My subject for this campaign will be the 'octopus' Tiger II:

I have Academy's King Tiger Last Production that I will be using for this.

Great choice, you found a super photo! Looking forward to that..

Obligatory first pic 'in the box':

@ Colin: that Tiger II with the octopus camo will be a corker.

My quick update on the GAZ M1… finished with the build - now ready for paint…









The roof is not attached so I can paint the interior, add the windows, etc. I rest it on to get an idea of the how it will look...





Comments and suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Matthew

Very nice clean build so far, Matthew!

Some progress on my Kassel Tiger:
lower hull, running gear and road wheels (3 pieces each):


Turret is modtly done, have to add proper weld beads everywhere as the kit ones are very sunken. Turret shot damage added and painted interior black as it is burnt out (won't really see anything anyway).

Looking great, Colin!

Ok, I'm chomping on the bit to get these started- a pair of Chevrolet 30cwt LRDG Trucks, one for the ANZAC Campaign, and a desert derelict for here...inspired by these two photos:
This earlier Chevrolet was found in Egypt and is now in the Imperial War Museum...
This later Chevrolet was found in Libya...

I tracked down a kit of the older Chevrolet, but it's a 1/48 Resin kit, and I'm no fan of 1/48...so, Tamiya to the rescue...

Hi Clayton,

Over the past few weeks I rapidly built and painted an Elefant as the APG exhibit, so I can show it at the Tankmod event at the Tank Museum in Bovington next weekend. (The real one is on loan there at the moment, in a special "Tigers" display room!) I have a bunch of "built but not painted" shots, and will take some "completed" shots, but I lack the classic "before I started" pic of the kit in the box - can I still enter it in this campaign? (There is some slight battle damage from something small like a 75mm gun on the front wall of the casement, but no penetrations as far as I can tell - the front plate was absurdly thick! Then there's the damage caused by the US Army leaving it to rot in a field for 70 years...)

Regards,
Tom

Why not, I'd love to see it!

OK then - I'll grab some pics in the morning!

Ok - here we go!

I started this build a few weeks back, in a panic that it wouldn't be ready in time for the Tankmod show on 7 October. (Well worth coming, if you are near Bovington, England - it is held in the world-famous Tank Museum.) Over four days I did all the assembly, half of which was the lovely-but-tedious Hobbyboss indy-link plastic tracks. I had an edge, as the Italeri model was measured from the crumbly wreck at Aberdeen Proving Ground back in the '70s, and most of the "inaccuracies" of the kit are actually spot-on "accuracies" of the state it was in when they saw it! The only things I added were the tracks, a few welds on the hull, the rain gutter on the casement face, and the minor battle damage where somebody wasted ammo trying to penetrate the colossal front plate.





I painted it up in that odd "ghost" grey that they used in the later years of the 20th century - I think the idea was to "de-personalize" the tanks so they could be studied as mechanical devices without any political/historical baggage, but the effect is spooky. It seemed to have a red primer (red lead?) under the grey, so most of the red showing through isn't rust, but rather a pinky-coloured undercoat. I did my best to capture the look, first priming the kit in black, then a red primer Tamiya mix, and finally thinned Sky Grey. Weathering was done with various brands of acrylics to mix the red primer that I dry-brushed, along with washes of burnt umber and raw umber, as well as some Games Workshop Badab Black wash. THe base was made for an earlier APG build (a Panther), but was borrowed for the pics.






And finally, a close-up of the battle damage!


Sorry if I'm a bit excitable - it isn't often I actually manage to finish one! (Hope this makes up for dropping out of the Improvised Ingenuity campaign...)

Looks great, Tom- and there are very few of us who have not joined one campaign too many at a time

You said it Clayton!! But if you start running out of time on this one, you have a quick option - just to the front:





:)

Good choice for your build, as you can cheat and not have to replace the Tamiya tyres....... anyone I know that has ever built this kit has found the types split eventually. I have the kit and 2 sets of resin replacements for when I eventually build it.

Coming along nicely Colin

Very nicely finished Tom. It really does represent the vehicle as it was displayed. It got really worse for wear over time.

Good thing I split the tires myself, Great photos!

Looks great Tom, right out of Bovington! Got the lower hull together along with its damage and the fenders as well, just temporarily affixed right now.

I seen less holes in a colander Colin

And at least 7 Russian tank commanders claimed the kill hey

Looking very good.

Lol, it is pretty perforated. The side picture show a lot of hits so I'm trying to match up as much as possible.

Will be endeavouring to knock this out in some fashion.

I have an alien invasion 1945 diorama planned that needs a couple of damaged vehicles. I probably will go with a Valentine and maybe a T34.
I actually had two of the Valentine mkIII kits, one the original VM one and the other the Dragon rebox. I cut one up for the Post Card Challenge Campaign, but ended up changing kits pretty quickly.
The T34s are old Tamiya kits.




I'm looking to replicate a variety of damage types. Big hits from main guns, canon-fire, and even energy weapon hits. This photo has some good examples, though the track is obscured.


A better photo of some hull penetrations and thrown track. It's a Sherman, but the track is what I am mainly going for.


That's my plan. One or more knocked-out vehicles. I'm really looking for overkill on one of them. Beyond that, I'm playing it by ear.

Is this okay?

Perfect! Welcome aboard!

Assembly is done (except tracks) and primer coat on:



Time to get some paint on this beat up kitty!

Camo is done, now on to minor fixes, weathering and fire damage:

Weathering is progressing on my knocked out Kassel Octopus Tiger, a bit more to go then I can do the fire damage. also working on the link and length tracks (not a fan), will need to get those on as well. I'm aiming for a look of abandonment on this, a few years after the war, everything useful picked over and stripped.



Think I need to drill out those exhaust pipes...