Miguelito's untidy work bench

[ShaunW]

That Panther looks excellent to me, Mig, very well done with it.

[Michael modeller 48]

That looks great especially with the RED decals!

[mjatx]

That Panther looks excellent to me, Mig, very well done with it.

Thanks, Shaun. I'm pretty happy with it.

That looks great especially with the RED decals!

Thanks, Michael. The camera really did highlight those numbers didn't it. They look almost edited in and the red is pratically neon pink.

I managed to get the cockpit completed and the fuselage is together. The design of the kit is nice. It allows you to attach the fuselage halves together, then slide the cockpit in through the bottom of the plane. The fuselage needs significant work, but the cockpit is pretty well detailed (with the extra resin seat).


When I was putting the fuselage together, I found out that I'm missing a tail wheel. Now, I need to figure out how to source a replacement. While I'm figuring that out, I thought I'd start another 1/56 Italeri kit. This time a M3 Stuart, and since I had two in the stash, I figured I'd build two at once.


Ended up spending maybe 20 minutes working on one of the kits and got it this far.


I've built this kit twice before, and I've found that things go smoothly until I reach the turret. Hopefully, the third (and fourth!) times the charm.

[Michael modeller 48]

I would go that far to say pink more Scarlet red haha

I would never be able do more than one kit at time

[mjatx]

I finished building one of the Stuart's last night, and got the second one partially completed. Just need to put the turret together later today.




I'm planning on doing the first one as a Desert Rat "Honey", and the second one as a Lend-Lease Soviet version. For the second one, I'll add a commander figure and the kit provides three options. A British soldier, an American, and a Russian. I really think the Russian commander has a very Russian pose.

[ShaunW]

That old Monogram FW-190 cockpit has certainly benefited from the addition of the resin seat, Mig and the whole think looks nicely convincing. Monogram put out some very good kits in the 70's and many still look good today if assembled with a bit of care and attention. I like the look of that pair of Stuarts and the characterful pose of the Soviet tank commander!

[mjatx]

That old Monogram FW-190 cockpit has certainly benefited from the addition of the resin seat, Mig and the whole think looks nicely convincing. Monogram put out some very good kits in the 70's and many still look good today if assembled with a bit of care and attention. I like the look of that pair of Stuarts and the characterful pose of the Soviet tank commander!

I agree. For their age, the Monogram kits stand up well with their newer contemporary rivals. Although, as you mention, they need some special care in areas, and the raised details are really overwhelming. Still, for the price, I enjoy working on them.

I finished the second Stuart, and then I picked up a sheet of photo-etch for a Revell T-80 I recently acquired. So, while comparing the photo-etch to the kit, I somehow managed to build the little tank.





The exhaust didn't have a bottom to is, so I added some evergreen.


After a short day of fiddling around with various parts and PE, I found myself at this point.


Eventually, I got around to adding all of the reactive armor, which was a PITA to work with. The vast majority of armor pieces are single pieces that had to be attached individually to mounts.


I guess at some point I'm going to need to start doing some painting.

[Michael modeller 48]

You're on a good Armour streak....I have build one tank and 10 or so airplane recently...your build thread make me want to buy a tank for my stash....

Do have any suggestion? Maybe a Sherman or Tiger? Something from the movie Battle of the Bulge....

Hard to see scale, can you put a paint can in for perspective...? How many tanks do have on the go right now?

[mjatx]

You're on a good Armour streak....I have build one tank and 10 or so airplane recently...your build thread make me want to buy a tank for my stash....

Do have any suggestion? Maybe a Sherman or Tiger? Something from the movie Battle of the Bulge....

Hard to see scale, can you put a paint can in for perspective...? How many tanks do have on the go right now?

Thanks, MM.

Five tanks (Meng 1/35 FT-17, Emhar 1/35 Whippet, Italeri 1/56 Stuart x2, and 1/72 Revell t-80), one plane (Monogram 1/48 FW-190) and one submarine (1/700 Dutch Walrus).

I have been on a kick with tanks lately, I'm not sure why, but I like not having to deal with canopy masking.

