CDW

Makes one wonder how we got through all the prior hurricane seasons in the past without all the insurance hassles we have today. For one thing, the bulk of original Florida settlers knew better than to build where it's common to see homes built today...close to large bodies of water. Old timers did not do that and/or knew the risk they were taking when they did. Insurance companies are making homeowners do all kinds of renewal projects these days or face insurance cancellation. I've got friends who own homes on the Gulf Coast who don't even carry insurance because it's too expensive. Of course, they own their homes outright and are not forced to carry insurance due to mortgage requirements.

I agree. The Wood finish is very nice/realistic.

That's just awesome Ken. A work of art. Hot-rodding a Buick of any kind was always a challenge because just about any high performance item that wasn't stock had to be custom machined. Of course, back in the day when this particular dragster was built, most all high performance items were custom machined. This was a car I wish I had seen live and in person but I don't think it ever raced in my hometown area. Ivo probably did match races with it as a headline featured race on tours. That's how I saw a lot of the old famous dragsters, at match races.

That came out real nice Kevin. The Russians had some very interesting fighter aircraft in WW2. Lots of aces, too. In that mix of famed Russian fighter pilots were some females as well.

Me too!

Very nice model Scott. I like the weathering you did on it too.

Yes indeed, orders of magnitude cheaper.

It's a lot of plastic for sure. Thanks for coming on board Rob.

Hitler wasn’t the 1st to be handed his rear end in Russia and likely won’t be the last. Napoleon should come to mind. The Russian small arms were and still are today, remarkably effective weapons. I own a few from the WW2 era.

It can easily be seen in museums and as you said, rough. But the operative word was “effective”. Despite taking 27 million casualties in WW2, they kicked the living crap out of the Nazi’s and their finely engineered weapons.

Thanks Ken! Tankers are a whole 'nuther breed IMO. I admire them for what they have done and do. Certainly not a task I would want to entertain. Thanks Mike. MiniArt do a nice range of WW2 armor, infantry, and softskin vehicles. On the modeling front, got some more building and painting done and it was now time for a dry-fit before going too much farther along. Any gaps will close up easily once cement is applied. I like the way MiniArt engineers/designers placed ejector pin locations (in most cases) where they will be covered by other parts in subsequent steps of construction. I've had a few that needed filling and sanding, but not all as can be seen here. These will be covered and remain unseen later on.

Come inside the cockpit and fly the Wildcat with one of my favorite local guys, Kermit Weeks. If you go back and watch video parts one and two, he gives a great walk-around and explanation for all the aircraft features. He cranks like crazy at the beginning to raise the landing gear. It was a lot of work flying one of these old birds as you will see in the video. A lot for the pilot to pay attention to and do.

The eight vertical boxes, four on each side of the fighting compartment will contain springs for the suspension, to be added later. The main colors have been painted on all these parts. I'll play around with lighting and camera settings to try and get better color resolution on coming photos. With that huge engine and transmission taking up half the floor space, it must have been very loud and hot inside one of these vehicles. Stand by, there is a lot more detail that gets packed inside which will be revealed in subsequent steps.

She's got a real nice weathered finish.

The driver's seat, controls and linkages are reproduced in significant detail.

Superb! Excellent build and very realistic.

The engine gets sandwiched between two massive radiators.

With the major components of the engine and transmission/steering clutches painted, will drop back now to pick out details and weather it up. Once the radiators are installed, much of the engine will get covered up, only to be seen from the top.

Thanks for your comments Kevin. MiniArt packs an incredible amount of detail in the kits I've built so far, and for a fair price I must add. The cautions I would point out for 1st time builders of a MiniArt kit are 1. Pay close attention to the parts assembly by test fitting and looking several steps ahead. It's quite easy to assemble the parts in a way that will not fit later on when sub-assemblies are brought together. 2. The plastic is very soft. It's very easy to damage the parts without a gentle hand in prepping and cleaning them up. 3. There are a HUGE number of parts trees, all labeled a, b, c, etc. organize your parts trees with a clearly seen label or else you'll drive yourself nuts looking for the correct parts tree as you build your kit.

Doc, all your hard work to clean up the "old-mold" Tamiya parts is paying dividends. It's building up to a very realistic, highly detailed model.

