Right on, Sal! Looking forward to seeing your results.

It was broken leg that got me back into this as well. At this point I'm wondering which cost more: the hospital stay, or all the kits and supplies I've bought since then!

Nice choice, Sal. Looking forward to see what you get from it.

I have had this hover tank and attack suits for 10+ years. My techniques have definitely improved since then so I will try to improve them with washes, detail painting, better weathering and finally a flat coat to hopefully tie everything together.

More to follow soon

Update on the WW1 trench diorama.

I started on the trench firing steps. I debated on using wooden platforms on wooden legs. I ended up going with wood sided steps, back-filled with dirt. For the wood planks I used Popsicle sticks. I filled the step with styrofoam and covered the top with Celluclay.


I had placed a firing step where the tank fell through so I damaged it up. I also began added the damaged trench walls where the tank had crushed them and knocked them loose.


With the FT17 added.

View of the other side.


It's time for the figures. First up are the Stormtroops from the original diorama. "A" was left as is, just touched up a bit. "B" is a bit of a problem for me. My plan was to have this guy join the normal infantry on the firing steps while e waited for his turn to hit the ladder. I'm probably going to change that. "C" is the NCO and will get a few changes. He'll be modified to be on a ladder and will be armed with a MP18. "D" I actually disliked and planned on modifying. I decided to keep it and might change the angle f the hand holding the rifle.


Some of the modifications to the NCO figure. The donor leg actually came from an old Italeri Soviet Infantry set.


And now the ICM Infantry set. The figures appear a little larger in scale than the stormtroopers. The heads are a bit large. The figures come with spiked helms but I'm going to use the standard steel helment. There's three riflemen and an officer blowing a whistle. The idea is that the normal infantry are manning the trench while the stormtroopers are starting an attack.


The normal infantry are posed walking. That didn't work well with the idea of them manning the trench defenses. I swapped the legs of two of them and it gives them a stance like they are standing. The third figure was made in to a machinegunner for the MG08/15. The idea with him was that he was rushing to take his position. I don't really like the way it looks so I am going to modify him again to stand at the firing step. The fourth figure is the officer and I'll probably build him without any changes.


I'm bad about adding too much and this project isn't any different. I scratched a couple of additional stormtroopers using Italeri Soviet Infatry legs and German torsos from the spares. The other figure and the set of legs might become another stormtrooper headed up the other ladder. The Italeri legs are to donate the puttee lower legs. I decided to stop and might pick up another set of stormtrooper figures for the backpacks.


Idle hands....more changes. I decided to modify the far end of the trench. I wanted to add a bend. In practice this kept a shell that landed in the trench from wiping out an entire section. For this project it was to add some character to that end. The yellow diagonal lines represent a section of the back wall that would be cut out. A wall section will be added at the vertical post...outlined by the popscicle stick.


Section cut and section added. I also moved the far end firing step closer to the tank and placed the ladder in the corner.


Celluclay added and base coat painted.


The stormtroopers added. I'm probably going to modify the firing stormtrooper to be "going-over-the-top".


I'm pretty pleased how this one is coming along. I've decided to take a brief break from working on it to catch up on some other projects and to decide on a few things.

I was going to give my PvIV a coat of German Gray, so new descales and some weathering, but then I found these photos


and I siad self we can do that so I started stripping her down and now Im ready for some improvements

Great pictures, Sal. Looking forward to see more.

I have now finished my home improvement of the my Devishfish APC and attack suits.

Quite a big improvement and I am very satisfied with the result.

Little bit of progress going on when given the chance...the latest:

The M48 series rear now applied to the Spanish M47E2. Allen cap lube ports applied to the drives. Mr. Surfacer 1200 then applied.



Spanish M47E2: Here the foundry/cast marking and numbers applied to the right side rear of the turret. The numbers come from Plastruct and are 1/16". The foundry mark is from Archer. Mr. Surfacer 500 applied.




Spanish M47E2: Once again I've added foundry/cast markings and numbers. Unusual markings to say the least. Mr. Surfacer 1200 applied for the cast texture. Note blanking plate where hull machine use to be. This position was eliminated in the M47E2 for increased ammo storage. The grab handles is .032 aircraft safety wire.



