Cheezburger

Very nice. Feels like being back in Lower Saxony and heading for the range again.

The nice experience with the Italeri Spähwagen got me interested in other vehicles like that. So I got an old 8-Rad Spähwagen by Tamiya, which is a very well engineered kit. One cans ee why they still produce it. All I added was the antenna wire and some small detail on the triangular fuel canister that sits on the fender. I wanted to build a model of a new vehicle that just got into service right at the start of the war. So it has only minor scuffs and little dirt on the wheels. Paints are Revell Aqua colour. Revells Earth tone, diluted with water, makes for quite convincing dirt washes IMO. Check it out.

Well, if I were you I wouldn't go ahead and repaint the models. If you allow me to give my personal opinion, I'd argue that your models don't look wrong or off in any way. The issue that those hectoring critics probably had in the back of their heads might have been, that they don't look finished. The AA guns in the two vehicles could use some detail painting e. g. Sometimes the tracks are left rubber black. I believe that repainting everything would do more harm than good. Your tanks are neatly build, evenly painted with convincing colours, have their smaller parts painted properly and are now just waiting for the weathering, i. e. washes, scuffing, dust, rust, the whole procedure. I'd suggest you give that approach a go especially on the Steyr and the Pz III since those two came out very well so far!

Very interesting piece, thanks for showing. I have never heard of that vehicle. And pretty surprising that it proved to be a failure. Going by the looks I would have thought it was a pretty good design and a capable tank (similar to a Super-Sherman upgrade). But on closer inspection, as you pointed out, there are some periscopes missing at least for the commander! They could have used the cupola design of the Panzer IV, too. I wonder why they decided to omit this feature.

You might be right there. But that would fit with the rest of the vehicle which was also a bit ad-hoc and not the best solution.

Thanks a lot! The harshness of colours is actually due to the camera flash. In natural light they are much more subtle. Actually if I'd blend the some more now, they'd be gone. Although, I admit I have to get a proper light tent and stuff to take better pictures. Cheers!

Thank you! I haven't got any experience with dioramas, although I'd like to try that, too. On the other hand, time and space are the limiting factors! Well, they are gutters and keep the water from dripping into the engine compartment. Between the armour plate and the engine deck there are a couple of hinges. So, in the real verhicle there are quite big gaps. I won't go down the slippery slope of an argument about the semantics of SPG though Rearguards!

I couldn't resist and got Revell's rebox of the classic Italeri Elefant as soon as it came out this year. It's a kit I always wanted to build. So, I just finished it today. All in all a good kit the late 1960's molds seem to be fine. Good fit and reasonable detail. The vehicle itself is though a bit inaccurate as it has features of both a Ferdinand and an Elefant version. I tried to address some of these issues by moving the jack to the back of the tank and adding a spare track piece to the front glacis. I used simple round Evergreen rods to simulate the water drips (is that what it's called?) on the front of the casemate. With original commander - I am not a good figure painter!

Thank you! Your vehicle sounds like the 234/1, with 20mm autocannon. Offered by Tamiya and Italeri. Also a nice vehicle, but unfortunately hard to find in the (cheaper) Italeri boxing at the moment. The Tamiya version is kind of expensive. I think I will build the Puma at some point (should I come across one).

Thanks! The paints are from Vallejo's Dunkelgelb shading set. It also has a dark yellow primer (not black as usual).

One pic was missing.

Here is another armour kit I fnished from the vintage Italeri boxing with the generic name "Armoured Car". And what can I say: Pretty good stuff. Easy to build, nice detail and looks the part. I took my time with painting and weathering it and I am pleased with the result. Whenever you run across this kit you may want to give it a go.

Very nice builds! From your title I was wondering if you'd bring up Derrida and how that connects to the Bf 109.

Very well made. Have seen these pictures in books many times but only through your model I realised that the actual tank has no commander's hatch! Interesting!

Nice output, there! I have the Croation one in my stash as well. The Romanian scheme looks very elegant. What are yur RLM 70/71 colours, if I may ask?

Lovely! Very inspiring!

Glad you appreciate it as I do your Matchbox builds! There is more on the bench and to be finished in the coming week!

Very impressive! I would have never guessed you used the run-of-the-mill Revell kit for this! You paint job has an almost unbelievable exactness to it!

I am not sure if that's appreciated here, but I thought I'd post it anyways. This is a model I built more than 20 years ago. I recently dug it up when sifting through my parents basement. It is one of the few models from my early works that didn't land in the bin. Built from a 70's vintage kit and brush painted with Humbrol Enamels (my favourite paints at that time). Has quite a coat of dust on it. Actually a cool plane. My grandfather flew one like this during the Spanish Civil War. I though it would be nice if Trumpeter made a 1/32 version of it.

Thanks! Well, I have admit that is still an unsolved problem for me too. It is now standing on a table in my work area but I will definitely need more display cabinets. But cheap and good ones are hard to find.

Another of the classics has been finished. The kit came in just a stapled plastic bag with the vintage instruction sheet in Russian. The kit had no decals, so I had to conjure something up using spares. Of course it is historically unaccurate therefore! Actually, this is the first Spitfire I ever built!

Here is something finished! It took me quite a while. Especially the last bits and pieces. It is still missing the antennas (since I couldn't figure out a good way to do them. This is my first serious attempt at a 1/32 scale plane. I used to build some as a kid, since I often got them as presents for christmas etc. People just wouldn't understand I didn't like them that much since they weren't good to play with and didn't match the 1/72 soldiers and tanks. So I was never really into that scale. Now that I finished this one I am actually quite encouraged to do more of the "big stuff". Perhaps also an age thing ("old man's scale"). Hope you don't mind the stupid background. It's all I had at the moment.

Nice job ob the camo! Thanks for bringing this kit to my attention. I will make a mental note to hunt one down!

Thanks! This one made it even into a wooden mock-up. So, as compared to other paper projects this was "on the brink to be build".

Very neat result! Also the choice of the decals is good. It shows that those Revell kits go a long way with effort put into them.