Search the Community

Another piece for my project of 6th South African Armoured Division in Italy. I scored this old kit for a few bucks and decided to update it with spare parts from newer kits and 3D prints. It has some well known mistakes I'd like to adress so lets see where it goes. With RFM Sherrman V late configuration on the way, it makes sense to use Dragon kit for early build rather than backdate well produced RFM late version. Artillery observation tank of 22nd Fd Artillery unit is well documented one from 3 sides rolling throught streets of Florence (Firenze) on 16th August 1944. That's great for spotting the correct details for propper date of pruduction identification. This tank being one of an early production ones equipped with M34 gun mount, smoke dischargers on side of a turret and T54E2 tracks. Boxart Some of the spare parts that I'm willing to use

Dear Fellow Modellers After many many months I finished the Miniart Stug III G March 1943 production with winterketten. Completing these kits leave you with mixed emotions. Relief at finishing the project and a sudden desire to build something incredibly simple, as well as admiration for what Miniart has achieved and how much you now have a feel for the original designers and the crew members. To complement the winter markings I added the Miniart winter figures. There are many great modellers out there who's work almost make them artists. So at first I felt a bit daunted doing a winter scheme as these are often used to showcase modellers finishing and painting skills. But it turns out it couldn't be simpler! Just mist on white over the undercoat of dark yellow from the bottom upwards. Then finish with Mig oilbrushers and pin wash and you're done. And earlier days in the build One of my inspirations was the Australian 'Workshop Wednesday' where experts at their armour museum painstakingly repair a wrecked Stug III and film it on Youtube. The degree of engineering refinement of the Stug III (and therefore its parent Pz.kpfw. III) is astonishing and completely at odds with the need to mass produce a tool that was sufficiently good enough. As if German Industrialists secretly sabotaged Hitler's war of world domination by producing vehicles that were insanely complex and difficult to mass produce. Completely different from the T-34 and Sherman of other nations. Hope you like it Andrew

Dear Fellow Modellers I built this truck as light relief from a long-term Miniart Stug IIIG full interior project (more to follow). I added lovely resin wheels from Panzer Art I think and instrument panel from Quinta. The driver and interrogating officer come from a Miniart drivers set. The ICM kits are a nice balance of pragmatism on detail and quite nice fit. But we are all praying for the day when they ditch those vinyl tyres! I also wanted to work on my airbrushing technique, doing some components as painted sub-sections before adding. The tarpaulin is vac form from somewhere like MR Modelbau ICM do a great job with their radiators and this is a fine example. Miniart certainly created a very intimidating officer too! Hope you like it? Regards Andrew

