Hi all,

As I‘m more related to aircraft I‘m lurking around on Armorama at times. Got hooked by this campaign as it links to my favourite scale in aircraft modelling.

So, I pulled the Opel Blitz (or Kfz.305 3t. truck in other words) out of my stash. My Sd.Kfz 222 in desert scheme is looking for a companion...



Cheers
Matty

Hi Matty

Great choice I follow your pregress with interest, it will be an excellent model to build.

Cheers

Hi Matty! Welcome to the campaign. This is the advantage of 1/48 scale, it brings in modelers from other fields to try out Armor. Good to see another Italeri kit, any word on the quality?

Cheers!
Stefan

PS: My modeling is stalled at the moment, hope to get in a few hours on the weekend but I'm not counting on it...

Welcome to the campaign, Matty K. Looks like a nice kit. Looking forward to see how it turns out.
The Opel Blitz would also look good next to a couple of JG 27 Me 109s in the desert.

Hi folks,
Thanks for your warm welcome and the encouraging words!

The kit makes an good overall impression at first look:
Pro: no flash, crisp details, reasonable parts breakdown, attractive scheme versions
Cons: unfortunately no Opel logo on the grill (neither PE nor decal solution).
Matter of taste: vinyl tires, die-cast chassis frame

Jesper, you‘re absolutely right. I have a soft spot for the North African theatre. So, it would be nice to gather some matching aircraft and vehicles. According to your inspiration, I made an improvised diaroma shot of some waiting comrades...




Cheers
Matty

I think I want to try one of those flying machines now!

Hi all, finished my AFV club Tiger1 final version.Nice kit good fit and detail, leaves the Tamyia one for dead.Hopefully I will post the pictures below, I aplogise for the rubbish photos.
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Hi all,
Started with the first bits. Assembling them to a die-cast frame with CA glue is somewhat odd to me, but it worked like a charm in the end.

@Greg: Yep, it‘s refreshing to leave the comfort zone. I recommend to build an Il-2 or Hs 129 which are more or less flying tanks...

IMHO aircraft as well as armour complement one another very well. So, I really appreciate that both subject-matters have a common scale with growing popularity.





Cheers
Matty

Gentleman...wow. A lot has happened since I was here last. All these builds and dioramas look great.

Here is the kubelwagon type 82 (afrika) ready for paint. Next time I want to play with DRP fiddley PE, will someone please stop me....gahh - the wind screen and some of the clips almost sent me into a tizzy. Anyway, here are the picts:




Next to get tackled is the Tiger I (actually it's well along the way). Still haven't decided on a diorama. Probably won't considering my time constraints.

Thanks

John - congrats on finishing. Love the camo

Matty - looking with interest at this one. I might need to pick one up

Bud - Wow, that's more PE then I can stand. You did a great job on it.

I'm finishing the base and weathering the vehicles next on the Greyhound dio

Bud: Great job on the PE there! How are you attaching such small thin pieces to your kit so cleanly?

Quite some action over the weekend here!

My one hour on the bench this weekend I got sidetracked by a T34 fot the Braille Battlefield campaign... Oh well...

Matty: Nice 109, always liked the look of those North African 109 Gs. Nice pics with the progress. They actually lool lie you printed out photos and then made another photo. Photoshop I suppose?

John: congrats on passing the finish line! Looks good!

Bud: Great job on the PE! nice and clean. Wish my PE ever turned out that way...

Cheers and keep those pics coming!
Stefan

John,your Tiger looks great !! If those are those rubber band tracks,they really came out nice.

hi Anthony,yep their the kit tracks their very pliable but good detail, I super glued them to the tops of the road wheels to get the sag.Painted with revell Brown Bess and Mig Russian Earth pigments

To fellow 1/48 folks,
With some marathon sessions this last weekend, the Tamiya Crusader Mk.1 diorama is completed. The components used are the Tamiya kit, Dartmoor figures, one of the GasoLine figures, Blackdog British stowage, Tamiya jerrycan set, a little Verlinden British stowage and the terrain is from Woodland scenics, Scenic Express and various paints.

