Yeah just flick me your email addy and I'll send them through. The folder is 2.4Mb so might have to send through a few at a time ( I reckon Telecom is still a decade away from getting high speed internet down our way ).

Dean .. trust me the so called high speed internet aint that damn fast here either and by the time it does hit you you'll be to old to care about it

I have nearly finished my first ever tree , its looking better than i thought it would , I'll post pics tomorrow of it .

Phill

Incredible AA gun, I love it … I wish I could scratch build stuff like you can. Still looking forward to more!

Regards,

Vald mate thanks for that buddy ,, don't worry about scratch building as much as you are ,,just start with playing with large parts first like a tank hull,,pretty easy to get the thing looking pretty good ,,even easier again is the side armour on WW2 German tanks .
Thats how i begun and hell at the end of the day my scratch building skills are ok, there's guys on here which blow me well into the weeds, their skills are scarey good

Now to the dio .. here's some pics of the tree i made ..its not finished yet .. painting to follow when i get into the mood .









Oh for those who might ask ,,its a pretty unhealthy pine tree .

Phill

Just emailed them through so hopefully they'll come through okay.

Tree looks really good by the way.

Hey Dean .. thanks for that ,, that tree has turned out much better than i thought it would ,,now i have pics of the finished tree to show the world lol .
Stuck to the base couple of days ago and did the rest yesterday morning .
I think thats really set that corner off very nicely, exactly what i was looking for ,,so here's the pics .













Well that's that for a little while ,,will be more to follow soon ,, i hope

Phill

[Small update time .. here's some pics of what i have been up to lately ,Frist truck is the AFV Club WC63 6X6,, wanted something which wasn't a deuce and a half since that has been done to death and its also a little too big .
Here's the pics of how it looks at the moment


and a pic of its machine gun IMG]http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x460/WARDUKWNZ/DSCF1446.jpg[/IMG]

Now truck number two is an old Italeri British 15cwt truck ( I think ) its got new wheels since the old ones were stuffed and one was missing ,looks much better with these from i think a Tamiya kit but no idea which one





More to follow soon

Phill

looking good Phill, I'm looking forward to seeing this one all come together at the end.

Kia Ora Phil,

Looking very nice indeed will be continue following until the gap "closes", speaking of closes I noticed earlier in your thread about a local model shop closing down, that had lots of aftermarket goodies. Was that Kang's / Ace hobbies by chance?? As I remember that they had the best selection of aftermarket goodies in Auckland.

Cheers Mike

Dean,,, ya you and me both mate its coming together slowly and if people's cars wouldn't break down so often it would be even faster

Mike ,,, nice word usage ya that i did say and that store was Hobbycity when it closed so to speck ,,its changed owners ( now i think for the 3rd time ) so technically speaking it did close

Now here's a little teaser for you guys .. had a little something come in the mail for the center piece of this dio ..

This came in ages ago but been waiting for those tracks so the build could begin .

And it has begun ,, of course starting with the tracks which were a real pleasure to build, not a single problem and in my opinion ten times easier than the tracks which came with this kit ,, they sucked ,,now to the pics





Even made a start on the conversion and the third part was warped so badly i had to replace it .. much better now ,




Thats it for now ,,many more to follow soon

Phill

Lol so they changed again!! They still down on quay st??
I remember when Mark use to run it way back when he originally had it in Mt Albert as Marks Models, but that is really showing my age!! Glad to see that they back up & running again.

Will watch the crab with interest

Cheers mike

Mike ,, mate that shop has changed more hands than i can certain about ..the stuff i got was from John which is a bloke you should remember and nope ..not Quay St anymore ..they now have a South African owner and its now in Lunn Ave ,Mt Wellington and here's the sucky part ,,hes moving away from plastic kits sets and more towards RC cars and planes ,,hope doing that don't kill the store cause the owner is a pretty nice guy and hes building this massive RC B25 Mitchell , its got to be at least 10 feet long ,wings even bigger can't wait to see it finished .

Phill

Phil,

Now you really are asking me to think back lol, well I hope it does pan out for him an R/c Mitchell would be a site to see for sure!! If your ever over this side of "our" ditch around queens birthday weekend " the ozy one" not ours thier is a big model expo show on in Melbourne every year. It is out at the sand down raceway, last year their we're 600+ comp models on the tables & am sure your stuff would rate real well.
Mike

ACE/Kangs has gone for good now I think. The shop on the main road in Birkenhead closed down and he moved into a small area behind and underneath that was about the size of a small bedroom. Last I heard he'd moved to an even smaller spot in Gelenfield, somewhere in one of the industrial estates, Ellice road I think but I think he's now gone completely.

Anyway, back to the diorama. The Crab looks nice, roughly how many vehicles you reckon you'll end up with on this ?

