what was wrong with the paints? used the tamiya paints out of the bottle?
as for the stowage I'd recommend a mix of leftovers from the legends set and hobby fan's modern stowage set (the only one containing some accurate MOLLE packs....)

Cheers, Max

I used the paints HB suggested (Model Master). The green was waaay too light. Also found the mask I was using defective. Any suggestions for masking hard-edged camo on crazy shapes like the AAVP?

I like the legends but the Real Model is even better. I will check out the Hobby Fan if I can find it. Do you mean HF048?

well, there are basically two ways of painting a hard-edged camo.
1st way is to mask off the spots using blu-tac or any other kind of non-greasy modelling clay (despite what the tell you do NOT use faber castell clay, it's horrible )
2nd way is to outline the camo spots by first brush-painting the outer edges and then 'filling' in the spots with your airbrush. have a look here for some pics of how that'd look... (go to 'bauberichte' , 'archiv' and then look for the M1078 LMTV (at the bottom of the page))

Cheers, Max

Looking good Bill, Your next WIP looks very detailed!

Not to hijack the thread, but where are the photos of your AAV, Bill?
I've got some of the RM and Legends stuff, and would also say the RM stuff is much nicer and its more accurate. Have you got the Big stowage set for the AAV?

Also since you've built an Abrams recently, I'd like your opinion on mine, especially the layout of the dio.

Enough hijacking, Looking forward to seeing your next update build Max.

Hey Max, hey Bill,

I'm using the HobbyFan set no. 048 and a mix of Legends stowage for my AAV and Bill, let us see some pics

Back to these beautiful M1's, they do look really nice and the figure looks pretty nice, too !
I really like the outcome of the KFOR one and am awaiting the WIP one as well !

See you
Alex

Hello, my name is James Schulze and I am a Tanker in the U.S. Army. What I find REALLY awesome is that you are building the tank that I went into battle on during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, "Baghdad's Nightmare". I was a SGT at the time and my posisition was the Gunner. This was B14, the PLT SGT's Tank. I just "Googled" the name of my tank and this fourm came up. If you have any questions about details or the history of the tank I would love to answer them. "Baghdad's Nightmare" was the BEST tank I have ever been assigned to. I loved that tank.

SSG James Schulze
U.S. Army
Tank Commander M1A1 (former)
[email protected]

Dear Sgt. Schulze,

Thanks for your service to our country!

Hey James,
thanks for your reply and welcome aboard!
it's always nice seeing the real tank guys showing interest in what we do...
did you take some pics during your time iraq that you'd like to share?

Cheers, Max

Hey folks,
somehow time for an update, eh?
got a lot of stuff done during the last couple of months, so without any further chatter here are the pics:
































well, as you can see I took a lot of pictures, and as I'm a little too lazy to explain
everything right now, simply ask what you'd like to know
oh, and... yes, the last one is in braille scale... enjoy...

Cheers, Max

See what all the proper advice and input + enough practice can achieve
Like the NATO camo, the green looks really good.
Deep fording kit looks great, first time I have seen it done to such perfection !

Nice job on the Tamiya kit .... from personnel experience I know how time consuming the anti-slip surface is to get it right .... and your's looks alright to me !
Well done

So what figures are going on the tracks ?
Hopefully not those horribly ones you mentioned further up ?

Like it !
Cheers
Christopher

thanks Chris,
yeah, I tried pretty hard matching the green to the real thing...
'bout twelve different mixes nine test-airbrushing sessions later I finally had it to look right

the tamiya kit was a tough one... despite, unlike on the old dragon, trumpy or itelerie kits, the base dimensions seem to be quite close to perfect there are tons of details to be added...
as you can see in the pics below the originally ocre-colored kit looked more evergreen-white-ish than anything else once it was done

Cheers, Max




good god, not again...
nah, I've got some alpine (nomex) and verlinden (with mopp) figures on my workbench... for 'size matters' I'll use some preiser (I guess) figures. still searching for a 1:72nd-or smaller skull... the real tank had one mounted atop the searchlight mount right above the main gun...

anyway, thanks for the kind words!

as for now I got most of the detail painting on 'got armor?' (the tritonal tank) done and hoping to slap on some decals tonight, let's see

alright folks,
got some more stuff done and am feeling a little more chatty than the last time, so here's what I did:
finished the detail painting stage and slapped on some pre-chipping and rub-off effects, using both, a scotch brite and 0/0-0 brushes.
after that I continued with some filtering. I used mig's tan for desert yellow and brown for tritonal camo. These colors are pretty similar to the filters I've been using on my last couple of builds (revell kaki and a mix of 502's wash-brown and buff) but it's really enjoyable not having to remix your filters everytime you wanna use them...
so here are the pics:



