Working on a new piece, these pix’s show it about ½ done... It will include a M4A3 and a M20 Armored Scout Car coming under fire in a French town.

I used Lentils for the cobblestone (I had a hard time laying them down --- brain to slow, fingers to thick and arthritic to do it very efficiently).

The M4Ae is Tamyia out of the box with A Verlinden add on kit and a few of my own tarps and camo nets. The M20 is also OOB and will soon get a dose of super detailing.

Here area few pix Andy comments or critics are always appreciated. (Got to get back to that AWI 42nd Highlander bust too… some much to build and so little time!)

John
www.johnneill.com

Great stuff. Having just bought the Verlinden Sherman Stowage Kit, I recognize a lot of the equipment. I especially like the stuff you packe on the back of the turret. Can you tell a little about your buildings?

John,

Looks very nice. Look forward to seeing it completed. Could you shed some light on the lentil method? I tried it once years and years ago but the darn things started to swell, how did you avoid that problem?

Rick Cooper

Basic construction as all of my buildings – Building, doorway and sidewalks are 1/8-1/4 Plywood, covered with Durham's waster putty, with details carved in as the putty dries. check out my article at Basic Wall Construction for detailed instruction.

The rubble is just excess Durhams water putty from various projects spread to about 1/4 thick and cut in brick size width as it dries. Then it is broken up and tossed into a container for use as I need.

The Building design is taken from a building I saw while in Northern France. The Town folk had left a defused WWII artillery round in the second story wall. Depending on whom you spoke to it was a German 88 round fired by Rommel personally or an American 75MM round fired by Patton. For all I know it was a French Army Training Round. Never got close enough to tell, but it was good for tourism. I snapped a few 35MM and threw them in my research bin...

Hope that and the article answer your questions

John
www.johnneill.com

Hi Rick,

No major prep or secret. I simple rough up the surface with some 30 grit sandpaper, spread some white glue down and put each lentil in place. After they had dries I spread a thin mixture of Durham water putty over them like grout and wiped off the excess with a dry paper towel. Once dried, I sprayed the whole thing flat black (right from my 98 Cent Spray can) and began the painting/dry brushing process.

Check out an article by Andrian N at Do It Yourself Cobblestones by: Adrian Nyffenegger for some other ideas

Hope that helps.
John
www.johnneill.com


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Nice stuff there mate. Bith the Shermie and the building - ground work look fine and nice colour blended

John, Once again very very nice work, I have to agree with you the lentils and there palcement can get a bit tedious. Keep the great work. Cheers Kevin