ok hubs are painted. Just finished airbrushing them, literally. Finally got the single action working well again. Looks like it was proper PSI and paint consistency. I am keeping a bottle of windex close at hand as a retarder/flow agent and seems to be working well, Thank you MATT TOMS! Once these are dry I will snap some shots and get them up. I am hopeful that I can get the wheels on and the other final details and begin the weathering process. Woo Hoo!! Work is still a bit crazy and updates might be slow in coming but I will finish this project before Christmas (hopefully). i am excited to get to the weathering process as this will be new for me, with all the washes and such. Dry brushing and pigments are old for me but I have never used the sealers and such so this will be a learning curve for me. For those of you that are following along, my apologies for these updates, but they are more for me to document the process so that I can relate it later. Cheers.

Ok, got the wheels glued on tonight and managed to take a couple of quick photos too. I painted the smoke discharger caps as well and the interior of the open hatches.These were done in the black rubber that I have mixed up, but will be weathered along with the rest of the vehicle to tone it down a bit. Still have some details to add and paint and then weathering. Wish me luck. Cheers.

Managed to find an hour today to put in some time. Managed to get some of the detail painting done and so far so good. I think my eyesight was better 20 years ago than it is now, even thought I still do not wear glasses. And I think my hands were a bit steadier too. Either that or I was too stupid to care about where the paint went. . . .I am hoping that I can do some more detail painting soon and maybe get a coat of sealer on this sunday so that I can begin thhe weathering process. I also need to add some of the other details l like thee MG, the jerry cans and the antenna, but I think those will be last just prior to sealing it. Here are some pics to show my progress. Cheers.

I'm adding one of these to my evergrowing list. Some very nice work.

Looking good Damon. What mix did you use for the rubber? It looks, well, rubbery.

The finish is coming closer.

Cheers, John

Have not painted the tires yet, so if they look rubbery that is all Trumpeter. As for the other "rubber" parts, I used a mix of Tamiya flart black, grey and brown. I did not write it down (like I said before I paint like I cook, little of this, little of that and check the final for colour/flavour). Thank you both for the kind words, lets hope it deserves them at the end. Cheers.

So this is how jacked up things have been for me lately. Last post was Oct 13 and here we are at the end of the month with no updates till now and very little progress. The good news is that I have been doing SOME work albeit very little. Time is one issue and the other is care. Since this is the furthest I have some on any build, ever, I am trying to take my time and make sure that I am doing all the steps in the correct order and not forgetting anything. My goal today is to get some paint on the stowage items that I have and see what other detail items I have to do as well. The photos below are my current status as of this morning. I have added colour to the lights and done some detail painting on the ring mount for the MG, as well as adding some pre weathering to the muffler. Well see how all this turns out once weathered. I would love to be able to get a coat of future on today, but we'll see how it goes. Cheers.

Took my first step into a larger world today. After tinkering with some final detail touch ups and such this week I laid down a coat of future on the beast this afternoon. Shot through the Paasche VL at about 20psi and was able to get a nice light coat. Seemed to go on without any issues, final results will tell in 24 hrs.
One thing I did this last week that I was not able to post (lack of time) was that I went back over the kit with the main colour and did come fine touch ups hoping to hone my airbrushing skills, which worked pretty well. I even managed to do a light mist over the wheels (accidentally) which actually made them look surprisingly realistic! Fortunate accident.
After adding the coat of future the overall colour of the model seems darker and more tan/khaki than the yellowish sand that it was before. I am hoping that this is just an issue while it is drying and that this is not going to affect the colour of the base as I really liked the way it looked. I did not shoot any photos today as I did not want to handle the model once the future had gone down and figured it was best to leave it alone for 24hrs, before handling. I might add another coat tomorrow just to make sure the base is well sealed. If any one has thoughts on this please let me know, I am all ears here as this is all new to me. I am hoping that once the future is dry I can add the decals from the Trumpeter kit to make it look a bit better as the ESCI ones are pretty sad by comparison. That is all for now will post pics this week. Cheers.

Ok here are the pics from the post future application. I think the color change is permanent and I am not sure how to lighten it now, which is unfortunate as I really thought the color was spot on. At this magnification you can really see the uneven surface texture and gaps that still exist even after the puttying that I did. Note to self, take good pictures and study them for issues prior to final application of paint. . . . .c'est la vie.



















Comments, as always, are welcome. Cheers.
P.S. Decided last night I am going to do another application with the future to develop a better gloss coat on the kit.

