king derelict

Thank you very much OC It looks nicer than I thought initially. It was a pretty basic kit Alan

I resisted until Sunday evening and then somehow a 1/35 Rye Field Model Leopard fell into the cart as well. I still feel virtuous because I ignored the HK 1/48 Lancaster that was nudging me as well Alan

I thought I was having the same problem this morning. I would get a short puff of paint from the sir brush and then hardly anything. I cleaned the nozzle a number of times and then gave up and stripped the airbrush and cleaned it. After three cleanings it still wasn't getting any better. It was then that I noticed that I had somehow accidently screwed the shut off valve in the quick disconnect almost fully closed. 😁 Alan

I fixed the Churchill to the base and blended the tracks in with some more sand / dust - and then dropped the whole lot. Thankfully it sustained almost no damage and was easily restored. Playing around with the White Balance and the remaining images are more like the real colours I need to work out a better set up for the photos. The colour rendition is too hit and miss this way although I like the black backdrop While reading the BBC news this morning I came across this article. A rather counter=intuitive design really but interesting The tank that could fly into battle - BBC Future Now that would be a project to play with I will declare this one to be finished. Many thanks for looking in and the likes and comments Alan

Thank you kindly Craig I'm getting better at masking I think Alan

Moving along here. This is one of those kits where you sit down and think "Oh I'll just add a couple of bits to the cab before I do some work in the garden" and three hours later you are still immersed in it. Lots of fun really The gun is very intricate and the instructions don't always show exactly where some of the parts are attached. Quite a lot of looking at old photos and the box art for some guidance or reverting to logical options when in doubt. It all went together The kit provides black tank track like plastic for the gun wheel rims. It is quite nicely detailed but the strips are too short I tried carefully stretching the track - and it broke without gaining any appreciable length. I glued them on and made up the gap with a piece of card of suitable thickness. The cab is quite nicely done with the old acetylene lamps and horn The caisson and remainder of the FWD went together without fuss so everything got a dose of Mig One Shot black primer I'm starting to think about the colour scheme. The kit just gives a three colour scheme for American use in late war The FWD Model B was in general use by the British and later the American forces and the howitzer (originally Vickers) likewise. Per Wiki The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin launched the Model B in 1912, initial production was very slow with only 18 produced in 1913. The US was the first nation to show interest in the military potential of the vehicle, with the US Army testing one of the earliest production vehicles.[3][6] The British Army became the first military customer on March 23, 1915, ordering 50 trucks to be delivered in only 40 days.[7] An American export agency was set up with a reception base in Liverpool and a repair depot in Islington to check and service incoming vehicles before handing them over to the Ministry of Munitions. A total of 2,925 Model Bs were purchased by the British Army, 1,599 of these were used in France on the Western Front, predominantly for heavy haulage of artillery, ammunition, and pontoon bridge supplies For the small diorama I have planned I want a British gun and i also think the three colour scheme will be a bear on such a small and rather fragile model so I plan to duck that and go for a single colour British paint job. As usual with WW1 vehicle the problem is - what colour? Todays research seems to suggest that the Army would take trucks, tanks and guns in any colour except white. The main colours seem to be grey, brown or olive green / khaki. Tomorrows decision but I am leaning towards a green - brown shade I ordered some 1/72 British infantry figures from Hat and Emhar and hope some can be adapted to be standing around and looking untidy Thanks for looking in and the likes and comments Alan Alan

Great recovery. Looks really good Alan

I painted the rocks with a very light buff and then highlighted it with white while it was still wet. The sand is buff which a trace of yellow and some white worked into areas of it while it was drying. After it dried a sprayed it with craft glue and spread some ground ceramic dust between the rocks. I gave the whole thing a coat of matte to get rid of any glue shine The Churchill is placed. I need to paint the edges of the base and add a bit more "sand" around the rear of the tracks Thanks for looking in and the likes. I hope everyone has a great weekend Sprue Brothers has a 25% off weekend deal on a 1/32 Infinity Vampire - do I dare? Alan

Hopefully the tests will provide good news. All the best and hope it gets fixed quickly and painlessly Alan

Thanks Mike It is going together well so far. The instructions leave a bit to be desired. I haven't worked out if I'm building the gun in towing or firing configuration. Parts numbering is a bit iffy too. I spent an hour looking for a "missing" piece that turns out I had already used as per the earlier diagrams but was a completely item. The "missing" part was still on the sprue - but with a different number. They do provide a sprue diagram at the start of the instruction booklet but the numbers there are different again. Alan

