to it.
Added 4 lift rings from copper wire.
Puttied the aerial socket as this was incorrect and added the two attennae mounts from scrap plastic.
Added the 3 grey fixtures from scrap plastic.
And I deleted the smoke launchers as none of the 3rd Cav. vehicles I have photos of had these fitted. They were probably of little use in the jungle!


I "kit bashed" the .30 cal as the kit one on the left was terrible. The one on the right is a spare from the Airfix Willy's jeep kit. Sliced off the old mounting on the airfix one and fitted the sliced off brackets from the kit one.

Looking forward to seeing more progress of everyones builds and dio's.
Cheers,
Tim

Stephen: Good luck to you!

Tim: Nice work on the detailing, it would be nice if someone made some replacement barrels for those mg's. They''d really compliment the rest of the detail you're adding.

Well I'm done !

After a maddening build I have finished the construction for the Cent.

First time for me with this multi media and my first AFV Club kit, it was certainly challenging with it's quirky fit.

However here she is ready for a tidy up. Painting starts tomorrow. I've left off a lot of the finer detail which I'll paint separately.

Well done Scott! Those are challenging kits, but they are overall very good. I know AFV Club has a tendency to use springs behind their kit barrels which makes them very fiddley, and the turrets are often awkwardly engineered and the suspension systems can be too. The M41 Walker Bulldog kit is probably easier, but I haven't seen one in person so I can't really speak to that. Keep up the good work and get some paint on that Cent!

Hi all,

this campaign is going on very well, and some birds appeard, i really enjoy the Viet Nam ones.
Here is an update from my frenchies in Indochina.
Tank pilot and co-pilot are finished, so i will soon enclose the hull...i just forgot the 2 water cans, so there paint is drying;
I also finished the interior paint and weathering....maybe to dirty but there were muddy roads !
I think the 2 figs are a little to big....











A try with the hull enclosed



That's all
Cheers
nico

Looks good Nico, I wouldn't worry about "too much mud" for my build I was reading that the Aussie crews installed boot cleaners on the outsides of the tanks as mud inside was a constant problem and very hard to get clean.

I agree, theres no such things as too much mud on or in a tank!
Also, do you have any pics of those boot cleaners? I've got the very same Aussie Centurion half finished (too far along for this campaign) and I was looking forward to seeing someone finish one. Its certainly 'unique' in its assembly method and I'll be damned if I can ge the vinyl mantlet cover to fit right! Hve you decided on the marking scheme yet?

Here is a link to an amazing site with everything you'd ever want to know about RAAC Cents. It's really badly laid out but the info is gold. I think in total there are about 9 sites within this fellow's setup, with great photos many of them from veterans personal collections. The chap is also available on email and responds quite quickly, he's been a great help to me for sure.

This is the page that has the boot cleaners on it.
http://centurion-mbt.synthasite.com/Page_1.php

I guess that was what I was meaning below by a maddening build. Many of the parts just don't "quite" fit. The gun is a good example in that the key simply would not fit the lug in the barrel end at all. The mysteriously excluded mantlet cover is the same. In the end I just bombed her up with Super Glue and held the barrel and cover firmly together until I had a bond. Seems to have worked OK.

The kit has been built to be an early C Sqn track so the marking will be fairly simple and many of the Vietnam mods, boot cleaners included, will not be installed. I am wanting to depict a scene themed around the Battle for FSB Coral and Balmoral which was May 68.

Works out well as I was wanting to avoid the kids asking "Why is your tank going to eat Mischief (the family cat) Dad? "

Thats an interesting site, thanks. I like that bit about bamboo being able to stop a tank in its tracks. Who would have thunk it??
I'm surprised they went with some of those decals. Could be a bit embarasing in the display cabinet lol. Luckily not having kids I could get away with it but my girlfriend probably would have a few things to say!
The multi part hull top was what I had problems with. I didn't see the point, unless its to swap bits out between the various Centurion kits they do.
I am planning on doing a largish diorama with mine with some suitably modded figures (a tamiya commmander from a Chieftain and a couple of boxes of Dragon 'Nam figures with a mix of SLR's M16's and M60's). I've found a fair few reference pics and Ospreys Vietnam ANZAC's book is a big help. Depending on the time they seem to have used a mix of old British, contemporary US and Australian made kit. I've even seen photo's of guys on patrol with old Owen SMG's. Still early days and plenty of time for more research, till then got many more to do.