Added another coat of future to the LAV today. Light spray but still a little heavier than last time.I also made some antennas today with some carbon fiber rods (.010) that I found online. (Pics below). Thank you to Angrydog (Nick) for his quick tutorial on how to. For those of you that have not done it yet I will give the quick version. Take your antenna mast and drip some CA (super) glue, thicker I thin is better. As it begins to form on to the end into a "teardrop" add some kicker (accelerator). I used a syringe and fine needle to drip the kicker onto the mast a little at a time. You might need to build up a small drop and let it cure before getting a bigger teardrop to form. Practice on some brass rod or stretched sprue instead of using up all of your antenna pieces. . . .
I also was able to help my youngest with her model airplane that she started back at the beginning of Oct. She hasn't asked about it in a few weeks and asked this morning if wee could work on "her airplane model". How could I say no? Hoping to get some other work done tonight and may update later. Cheers.

Looking good Damon. Can't wait to see her with the decals and weathering on.

Cheer. John

Quick update, photos to follow later today. . . .
Managed to get my airbrush working correctly yesterday and was able to paint up some stowage for this bad boy. From the Tamiya accessories set I took the camouflage netting bag and the tent bag (some people have mistakenly labeled this bag as the poles for the camo both were sprayed with the Tamiya Olive drab straight from the bottle with a little windex to make it flow. Turned out well I think and will provide a nice base colour. I still need to add the coalition inverted "V" to the rear hatch and am debating on whether or not to add decals. Here is my reasoning. When we sprayed our tanks once in theater we sprayed over just about everything except our markings that were for ID purposes. I am assuming the the USMC did so as well. If there are any of you former sea doggies out there that can shed some light on this, I am standing by. Let me know and hopefully we'll have an answer soon. Cheers.

Update, photos:

Painted on the coalition inverted V the other day, but it looked like crap so I redid it tonight by masking the area I wanted to keep and spraying over the rest of it. Looks much better and cleaner than before. I now need to wait a day and re apply the future to the rear and then on to decals, of which there will be few. I had a hunch that most USMC vehicle, much like the Army ones, were painted in theater prior to the jump off point for the ground campaign during Desert Storm. This means that all of the nifty warning signs that Marines put on their vehicles got painted over. So, we'll see what, if any, are going to be added. Once we get past that issue onto the weathering. Will try to take some pics tomorrow and post them here. Have to say that I am feeling quite pleased with myself right now. This is the farthest I have ever taken an armor kit and I think that my airbrushing skills are getting much better. FYI any of you that are trying to improve your skills, a better brush makes that task much, much easier. Just like a cook who is learning to chop quickly and finely with a Cutco knife (yes, those SUCK) and then upgrades to a proper knife and finds suddenly he can do things that he thought were beyond his skills. . . .or something like that.. Cheers.

Update with the Pics, enjoy.

Here are the photos of todays work, commentary to follow later. (changing it up a bit, cheers)


















So, I had some time today while the kids were all napping to get a few things done. Was able to put some future on the rear the other day after doing the touch ups to the coalition symbol. Today I added the antennas, after a quick shot of black on them and an even quicker touch up to the antenna toppers with some NATO green.
Touched up the stowage with some thinned Olive drab and mounted the camo net bag, the jerry cans, and the tent bag to the vehicle with some super glue, as is pretty apparent from the photos above.
Noticed after I took those pics that the two periscopes on the vehicle top center both need to be colored before we begin weathering and the whole thing will need another coat of future to seal the stowage. . . .two steps forward, one step back. At least I am making some progress. . . . .cheers.

Update 11/28: managed to steal away a few minutes last night to paint the vision blocks on top and do touch ups too. Hopefully tonight I can add another coat of future to the whole mess and in a few days start weathering.
I have found that I really enjoy doing the Build Log as it keeps me moving forward on my projects ( fictitious deadlines) and that posting large close up photos forces me to check my work. Having posted photos here and THEN seeing what I just missed is having positive effects on my building eye. . . Cheers.

Worked on painting stowage tonight. Got the Tamiya Modern US Equipment set and started mixing some colours. I ended up with XF 49 and XF62 about 1:1 favoring the Khaki. Seems to be pretty close to the colour of my helmet bag so I went with it for the rucks, the bedrolls and the cots. BTW I really hated those cots back then, sleeping on the tank was MUCH better, even on the blast panels.
The cots also got some chrome silver drybrushed onto the frames and they look pretty good. All of this still needs to be cut from the trees and sanded and then obviously touched up again with the brush, but not a huge issue as most of the paint is on and can now be easily touched up. I am hoping to get things cut tonight and tomorrow sanded and touched up. Let it dry for a day and glue some things on Wed. We'll see how it all goes. Will post pics tomorrow. Cheers.

