I received a rather interesting email today suggesting that all I do is criticize other people's work, and don't have the courage to post my own. I guess I may have ruffled some feathers.
So here they are - not two of my best, or most detailed, or recent, but two of my favorites nonetheless. Besides, "Just my two Shermans" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
No aftermarket save for the excellent decals from Accurate Armour for the Suez Cent.

Better than me, Robert. I haven't managed to finish a kit, in some time. Guess I'll be hitting my shelf queens hard.

Nice work Robert.

I think when a person posts a model in a public forum, you have opened yourself up to both positive and negative comments. If your adult enough to post work, you need to be thick skinned and adult enough to take the comments. Take the good and the bad, accept what you know is valid, ignore the rest.

Additionally Robert, the reference value you contribute to the site is priceless...Whether or not you have posted a model in the recent past is just a pointless excuse for someone to be confrontational.

well done - nice mantlet!

I agree with Brent's comments. As long as any criticisms are accurately based, and presented in a friendly manner, any modeler should welcome the input. I know I sure do. There's been more than a few occasions someone has pointed out an error, or something I'd overlooked, on one of my builds that's helped me out.

Fact is, I've actually slowed down posting my work because I haven't been able to get the feedback I want. It takes a lot of time to put together a set of photos and post them. Most of the time I do so, all I get are a lot of "looks good", or "that's great", or some other similar comments. While they are appreciated, they're not what I'm posting for. I want to hear that I missed filling a seam, or that I have mold lines showing, or that I maybe added too much rust. Those are the comments that help me improve my skills.

All I can say is thank you Robert (and the others out there like you) who are willing to try and help someone improve. Believe it, some of us really look forward to hearing that not everything is hunky-dory.

By the way, you're Centurions are impressive.

looks good to me -- some more photos if anything !!. Im pretty much aligned with what the other guys are saying.

I nearly got upset once when someone pointed out i had forgotten a small aspect of one build. Fact was that was the most valuable comment on the thread. I had not noticed - and it genuinely helped me! So sharp pair eyes is pretty good thing in my book.

Its the subjective stuff that causes the most anxiety and I include myself in that statement. Fact is modellers have all manner of experience and knowledge about whatever they are building. I for one have never taken on myself to start shooting away at someone's finished model - because its to clean, its to dirty, its weathered or not weathered. I know what I like but I also RESPECT others work and the way they want to depict that model.

Im pretty short with my comments on other peoples work usually just "awesome work" or "great build" - because quite simply there is so much really damn good modelling going on the moment its impossible to keep up! But why not give someone a pat on the back if they have finished a build. They put the time in to post and show it to you.

On the other hand -- I really am thankful to the handful of guys who will very readily share knowledge and advice on subjects they have become experts on --- i.e. Matt and Andy Taylor , Gino and a few others.

Robs example here is to me - a fine looking model, its well painted and built obviously with a level of high competence and experience. I may choose to build same model and have it filthy with dust. It does not make either build any better, worse or even accurate.

I think most of us know when someone is having a "pop" its fairly obvious that a lot of so called "help" and "critique" is thinly veiled jealousy and animosity from typically the forum high post count troll.

Sometimes it goes the opposite way and no one says anything about your build,which is my pet peeve and which is inexcuseable,I mean say something,anything.In my opinion,if I'm posting something,I want it to be commented on for better or for worse.

And nice work Robert,look good.

Skipp;
totally the wrong shade of yellow. . . .

lookin' good bro. cheers.

The reference CD's you provide everyone with are both invaluable and priceless in my opinion. Some people are just overly sensitive and can't seem to differentiate constructive to "destructive" criticism. Either way, the 2 IDF Centurions look very well done to me!

As long as the criticism is constructive, in my opinion, its welcome. Thats what I love about doing build logs here, you get so much help along the way- as I've said many times before- it helps one become a better modeller. Of course there are the odd bad eggs here and there but thats the internet for you!

I don't know much about Centurions but I like these examples- particularly 'Iron Mouse' -the scratched paint on the front fenders and glacis- it looks spot-on- was the 'Iron Mouse' bit a decal or is that painted on?

personally i would rather someone commented and pointed out areas I could improve on... as long as it was constructive and not destructive

but loving those photos - is the mantlet from the kit or home made?

Well Robert,if critics or comments are polite I love them.They help me to improve the model.From you I've never read an offensive critic or a "wrong" comment.I would also say THANK YOU for all the replies and the help that you provide with your presence on the forum.
Kindly Regards

Ciro

I really enjoy being criticized for commenting on someone’s work. Good, bad, indifferent or any combination of the above, never fails someone will comment; “Wow man it’s just to have fun” Duh……

My problem is just not being able to finish what I'm doing, been almost a year, started 5 different dios just went over board and need to scale back, concentrate on just the model for a change and forget the dio part.

Beside the costs.......

I second this, I would prefer to hear what people have to say.

Ron, how did you approach the mantlet cover? I don't really care for the kit ones, as much as I love the kits.

I'm glad you guys like the builds and appreciate the comments. There are mistakes to be sure, but I love these old Tamiya Centurions. Even though I have built several AFV Club variants, and have 17 more in the stash, I still have several Tamiya ones as well, all of which I'd like to eventually build.
As for constructive comments, I've always tried to make them helpful. Sometimes the truth hurts, but I'd want to hear it as well. There are other sites where you hear nothing but praise, even with glaring errors. I started the IDF Cent back in the early 90's. My glaring error, even though you can't see it: there's a two handled Tamiya jerrycan on the back!
The Suez build came shortly after, although it took a few years to get around to painting and decaling it. I used Accurate Armour decals. The black stripes are railroad locomotive decals.
A lot of the weathering techniques have new names these days-filters, modulation, rain streaking, chipping. Back then I just modeled what I saw. I literally copied the book cover for the Suez Cent. I streaked the chipped areas on the front of the IDF Cent by feathering oils with a makeup brush.
The mantlet covers are nothing more than tissue paper and white glue. The reinforcing strips are made from masking tape. I even do these on the AFV Club Cents, in favor of the rubber ones available, which I've also used.
Of course I didn't know of any PE sets for these back then. All of the brass is hand formed - light guards, smoke discharger mounts, exhaust deflectors, fuel can holders etc... The tie downs were an experiment which turned out well, with wire and .010 styrene strips. I do them the same way today.
I'll post more photos next week. I'm on vacation right now, which usually means more new conversions will come out later this year.

Hi Robert ...First off ..Great looking Cents you got there ..
As for the other part of your post ...I have had the same problem ..You post something to help someone out and they take it the wrong way..
What I usually do is start with a good comment first ,then mention what problems I see and finish up with an encouraging (positive ) note..
I always point out that my post is only meant to help and is in no way trying to put down their work.. Hey it seems to work. Also I will only give feedback if it is asked for ...
I feel like I can be tough at times but why wouldn't I share my knowledge if it is asked for ?
If someone says they built the kit out of the box for fun ..well that's fine ...congrats for finishing a kit ..

So just keep doing what you're doing ..

Rick

Take it all with a grain of salt Robert.
I've always appreciated your comments wether I act on them or not.Your experience would give people access to unknown facts to most.The trouble with the interenet is that you can't tell how the other person is really speaking.Trashing your work or just saying "I can help you make it better".

Tom

Once again, thanks for the comments. As for more photos, I want to find a suitable background for each. My garden, while a riot of color, doesn't quite cut it for a desert tank.