As far as recommending a tank kit, if you want to build 1/35, then you can't go wrong with Tamiya, but if you want something smaller, I like Dragon or some of the new Zvezda kits in 1/72 are very nice. A little fiddly, but nice. Honestly, in 72nd scale, I prefer to do wheeled AFVs, rather than true tanks because you never know how the tank tracks will work out.

If you want to build a Battle of the Bulge movie tank, the Tigers were actually M47 Pattons (Tamiya makes a decent 1/35 kit) and the Shermans were M24 Chaffees.

[Michael modeller 48]

Boy that is lot! I tape the canopy use a shapie to mark out the edge and take the tape off put on my mat and cut it out. If straight lines I use a metal

ruler as guide but I know what you mean about masking. I find gluing the canopy harder to keep a clean glass. But on the other hand you have deal

with a lot of wheels and track to fit and glue (if by pieces). I'll look out for M-47 Pattons and M24 Chaffees. Thanks that is good to know!

[mjatx]

I managed to get the Soviet commander painted. Well, half-figure.


Unfortunately, when I tried putting him in the turret of the Stuart, he didn't fit. Maybe I should have test fit him before I painted him. I figured I'd just hold on to him until I had another Soviet tank to do. Then I remembered a resin BT-7 I still had in a bag. It was given to me by a friend who had started cleaning up the resin, but decided it wasn't for him and gave up on it. So, it came to me with one set of tracks/wheels cleaned up, but the other tracks needed to the same treatment, as well as the chassis and turret. With a few sharp instruments and some sand paper, I was able to get it cleaned up in no time and now the commander has a new home.






Unfortunately, this makes five completed kits that are ready for painting. Maybe, I'll get some time this week to knock these out before I start running out of room on the painting bench.

[iggie]

The commander looks right at home there! very nicely painted indeed

[ShaunW]

I like the look of that resin BT-7, Mig and your great looking commander really does look like he was made to fit its turret. An interesting early war tank, the BT-7 could run on its road wheels (the front pair were steerable like those of a car) with the tracks removed and stored on the hull!

[mjatx]

The commander looks right at home there! very nicely painted indeed

Thanks, Iggie. He really is a nice fit in the BT-7. I'm not sure any of the three commander figures would have worked in the Stuart, based on the hatch and their poses. I'm glad I could put him to work somewhere else.

I like the look of that resin BT-7, Mig and your great looking commander really does look like he was made to fit its turret. An interesting early war tank, the BT-7 could run on its road wheels (the front pair were steerable like those of a car) with the tracks removed and stored on the hull!

I saw that about the BT-7. It's a very interesting design, and I do like the resin kit. I'm always amazed at the details on some of these small resin productions. This one is incredibly detailed.

Well, I've managed to get paint onto all three of my Soviet builds: the T-80, although, it'll be an East German machine...not a Soviet one ;-); the Stuart, although, it was built in the US of A,; and the BT-7, Russian through and through. In other words, lots of green paint in use last night. Pictures to follow.

[mjatx]

I managed to get two of my WIPs done last night. I've spent a couple nights painting and finishing some of the details, and with just a limited amount of decals to apply, things went together quicker than I was expecting.

First up, the Revell T-80 with some additional Hauler photo-etch. This was a pretty finicky kit to work on, but I'm happy with the result and I have Revell T-55 in the stash, which I'll probably break out sooner, rather than later, so this one hasn't totally driven me away from the Revell Soviet MBTs yet.




Next up, Italeri's 1/56 Stuart. As I've said before, these 1/56 kits are really fun to build, and generally, fall together rather quickly. This one is marked as a Soviet Lend-lease version.




I also managed to get the BT-7 painted, and later (after I took this picture) decaled. It's not as lime green in person as the camera makes it look in this photo. I just need to pick out some of the details (tracks, wheels, exhaust, engine cover, tools, machine gun) and I'll be ready to finish this one up too.


All these tanks have been fun, but I need to work on some planes too. Hopefully, I can get a couple more done and make room for one of the planes in the stash.