Hi guys, I hope you are well and I wish you all the best in 2022. I didn't plan to do RFI on this one initially, so this thread will begin at the point when the assembly is almost complete. However, I think that Kingforce Churchills had some field modification and also some changes are needed that I spent quite some time to figure out, so I guess it might be useful info to put it here in case someone else needs it. The kit I am building is AFV club No. AF35153,wit an addition of E.T. Model No. C35-006 PE set. Even though the box art shows Kingforce Churchill, kit itself need some changes in order to represent this particular tanks accurately. Here's some history about the subject. It is 6 pdr armed Churchill Mk.III tank, member of the experimental "Kingforce" unit, named by its commander, Major King. The decision was taken to send a small number of Mk.III Churchills to the Middle East for trials. Six reworked Mk.IIIs were shipped to Egypt where they arrived on 1 October 1942. They were dispatched by rail to the Mechanisation Experimental Establishment at Cairo where they were immediately prepared for service. Some field modifications were applied: side rails to carry ‘Sunshield’ frames were fitted, stowage bins fitted to the rear of the turret, canvas screen known as a ‘dodger’ was fitted between the front track-guards, and the tanks were then painted with a disruptive camouflage pattern. Tanks arrived painted in Lightstone No.61, while the disruptive camouflage was orange/chocolate paint (from witness accounts), probably locally produced Camcolour, A/19 Chocolate Brown. Special Tank Squadron to operate these Churchills was formed on 14 October 1942, commanded by Major Norris King M.C. with Lt. Deans as 2IC of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars whose administration the unit came under. The unit was known as ‘Kingforce’. Most of the men newly arrived from the U.K. with very little experience of Churchills. There was now time for any rehearsal and very few 6 pdr rounds were fired before the unit was deployed. The unit left Cairo by rail to Burg El Arab by the 20 October, then by tank transporter to Tel El Aisa, then on their tracks forward to the HQ of 7th Motor Brigade to which it was attached arriving by the 23 rd October when the battle started. The 7th Motor Brigade was at this time part of the 1st Armoured Division. Thank I am building is representing one of them, commanded by 2/ Lt. Appleby, T31665R. On 26 October, three tanks, T68189R, T31665R, and T68186R moved forward in support of the Queens Bay’s Shermans assaulting Kidney Ridge and they soon came under fire. T31665R under 2/ Lt. Appleby advanced over a ridge and immediately came under intense enemy fire. The tank then reversed smoking slightly, stopped, and then burned intensely with only one wounded crewman surviving. Later examination revealed 38 frontal hits, some from 75mm, one of which had penetrated the turret front. This had done the main damage, with two 50mm penetrating hits elsewhere. There were 8 hits on the rear of the tank from British 6 pdr guns, 4 of which had penetrated, as a result of the Australian anti-tank gunners not recognising an unfamiliar tank approaching them covered in smoke. On the other hand, Major King’s tank had more luck. It took 8 non-penetrating hits and claimed 4 hits on enemy tanks with 45 rounds expended. The objective was not taken and during the night of 26/27 October, the Motor Brigade including ‘Kingforce’ was withdrawn into reserve for a week. The unit participated in one more action, 3 rd November to support the 2nd Armoured Brigade Shermans. After this action, tanks returned to Alexandria, and the unit was disbanded. The test showed that Churchills IIIs were formidable and reliable tanks, able to take a tremendous amount of punishment, and at that point in time, they were the safest Allied tanks to be in. It is not known what happened with Kingforce Churchills after the Second El Alamein battle, but additional Churchill IIIs were deployed later during Tunisian Campaign. Here are few reference photos of 2/ Lt. Appleby's tank. Now, the build. I hate vinyl tracks, but in this case they will be covered by mudguards almost completely, so it would be quite a waste to use indy tracks. Haven't been dealing with vinyl tracks for quite some time, and I can confirm that all of the reasons why I hate them are still here They refuse to glue together, paint does not stick, there are seam lines and molding residue everywhere that is impossible to remove. And here's my approach how to deal with glue that does not stick. Hot steel road through the track and plastic below. I cut it once it's cold so mudguard can fit over it. This only makes sense it tracks are covered by mudguards of course. Notice how paint is already pealing off. And on top of that, I attached one track in wrong direction, so had to remove it and attach it again, which caused more pilling I tried to summarize the changes on this photo: 1 - Rails to attach sunshield to camouflage the tank as heavy lorry. Scratched from plastic and PE strips. 2 - Protectors scratched from beer can. 3 - I am not 100% sure, but it may be possible that these headlights should be removed on Kingforce Churchills. I decided to keep them, because I already built them when I figured that out 4 - Also not sure if periscope covers should be there or not. I think that only some Kingforce Chirchills have them. 5 - Auxiliary fuel tank, not included in this kit. I used TMD Matilda one, and added copper wire as a fuel line. 6 - Exhausts are different on Kingforce Churchills. I think that they should be longer than I made them. 7 - Turret bin is different on these tanks than the one included in the kit. I just redid it with plastic sheets. 8 - Air intake is not covered as it should if you follow the instructions. I just didn't use the lids. 9 - Spot lamp is not there on any reference photos, so I didn't use it as instructions suggested. Here are some detail shots: Attached between mudguards at the front should be canvas apron. I'll try to build one with VMS paper shaper. Will see how it will turn out. That's all for now. Cheers, Nenad

Hey all, I often browse through all the great dioramas/scenes posted here so thought I should contribute something. This is my first time basing one of my models, it was all rather impulsive but quite fun and relatively quick. The tractor is from Airfix/ Thunder Model and was a great little kit, albeit a bit fiddly at times.

