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Armor/AFV: Braille Scale
1/72 and 1/76 Scale Armor and AFVs.
Hosted by Darren Baker
1/72 Pz IV G My first Braille Scale Build
AgentG
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Nevada, United States
Joined: December 21, 2008
KitMaker: 1,109 posts
Armorama: 1,095 posts
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 04:06 AM UTC








I thought this would be a quick fun build, but I had no idea how intense this scale can be. It was fun but not quick.
I haven't placed the hatches as I want to display it with a TC in the cupola. Can anyone reccomend a good set of 1/72 scale crew figures?

Enjoy!
tread_geek
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 23, 2008
KitMaker: 2,847 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 04:46 AM UTC
Welcome to the Braille scale world. Overall you did a nice job for a first time Braille model. The details look quite something and leads me to guess that it's a Dragon kit? I don't want to comment too much as the pictures aren't clear enough. The embedded information from your photos shows the camera was at f/3.1 and ISO speed of 800. For this small scale a better combination would be f/11 or higher and ISO 100 or 200. Your shutter speeds are also on the low side for hand holding ( less than 1/60 sec). Try taking some pictures outside on a sunny day and you will get sharper results. Overall assembly looks very good and it appears that you have some nice colour variations. Am I making out some chipping and scuffing on parts of the hull?

As for figures, you might look at the Preiser range of 1/72 military figures. They are a tad expensive but are quite detailed and as they come as separate pieces (heads, arms, legs) you can vary their poses. Here's a Panzer crew set.



It's always nice to see a well done 1/72 vehicle and even with what I see the tank could be a larger scale. Thanks for sharing your work.

Cheers,
tread_geek
AgentG
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Nevada, United States
Joined: December 21, 2008
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Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 05:53 AM UTC
Thank You Sir,

Yes it is a Dragon kit. I was astounded at the amount of detail contained therein! I used a Nikon PHD (push here dummy) camera. inside under flourescent lighting. I'll experiment outside later.
I had to re-think how to weather this lil beastie. I decided a base coat of DY straight out of the bottle was dark enough for preshading. I mixed DY with white and upon reaching the LAR (Looks About Right) stage I subtly faded the individual panels.
Pinwashes followed with some miniscule chipping added. Talk about mind bending.
All in all it was great fun and very challenging.
I look at Preiser in a bit.
Braille
#135
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California, United States
Joined: August 05, 2007
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Posted: Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 05:04 PM UTC
WEGray,

Very nice start! Clean build and nice subtile weathering. And welcome. Yes braile scale sized vehicle can be quite challenging . . . glad you hung in there. Hoping to see more of your work here again.

-Eddy
majjanelson
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South Carolina, United States
Joined: December 14, 2006
KitMaker: 1,355 posts
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Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 04:47 AM UTC
AgentG,

Your tiny Pzkw Mk IV has very good paint/weathering, which makes it look like a much larger scale!!

Looks far better than the 1:35 scale Pzkw Mk IV I built in the late 70s!

Of course, the Braille Scale DML kit has exceeded the level of detail that was in that old kit, too!
weathering_one
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: April 04, 2009
KitMaker: 458 posts
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Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 07:33 AM UTC
Really superb build and especially the weathering. I really might have to try one of these Dragon kits.

AJ
madmax5510
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Hunedoara, Romania
Joined: May 06, 2008
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Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 08:12 AM UTC
For your first is very good...my first was a true disaster.
AgentG
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Nevada, United States
Joined: December 21, 2008
KitMaker: 1,109 posts
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Posted: Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 12:51 PM UTC
Thank you all for the input.
These 1/72 Dragon kits really are gems, however their instructions leave a lot to be desired. That in itself was the one area I had to REALLY concentrate on.
A couple of group builds from now I'll be back to 1/72 scale!
gghirel
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United States
Joined: September 05, 2009
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Posted: Thursday, November 05, 2009 - 01:01 PM UTC
dear agentG, great work on the panzerIV. great crew figures can be had from AB miniatures which can be purchased from Milicast models in the UK. milicast also makes superb resin crew figuresas well and they also stock the AB line. also the battlefield miniatures range in the UK make a nice line a crew figures from their "blitz" range
AgentG
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Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009 - 11:23 PM UTC
I ordered a set from Milicast and they arrived today. WOW are they nice! The TC figure is painted and just about ready to occupy his place in the cupola.
Milicast was great to deal with too. They added a few extras and a note saying they felt bad as the shipping was so expensive! I'll certainly order from these guys again, and recommend them to all.
I'm at work now so photos to come tomorrow evening.
Panther64
#261
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: September 12, 2005
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Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009 - 02:10 AM UTC
Nice looking panzer AgentG. Keep em coming! There are so many advantages to this scale if you can see em!
AgentG
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Nevada, United States
Joined: December 21, 2008
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Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009 - 10:35 AM UTC
Ok I'm awake and here are the photos as promised. Vallejo with a bit of oil washes.









wing_nut
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: June 02, 2006
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Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 05:40 AM UTC
Lookin' really good G. These little guys are fun aren't they?
AgentG
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Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 08:33 AM UTC
Fun when DONE LOL!
wing_nut
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 08:37 AM UTC
And when your eyes uncross
Braille
#135
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California, United States
Joined: August 05, 2007
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Posted: Saturday, December 05, 2009 - 01:33 PM UTC
WEGray,

Your right! That is one outstanding looking TC and you did a super job with painting him. Figures
add that needed touch IMHO to help give scale to any build.

-Eddy
weathering_one
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: April 04, 2009
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Posted: Sunday, December 13, 2009 - 08:35 AM UTC
I don't drop in for a while and then I find all these super builds like this. Beautiful build and I especially like the figure. Thanks for sharing.

AJ
bilou06
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France
Joined: November 16, 2009
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Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009 - 09:11 AM UTC
Very nice model ! congratulations !
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