I'm in crash mode to get my Firefly done for the show this weekend too! Of course, you're still posting online, and I kinda fell away from it in order to save time.

Good luck and hope to see it Saturday.

Terry,

I have just been reading (some of) your build log, and I am utterly stupefied!! I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO SAY HOW IMPRESSED I AM! What I can't get over is how you have become a master modeler with (apparently) only a few kits under your belt. I think my experience level is a bit like yours, but I'm just a babe in the woods next to you (no, not even THAT advanced)! It's kind of like, with guitar/bass playing, where an acknowledged player sees some other monster player and feels like he/she just wants to put away the instrument for good, thinking that no matter how good he/she may be, the monster is use SO good that you'll never reach that level... I'm absolutely like that when I see your work! I've got a build log going for a Panzer IV, and I wonder why I'm doing it, when I see something like this...we need to see YOUR kind of building/finishing, because I think everyone could learn from you. I know I can/will, anyway!

All I can say is that you need to keep building, and keep posting, everything you do. I know I'll be looking at every scrap you post, with the hope that I'll pick up some scraps from your pile of amazing techniques and performance. Wow!!!

Thanks Curt, you're too kind! I can't say I've really done much original, just a blend of all the tips and techniques from the web/books/other modelers and then you just mix it all together for your own "special sauce"

If there's ever anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to drop me a line!

Thanks,
Terry

PS I'm putting the finishing touches on this baby, should make it's public debut at the SC AMPS show tomorrow!

Hey Terry,

Well, I'm sure you'll want to keep the 'debut' secret unit the show, but please promise you'll take some detailed pictures either during or after the show to post here. I'll be anxiously awaiting those images!

Let me say.. having spent some quality time with the M16 at Saturday's show, it's every bit as impressive in the flesh as it is online. A seriously nice build with lots of nice details. Terry had some other good stuff at the show Saturday as well!

Thanks Jesse, enjoyed meeting you and hanging out, Jesse's a little too modest to mention he took home the "Best Commonwealth" and "Stranger in a Strange Land" theme award hardware for his Tasca Firefly! Great build!

Hey Gang!

Well, it's been one week over half a year and I finished her up tonight! I did a mad dash to get her down to the AMPS show in SC and probably rushed it a little, ended up with a Silver in the Advanced category and came back with a few pointers to hopefully get gold next time! (Also came home with an SUV full of new kits and accessories!)

It's late, so I'm going to give you a short narrative of the last few stages, hitting the highlights and lowlights, and just post a mess of pictures.

So, inpreparation for airbrush weathering, I painted the roadwheels in Floquil "Weathered Black"


And here are some pics before I cranked up the airbrush




For the weathering, I used all Tamiya, cut with 70% rubbing alcohol. First, "Flat Earth, heavy on the lower 1/3 of the vehicle, then "Desert Yellow" light on the lower 1/3, heavier on the middle 1/3, then "Buff" light on the middle 1/3, heavier on the top 1/3. IMHO this gives a nice realistic graduated look.



I don't like the look of the molded antenna that came with the kit, so I cut off the top piece, scratched the base from a punched disc and some plastruct, made the spring by winding a strand of speaker wire around a piece of wire and superglued it all together


Made a ration box from the verlinden printout. Bent this sides with my etch tool and glued it together with rubber cement, clamped it with a Harbor Frieght spring clamp



Added a couple Archer data plates to finish up the radio



Ran a wire made of thin solder painted black from the radio box to the antenna.

Mounted the 50 cals. A word of caution here, if the two mounting sides of your turret are not perfectly alligned, your guns won't be parallel. Mine weren't
So I had to do some tedious filing and shimming to get everything true





Thought I would get real cute with the next step. I was bummed that the radiator had lost it's black color with the OD and weathering coats. So I vised her nose up and thought I had a great idea on how to paint the radiator through the armored grill slats



But my hand wasn't as steady as I though and I ended up touching the OD in a few places with this hideous result



After that disaster was dry I repainted the effected ara in OD, cut a mask, and re-weathered using the 3 solor airbrush method. At this point it was 3:00 on Friday afternoon, and we were heading out to dinner with friends at 6:00. Uh-oh...



Down to the tiny details...I had seen some open hood pics that showed a cushion strip where the hood folded down into place, as well as cloth straps on the center hinge. I replicated these with thin strips of masking tape


Then I took the photo etch rounds and added a small strip of masking tape painted white to simulate the canvas belt. I found out at the amps show that the black plastic clips would be more accurate, so they were repainted tonight. I also in my haste left off the ammo bay covers (inexcusable!!) they were added tonight!

Also tonight, a very light dry brush of weathered black on the tracks and wheels to pop out the high spots and a few subtle fuel spill marks on the jerry cans and around the fuel fillers. Then a quick touch up to eliminate all the little spots of shiny brass that had emerged on the 7 hour round trip to Columbia!

That's it my friends! Some 1400 pieces and 200+ hours later, here are some pics of the finished product. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed doing it!

Til next project!

Terry

Magnificent! All that attention to detail really paid off.

This is a complete insane build but the results are magnificent. You skill and patience are quite admirable.

Sitting here in awe starring at these pictures and all of a sudden I just realized this IS 1/35th as I have 2 of these RTR's in 1/16 and all the while THAT'S what I thought I was looking at!

Very convincing build and one that I have ran out of words to describe other than thanks for sharing a very fantastic build Terry!







~ Jeff

A real work of art Terry! Thanks again for letting us tag along this spectacular build. Can't wait for the next installment.

Nate

Definiately... let's see what's next!?

Fantastic work, Terry. I think I'm going to turn in my airbrush for good...I'll never do work that comes close to this standard! Thank you for posting these final pictures. I've run out of superlatives, so I'm not going to say any more...other than you had BEST document every one of your builds in the future, hopefully to this level of detail, though i know from personal experience just how much effort (and a pain in the butt it is!) to take these pictures, 'fix' them, upload them, then insert them into posts here and do a decent job of writing and captioning. However, from my point of view, I think someone of your talent owes the rest of us (particularly the sorry excuse for a modeler that I am) instructions on how to do better, and not blight all the nice plastic we spend our hard earned dollars on!

Of course, I'm just kidding about the 'owing', as of course you don't, but I look forward to future threads of your fine work!

Thanks so much for all the kind words. I am going to decompress with the next build. Taking Dragon's old M4A1 Early and doing "Major Jim" The only pic I have seen is from the side, but I know I need to switch out the tranny cover to a three piece and add an extra antenna for the command tank.

Not sure I'll do a full blog as it's pretty straightforward, but I'll try and post a few "in progress" shots on a new thread in the constructive feedback section.

Thanks again for following along on this one!

Terry

I just wanted to stop by and say that this has truly been an awesome build. While I have not commented before I have been following along since you started. I have really enjoyed watching the progress and the techniques you have shared. The finished model is a testament to your skills. I have an U.S. M3 Based AAA half-track on my to-do list and will make use of this Blog when I begin that project.

BTW how do you like using the Pana-Vice?

Outstanding work and excellent execution!

Hey Eric!

Thanks for the reply, it's been a fun build but 6 months is a little over the top! At this pace I'll NEVER make it through my stash!

I use the panavise a good bit, I think it was $27 at Hobby Lobby and I used a 40% off coupon so it was maybe $16, definitely worth that!! It's got a nice weighty base, and the threads on the vise are very small so you have a lot of control.

Thanks again!

Terry

PS I went to JMU and grew up in Yorktown, VA, my old stomping grounds!