This is another one I've been working on for a bit and it's finally in the home stretch. Gecko is putting out some really nice kits!

Pretty good fit and fairly easy to build as expected from Tamiya. I opted for a Moroccan army scheme since I really like it and felt it was unique. The model was primed with Mr surfacer black then pre-shaded with Tamiya flat white. The camo is Tamiya desert sand and a mix of Tamiya dark green and brown. I also used some AK acrylic markers for some details like the cupola machine gun. The weathering was with Tamiya weathering kit, mostly sand and light sand. Rivets and panels were pin-washed with AK wash. Please let me know what you think and if you have any criticisms they are very welcome as well.

I’m off on another AH-6 build. This time adding all the detail that 3D printing has to offer. first off is the Tailrotor and gearbox.

hi guys!!😊 this is my 1/35 TIGER I..this kit is from AFV CLUB,I build and detail up this kit couple years ago, finally finish this recently.. this kit is aged but nice...I did a lot of detail up works on this,and I feel it turn out well.. the figure is from Alpine miniature...It took me a lot of time on painting the camo suit... as a midiore figure paintrer...I am happy with that result..😅 try to paint and weathering this tiger as good as I could.. hope you like it.............😄

Hi all, this is my take on the Sherman Firefly operated by Trooper Joe Ekins of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry during Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944. This tank is arguably one of the most famous Fireflies of the war, credited with destroying several German Tiger tanks in a single engagement - including the one commanded by the legendary panzer ace Michael Wittmann. The Firefly was a British adaptation of the American M4 Sherman, rearmed with the formidable 17-pounder anti-tank gun to give Allied forces a fighting chance against Germany’s heavier armor. Although not purpose-built, the Firefly was a practical battlefield solution, and its effectiveness is perhaps best illustrated by Ekins’ actions near Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil on August 8th, 1944. British armoured regiments in Northwest Europe during 1944 typically fielded a mix of Shermans, with one Firefly allocated per troop of four tanks, giving a ratio of about 1 in 4. That translated to roughly 12 Fireflies in a regiment of 52–55 tanks. The Firefly’s enhanced firepower was meant to complement the standard 75mm Shermans, which were more effective against soft targets and infantry. In total, approximately 2,100 Sherman Fireflies were converted during the war, including both the M4 and M4A4 (Sherman V) variants. Despite its stopgap origins, the Firefly played a crucial role in neutralizing the heavy German armor on the Western Front. This build represents the Firefly “Velikiye Luki,” believed to be the tank that Ekins manned during this fateful engagement. On that day, hidden in a treeline and acting as a hull-down ambush position, Ekins and his crew spotted a column of Tiger tanks from the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. With just a few well-placed shots, some say within the span of 12 minutes, Ekins knocked out three Tigers. Among them was “Tiger 007,” Wittmann’s command tank. While the exact details of Wittmann’s demise have been debated, the bulk of evidence and most historians credit Ekins with the kill. I was not able to find any photographic reference to this particular tank, so this build is inspired by other photos of 1st NY Shermans from the same period. I was drawn to this build not just by its historical weight, but by the layered story behind the tank and its crew. After this engagement, this tank was hit and Joe Ekins was reassigned to another tank as a radio operator, never firing the 17-pounder in anger again. This build is a tribute not just to a vehicle or a moment in history, but to the humble sharpshooter behind the sights. The kit is the RFM Sherman Firefly VC, a well-detailed and nicely engineered kit overall, with just a few caveats. It doesn’t include the applique armor, but thankfully fellow modeller @nicholas mayhew kindly provided me with some spare parts to cover that. There are also a few inaccuracies in the kit-supplied markings to be aware of. As for the workable tracks, the type that warn you to "please use very little glue", they’re not exactly my favorite to deal with, but they do build up well with patience. The only additions I made were the stowage items, which are a mix of Value Gear and Black Dog sets. The hessian camouflage netting was scratch-built using medical gauze and fine paper strips for that worn, improvised look typical of frontline modifications. There’s been plenty of debate around the correct paint used on these tanks—whether it was U.S. Olive Drab or British S.C.C. No.15, or perhaps just the British modifications that were overpainted. In the end, I deferred to those more knowledgeable than myself and followed @Kingsman's advice, finishing the model in MRP’s S.C.C. No.15. Detail painting and the stowage were mostly done using Vallejo Model Color. Weathering was done in three main stages. First, I applied a layer of chipping fluid, then sprayed a mix of diluted pigments, mainly earth, dust, and engine grime tones. After letting it sit overnight, I did the chipping to achieve a worn, operational look. Next, I applied dry pigments to areas where dirt and mud would naturally accumulate, particularly around the running gear and lower hull. Finally, a very fine dust layer was lightly airbrushed over the entire model to unify the finish and tie all the weathering effects together. The weather during summer 1944 in Normandy was very changeable, with hot weather interrupted by huge storms, so I guess that these tanks were dirty. And here are a few detail shots: Thanks for watching, and thank you all for helping me to gether some info about this tank, you can find it here. Cheers, Nenad