Barely visible (which was my intent) are the foundry/cast markings applied to the top of the turret of the Somolia M47. It carries the same production series number, 7537163, of the M47 family that appears on the right rear of the turret on a great number of M47's. Keep in mind...not all production/casting/foundry markings of the M47 were exactly alike.



Same Somolia M47...this time with cast numbers applied to the rear comm box. Also applied are the brass lube plugs on the drives and Mr. Surfacer 1200.



For my Solmolia M47, I found a most unusual photo of an Italian modified/upgraded M47 that reveals upper hull glacis plate series of foundry/cast letters and numbers. Of course this M47 screamed to have them applied. Notice preliminary application of Mr. Surfacer 1200.



For the Jordanian M47, another photo that showed unusual M47 markings, was used. This time only 4 numbers of the production series (of the usual 7) was found applied to the top of the turret with a different foundry marking. Plastruct and Archer featured here. Up front on the breech access panel is found a 4 digit number of unknown origin...yet appears in a couple of photos found on the net. I decided to use it on this vehicle. The numbers are 1/35 Voyager PE brass.



That's the latest! My apologies for lack of work completed up to this point...that's life!

For this campaign i decided that my Iraqi helicopters need some fixing and improving. since i built the helicopters i didn't use techniques that I've improved and learned. Also i noticed some mistakes on the helicopters as well as broken or missing parts.

Here's the currently my helicopters are in:


the MI-24 had one of its rotors broken as well as not having any cables, needs improvement on the panel lines.

I also need to correct the refueling probe and put wires on the rotors.


As for the MI-17 i need todo a number of things.


I need to make improvements on its weapon bays since some of them are not straight.




I've got to put a target sight on the nose gun.


The cables need to be replaced.


The doors window needs to be fixed. so do the rear view mirrors.


Possibly more will also need to be done on the Helicopters during improvement.




This should be interesting to see how they'll look like when they're finished.

Update on the WW1 trench.This one focuses on the base's groundwork. Groundwork is not my strongest skill. What I really dislike is placing grass. For this one I figured the terrain would be blasted. What vegetation that remained would be small. I think the look works here...it might even have a bit too much vegetation. I did recover and reuse some of the larger bushes with branch systems from the old base.

An overview of the groundwork. I kept knocking the figures off while I worked so I just removed them. The exception is the guy ready on the ladder. He is really secured on there. I probably could grab him and lift the entire diorama.


A close-up view behind the tank. I reused the barbed wire from the old base and placed it there. The idea is that the tank ran through the section of wire. I sprinkled ground up oak leaves on the ground to replicate dried leaves. You can see some of the wear on the trench wall planks.


Another view. You can see a small cutaway section of barbed wire. The circular marks are supposed to be shell craters. I'm still working on those and hope to get them to appear to be filled with water.


The bunker/dugout. This was suppose to have a bigger role in this diorama but that sort of changed as the ideas did. It ended up being smaller than I originally wanted so that played a lot in on it. I've got a table and chair. A scratchbuilt wood stove, and some crates that I hope to add.


Another view of the trench.


I've still got a little work to do on the groundwork. I'm really pushing the figures right now. There's been changes and currently I'm going with five stormtroops going over the top. Three infantry manning the trench. And a single officer blowing the whistle.

Once those are done, it should be basically finished. I'm still hoping to try to squeeze in the makeover on the old base....into a WW2 German defense position.

Some really great looking efforts here! Sorry I haven't been more involved, but the ongoing re-location has kept me pretty busy. Hopefully have the workbench back up and running in another month.

I'll have a relocation 'delay in building' coming up in the next month or two...slowing me down a bit when it comes to mangling plastic . I certainly hope I'm able to finish this campaign!!

Some nice work guys
I removed and moved some tools to add the jerry cans

and added crate to the right side and the cow catcher treads

one or two more additions and it will be ready for paint

Here is my recent development.the MI-17 only needs a few other things to be done.

However, as i had to remove the the door to fix the window pylon in front of the door had to be removed. as i was removing it the knife slipped and scratched the window.


i had the cables replaced




As for the MI-24, its on a whole different planet.


here are parts i removed for what i'm going to do next.




