Jeremy,

I will probably put the model in a desert setting since it was mostly used in North Africa. But as of yet I have not made that decision. That's one of the reasons I'm not sure if I will use the canvas.

Hi All,

Not much to show or report. I am working on the gun shield, but have not finished it. I am still cutting and fitting. More later as I complete it. Seems lately I have had little modeling time because of other obligations.

Dave

Dave, thanks for the email, this is one cool conversion project. I'm going to live vicariously through you and wait until the big lizard releases theirs to build this myself though.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Ken

It has been awhile, but I finally finished the gun shield. I guess third time is the charm...LOL. Because there are no clear pictures or measurements of the shield, it took me awhile to figure out the correct dimentions. This, as you can imagine took alot of trial and error. And believe me there was more error than trial. I also found out that the gun platform needed to be raised just a little. This is something that had completely escaped me prior to trying to fit the gun shield. Amazing what you can learn by just examining the pictures in the manual...LOL

The pictures below are of the gun shield mounted (test fitted) on the other sub-assemblies. I am almost to the point of doing the base color painting. I have a couple last minute things to attach, etc. But overall, it was a good modeling weekend.











More later as work progresses.

Dave

Oh yes, almost forgot....

Ken..Thanks for the comments. If Dragon is true to form, they will release their version a couple of months after I finish mine. That's what they did with the T-19...

At least you'll have beat them to the punch and you can claim that yours is the standard that theirs compares to.

Looks great. Keep up the good work!

Looking great....the shield is fantastic. For all the errors, the sheild is not trial....it is a winner

Yes...the 'build it and the kit will come syndrome'

Rounds Complete!!

First off...Thanks for your comments David and Mike. It's nice to know that when you get enough courage to post your work that others are viewing and appreciating it.

This weekend I concentrated on finishing the gun shield, the 50 cal and the tracks. I am trying to get it ready to start painting. I attached the gun shield to the gun and the pictures below are of my final test fitting of all of the sub-assemblies.

I hope to start painting either later this week or next weekend. I was very pleased with the fit of the gun in the rear compartment as alot of the measurements etc., were pure guesses based on the available photographs of the vehicle.











It has been an interesting but rewarding build. I have found new respect for those that "Scratch" build.

Dave

I thought I would post some pictures of the assembled and painted vehicle. Obviously I have not done any weathering at this point. Attachment of decals, accessories and weathering will be the next steps.

















More to follow as time permits.
Dave

It is coming along nicely! Happy 4th!

Davie, in a word, "outstanding". The engine looks great, the gun shield is spot on, and a great job of portraying this ugly beast as it truly is. Ya gotta love it.

Nice work on the engine, The sheild looks great. Looking very good!

Rounds Complete!!

Hi Dave,

Excellent work, looks terrific so far.

Cheers

Al

Looking great Dave! Now I'm still waiting for DML to release it, shouldn't be too long now...

Cheers!
Stefan

I appreciate everyone's comments.
Thank you.

Dave

Not much to show this week. I did get the initial decals placed and the hood doors attached. The pictures are just a couple of close-ups of the engine and then several pictures of the vehicle with decals.













I probably won't try to post again until I have done some substantial work on the model so I don't bore you with just minor developments.

But I do feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sure DML will be contacting me any day now for dimensions and pictures so they can put out their version...LOL

Dave

Great job Dave. It turned out really well. I particularily like the engine ... the folded hood shows it off nicely. Will you add some crew?

Frank

Thanks for your comments. Yes I do plan a couple of figures and a small Dio.

Dave

Very nice...the folded hood looks great. Nice job on the front grille star, it can be a PITA. Looking real fine

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks for the comments Mike.

The grille star was a big PITA. It is an Archer transfer, so it was not already cut. I had to do that prior to mounting it. But it came out well.

I still have to add bumper numbers and then the decaling will be done

Dave

Hello all..Yes, an update after 3 weeks

Since the last update, I have finished the decals, added the stowage, and added the weathering and "mud" camoflage. Since I am planning to put the T30 in a North African viginette, I chose to model it after a T30 in the 2nd AD near El Guettar. To add interest, I decided to use the irregular "Mud" camoflage that many units added to their vehicles. In my research, I found that even thought there was an "Official" pattern, that many units just did their own thing. That's what I have depicted. A vehicle that the crew just slapped on some mud. I tried to do it in a way that looks like the crew was in a hurry and just put the mud in big areas, not really worrying about total coverage.





















I will do some final touch up on the mud ( as you can see there are a couple of places I managed to get my fingers on) to cover flaws and even it out in places.

Next up though will be to start work on the 4 figures I plan to use with the vehicle, and then on to the base work.

I will try and post the figures when finished.

I hope you enjoy these update pictures.

Dave

I did not realize that I had not posted since last August Between traveling for work, holidays, etc., I completely lost track of time. The good news is that the Figures and Dio are complete and the model is now on the shelf.

Here are some pictures of the finished Dio.











It was a fun project, especially the desert base. I thought it would be an easy ground type to depict, but was actually hard to get it just the way I wanted it.

Anyway, the Dio depicts a T30 with maintenance problems somewhere in the Tunisian desert.

Now on to the next project as soon as I decide what it will be...LOL

Your comments are always welcome.

Dave

Very Nice Dave.
And just an aside, if I had a T30 you depicted it - Broken down

Again, Nice job!

The T30 got very little use outside of Africa and Sicily. I guess it just didn't prove useful. I did note in the second season of "Greatest Tank Battles" showing now on the Military Channel, that there was quiet a bit of footage of T30s in the Tunisian Campaign. Until I saw that episode, I saw very little actual news reel/combat footage of the T30.

Anyway, the "Broken Down" was more to showcase the engine than anything else

Thanks for your comments

Dave

Magnificent work!

C Co, 81st Rcn, 1st Armored Division, had these. One blew a pillar off the leaning tower of Pisa.