Here's a little tank (very little-it's like 1/72 scale-sized) that I did last year and never got around to posting. A quick, fun build of a subject that gets very little coverage. The HobbyBoss kit went together with no issues. I added some minor details here and there, but this was mostly an OOB build. Every now and again, it's nice to do a "weekend build"!

I wanted to do a version of Abrams, which was deployed to Europe, so the weathering is a bit muddier considering the rainy and wet conditions of Europe. Many sepV2 are upgrades from previous version, so a bit more chipping and dark tones than a brand new one. Mostly my goal was to create an upgraded sepV2. My first time with a 1/35 kit of this complexity. Hope you like it. All comments and critics are appreciated. Thank you.

Very well made model, the plastic quality is good, the parts fit no issues, the tracks were a bit of a challenge since I wasn't very used to segmented tracks back when I built it (this actually was my 6th finished model ever). The model was primed with Tamiya flat black and painted with AK real colors Russian Green Gray. All in all it was a great build, the only downside for me was the price as I had to get it from an international seller so the price was slightly higher than usual, Zvezda kits are really hard to get in Canada due to the import restrictions due to the ongoing conflict. Please let me know what you think and if you have any criticisms they are very welcome as well.

As the Chieftain is approaching the paint stage and there’s so much of the GB left, I figured I might as well start this one and then I can paint both Berlin camouflage jobs at the same time. It’s the Takom kit, which I picked up at the weekend for a nice price: I’ve been slightly disappointed with what’s in the box though. It’s all very nicely detailed, but there are ejector pin marks in visible places on many parts. The lower hull has them on the area under the seats (on the raised area to the right in the photo below) which will be visible though the rear door: And the side panels have some too (again on the raised areas on the photos below, one filled with black CA): There’re more parts with the same issue, but they have proved to be not too awful (apart from the lower hull) to get into and fix, so I’ll stop moaning about them now. With them sorted, I pushed on to get the base colours on the interior pieces. Takom call out most of the interior in cream with a sandy orange for the padding and black seat cushions. Looking at pictures of the real thing I’ve noticed a mix of silver, white, or cream for the interior, sandy orange, white, or silver for the padding, and dark green or black for the seats. So I’ve gone for Takom’s colours on the interior & padding, and dark green for the seats. Lower hull: Also with the start of the suspension added: And more of the interior parts: This is the first AFV with an interior I’ve tackled, so my aircraft cockpit skills are coming in handy here. I’m hoping to get a lot further with this over the bank holiday weekend, though I’m off to Maldon on Saturday as there’s a museum there with a Chieftain in Berlin camo to have a look at. James

