Kevin,
your M4 looks good, I did the older kit and really like the improvements in detail I see. Your comments re. the suspension are just what I feared, anyway, we can now adjust the suspension without having to cut and shave …. Let’s see how you get on with it, o.k. ?!

Mike, I really like what you did, the elaborate scheme really looks nice. Too bad we can’t see all those interior details you did, but knowing it’s there is something, too ….

Wow mike the Tiger looks great, a lot of work going into that model for sure!

Thanks Andreas the details on the inside is there but not shown, as of yet , I still plan to open the top of the turret and take pics for everyone, I got side tracked with the exterior, just have to do some touch up work on the inside.

Almost ready for paint already You can definately tell the differences between the new toolings and the old parts. It gets to a point where something calls from the A sprue and you KNOW it needs cleaning with huge sprue tabs, and a small horray to yourself when you see H parts in a step . I just need to add the fenders and its time for the fun part. I just wanted to get a pic up of the add-on armor for now.

Engineering annoyances so far:
-Workable suspension-just plain stupid

NOTE: Do NOT glue the center damper all the way closed if you don't use the springs, leave them about 2mm apart as my front road wheel is right at the sprocket. Whoops. Too late to change it now for me as its all painted. It still looks ok but definately not perfect. I guess mine just has a full tank of fuel and a very fat crew...


-The aluminum barrel and muzzle brake have NO provision for fitment-they are butt joined with epoxy. The barrel is drilled(being that the brake is an option), and the break has a slight ridge only a fraction of a millimeter larger then the opening so it will 'dance' on the end of the barrel. So expect to use 5-min epoxy and hold it while it sets, checking the allignment constantly....They could of easilly moulded another one with a pin to fit the aluminum barrel(most the new kits can have 3 or more versions of a muzle brake in them)
-Add on armor on the turret takes a little patience to determine contact areas and keep positioned while the glue dries. Definately needs a gel glue of some sort.
-Only the minimum of parts are newly tooled, a few smaller ones could of been redone, particularly the head/taillight bar guards.
-Last but not least, none of the DML 'modern' goodies we are comming to expect in PE like clamps for the pioneer tools, grillework, or spare rounds; and no interior detail for the same price as the Panzer IV's, Panthers, and Tigers that all come with some breachwork, full hatch interior details, and seats. DML definately makes a few extra bucks on the Shermanholics.

Still a great kit though especially the beautiful turret casting, wonderfull rear vent-work, and the super-cool add on armor detail. I still find the amount of leftover parts in DML kits amazing. At least they make for great weathering and painting practice. Oh, and yes I bent the PE mg bracket back into shape...

thanks for the WIP pics Kevin, I really like what you did ! One thing though, if it's not too late I'd work on the headlights guards. Thin them down a little with a sanding stick. Needs some patience and planning (don't start at the wrong ends !) but leads to sime nice results !

cheers - Andreas -

Yea I'm thinking about it. Pretty easy to do. The tail light guards are too brittle to mess with though. If I cut off all the straight members and replace them with strip stock I only have to sand down the front of the guards. It would take far less time to fit new strips then rework the part and make it much easier to access the fronts that dictate the shape of them.

Edit: I just looked at them again and its definately the way to do it. I have some .010x.030 that looks perfect.

hi kevin and mike, nice tanks you got there. nice clean build..the tiger looks impressive. the sherman's looking good so far. how was the suspension..building the old EZ8 on the DML kit was kinda tricky. the suspension assembly has little contact point on the side hull..you have to hold it a little longer for the super glue to take effect. i think they revised the detail on this one. welding seams looks good also. hope to see more WIP on the sherman. have fun building.

I worked on it a little bit. The main frames are thinned down slightly(the shot does not lend well with the angle) but didn't want to push it. I replaced the other pieces with the thin strip stock. Not nearly as perfect as PE strips would be, but a lot less lego-like. Not bad for a fairly quick fix(and cost-free). Definately worth the extra effort and I was content before with just painting the kit parts, so I got good advice just in time.

Hello all! I guess I'm the guy responsible for starting this fiasco.

I first want to appologize for not getting things going from the start. I moved into a new house and the internet in my neighborhood was and is being worked on for the last few months. I haven't had any internet access at ALL so I had no clue of what was going on! I'm sorry if this has caused you any grief.

Secondly, I have never been in a campaign let alone orchestrated one! I submitted the idea a long time ago and had no idea that by suggesting it I would be responsible for it. (Now it's obvious and makes sense) I thought they were assigned to guys that were higher up in the site. I never got any email or notice that it had been approved and was going through, so I forgot all about it.

My internet is back up and I logged on to see what I've missed and found all of this going on! So if you'll still have me I'll do my best to make this campaign fun for everyone.

I sincerely appologize again for any trouble this may have caused and will get this thing up and going strong.

Better get crackin' on a build :-)

Well here it is in GREEN. It was sprayed black, then green drab, then varoius mixes for shading. The picture is terrrible with the lighting but the shading is subtle to start with. Its very obvious in person, and the aux armor is mostly in a richer shade as it was added after the fract. Fresh after drying, its hard to see the effect with the pigment 'standing'. This model is not going in a dio so its going to be pretty museum clean. Good thing about weathering is if you get bored with it you can mess it up later After a coat a future for washing I will be able to see how dramatic it really is, and can do one final overspray after decaling if the demarcation between colors are not clear enough. A clear coat deepens the color as the reflecton of the tiny pigments of paint no longer independently reflect light. I find usually the lightest color already mixed after the model is washed, decalled, and dulled is perfect for the last overcoat to 'set' the decals and touch up and highlight. The barrel for instance fades about 5 color shades from top to bottom, but this pic will never show it.

again, dont glue the suspension all the way togther like my dumb--- did, you can see the boagies in the photo, it should be opened about 2mm at the center damper.