(above) the writing on the barrel was done using single letters which were cut out from a 1:72nd decal sheet. so I had two different fonts there which were matched to each other thickening the single letters via brush. the question mark actually started as "S" and ".." signs
I haven't had a "G" at hand as well, so a "C" and a tiny white stripe came in handy





(below) the pic in the background shows the real vehicle. despite I've got 16 pics of the real vehicle most of which are pretty blurry. mike mummey was so kind to send me a pic showing the barrel-slogan. so again thanks for that mike


next up: drying time... lots of awful drying time for the filters...
once it's dry I'll start out with some washings, spotting, streaking, flat coating 'till I can start out with the dusting...
that's it for now, hoping you'll like it!
if any of you'll spot some last flaws leave a comment...

Cheers, Max

Heh Max ..

starting to look real good .... camo turning out really nice !
Just take your time ..... AND DO NOT MESS THIS ONE UP !!!!

Cheers
Christopher

Thanks!
I'll try not to mess it up, let's see
btw. how's it going with your builds?

Cheers, Max

Not much .... preparing to move again so only minor things if I have time.

Here's the USMC dozer .... just put the vehicles code # .... changed the CIP colours to tan ..... waiting for the new MCD as you know.




In the mean time I put the BRONCO tracks on the 1-1 CAV, although really nice and quite fast to build once you get the "rhythm" of assembly, I am not feeling that happy with them ....



And a STRYKER is also in progress




Doing accessories like rucksacks, MOLLE-packs, Kevlar helmets, figures etc. to go with all three of them.

So far so good
Cheers
Christopher

Nice!
I love the 1-1 cav abrams! though I still think there should have been something other than the ss runes on the barrel...
are you going to place some front CIP's on the USMC tank?

Cheers, Max

The ss-runes will go on, just like the original .... just haven‘t figured out how to do it, yet !
Promise you shall be the first one to get a pic !!

CIPs on the USMC M1 ? Don‘t know for sure .... since all my other (ARMY) ones have, I just may leave them off ... I‘ll check my ref‘s and decide later.
Put the CIPs on the CAV today though.

Cheers
Christopher

Howdy Chris, on that USMC build why do you have Alpha Company Tac Marks/ numbers on the fenders and SGL storage boxes and Delta Company Tac Mark/ Chevrons on the Skirts? A Co Chevrons would point to 12 o'clock.
Outta here, Mike sends . . .

Chris, I always enjoy seeing nicely done Strykers. This one is coming along well. One thing I would change is the exhaust. Note that only the small area towards the front is the exhaust. The rest of the large area behind that is the air intake, so that would not be blackened. I suggest blackening that small area towards the front.

Here is an example of my Stryker.


Looking forward to seeing more of this. Sorry to take this off topic just a bit.

Bob

Hey Mike !
Roger that ... just wanted to find out how long it would take Max to figure it out !
Had the numbers on first, but didn't like the chevron pointing at 12 or 6 o'clock .... thankx for the reminder to change them .... and for spoiling it ! .

Would you know if the "FBCB2 antenna" is now standard issue or just for the A-Stan M1's ?
(That's the box attached to the right of Gunners Primary Sight ... for those who do not not know what we are talking about , common on Army M1s)

Cheers
Christopher

Thankx Bob !

Didn't know that about the exhaust ... not a Stryker specialist .... I believe they have got a "hood" to cover the exhaust grill now ?
I shall be starting on the Engineer version soon, so I will correct or upgrade it when start spraying the new one.
Yours looks quite smart ! Got some more pics or your own topic ?

Thankx again !
Cheers
Christopher

Yes, Chris they have an exhaust deflector now that is even standard on home station vehicles. I think newer Stryker kits come w/ them now as well.

Here is a link to my NTC 3/2 Stryker Bde vehicle.
http://armorama.com/forums/117086#964697

Bob

Howdy Chris, yes the A-stan tanks have the Antenna. There are now two types of Abrams in Marine Corps service, those in Afghanistan and the rest.
Outta here, Mike sends . . .

chris, chris, chris....
I just wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out
guess that's what happens when bad meets evil, eh?


Anyway, put some more washings on all of the tanks, and am now doing the final chipping. should have an update for ya'll soon...

Cheers, Max

[quote]


chris, chris, chris....
I just wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out
guess that's what happens when bad meets evil, eh?


Maybe in some other life !

Cheers
Christopher