I had my kit in the box, on the floor. I tripped and stepped on it. Life is keeping me from buying a replacement. So, I'll be withdrawing from this campaign.

I only know about them because they always show up in Squadron's catalogs. They're not bad but need a lot of work. It's my first kit from them (the Bison II is a re-box of Alain's kit) and I like that they're kind of 'barebones' with their kits. The instructions are the biggest obstacle really, after my last post I started looking at reference photos and found out that they're wrong. The placement and size is off, more than a few parts are mislabeled or aren't labeled at all and the directions don't scale parts like they should so you end up looking for a rather large piece that doesn't exist when it's a tiny part that you'll likely loose on the floor. A couple aren't even kisted, like how to mount the gun shields. I had to find DML's drawing to figure it out.

The moulding is pretty good for what I understand yo be a fairly old kit that's been re-boxed several times, and is from a small Russian company (Ark is, not sure about Alain).

Next biggest issue is accuracy. Lots of bolts on the transmission case are missing as well as a few other bits. The drive shaft is noticeably thick and doesn't have the correct style linkage (they just winged it to make a simpler mould). And the transmission case is a single piece, but was moulded hollow, so the right side (against the hull) is open but it shouldn't be to noticeable once the top is on.

And obviously there's a lot of work going into the sides of the hill to cover those pin marks! For twenty dollars, delivered to my door? I'm happy with that.

Matt, sorry to hear that

I have built Alan's Bison II. From what I have heard, it is pretty accurate. Of, course I could be wrong.

Thats where I've seen their models also. I considered buying this specific gun myself after enjoying 3 months with it in World of tanks

Matt, it's missing a lot of details and it's interior doesn't match up with a II Ausf. C walkaround that I found. Also both DML and Ark have an odd exhaust pipe that doesn't match with other II's. There were only twelve and none were saved. The possible inaccuracies aren't a big deal.

Ark Models is Eastern Express. They also use a great deal of old eastern European molds from manufacturers like Alan.

Tracks..



Will start the other side soon.

John, you're sticking with the 'new rubber' color I see?

Yes, after some filters and weathering I'm hoping to get a darker tone.

Update:

Gun details & one fender





pin wash on the gun



Also started painting the finished track, still have to build the other side.

Hi guys,

sorry for not posting earlier, but life gets in the way of modelling these days for me...

Here are a few in progress shots of my entry. I do not have a pics of when I started unfortunately!










The painting and rough chipping is done. I need to go back with more detailed chipping. Then it'll be on to painting details and the start of the weathering process.

Any comments are welcome.

Cheers,

It looks nice Christian. Did you have issues with assembly? FSM's review didn't appreciate the directions having only one very point and said it was hard to assemble equipment on the turret, specifically the large pipe (snorkel, isn't it?).

I think it'll look pretty good once you get it weathered.

Hi Christopher,





This is a very nice kit but, unfortunately, it's not user friendly. I had to dry fit a lot, of the sub-assemblies before the final placement. The turret (obviously as much goes on on it!) was the worse. Not sure if it was luck or what, but I didn't have any problems with the snorkel assembly.

On the hull, only the front mudguard gave me grief.

If I can say a few words on the defense of Xact Scale kit, once assembled, it's just an amazing beast!




I think that too, just at this stage and it looks real good already!

Hope this help,

Chrisitan

Hi all,

Have had a modelling break for some time and now I'm starting at it again... This campaign seems to be a nice incentive to get back at it with a small project. Would just a Nebelwerfer 42 fit the bill to join in?

Cheers,

Max

Sure would. Welcome back to the hobby.

Awesome, thnx!

Hummel's work:

Finished the steel coat on the tracks and also gave a AK Track Wash coat.



Started rusting some parts,



Dirt filter on the other side too



Some more dirt, some base coat paint started to come out, will fix that later on.