This is going to be my new year build, another Sherman as part of my long term Sword beach project. This one will be ‘Warspite’ the command Sherman of ‘W’ troop of the 5 battery, Royal Marines armoured support group. I’ve already had a discussion on this tank on the Sherman super thread with some helpful input from @Kingsman. A mixture of features but appears to be an early/mid ‘43 build A4. I’m going to be using T54E2 tracks from bronco (god help me!) as that’s what I think I can see fitted on it, although Peter thinks they are T62’s. The spare tracks on the glacis are definitely T54E2’s though. Also interestingly it appears to only have the rear wading duct fitted and not on a quick release mechanism but cables running to the hull, I’m presuming attached to the lifting eyes. My thoughts are that as the RMASG tanks were intended to fire on the run in to the beach, they needed to have them able to traverse. The forward duct would have got in the way, similar to the firefly’s, and the quick release mechanism was mounted on the turret so wouldn’t have allowed the turret to turn if it had been fitted. It also appears as if the pioneer tools are missing. I will be using Asuka’s Sherman V kit for this along with some extras, some of which are shown below. If anyone has any other input or spots any other interesting details please should, or just follow along for the ride. Will be starting the actual build in the New Year. Greg

I finished this kit about 6 months ago but I’ve held off doing an RFI until I had finished the base for it. It’s the mirror models 1/35 D7 British armoured bulldozer with some scratch built details and additions to make it more accurate. Nice details but a little bit of a pig to put together in places. It is finished as one of the assault regiments, Royal Engineers landing on queen white beach, sword sector on D Day. Figure is from the miniart royal engineers set. https://i.imgur.com/vRyEwzG.jpeg

OK not the most original of topics (I noticed someone was building a more modern Miniart kit) but here's my entry... An old Tamiya kit as the basis, looks like this was a 1980s boxing but I imagine some of the hull, etc. dates back even further. Here's the aftermarket bits, some MiniArt wheels: Some aftermarket decals and a small PE fret (which I may or may not use, depending on how difficult it looks to cut things out, etc.). I may also go for some plastic individual tracks if the rubber bands supplied in the kit give me too much trouble. Here's the sprues - individually bagged and stapled Usual Tamiya instructions and decals. Rather oddly there is a metal bar and nut and bolt, on checking the instructions it looks like these are for the idler wheel and it's designed to allow you to modify the tension I think (though only slightly). Here is the wheel set - lots of sprues. The only instructions are on the box back, there also appears to be a bunch of perished blue rubber bands in the bag, thankfully I don't think they're needed. Seems to be some pieces for boxes and other bits and bats on the sprues too, probably from another kit. First job is to assemble up some of the wheels and check if they're going to easily fit as replacements... Luckily it seems they will all work, other than the drive sprocket (I think it's the drive sprocket anyhow - the one at the rear - I'll need to use the Tamiya kit one instead for that since the post is a bit too thick. The kit seems to be flying together, not a huge amount of parts but possibly quite a few holes to fill in the hull (there are also large gaps between the track tops and the inner hull, so I might add some plasticard there. Close up of the first few wheels assembled. Seems to be going together quickly which is great - I could do with a fast build for a change, though all that gap filling (and potentially cutting for PE) might slow me down!

This is a really excellent kit from Tamiya, the 1/35 M10 U.S. Tank Destroyer with additional stowage from Def Model and the a few extra's from Miniart like the 50 cal. My first time with the correct olive drab, well XF-62 which seemed too dark to my eyes but the weathering toned it down a little phew. Anyway thanks for looking. Regards Trace

I completed my tandem SdKfz 235/3 Stummel builds. The Miniart and Dragon kits are both excellent and were a lot of fun to build. The Miniart kit: The Dragon kit:

During the last few years of WW2 the Germans were scrambling to design new anti-aircraft vehicles to protect their armoured columns from the onslaught of Allied aircraft. One such design was proposed by Rheinmetall in 1943, it was based on the Panther tank and featured a new turret fitted with twin 5.5cm flak guns. The design was rejected as normal Panthers were in great demand and hulls couldn't be diverted for the secondary anti-aircraft roll. There are no model kits of this anti-aircraft variant of the Panther available, however Trumpeter have released a E-50 Flakpanzer that features Rheinmetall's 5.5cm anti-aircraft turret. So the plan is it kitbash the Trumpeter turret with DasWerk's new Panther kit to make Rheinmetall's original proposal from 1943. Luckily the E-50 Flakpanzer turret only needs a bit of sanding to fit the DasWerk panther hull.