The scene is entitled "A tree grows in Bardia" A passing Crusader crew gives a hand (and a drink) to a poor, disheveled tree.






This is a shot of the back of the Crusader showing most of the stowage.



A front quarter shot with the tree and all three crewman. The one sitting in the turret is from Gasoline and the two standing figures are from Dartmoor.



These are a couple of overhead shots.





In conclusion, one nice side picture and a final 'ground level ' view.





The campaign has been fun. The bonus is I finally found the right lighting and close-up features on my camera I really look forward to seeing the continued progress of the models and it really is a pleasure to participate in a very well run campaign, many thanks to Stefan! (Us Stephen/Stefan/Steven -types have to back each other up!)

thanks,
Stephen

Hi all,
Some great work going on here!

@Stephen: Breathtaking dio!!! I like your subtle weathering, the painting of the crew, the stowage, the captured story and so on. It all looks very realistic to me. I‘ll take yours as benchmark and inspiration.

@Bud: What a PE battle - turned out excellent. I would have sticking every piece on my fingers. ;-)

@John: Vinyl tracks on your Tiger? Holy moly - you‘ve located them very well. I‘m just struggling with the weathering of the vinyl tires of my Opel Blitz...

@Stefan: Regarding my posted picts - it‘s done easily using Apple Keynote, a presentation programme. Much easier than using photoshop IMHO.

Cheers
Matty

Lightning finish Stephen! Congrats I like the scene

Stephen:
That dio looks fabulous. How long did the ground work take you. I am totally a neophyte at this.

Stephen,

Your dio looks really good. Your coloration for the wet ground around the tree is spot on.

-zon

Hello Stephen

The scene with the Crusader looks great, very good paint job.
Also the figurs are perfect and both make a realistic scene.

Thanks for showing and congrats to this fabulous work.
You win my greatest respect for this work.

Greeting from Vienna
Andreas
www.modellbaurunde.at

Stephen, nice finish! I like the story too. Thanks for joining the campaign! What's your next project?

You certainly remind me of getting back to my own build...

Cheers!
Stefan

1/48 folks,
Thanks you Matty_k, California Greg, Bud, Zon and Stefan for the positive comments.

Bud - The groundwork took a few days with some prep work over the course of a week while finishing the tank and figures. I stained a craft store wooden plaque a week ago, to let it dry. Taped off the edges and laid in a layer of Das terracotta clay for the ground base. When partially set, I pressed the tank into it for the track marks and pressed in small stones and Woodland Scenics talus into the 'dirt', so they looked proper. The clay then took a day or so to properly dry. One issue, the clay developed 'cracks', so I then had to fill them with more clay and white glue. Cracks continued appearing later - a bit of a bother. The ground was then brushed with white glue and Scenic Express' fine and medium dirt was sprinkled over everything, taking care to avoid the tank track furrows. (ScenicExpress.com is an excellent groundwork site - anything you could possibly need) All was then sprayed down with diluted white glue to 'fix' the stones and dirt. Once dried overnight, I airbrushed the basecoat, Polly-s Middlestone - same as the tank - and then misted various coats of light browns and Polly-S Concrete. BTW, Polly-S happen to be my preferred paint, but they seem to be going away, since being acquired by Testors. I then proceeded to drybrush these same paints and some Buff, mainly to bring out the rocks and raised bits. Some very thin light brown washes helped add depth. Then a final round of drybrushing after adding a couple of coats of the brown wash for the darker, watered patch around the tree. Pegged the feet of the men with brass wire. Glued the men and the tank to the base. A couple of airbrushed coats of flat clear overall and voila - a finished model! Now to work on the 3 or so partially finished ones on the shelves.

Stefan - Like you, I have been lurking around the fringes of the BrailleScale campaign and have now joined, since I really enjoyed my first campaign, Matchbox Nostalgia, also run by Jan. I shall see you there in the halls of tiny tanks. Many thanks for a fun campaign - it finally got me to build one of the 1/48 Tamiya kits from the growing stack on the shelf.

Keep those quarter-scale models coming!

Thanks,
Stephen

Great work, Stephen. Very nice diorama as already pointed out by the others.

Thanks for sharing