This is the 1:35 MiniArt SU-85 Soviet tank destroyer from the WW2 era. The kit reproduces the model with a full interior. There are more than 700 parts, making this kit a big heavy box of plastic. From Wikipedia: The SU-85 (Samokhodnaya ustanovka 85) was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during World War II, based on the chassis of the T-34 medium tank. Earlier Soviet self-propelled guns were meant to serve as either assault guns, such as the SU-122, or as tank destroyers; the SU-85 fell into the latter category. The designation "85" means the bore of the vehicle's armament, the 85 mm D-5T gun. Development history[edit] Early in World War II, Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1 had adequate firepower to defeat any of the German tanks then available. By the fall of 1942, Soviet forces began to encounter the new German Tiger tank, with armor too thick to be penetrated by the 76.2 mm guns used in the T-34 and KV tanks at a safe range.[2] The Soviet command also had reports of the Panther tank, that was in development then and possessed thicker armor than the Tiger; both represented an advance in German tank design. Although the Panther was not seen in combat until July 1943, the new generation of German vehicles meant the Red Army would need a new, more powerful main gun for their armoured formations. In May 1943, work was begun on a new anti-tank gun. Military planners directed the design bureaus of both Gen. Vasiliy Grabin and Gen. Fyodor Petrov to modify the 85 mm anti-aircraft gun for use as an anti-tank weapon. Petrov's bureau developed the D-5 85 mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 or KV-1 turret, it was thought the gun could be mounted upon the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to give the weapon mobility. The version of this gun intended to be mounted upon the SU-85 was called the D-5S, with the "S" standing for self-propelled. Initially the production factory at Uralmash rejected the proposed design. Nevertheless, the administrators at Uralmash were persuaded to proceed, and the new design was put into production. The weapon was later modified to include a telescopic sight and a new ball gun mantlet. This vehicle was retitled the SU-85-II.[2] Description[edit] The SU-85 was a modification of the earlier SU-122 self-propelled howitzer, essentially replacing the 122 mm M-30S howitzer of the SU-122 with a D-5T high-velocity 85 mm antitank gun. The D-5T was capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m.[3] The vehicle had a low profile and excellent mobility. Initially given an armored commander's cap on the first batch, the SU-85's observational optics were improved by the introduction of a standard commander's cupola - the same as on the T-34/76 model 1942 - in addition to the already existing prismatic observation sights installed in left side and rear. On later vehicles, the same optics were added, allowing all-around observation.[4] Production history[edit] SU-85 (1944) SU-85 production started in mid-1943, with the first vehicles reaching their units by August. When the up-gunned T-34-85 medium tank entered mass production in the spring of 1944, there was no point in continuing production of a tank destroyer without superior firepower.[5] In light of this, SU-85 production was stopped in late 1944 after 2,650 vehicles had been produced. It was replaced on the production lines by the SU-100 tank destroyer, armed with the more powerful 100 mm D-10S gun, but due to delays with 100 mm ammo, a stopgap version called SU-85M appeared in September 1944, which was SU-100 fitted with 85 mm gun, already with thicker frontal armor and commander's cupola. Service history[edit] The SU-85 entered combat in August 1943. It saw active service across the Eastern Front until the end of the war. Though a capable weapon, it was found that its 85 mm weapon was not adequate to penetrate the armour of the larger German armoured fighting vehicles.[citation needed] It was replaced by the SU-100. The SU-85 was withdrawn from Soviet service soon after the war, and was exported to many Soviet client states in Europe and elsewhere. Some SU-85s were converted to use as command and recovery vehicles.[6] Countries such as North Korea and Vietnam kept it in service for many years.[7] Construction begins with a very well detailed drive train assembly. This is the Kharkiv Model V2 493 horsepower V-12 Diesel Engine

Indeed!

Oh yeah, I like this A LOT! Very unique way to give a visual tour of the model. Inspiring work, Ras!

Awesome Thud, Kevin. Now you have my attention to start/finish mine. Mr Color replenisher is a godsend for their metallic range of paints. For some reason, they seem to dry out quite a bit. I read where some say not to shake the paint after adding replenisher, but instead to stir it up. Not sure what difference it would make but I've been following the advice to stir.