Mike ,,now that sounds like a great show ,,would be a great one to see .. and yes you gotta think wayyyy back matey
My parents live in Brisbane and there's one major problem me visiting Aussie ..something i suffer from keeps me well away from any very hot and humid places . I get too hot and i am pretty my ka put bigtime and trust me ,it's as big of a pain in the ass as it sounds .

Dean ,,bloody shame Ace went bye bye ..that used to be one of my fav model shops ,,great prices and got even better when DJ from Hobbycity ended up there , but for some reason some Asian gent took it over and the toilet was its last resting place and for some reason it was shut on a Wednesday ,, huh? knew that wasn't a good thing .
Our model shops on Auckland is getting smaller and smaller in number .,.its one of the main reasons i get alot of things overseas now or trademe, the shops just don't have much.
There is only going to be 6 vehicles and a couple of motor bikes in this dio , 4 tanks and 2 trucks , enough to keep it busy but not too busy,once there all built and placed i'll take some pics so you guys will see how and where they sit .

Phill

Hi Phil,

Well that is a shame to hear your not well & yes I can understand about the heat as in summer Melbourne can get 35c+, which sucks for a cold loving kiwi, but in winter Melbourne is just like Auckland, just not as much rain for as long & not near as humid as back home.

Ditto on the remarks about when Dj was at ace/ kangs, sounds like only hobby city & model air are left now then? As I am doing a cruise & will stop in Auckland was going to look up some of the old haunts!!

Cheers Mike

Steve's in Papakura is still there, and still the best model shop around in my opinion. Stokers is still in Greenlane ( well was last time I stopped in about a year ago ). But the'ye falling by the wayside these days, both the model shop and rc shop in Browns Bay have gone, ditto the model shop in Warkworth ( I was lucky enough to be there in their final week, lots of bargains ) and the one in Silverdale, the one in Point Chev, and the one in Swanson ( oh yeah, unless it has a new location somewhere so has Bringans Outlet shop in Manukau ) all within the last couple of years.

The only new ones I know of is Cardales in Albany and that's not a model shop really, just a stationers who sells a selection of kits ( good prices though ), sort of like Toyworld only they have a few more kits.

Hi Phill, nice looking dio and composition, be good to see it finished so looking forward to that. One observation, IMHO the hues in your ground work look a little muted, have you considered using a different brand of paint? I'm guessing you're using model paints, I could be wrong but am sure that colour variation through experimenting with different brands of paint will add to the over all look. Just a suggestion.

@ Dean, don't forget Model Air in Newmarket, it's right next door to Lone Star. Probably one of the best still operating. I just want to throw a plug in for BNA Models in Australia, very quick service pus a huge range, delivery time has always being five days which is great for impatient me

Mike ,, There's not alot left now but i have to admit i think Dean spent a few days just going to vey model shop in Auckland
Hell he listed ones i've never heard of but thats not surprising really as most of the time i go there is cause its near something else i have to go to as well ,Model air have gone nuts from what my mate Andy told me ,got so many more kits ,Trumpeter one's are at the top of the list and the prices are pretty damn good too ..I scored the Trumpeter 8 ton armoured half track with the quad 20mm for $50 , thats an amazing price.

Dean mate you might want to take a look at Modelair the next time ya up this way ..might have a few surprises for you and yep Stokers is still there ,, Its the only place i get my blades from and the fact i've known Brian for years so its always good to say ello when i'm out that way

Adam .. nice nick too mate,,was a fav group of mine in my younger days .. now to the colours .. I know there's still a few areas which are going to be attacked again, like the track the tanks a taking ..way to dark so they going to be lightened up a fare bit , I've used Tamiya and Humbrol paints mainly cause those are the ones i use the most ,The most annoying part is that i am 3/4 colour blind which can make life a huge pain in the arse when it comes to painting .
The owner is pretty happy with it so i guess thats one blessing ,but still going to add a bit more paint to it soonish

Phill

I usually only stop at Modelair if there is parking or if I need micro drill bits. I fundamentaly object to paying for parking though so it usually gets cut from my rounds unless I really need something that I know only they have.

Dean mate i am thinking your not familiar with the parking at Modelair i never pay for parking there , down the side of the shop Richard has a couple of car parks for customers and since the restaurant is closed every time i go there i use their car parks as well
try it out ..think you'll like it .

Phill

Dean,

Ditto to what Phil says about the parking I used to park down the side all the time when still living back home.

Mike

Cool, I'll give that a go. Phill, just PMed you about the Sherman barrel.

Oh do try it Deano mate ..you'll love it and it means two things ..one you keep of bit of that hard earned coinage in ya pocket and two ,,the bloody parking thieves don't get your money

Sweet deal

Phill

Well its update time again .. here's some pics of the work thats been done on the Frail so far .. man i wish that Legends plans were easier to read but wish time ,coffee and cigarettes anything can be done








Tomorrow i will be starting work on the drum ..now thats going to be a job and half .. so much PE,chain and balls but its gonna look great when done and so many thanks to Dean (gremlinz) for the new tank gun barrel its going to put the final nail in this model .

Phill