Ugh, after clearing for decals and wash I really wasnt happy with the color, so I decaled it and mixed a little standard OD green to the mix and recoated with another shading session. I then re-cleared as decals as large as the thunderbolt ones can silver even with every precaution taken. Re-clearcoating them almost guarantees they do not silver at all when dulled. I am very happy with the new color shading as all the work in the last shades were not sepperated enough, and the areas under the sponsoons and exhaust area are nice and dark. The respray over the decals is just a hair too much but the decals looked like a race car without it. It will tone down again once dulled. The torch cut armor edges will look awesome with a wash. Still can't decide if I want a mild dusting spray of earth under the tank, I most likely will do it though and at 90 degrees to the wheels so the treads are clear.



EDIT: added a photo with a basic wash. still needs to be fully dulled, its semi-gloss now.

lookin good on the thunderbolt..the critical phase are the suspension and the track assemblies..have fun building them.

Kevin, how did you do that wash?!? It looks fantastic and especially on a hard color to wash well, OD green. Great job looking forward to more!

nice shermie...
hmm, im also submittin one too, the 1/48 tamiya kit. my first shermie, kinda agile lookin tank. its the early production. any site i can look for reference on the early type?

Thanks! I used lamp black and a dark grey(forget the name), to take the edge off the black. Just spot washed with a thin mix and did it 2 or 3 times on the edge of the armor plates and some welds. I oversprayed the decals with the last mix of OD green to tone them WAY down, they looked like Jeff Gordon decals without it. A lot of the toning is with the airbrush and not the oils. I later did some very thin raw umber washes on certain spots and corners for when I go back very slightly with some mig rust in very few areas. I don't plan on going nuts with weathering.

I'm doing the tracks now, they fit together with VERY little resistance making it go a bit slowly, but the pattern makes it very easy to keep them straight. I took out half a track's length on one side by carefully shaving a little off of 4 sections in the lower run so you can't see it. They are pretty much broken down into 4 sections per side for paint, the long top and bottom runs(since they are pretty straight, and the two ends....I was doing magic tracks in two half-sections lately but makes them difficult to paint. I just do the base coats and then friction-fit them for the last blending/weathering touches so they blend together. Treads should be going to paint tomorrow....almost done!

I'm surprised that DML goes through such length for details on most of the new kits and spends the money on cartograph decals that they don't give any kind of stencil decals at all, not even for the MG ammo boxes.

quote
I'm surprised that DML goes through such length for details on most of the new kits and spends the money on cartograph decals that they don't give any kind of stencil decals at all, not even for the MG ammo boxes. quote

Me too! I'm working the Dragon late Tiger I which is a REALLY nice kit with a lot of nice PE and most large parts are prebent. The magic tracks and the decals leave something to be desired though. Like you I was surprised that they had that much effort and goodies in the kit and then you get stuck with that crap! bummer!

I really like the magic tracks actually. I hated them at first untill I read the 'make tracks' feature and its been good ever since

Hi Guys
Long time no post what with work and other things ,not a lot of time for building,but I'm back in the groove now,3 campaigns and a group build too do better get a move on :-)
heres my Wittmann Stug III A so far....




I'm going to try to chuck some paint at it (along with my Tiger I) this w/e
more pics soon
Andy

Gents, here's my finished Irzyk's Sherman for the campaign:

click here

hi andy. nice stug..the PE parts are looking good. can't wait to see the painted version. thanks for sharing.

looking good..shonen..nice work on the sherman. thanks for sharing.

Hello all! I just gotta say ..."NICE!!!!"

I've recently gotten into tanks and hope to learn alot from you guys!

Just wondering how everyone is getting along? The in-progress pics are great! I can't wait to see what you all have in store! I'm having difficulty getting in touch with the right people as far as our ribbon design, multiple award issue, etc. goes. I've e-mailed and pm'd everybody I think has the answers we need but to no avail. If you have any good points of contact here let me know.

A few questions to you all:

As for ribbon design I was thinking a dark yellow with some verticle stripes reminiscent of score marks on German vehicles would be appropriate. What do you think?

If I could get it approved would anyone be interested in multilpe awards (like a star on the ribbon) for completing the campaign more than once?

TAKE NOTE! Your finished product must include a brief description of whose vehicle and time/place for successful completion and award. The goal is for YOU and US to learn something about the individual you choose to feature. Don't worry about writing a lot just a few lines will be perfectly fine.

Have fun and let me know what I can do for you!
Hellbent

woah!
i have that in my stash..its kinda rare to find that kit now..
lookin forward to the end product..btw, are u putting the wittmann figure also? would look great at it.

Thanks Danial
It's not a bad little kit to build,though I couldn't have done it with out my copy of "Achtung panzer" for the placement of the the PE bits and bobs.
As for a fig,(not my strong point )I will add , if I can find a suitable one.
Andy