I was originally just going to go over the panel lines to bring them out and putting on cables. Then i had to remove the paint because it was too thick. afterwards I thought i should turn the MI-24 into an MI-35M which means i would have to dismantle and add conversions to the model.

Just some minor corrections this time around.

Showing Somolia M-47 rear fender braces with support brackets from Eduard and store bought .032 steel rod. The brackets were quite the handful when you're all thumbs. On the lower right can barely be seen the tow cable stowage bracket and data plate that identified the Italian manufacturer that modified M-47s. Note cast markings on call box... Mr Surfacer 500 for cast affect.



Found photographs that help in correcting foundry marking on lower front hull, so, scraped off what were to be incorrect numbers and repositioned new ones...shown here with different styles of locations on the Jordanian M-47 and the Spanish M-47E2, respectively.









On the Spanish M-47E2, I'm showing the progress of the rear lower hull's morphed transformation of the hybrid M-47 that gets mated with the rear of an M-48. Note lights and engine access panels with brass rod grab handles. Note the 3 grease nipples on each of the final drive cases.



I know its not much. but progress sometimes is slow.

Really impressive efforts here. I love what you guys are doing!

I built an ISU 152 in the standard dark green and drybrush weathered. Now, 8 years later, I used the salt chipping technique to finish it.

Hi all, I'm going to enter a kit (KV-122) I completed in mid April (makes the 6month old time frame just). I completed it with some basic weathering, ie tone modulated colours and basic wash with dust spray wasn't really happy with it. I picked up a bunch of pigments and washes last week and have been checking out Adam Wilders tutorials on YouTube so I'm figuring what the hey it can take one for the team and be a heavy duty practice weathering kit.

My AMX 90...which I think is ready for paint! I just have to hold back and quit tinkering with PE!

The latest: finally added the PSP track held back with PE leather straps/buckles...same for the tarp on the left fender, the fire extinguisher on the right fender, steps near the right hand hull hatch, rear cable holders and lower engine plug. Grandt Line bolts finishes off the top turret. Other accouterments come later when paint is complete.

OK first stage down, wheels, tracks etc stripped down as far as possible and Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear applied all over.

Adam Wilder had been doing a Finishing Techniques week by week tutorial on You Tube. First stage is applying marking via stencils but since I already have my own markings applied I'll skip straight to stage two which is applying a filter.

First attempt...

worked as about as well as a hug cures zombieism.

First step was filters and all I had on hand was black, over an already poorly weathered model just looked, well, I'd say bad but that would be an understatement. Came out VERY dark indeed. So current stage...


That's Oven Cleaner, my favourite enamel paint stripper. Should be ready to give a primer coat tonight (with luck, since I will also be replacing the commanders side grab handle with wire).

Keep plugging away at it, Andrew! You'll get it.

BTW, I prefer the hair-spray method to the salt method if you're looking for heavy chipping. The problem I've found with the salt method was that as painting and weathering progressed I kept finding salt that I had overlooked when trying to remove it. I also found the salt left white residue when it interacted with my acrylic paints (not a problem for you if you're using enamels). The hairspray method I find gives better control and you get to see what the finished result is as you go; whereas, with the salt method what you get is what you get. Just my $0.002.

Marc, the first couple of times I tried heavy chipping I did try the salt method and on one of those there was obvious residue. Third time it was the hair spray method and it totally destroyed the paint work, the chipping when all the way down to the plastic (must of been the cheap hairspray is my guess). I picked up some of AK's heavy chipping fluid for my next attempt.

So for the hairspray technique there are a couple of things I have found: first, need to seal the basecoat with future or something else before applying the hairspray (not necessary if you use enamels); second, need two or three solid coats of hairspray for this to work otherwise, as you observed, you have to scrub so hard you take all the paint off. Photography is not the best, but I did this one with hairspray:



As you can see, I could take off most of the whitewash without touching the base coat.

Either way, Good luck!

Thanks for the tips Mark

Had to end up replacing 4 sets of grab/tie down bars. One on the turret and three on the hull. Took some doing but getting more and more confident with soldering each time I do it. Nice lazy Sunday here I got primer, base, modulation and gloss coats all down

Only have marking to go and then I'll set to go (again)