So I recently had a moment of insanity & ordered a set of Girls Und Panzer model kits, as well as some of the corresponding figurines. These are only available in Japan & I couldn't find a single place that sold all of them, so it took awhile for all of them to arrive from different places. But now that I have them I thought I'd share some pics of the kits & my thoughts. For those that don't know, Girls Und Panzer is a Japanese comic book, TV series & film about high school girls having tank battles in World War II era vehicles. The battles are organised as part of the schools sports program & the plot mainly revolves around the school competing in the yearly school Vs school tournament. And if that doesn't sound ridiculous enough check out the "camouflage" colours they use... BTW sorry about the large shadows in the photos, this is the only place in the house with daylight & where there is light there is dark The stash! BTW these are the five tanks that appear at the start of the show (as pictured above), there are also kits of tanks that join the team later in the story. There are also various kits of enemy tanks from other schools. The German Panzer IV Ausf.D, which is the "hero" tank of the show. It gets upgraded to an Asuf.F2 mid way though the series & then at the end to a Ausf.H. Other GuP kits have been released to represent these later versions. This kit is a rebox of the Dragon's newer simplified Panzer IV Ausf.D, which has a lot of the smaller fiddly parts pre-moulded onto the larger ones (I think the simplification was done specificity for this GuP kit). There is an older GuP kit that is a rebox of the more complex Dragon Panzer IV Ausf.D, but it is becoming difficult to find. This newer simplified version has been praised for reducing the unnecessary part count by several reviewers. However this kit doesn't include the photo-etch from the original kit & has vinyl tracks instead of the "magic tracks". The manual is in Japanese but the instructions are of the typical exploded view so shouldn't be much trouble to follow. It also has a nice comic strip on the front. The figurines are multi part resin ones (which cost just as much as the tank BTW), each figurine comes in its own bag & spruce so you should be able to avoid mixing up parts. It also includes extra parts for the Panzer IV so you can correctly position the figures in the tank's hatches. These are just blocks of resin tho that simulate the crew seats etc, If you add an after market interior they won't be necessary. There is a decal sheet with eyes for the figures, which saves a lot of hassle trying to hand paint them. The Japanese Type 89, the Japanese text on the side of the hull & turret is removed later in the show but the tank stays the same thoughout. This a rebox of the Finemolds Type 89 kit, the only difference being the box, manual & decals. So if you are interested in getting a Type 89 & can't find the original Finemolds version you can get the GuP version & some after market decals. The instruction are in both Japanese & English, except for the comic on the front page which is in Japanese. Unlike the other figurines these ones are injection moulded as single pieces (but a lot cheaper), If you plan to put them inside the tank they will require some surgery to fit. The German Stug Ausf.F, the fanciful colour scheme didn't last long in the story but the tank remained the same. This kit is a rebox of the Dragon Stug Ausf.F, it includes the photo-etch parts but instead of the normal "magic tracks" it has DS tracks. This kit does however included decals for the many markings this tank features, as well as a sheet of printed cloth to make the flags on the back of the tank, I don't think the kit includes the wooden poles for the flags though! The manual is in Japanese again & unusually doesn't have a comic strip. The figurines are once again multi part resin. But they are posed in generic standing positions so will need some modification to fit them into the crew hatches. But due to the multi part construction should be a lot easier than the Type 89 figures. The Czech/German Panzer 38(t), the gold colour doesn't last long & is soon changed to panzer grey. Later in the show the tank is upgraded to a Jagdpanzer 38(t), which is available as a different GuP kit. This is a rebox of the Dragon Panzer 38(t) Ausf.G kit, it's moulded in grey plastic which has then been pre-painted in a gold colour (there is also a normal version of this kit in grey). While impressively shiny the paint has been applied unevenly with the grey plastic showing through in places. Unlike all the other kits this one still has its original magic tracks instead of vinyl or DS ones. However it is missing the interior parts that the original kit comes with & only two small photo-etch engine grills instead of the large sheet of photo-etch parts the original kit came with. There is also a huge accuracy problem with this kit, the Panzer 38(t) used in GuP is a Ausf.B version which has a different front hull. None of the manufacturers that are involved with the GuP kits have made an Ausf.B version of the Panzer 38(t) though & a Ausf.G is the closest kit they could rebox. More multi part resin & again in generic poses. The American M3 Lee, the epicly cute pink was soon changed to typical olive green. The tank stayed the same during the rest of the story. This a rebox of the Tamiya M3 Lee. It's been moulded in pink plastic & has different decals & manual but other than that it's exactly the same as the normal Tamiya kit. Even the original US crew figurine is pink Once again multi part resin but this set of figurines show the crew playing a card game on the engine deck of the M3, it even includes a loose pile of cards to put at the centre of the figurines. Overall my thoughts on these kits are mixed, as a Girls Und Panzer fan they are great as rare collectables. As a model maker though they are rather old & simplified reboxed kits. If you're not a big GuP fan but are still interested in making models of these tanks I would recommend getting the Type 89 & Stug as they have unique & complex decals you can't get anywhere else. As for the other three kits I'd recommend getting the normal Dragon Panzer IV Ausf.D (cheaper), the Hobby Boss Panzer 38(t) Ausf.B (correct version) & the Academy M3 Lee (better kit). Unlike the Type 89 & Stug these three have generic team markings that are available in after market decal sheets. I'm pleased with all the figurines & especially look forward to making the card game for the M3 Lee. My only complaint would be their high cost for their small size but they are limited run resin kits of a licensed property so it can't be helped.

