popeye the sailor

look'in good.......I see it comes in a tube. how do you put it on....brush or rag?

cool....you can't have enough subjects to test your theories on especially when most P51's were bare metal to begin with. good to see you decided to take a walk down Nostalgia road with me if you really want to go down the hole.......the Atlantis kits I bought had rivets that you could cut your fingers on as said, there are plenty of upgrade kits that you can get to spice them up......but they can be aggravating to install. these are nice kits though....no doubt that you'll do well with her

oh I'm all set Patrick.......I was just referring to your rather hefty parts stash these older kit surely can benefit from a stash such as yours, and I'm aware you dwell in the world of 1:72. I actually had fun with those two tiger tanks.......I can see why you like that particular scale. these older molds were acquired by companies like Round 2 and Atlantis.......I'm sure there are others. so far from what I've experienced, no retooling has been done to any of the kits I've purchased. rest assured that there will be plenty of nostalgia out there for everyone! well hello J.........good to see your look'in in actually, I wasn't planning to do any weathering on it........no camo for it to speak of. I could have done more....like hollow out the muzzle and choke on the gun. but I did highlight the venting on the deck and back end. come to think of it.......I did buy 2 bottles of Testor's CreateFX........bottle of mud stain and a bottle of rust stain. perhaps I will have a go........good that you caught me before I took the gallery pictures wait till you see what I just bought?!?!?!

look'in really sweet Kevin. you can also do a browse in your local craft stores. you might find leather strip in rolls, or you may be able to find bags of leather odds and ends pieces

too much thinner perhaps? the spots are tell-tail for spatter.

thanks for the head's up Ken.......there is some nice history that goes along with the decals I book marked it !

thanks Egilman and Ken yea....the fix for the lead bogies went well. I ran a hollow brass tube through the body, and then the brass rod through that......the rod was the same size as the I.D. of the tube. compensated with a pair of spacers, slid on the bogies and hub caps, and that took care of it. I didn't do any painting to hide anything..... with the tracks on, the repair can't be seen at all! big win! older kits aren't really that bad.......if one has a stash of parts like backer has, you got it made there is a lot of upgrade stuff out there, if you want to add extra detail. I didn't do any filling of seam lines......the underbelly was the worst of it, and if it's not picked up, it won't be seen it is pretty much done now.......I should have final pictures soon. I'll make sure I do them in better light thanks for look'in in.....with all the projects I have on the go, I was hesitant posting it. but with all the tanks that have been showing up, I couldn't help it {curse you OC}......... I should get back to Leopold.........I may just do some scratch building, to make use of those tanks

looking good OC.......weathering looks really nice!

that a nice looking luggage rack on the back of the turret.......really nice detail paint looks great

thanks OC......I'm in the process of modifying the lead bogies. it's a good fix........ran a hollow shaft through the body. ran a longer solid shaft through the hollow tube.......a pair of spacers, and put on the bogies and hub caps. the tracks are back on already! I'm not particularly happy with the drive gears, because they are a bit wobbly too, but the heck with it..........if they have a problem down the road, I'll deal with it then. this tank was the third and final tank built in the Patton series. named after George Patton...it had to be tough

after the track issue was finished, the top deck was cemented in place. I had it upside down on a box with enough weight on it to counter the residual warp that might still be there. that went well.......both sides stayed down. but the track problem isn't solved completely because of how tight they are, it might take longer, but I fear that either the leading ......or even the drive gear bogies would finally break. well folks.........the leading bogies have enough of an alignment issue that they might become the weak link. I have some thicker brass rod........I'm going to see if I can modify them and keep them movable at the same time. perhaps I can even reposition them to produce even a little extra slack we'll see how that goes........

bear in mind that all this has happened over the past couple of weeks........I am not being fast by any stretch of the imagination I'm still not finished yet, although another week might just do it. the main turret was secured to the top deck......it will be moveable as well. a couple of the hatches didn't fit very good, so they were cemented in place.......only the 50 cal turret has a workable hatch. so far so go {so far} on the bogies........they all move, although hampered by paint. it was time for the tracks.......I will do them now before the top deck is put on. as can be seen, they have a locking tab that fits into the other end. it looks good once secured in place. but get a bit dicey when thinking of longevity yea....they are a bit tight........there is no way the assembly can be wrong. all the bogie legs are keyed to fit one way, along with all the other bogies. with them being so tight, the fact that the tracks can move isn't that big a deal......but I see the tracks failing in a very short time, unless I do something to better secure them. I decided to use thread and sew them together. using black thread, I did just that......created a double wrap and sealed them with CA. not too good a picture....... with both sewn, they were put back on. I made sure that the joints were near the drive gear, but up under the rear fenders. the end results is pretty good

