I am enjoying watching some of the builds here. I needed some help with interior colors and found it right here.

I started my Tamiya 250/9 last week and have been making rapid progress. Here are a couple of pics of the start.





More pics to come.

Almost there. The builds completed apart from the width indicators(which I usually knock off) and the tools. All that's left to do is spray it up, weathering and decals.





I'm quite happy with the stowage inside as there's the usual ammo stores but other bits like wire cutters, ration cans, spare boots and other bits and bobs just to make it a bit more lived in.
I've been working on the passengers dismounting which I'm reasonably happy with bar one. I tried Oak Leaf on the guy in the smock with the Stg44 which didn't work so he can have plane tree instead as that doesn't look too bad. Any thoughts? Jerry? I've got one more to finish then I can attach them permanently.











I'm quite pleased with how the Pea Dot came out. I used a mixture of the AK set and a light colour I mixed myself as I didn't like the one in the set. I'm actually using it as flesh colour as it's great for that lol. I'm not entirely sure what my plans are for this when it's finished but I saw a dio of troops debussing and liked the idea. Only slight plagiarism
I just fancied doing something animated with a vehicle that looked quite dramatic. I'd be grateful for any feedback or thoughts chaps as it's still subject to change...Karl

Sal, that's come out looking really good. I've got one of those and the 250 version to build so having seen yours I'm moving them up my build list. I like the cam on it. You don't very often see people painting over the dunkel grau despite it not being uncommon so it's always nice to see. One thing I did notice though is the nice shiny fire extinguisher. They're usually painted either grey, dark yellow, red or an olive/khaki drab type colour but easily rectified. Nice build mate.

I'm having trouble uploading the ribbon. I've done it to the right size, press upload and then it returns me to the campaign page but no image? Any ideas anyone?

One thing to be careful of is that the instructions say to size it to 50 x 50, but it really has to be 50 x 20.

Thanks Mark, I'll try it again.

The scene is very action packed ! I love the set up. The pea dot looks great and the colors look good as well. I also had to change the one color from the AK set to get a better contrast but overall the set is very nice.
The smocks look like they have the correct colors but the pics are kinda small for my old eyes to be able to make any comment on the pattern,etc. They give a good impression though.
J

Jerry, you've made my day. Thanks for the compliments. I'm really pleased that you approve of the cam as you always do it so well I take it as a real compliment I bought the VJ SS camo set but wasn't happy with the colours for the Spring pattern so mixed my own in the end. The green was too bright so I mixed it with the light green out of the AK pea dot set to tone it down a bit and the brown/pink was just too dark and too brown so I mixed my own making it more pinkish after looking at photos of original smocks. I used NATO black for the dark spots as it's more an ultra dark green rather than a true black. I've made a jar of the pink up for future use. You know how difficult it is mixing the same colour again even if you write it down LOL. Fortunately I always wash out my empty Tamiya jars so I've got dozens of them saved for my own paint mixes. Now I'm confident on the Pea Dot and Plane Tree I'm going to work on Oak Leaf and Autumn colours. You've given me a lot more confidence on my SS figures. Cheers mate... Karl

Only a couple of weeks left chaps. Are you all near completion or does anyone need an extension?

An extension is no good for myself as I have failed miserably in even getting my 251 project started! Seems I bit off a larger chunk of dio than I thought and then it kept expanding so sorry man,I did not make the grade here.
J

I have a Thanksgiving break next week and am hoping to finish mine, as I am about ready to start painting. Building mine OOB so no scratching to slow things down.

But, if you're considering it, what about to 12/31 rather than 12/1?

Yes please

Jerry,not a problem lol. You are somewhat prolific with your dios and always having something on the go. The Elbe dio is shaping up to be something special so I'm sure everyone forgives you . Shell, Jan, I don't have any problem with that. I'm not entirely sure who I contact re extensions but it's okay by me to 31/12.

