I finally had a chance to do some work on my M8. I finished up the construction of the interior and did some of the detail painting.



I hope to get the main construction finished today and start on some weathering. I still haven't decided on what to do for German markings yet but I have a couple of ideas. My goal is to be finished with this kit by next weekend.

Thanks for looking,

HARV

My build's coming along nicely, although I'm not so sure anymore if I can finish it and have the article published in time for the feature competition. Anyway, I'm not rushing with it, if it takes more time, then it will. The article's in the works as well, I'll be submitting it when I'm done.

Decals are now on.






The turret roundels are from a Kuivalainen decal sheet. From what I know, there has been only roundel sheets released in several scales so far. It's bit of a pity, since these are top-notch. Just like decals should be.
Too bad I can't say the same for the wiking-decal registry codes. They came from their T-34 sheet. Since the codes I needed weren't included (in fact, the whole sheet covered T-34/76's), I had to do some cutting to come up with the right numbers. According to my references (That museum vehicle again. which of course can be all wrong, but this is built after that! ) I also removed the periods and modified number 2's as well. 3's in the decal sheet where of the wrong style (round tops, while my references show sharp angled tops), but I left them as they were, since the only way of fixing them would have been painting all new numbers (and the difference isn't that grand).
But that's not what was wrong with them.
What was is they resembled InScale and academy decals (although less so). They looked good and quite thin on the sheet, but they turned out to be stiff and silvered somewhat. The stiffness didn't matter because the codes went on flat surfaces, but silvering is always a nuisance. (The spots where the decals went on the hull and turret where of same gloss, and the roundels went on flawlessly) Several applications of micro-sol and slicing the decals over trapped air got them to settle down adequately. I guess you just have to know your decals so you know when a glass-smooth surface and extra care is needed. Oh yes, I also got the rear registry codes too far right. The number three should only go a little over the round engine hatch, but it's all the way over it. Again, laziness struck and I left it like that (I also didn't feel like re-positioning the decals when I got them to settle down)

Now, I hope a flat coat (or two) will blend in the gloss areas and the rest of the model. Then, it's weathering time.

Btw, I also made a start with the tracks. Following a black primer coat, I've applied a thin coat of burnt umber acrylic paint (vallejo) so far.

I hope it's not too late but I think many of you will find this site useful:
Beutepanzer

I hope it's not too late but I think many of you will find this site useful:
Beutepanzer

Nice-looking M8 you got there. I don't remember seeing one in German markings before.
Are you planning to add weathering, paint chips etc?

I put the finishing touches on the Tamiya M8 Armored Car yesterday that I built for this campaign. I didn't build it as I first imagined that I would. I had a specific picture that I was going by but I changed my mind after I got started.



I combined a few pictures that I had seen when I built mine. The one that I used the most still showed all of the US markings along with the German crosses. I went along the same lines however I decided not to add the US stars imagining that the crew had painted over them to eliminate them as aiming points for German gunners. As usual I didn't do much along the lines of weathering. That is a skill that I need to work on. So most of my stuff looks fresh from the car wash!!

The kit went together very well and I have no complaints about it at all. I am thinking that I would like to purchase the Tamiya M20 kit as well.

So this is my official, and only, entry for this campaign.

Thanks for the campaign Mark (mark197205).

HARV

Progress shots of my KV-1:





Most assembly work has been done. Commander's coupola and hatches will be attached after painting. I added lifting lugs (I hope it's correct word and I won't offend anyone) as seen on the pics, weld seem on turret and supply rack in the rear plate (a bit diffirent from the one on the pic)

Silvering begone!



I just couldn't stand looking at that silvering, so I mixed up some paint, grabbed a small brush and touched-up the fouled areas.
I made the paint mix fit in by first making several small samples of paint to determine the most correct ratio of green and black. Starting from 2 parts (=drops) of green and 1 part black, then adding green one drop at a time, taking a sample on a piece of cardboard from each step.
The closest was 5 parts green to 1 part black.
I made a few errors while touching-up, so I had to do some touching-up with the white codes as well. The result isn't as sharp as the decals originally, but a lot better than having the decals silver.
After that, I sprayed a coat of flat varnish over the decals.

KV-1 after basic painting. Some touch ups (commander's coupola f.i.)need to be done. To be honest I'm not happy with the result.