Thanks Patrick Its really a lot of fun. Lots of fragile parts but so far they are all in one piece still. I just started the howitzer and that is incredibly detailed for the scale Alan

Craig This is going to be a beautiful model. The rigging would worry me though. I have a Roden Gotha to build and it leers at me from the shelf. Alan

Oh no; I never liked that spoonful of castor oil as a kid.🙂 Alan

Thank you OC. It isn't the ultimate in high quality kits but it went together well in the end and the painting is fun. Alan

I made a homemade wash with burnt sienna oil paint and used it to pick out the panels. I think I like my own wash better than the Mig; it flowed better along the panel and detail lines. The Mig stuff needs more thinner to get the same result. The few decals that go with the El Alamein version have been put on and some more detail paint applied. I dry brushed some bright metal onto the tracks and edges of hatches and likely scrape points along the skirts. I suspect i will lose some of that in the upcoming dust application. I then air brushed several thin layers of light buff onto the model with the emphasis on the lower sections. Unfortunately I lost a lot of the panel detail but that was sort of expected. The dull coat will be the last thing to do I got impatient and instead of waiting for rock moulds I used the old crumpled kitchen foil method. I got some decent low outcrops (and a surplus) so they were added to the base and then blended in with toilet paper and diluted white glue This needs about 24 hours to dry and maybe another coat of gesso. The plan is to end up with something like this Showcasing the Churchill's ability to climb. Thanks for looking in and all the likes and comments Alan

Thanks Ken. Standing around having a ciggie rather than running around with rifles Alan

With the diorama fit on me I brought this out. Its a 1/72 British 8 inch howitzer and limber and FWD truck from WW1. At 1/72 its tiny but there are a lot of parts; generally quite well done and some lovely fine detail pieces like the wheels for elevation on the gun. Some very thin rods and its going to be a challenge getting some of them off the sprues without breaking them. The plan is to have this as a part time build while the Churchill is being finished and the X craft is returning to the table. There should be lots of little sub modules to play with. Today I had planned to just look it over but somehow I got started on the chassis. Its all a bit delicate with steering track rod and prop shafts all as separate pieces. The fit is quite good but there is a bit of thin flash that needs to be trimmed off some of the pieces Given the many degrees of freedom in aligning everything I was thrilled to have all four wheels touching the ground and the prop shafts at a sensible angle. As mentioned earlier the idea is to build a small diorama around the kit. There are no figures included in the box so I will have to find some non-aggressive WW1 1/72 British soldiers (kind of just standing around) - and face up to painting them. Thanks for looking in Alan

Definitely. Thats one of the great aircraft.

The elastic band tracks were wrangled into place. I hated that job with Airfix tanks when I was a kid. CA glue makes it a whole lot easier. The Churchill has a good length of contact on the upper section of track for the glue to grip. The side decks (as we will call them today) were glued into position and the guns and other assorted details were added and the paint touched up. I have given it a spray of clear coat ready for weathering I cut the base out of closed cell foam, added a card stiffener and gave it a coat of gesso Thanks for looking in and the great feedback and likes Alan

Thank you EG. I like the look. Alan

Thanks EG There is an extremely good WW2 novel called "Warriors for the Working Day" which follows a British tank crew from their training days through to the invasion and fighting in France. They are given the advice "If an 88 fires at you and misses - bail out - you don't want to be in there when they adjust their aim" Peter Elstob is the author I think. He was a tankie in WW2 and saw action in teh same theatre so its quite realistic. Alan

Thanks OC. Its always scary taking the masks off. Alan

I'm in. I wouldn't miss a Harrier build =especially as i have a Sea Harrier kit inbound Alan

With the sand paint dry I masked up for the dark grey. I used tape on teh hull and a mixture of tape and blu=tack for the turret. The Blu=tack deals better with the uneven surfaces of the turret and is easy to mould to shape. I used Tamiya XF-24 dark grey and I think its about right. And with the tape off. Its interesting; the grey is sometimes hard to spot because it looks like shadows on the sand colour. maybe that was the intent to mimic the shadows on desert sand The tracks will now be installed and the top sections will be glued down. Gun need adding and then its time to weather it up and start the base. Thanks for looking in and for the helpful comments Alan