Christmas Airfix!

Some amazing work going on here chaps!

The rigging on that ship took several days, an hour at a time. I swore then that I’d never do another sailing ship, and I’ve only done one biplane since then too

Lovely looking model, bit I really couldn’t be arsed with that rigging!

No, me neither

T-54B update…

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I’m spending a couple of hours a night so it’s taking a long time to get anywhere. But suddenly I’m at the point where I’m starting to enclose all that lovely interior that I’ve spent so much time on

An update…

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I think it’s time to get the airbrush out

That is a beautiful looking kit.

It’s a pig.

There are hundreds of tiny pieces that go together to make an ever-so-slightly-less-tiny subassembly that could quite easily have been moulded as a single part.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

And there are some parts mis-numbered or even completely missing from the instructions for these said tiny sub assemblies. Fit of parts is sometimes vague and you only realise three days later when you try to fit something else into the gap that should’ve been left. Take the aiming device on the left side of the gun breech. I’m pretty sure it should be parallel with the breech but there’s no way it’s going to fit in between the gun and the operating machinery.

Still, when the turret is all buttoned up you won’t be able to see much of it anyway

Give me Tamiya any day

Starting to look like a tank now

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Tracks were fun. 91 individual links per side to cut out and trim, then glue together

Now it needs a bit of gloss where the (few) decals go, then a white winter combat wash, and the fenders installing, some weathering and it’s done!

Were those tracks built a link at a time?

Yep.
It wasn’t easy, but I think it’s better result than the old-fashioned rubber band tracks

Looks real!

Toying with the idea of getting an M48 US tank and building a Checkpoint Charlie diorama but I fear it’ll take up too much space. Maybe do it in 1/76 instead 😉

I’m going to leave the turret lid and the engine hatches loose. And the hatches open, I have a 4 man crew for it

Amazing work – pretty cosy for a crew of 4 in there. Later Soviet tanks had mechanical autoloaders to reduce the crew to 3. But they did have an annoying habit of ripping limbs off the remaining crew members apparently 😳

Yeah, it’s a cosy turret. Driver has the front of the tank to himself but turret has 3 seats – commander, gunner & loader. From the interior of this model, it definitely looks a wee bit cramped

Next up – Airfix 1/35 T34-85. Or maybe something else easy.

Actually, no, I need to get back into learning guitar. Purple Haze and/or All Along The Watchtower. That’ll make plastic kits seem easy again

Ok I’m calling this finished. T-54B (early) in 1/35 by MiniArt

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It’s only taken me a couple of months

I’m working on an Airfix 1/35 T34/85 , started on Wednesday & all I have left to build are the turret and the wheels . Plus the paint job

T34 is fully built now apart from the wheels & tracks. Need to paint them first but I’ll be I can’t be bothered right now.

It’s a nice kit (better than I expected from Airfix, must be a new tooling!), apart from them giving you two different turret options (WWII and Korea) but the two sets of markings they give you both refer to the WWII turret. I’ve built the Korea turret so I now need to find some Korea era decals for it 🙄

Quick question. Whilst I am improving and building up some pretty decent efforts by my standards* I am having a problem with getting glue smears on clear plastic. Not so much canopies but more side windows in helicopters etc. Any tips for avoiding this apart from getting someone else to do it or is there a compound I can use to clean off the residue. Revell Contacta if it helps.

Thanks in advance.

*my standards do not reflect the excellence shown on this thread.

You cannot clean Contacta off as it’s a solvent type glue so it’ll actually dissolve the plastic. pVA is your best bet but you need to be super careful as it’ll not hold as strongly as other types so watch out for accidentally pushing the windows in as you are working.

Yep. PVA is what you need.

Been stuck in Decorating Hell™ for too long. Not done anything since my Lancaster back in May apart from about 30 minutes on the cockpit of my A10.

However, I have read the Excellent Fortress Malta by James Holland and as a result have a Macchi 205 and Martin Maryland in the post.

My stash is now officially MABLE (Models Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy).

Future or Klear floor polish is what I use to stick canopies on (if you can still get it). They also benefit from bing dipped in it and left to dry.

Regarding your T54 John – as Oddball would say ‘it’s a mother beautiful tank’!

@John. Just seen your tank. Very impressive!

Glad you like it 🙂

I’ve got an Airfix FW190 in Braille scale on the go. Humbrol acrylic paints don’t take well to Tamiya acrylic thinners; the FW190 is headed for the shelf of doom 🙁
I can’t see to work in anything smaller than 1:48 anyway

“Braille” scale??? Please explain?

1/72. So called because it makes you go blind 😉

@Johndrummer beautiful work. Some of that PE looks incredibly tiny!

Yea ah, some of it was too small to do, never mind looking ok visible, thankfully some too small to even bother with

There’s a 1/35 M3 Lee next up from MiniArt, also with full interior.
After the Airfix T34/85 and Tamiya M48

Ha! I get what you mean. My latest three projects have been 1/72 helicopters. All have been extremely fiddly especially the Italeri Bell AH1. Not really got the space for anything bigger so busy wrecking my eyesight!

Great tank @johndummer
Just the right amount of ageing/dirtying for my tastes.

2 weeks spent on a 1/72 Night Fox helicopter. Gone in the bin, far too fiddly. I see what you mean JD!

Blimey! Plasmo has been busy in 1/72 with a snap together kit to boot…

I have a few on the go at the moment, in various states of completion…

Tamiya 1/35 US 6×6 truck. Finished, waiting for a diorama
Mini art 1/35 city/barn diorama – in progress
Tamiya 1/48 Crusader MkIII. Painted, needs a second coat
Tamiya 1/35 M48A3 Vietnam era. Painted, awaiting decals. To go with the T54 I built earlier. Needs a Checkpoint Charlie diorama.
Airfix 1/35 T34/85, painted, awaiting decals (Hungarian uprising Oct 1956)
Airfix 1/72 Focke Wolf 190A8. Shelf of doom
Zvezda 1/48 Lavochkin La-5FN. Painted, decals on, fiddly bits to add

Revell Victor K2 – Stalled / Shelf of Doom

Italeri SU-34 – Primed but not painted

Another Italeri SU-34 – Finished apart from the weapons

Italeri A10 – Started the cockpit but had to pack it away because we are decorating the house

I was well into modelling when I was a kid but bult my last kit when I was around 14 or 15. I did buy a Tamiya 1/20 Benetton B192 though when I was 17 or 18 with the intention of building it but never got round to it. I kept hold of the kit though so during lockdown and because a dozen or so existing hobbies didn’t feel like quite enough of a time sink I decided to dig it out and give it a go.

This time though I wanted to learn to use an airbrush and as a kid I could never afford all the paints – you know the ones; that dull flat brown you need for one tiny bit so I always used to make do with just the main colours. So off I went, bought an airbrush, every single colour on the colour chart and gave it a go.

Finally got it finished and whilst it is far from perfect and I had to fight the kit (and myself to push to get it done) overall I am pretty happy with the end result. Got a couple more kits lined up now so will be starting them soon. Really enjoyed getting back in to it…

Tamiya 1/20 Benetton B192 in Brundle’s scheme

Nice work on that dbg, especially after a long layoff.

A quick tip to make cars look better, sand the tread on vinyl tyres to make them look worn.

After what seemed like ages I’ve finally finished (I think) my Bronco Stug III ausf E. The figures have all been modified to the poses that I wanted from a Miniart artillery crew, I’m enjoying doing figures more and more lately! The scene is supposed to be just after a summer battle in 1941 in Russia.

Very nice.

I like the look on the face of the guy watching his mate barf up.