Marek, that is a nice choice of build. Looking forward to see how that works out.

Peter: I'm clearly game for bending campaign rules, but unfortunately it's not my shot to call either. I hope that you get the okay for that build, it looks like a great plan!

Marek: there's nothing quite like needing a kit in order to build your kit, eh? Best of luck!


I'm finally ready to give some pictures. First the obligatory unbuilt shot. This is Trumpeter's 1/72 scale kit. I wanted a quick build so I could work more on the painting and finishing aspect of my craft.


As promised, the bulk of the kit went together in ~20 pieces. The only fixing necessary was at the glacis-hull joint and just a touch on each missile.


Wouldn't be too difficult to mod it in the stowed configuration, but the picture of the parade shows all firepower at the ready...sun's out, guns out!


Primed all pieces, now for step one of painting. I mixed a color that I'm calling "aggressive school bus yellow".


I bought a tin of Mig's airbrushing putty at the recommendation of some other modelers on this forum; we'll see next time how good it is when it's time to spray the salmon-pink coat!

You chose the right name for that paint!! My eyes almost hurt

It will be a cool camouflage although I am not sure it will hide anything.

Next color is on! My initial paint was more like a Crayola Tickle-Me-Pink...oops.


I reworked my ratios and mixed up a redder paint. I sprayed the lower track and left the upper one pink as a comparison. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, it really is more red than pink now.


In keeping with my tradition of stupid paint names, this paint will be affectionately known as bashful salmon.


At first glance, the Mig airbrushing putty seems to be doing its job. Unlike poster tack, this stuff is like an extremely viscous near-liquid which allows it to sink gently into crevices without much prodding. It sticks well to surfaces, and from the minute adjustments I've made while mapping out the camo, it seems to detach easily and without pulling up the paint. All as advertised so far!

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this pandemic...maybe this will give us all some extra time at the workbench!

Robbi, Bashful Salmon!

Anyway, I have been thinking of entering this Campaign for a while, and as all my other builds are right now at a point where I can't do anything with them tonight.....its time to start on this.

Photographic inspiration of my subject, an F-16C Block 50 of the 85th Test & Evaluation Squadron flying over Alaska in 2017. This aircraft is wearing the (then) experimental Have Glass V camouflage. This paint scheme is now being rolled out across the F-16 fleet for units with a SEAD role.


Here is the kit I will be using, the fantastic Tamiya 1/48 Viper. I recently finished one that had languishing for 5 years and was determined to build another as soon as.


I will be using the decal sheet "Test Vipers" from Speed Hunter Graphics, and for the Have Glass paint I will be using Hataka lacquers.


I also need to pick up the AMK "Modern US weapons" set at some point, as it comes with the correct instrumentation pod. At this moment in time I'm not planning on scratchbuilding the mountains

Neil I'd love to see some mountain sculpting, or at least a touch of photoshop when you're done

The last coat is on -- a color I'll call "logical green" -- and I have to call Mig's putty a resounding success! No residue, easy to work with, works its way into crevices, on and on praise. The only downside is that if you leave it overnight, it WILL droop. Some places more than others, but my word of warning is to always check the masking before spraying to make sure there aren't any new protrusions through the putty. I guess that's just good practice for any masking material...anyway.

Overall the scheme turned out very well, even with the SUPER preliminary dry fitting. Just a few illogical areas (eg: the front-left corner of the missile rack should be red) and a few spots where the mask over- or under-covered. But I'm very happy with the sharpness of the borders, and really that was the main skill I was working on for this build.



The saying goes "Excellence is the enemy of Good Enough" and that's where I am now. There are certainly tiny areas to touch up, but my gut says there's too much yellow and not enough green or red. Given how well the masking putty works, I wonder if I can (re, SHOULD) try to mod the camo scheme ever so slightly. Thoughts? Do I adjust or just push forward with "Good Enough"?

Robby, now that model is a statement!!

Looking good.... I think....

Hi Guys

Just throwing up a suggestion for the award ribbon:

Nice ribbon, Peter. I like it a lot.

Thanks Jesper

Robby! That paint scheme is crazy cool. Can't wait to see it completed.

Got some more work done on mine. Detail painting still to do, and a dot filter above the fenders. Hull and back deck still dry fit.

John,
The Panther is coming along nicely! I've been following from the shadows on this one and went back and looked at the first posts you guys added. I noticed you said something about not having the trench coated figure. I imagine you have already checked this out but the old Dragon "Advance to the Rhine" set has a nice trench coated fellow that might work. I'd send you the one I have but he is already standing on a muddy road on my shelf. PM me your address and I will see what I can dig up over the next couple of days if you are still planning on incorporating the figure.

Cheers,
Rick

Looking great Guy. Coming along very nicely

Thank you Peter!

You are doing great work there Guy, its looking really good.

Rick, thanks for the heads up, and very kind offer, that Dragon set was proving nearly impossible to find but thankfully Tom (Barkingdigger) very kindly donated a trench coat wearing G.I he had which was a great relief as that is a real focal point of the pic, so, drama averted ... yay ... and thanks for the words about the build.

Hopefully this week I can start on the Panther again as I have been busy with the Golden memories and Tank destroyer campaigns and work has been very mad with everything else going on.... John

Thanks for the positive comments on earlier pictures.
Calling this ne done. Fun build, but If I do another I definitely learned a few things I'd do differently.
With the Source Photo



With the box top art. Don't know if the turret numbers should be yellow, like the box art, or the red that came with the kit. Since we are building to the photo, and not the box art I went with the kit supplied decals.

Heading off to the next build! Great campaign, thanks guys!

That's a nice little Panzer Guy

Nice build, Guy. Looks very cool!

Congrats on finishing

Guy,

Sweet looking Panzer III.

Mark

Mark, Jesper, and Neil

thanks gents! I appreciate it. I love the DML Panzer 3's. thanks for a fun campaign!

Guy, congratulations on the job well done.
Kalin

thank you sir!

Sweet build Guy. Really well done.

Well done Guy, you have captured that Pzr 3 brilliantly, and great weathering on it, looks spot on.

I am finally getting ready to start my build for this campaign. The kit feels a bit old, but will hopefully go together well.

More to follow