time for the paint booth! cracked open a fresh bottle of Olive Drab just for the occasion painted the bottom.......the top part will be next. I wasn't going to add the drive dears, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. the top deck was also painted along the undersides of he fenders. so while that was getting done, I painted the bogies Flat Black and Olive Drab. I put on what I had done so far. there is some inconsistency with the paint.......a clogging airbrush coupled with too much thinner {I think}. I decided to leave it as is since it won't be seen and appears somewhat worn by the elements.

ok.......dog and garbage has been done........back to the log you'll see engines sprinkled all through this log........I have at least six of them in various stages. one hemi Ford 427, and the rest Chevy's.......and one Plymouth added to the mix. I also have the two L6's 'round here somewhere. I'm getting closer to the paint booth......just a bit more to go. I did a fit of the top deck on the body......the back area isn't too bad. it's when you get to the front fenders......they are slightly warped. I'll see how the warp runs and use a bit of heat on them

firstly.......the bottom pan is joined together and set aside. the error monkey is still around.......let's try again the top part of the main body was added.......the scars from scraping and sand is evident. other parts were laid out and cleaned up.... the 50 cal turret was assembled along with the Jerry cans. they won't be added till after painting. the main body got some legs......kinda looks like an insect the body after more sanding of the undercarriage.....still more to go before that ugly seam is gone. the 50 cal turret was added to the main turret.....it is moveable. the luggage rack was added to the back part of the turret. the 90mm gun was assembled of three parts and fitted before the bottom pan was added to the turret.

I haven't done an armor piece since I was a young lad.......I was more of a plane guy though. after seeing all this wonderful armor work going on here........and after my tangent with Leopold......I bought one. we were at Hobby Lobby to get supplies....and again, the admiral saw that kits were 40% off. I got this one and the AMT '59 Chevy El Camino. so now I have that one.......the '59 Chevy Belair, the '60 Chevy Belair, and the 1:16 scale '57 Chevy Belair convertible. doing some research on the cars, as well as the models, things have mushroomed quite a bit......I will never be able to remember it all by the time I get to them. but during my doldrum, I have been assembling the engines. just recently, I purchased another kit during a stop at Michael's......this one really opened a can of worms! thanks Scalemates! anyway........this model has been around for some time........1966 to be exact it went through a few revisions.....box art and such.......but I don't think there was any retooling done. it is a fairly simple kit, with no interior to speak of. there are several movable features, but I limited a couple, and I think the model itself will do the rest.......you'll see what I mean as I get into it. the contents are as seen: we start off with the top deck being warped......I will try to resolve this. there are a lot of molded detail, the signature of an older reissue model. those 1:72 Tigers I modified were more modern than this one the decals are neat...... you have the choice of building the U.S. Army version {Olive Drab}, or the Israeli Army version {Desert Sand}. the plastic is rather hard......care must be taken cutting the parts off the sprues. as can be seen, the finish is kinda rough...not smooth like other kit plastics. I see that there is a lot of edge flaring and flash that must be squared and sanded off before assembly. I rebagged the figures......perhaps some other time I'm sure that there are other fine points to tell you about, probably moot where I'm at with the assembly. I hope I can make it interesting.

now this one definitely counts towards a quick build look'in awesome Patrick......any camo?

sorry I missed this Patrick........you've turned out a very sweet little tank! the winter camo looks great........something I've never tried. very nice job indeed!

good to see your back working on the coach! the chassis and wheels look very good........a very cheerful color. so when the occupants are ticked off by the erratic ride.....just stop and tell 'em to look at the chassis {look at the flowers Lizzie}! it might not be that dramatic.......what he's using is woven with fabric. it will tend to sag over time, but it will take longer to completely fail.

I'm planning on doing another one in the future.......a B 17 this time {more surface area}

these are some super cool models...........I'd love to get one! I've seen them around, but sadly still above my budget........the admiral would kill me

really nice job on the train car the roof assembly was very interesting.

looks quite busy.........sweet!

magic marker can also be used sweet look'in tank!

Wow.....the engine looks really good yep....agree.......shame to hide it in the fuselage. progressing quite well!