I'm making progress but an extra week would be most welcomed. I ran into a fiddly bit with the screen over top of the open turret. The kit supplied plastic screen is difficult to work with and this morning I broke down and ordered the Eduard PE set to replace the kit items. It is coming from the UK and that may take a week or two to reach me. Here is a pic from last night showing the screen:



Here are another couple of pics showing a trial fit of some of the major bits:





We are moving along in other areas . . .

Ditto. Real life 2016 has been getting in the way so an extension would be appreciated if possible, please.

Thanks.

Sean

More progress on the 250/9. The upper & lower halves of the hull are together and the interior is done. Here are some pics:

Strange how tight the schedule tends to be at the end of a build I could need to the end of december ....

You said it brother! These little half tracks are deceptive also. They look easy in the box but end up being very time consuming due to interiors, guns and other odd bits.

Well that's me done. I don't think I can squeeze another one in now LOL. I quite enjoyed building this one. Considering that Tamiya missed out all the internal kit I'm happy with what I did with my spares box replacing all the missing bits. Unfortunately I can't see much of it now I've put a crew in but it was enjoyable build. Typical Tamiya in that everything fitted together nicely.



















I'm quite pleased with how the crews poses worked out. I had to do a bit of surgery as they're mix and match but hopefully I've caught the movement of them debussing. Ironically I picked up some new glasses on Monday which would have helped me a lot but I'd almost finished the painting. I was explaining to the optician that I'd noticed that my eyesight had got worse when I was modelling so he suggested having one pair of glasses for reading and one for modelling. He asked how far away from the subject I work so showed him and he did me two pairs. The modelling pair are like having magnifying glasses on prescription! They're great! I can't see anything over a foot away but for modelling they're fantastic!

I've gone for a late war Wiking crew with an assortment of weapons, uniforms and kit which I hope has paid off. I'd been planning a Hungary 45 diorama of an assembly area but it looks like I may have to do a seperate one now so I can use this one. I don't think it would quite fit in with a couple of King Tigers rearming and an infantry column moving up the line somehow lol. Please feel free to comment as I'd be grateful of any critiques.

Great final flourish Karl,

You’ve totally caught the moment – busy, nay frantic, and completely believable – even more so when you get it onto a dio, I’m sure. Really nice.

I’m (luckily) still only on pharmacy magnifiers, but when I recently upgraded from 1.5 to 2.0 I started seeing painting glitches I’d never noticed before…maybe I’ll go back to the 1.5’s - see no evil….

Cheers, Tim

Thanks Tim, glad you like it. I was chatting to someone the other day about glasses and said it's just typical that I find a hobby that I really enjoy and have plenty of time to indulge in when my eyesight starts going lol. The perils of middle age I suppose. I was originally going to buy an optivisor but the magnification on these prescription bins is awesome. Only drawback is I have to keep changing glasses all the time as they're only good for detail work as anything over a foot is out of focus. At least now it makes figures easier and as you say you tend to notice errors quicker

Does anyone know who to contact re clearing a campaign extension as I know some of you are almost there but need a bit longer? An extensions fine by me, I was thinking a two week extension I just wanted to get it rubber stamped by the admins.

Fantastic job on the infantry track ! I love how you fit all those guys in there. I am trying something along those lines but not so hectic a scene.
Yeah,I agree this track won't really fit an assembly area scene because of the action poses but it looks good on its' own !
J

the extension is necesary for my (excuse my bad english)

regards

Flavio

Thanks Jerry, much appreciated. I've been having a dig through the stash and there are quite a few SS figures in there that would lend themselves nicely to different combat poses with a bit of surgery and part swapping so when I get round to it it can go centre stage in a street fighting dio or maybe even deploying it's troops on top of a Soviet position. I bought the Miniart Zis 3 trench/gun pit dio cheap recently so may use that and have the position being overrun by dismounted troops and this deploying as well. I suppose the pointing/shouting NCO could be indicating another AT gun that needs taking out knowing how the Soviets grouped their AT guns as tank killing zones which they'd draw the Germans into. Now I've got the centre piece I can work around it lol.