Also MIG filter on the inside

Well, I continue to plug along slowly but surely on my entry for this campaign. I've finished the building phase and main painting; if you want the gory details, you can check it all out here . In the past two weeks I've finished the stowage and started the weathering. For the stowage, I settled on a duffel bag, a rolled-up tarp, and a camo net. I had a couple of camo nets in my drawer, so I took them out to see if they would do the trick. One was Echelon's Barracuda camo net in brown and green (it looks like a decal and is just as fragile), and the other was a Pegasus green camo net made out of gauze-like material. This is what the Echelon net looks like once unpacked:



And here are part of the instructions--you basically treat it like a huge decal:



And this is what the Pegasus net looked like:



I first tried using the Echelon net, since it looks the best. I succeeded in separating it from the carrier sheet, per the instructions, without any damage, but when I tried to roll it or fold it, it just shattered into hundreds of tiny flakes. Scratch that. The Pegasus net could be easily rolled up, but it just looked like rolled-up green gauze. I finally decided to combine the two, since the Echelon net has an adhesive side. Right after removing the Echelon net from its backing, I laid down a piece of Pegasus net over it, tamped it down with a soft towel to make sure it stuck properly, and set it out to dry. Once dry, I tried rolling the combo net. I had better luck than with just the Echelon net, but it still shattered and tore in many, many places. I had wanted to display the net with the Echelon side out, but that was clearly not going to happen. I opted to instead display it with the Pegasus net facing out. I then used Vallejo's Dark Green Wash to darken the color of the visible parts of the Pegasus net once I put the rolled-up net in the turret basket, as the Pegasus green was way too light. The combo net still looks better than just having a roll of gauze, since Barracuda nets have a mesh woven into one side, but I'm disappointed with the results. Oh well, it will have to do.

Here's what the combo net looks like:



I have also been busy with the weathering. First, I used MIG's rain marks to subtly stain the surface of the whole vehicle. It's barely visible, but it helps break up the surface and give it some depth.





Next, I airbrushed some AK Africa Dust Effects on the lower areas of the hull and immediatelly stumped it with a flat brush to create dust streaking.





Finally, I used AK's Rainmarks for NATO Tanks to create rain marks/dust streaks on both the hull and the turret:







On the spades, I drybrushed Testors Steel to simulate the worn edges where the spades dig into the ground for firing.



On the turret (and on a few other areas of the hull, such as handles, I used a graphite pencil along edges to create worn areas. I kept this effect very restrained, as I did not want to go overboard:







If you look carefully at some of the hull shots, you will see I also painted some rust around the exhaust and that the paint on the front mudguards is chipping. It turns out that the vinyl parts in this kit (the front mudguards and the cloth cover for the mantlet) will simply not hold paint, no matter what. I tried several different painting methods, including priming with Alclad primer, but the paint always chips or flakes off at the slightest provocation. That's why I'm not using the mantlet cover--every time I tried to put it in place, it shed paint like crazy. Even if I had managed to get it on and repainted it, moving the gun would have caused the paint to come off again.

The next step will be dust buildup on the rear of the hull and mudguards, then I will mount the running gear, fix the hull and turret to the base, and add pigments. Once that's done, I will call this build done!

Let me know what you think.

Kinda late getting started but here is my progress so far
on my Geschutzwagen Tiger 17cm


the engine is a kit in itself

I didn't realize that the 109 was for this campaign, Lucas. It's been a nice build so far.

And I do love the Geschutz Tigers, I wanted to do one but didn't think I could get it done in time.

Keep it up guys.

Thanks, Chris! Yes, I decided to enter it in the campaign when I started it since it fit the bill. I had been thinking of another kit, but when my friend retired, this one was a natural.

Heres my entry into the fray should be starting today or tomorrow photo update coming soon

Sascha(ironowl)

Are you going to do the long 8" as a m110 or the very long 175mm M107?

I'm Going for the M-110A2 203mm ive wanted to build this one for awhile
Sascha(ironowl)

good choice, I did one a couple years ago