Hi Damon, can't wait to see the next set of photos.

Funny how you hated the cots. Most of the Cav guys over here on the ASLAVs love them. But then again there's not too many places you can sleep in an ASLAV unless you have a PC. Its either try and set up a bed in the back or use a swag or cot outside. Tankies on the other hand have competitions to see who can go the longest on an exercise without touching the ground. Personally I loved sleeping in the old M113A1 cause I could string up my hammock. Best sleep I ever got out bush for 20 years. Jeez I miss it.

Cheers, John

Thanks John, hopefully will have more soon to post. Before we jumped off on the ground campaign, during the rains, I used to sleep inside the tank in the loaders spot. Was able to make a little bed with my fart sack, sleeping pad and wool blanket, the rest of the crew hated me because I was so comfortable. . . he he.
Cheers.

Photo update:
Worked a bit after my post last night and managed to get these pics this morning. The one thing I did not shoot was the cargo net that I am making from foil stips, not as good as Nick's (aka Angry Dog), but decent for my first attempt, will post those tonight. Enjoy.

Cleaned up some of the stowage tonight and managed to even get it weathered a bit. Looked good enough so I slapped it on the LAV. The cots are ready to go, could use some more weathering and detail touch ups, but they are not going on till the end so, that can wait.
The frustrating thing about posting photos here is that you begin to realize 1) how much your work sucks compared to others and 2) how bad your eyes must be getting as you thought it looked good when you took the photo . . . .oh well.
So here are some shots, I do not think that the pics look as good as the real deal, but again it might just be my eyes and the harsh reality that I am not as good as I hoped. . . .wah, wah, waaaaaahhhh. . . . cheers.

Just added the final coat of future to the kits and most importantly the stowage that was just added. Weathering will begin in a few days another big weekend at work so I am hoping that I get time Sunday. Cheers.

hey damon ,
just one quick point i'd like to make , as you say your eyes may not be what they where , but as long as your still enjoying the hobby so what . ok we may not be competision winning modellers but who cares , its a hobby we love so if someone is a little too critical , well let them be , i dont think i build or pain at any kind of level apart from one which i enjoy , so i will carry on , i do like to post on here and i do get some good feed back ,feel free to have a look at my work ,, anyway , you keep up the good work and i hope you post many more builds on this fantastic site . regards , woody

Cheers Ian.

Was able to find some time this evening to get the weathering process started. WOO HOO!!
After I added the stowage the other day I went through and created an acrylic wash with Tamiya Desert Yellow and Buff and a lot of water. This was liberally applied to the rucks, tent bag, and netting bag and the duffles (sea bags) that I will add later. The over all look was good and it really created that "dusty" look that all of our equipment took on over there.
Today, however, I took out the oils and thinner are really got things going. Using Ssgt Toms thread (that I now have saved as a word doc on my desktop) I forged ahead into the world of oils. Now just to be clear I have used oils previously when I was teaching my self to paint 1/35 figure faces. The oils blend pretty well and make painting in that size a bot easier. I began by applying small "pin" type washes and by the end was sloshing it all around and messing with some "filter" type stuff too. I think the look, so far, is nice. I am sure that there is much subtlety to learn here. With the site down the last two days I have had the opportunity to really focus on what needs to be done rather than just doing "research". . . .cheers.





















As some of you might have noticed there is an antenna missing, yes it broke off, twice. The other one on the same side is also broken and will need replacing but I will wait until things are done so that I do not do it again. . . .

Update:
Just finished putting on the flat clear coat and am hoping that there are no issues. Weather here has been COLD and foggy so we'll see (crossing fingers).
I managed to get the two replacement antennas made and added and an additional antenna (short) for the rear center mast, as it appears in photos of that era. I will wait in the flat coat for a day or two and then begin the next step. I think I am going to forgo any filters and specific pin washes as I am not sure that it needs it, judgement call here (I of course could be very wrong, please let me know). I am going to be doing some dry brushing and chipping, as the paint on these vehicles in theater was hastily applied and easily rubbed off with minor wear. I am looking forward to using pastels again as this was my first method of "weathering" when I first began build years ago. I know that the exhaust will need some serious black chalk applied and that the whole vehicle will need a good "dusting" as well. Once the scuffing, chipping and dry brushing are done I will add the rest of the stowage that I have been working on and then do the pastels and dusting. Just snapped a few photos and will post them in a bit. Cheers.

Wow did I miss out on a super build, great job on the mod work Damon. I really like the weld bead on the upper hull section, nice paint as well.

Happy Modeling!
Joe

Hi Damon,
what kind of paint was used for the headlights?
Thank You!