This is ICM's recently released AC-40 Firetruck, which is a re-tool of their previous Zil-131 truck. The real thing dates back to the early '70's, although the 137A upgrade represented by the kit first appeared in '84. They're still in extensive use in Russia and the former bloc countries, and the marking option I went with is for a fairly current vehicle based in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It's a pretty good kit overall, although a few errors with the parts and instructions seem to have crept in during the re-tooling from the basic Zil truck. The only really weak point are the vinyl tyres, which I had to essentially melt to remove the ragged moulding line around the tread. They'd be much better swapped with resin replacements. The real things seem to be quite patchy and faded, so I tried to represent that with the paint job and weathering. Thanks for looking Andy

This one is likely to be a bit of a slow burner, fitting in between finishing some other things waiting to go through the spray booth and be finished too! The kit includes some parts for both early and late models which is useful. It is mostly an out of the box build, but I have bought a turned barrel, plus machine gun set as those in the kit are not too great. I thought about replacement tracks but the kit supplied links are actually remarkably good. This one is being finished in post-war mode (early 1946) as one my father was part of the crew, when stationed in Triest. I have a photo or two which helps! Paul

Most of my model making time lately has been occupied with designing 3D printed parts on my computer. I've missed the feel of plastic though so I dragged myself away from the PC and pulled a Takom Maus out of the stash. I plan to built it as a "what-if" production version with a Maus II turret. For that I'll be using Rhino's resin E-100 Krupp turret, along with a metal barrel from RB models, a voyager photo etch set & some other spare bits & pieces. The wheels & suspension are the first step of this kit & are made up from 288 parts in total! Most of which wont be visible once the model is finished. After working on it for over a week I've managed to get though this rather monotonous first step & I'm now looking forward to the more fun job of working on the hull & turret. The Maus's original turret's had a curved front which caused a shot-trap problem on the lower part. To counter this, armoured plates were added to the top of the engine deck to deflect shells away from the turret. For this model I'm using Krupp's Maus II turret though which doesn't have the same problem, So I've decided to not add the armoured plates & removed/filled the parts on the engine deck related to them. Without the armoured plates you can see more clearly though the grills & into the engine bay. So I had the spontaneous idea of 3D printing an engine to fill the void. It's extremely basic & missing a lot of detail but I didn't want to spend a lot of time & energy on something that will be barely visible when finished. I'm thinking about making the electric motors at the rear of the hull too though. For the next step I started drilling holes into the side of the hull to fit camouflage loops but my only 0.3mm drill-bit snapped 😭 I've ordered some more but they might take awhile to arrive. I'll make a start on the tracks next while I'm waiting for the new drills...

Well, here I am with the first entry that doesn't have wings! My victim for this groupbuild is: Wheels instead of wings and tracks, and something unusual ..... Keith ☺️