AFV Content

Looks bloody good ....the buckled steel plates are very convincing, ditto the torn open holes, excellent...

On the final stretch now. One job that I had left until last was the headlamps and their brush guards. I have the Eduard etched set for the M3 Scout Car, but on inspection, I decided against using it for the brush guards as they are so very fragile as to be useless (well at least in my clumsy hands). So I looked at the kit's offerings, and they're not too bad. A lot better than the Italeri ones. The inverted U shape of the guards is a bit on the thick side, so using a coarse sanding stick, I rubbed them down to a more acceptable thickness. At the back are a couple of triangular fillets which I removed and replace with thin card. When I was happy with them, they were glued in place. But then........I had another look at the etched brass ones and thought, well why not give them a try. So once removed from the fret, I bent the frame to shape and added the open mesh guard... carefully. Breathe on them and they would bend out of shape. I managed to attach all of the mesh by adding super glue, using a piece of very thin stretched sprue. I was happy with the finished article, so I removed the kit item, and glued the etched ones in place. I'm leaving the headlamps off until after painting as it would be nigh on impossible to get the lenses fitted with the lamps in place. Basically, that's the build finished. All I need to add now before proceeding to the paint shop, are some pieces of kit and a camnet. The first bit of kit that I wanted to add was a stretcher, as there are photos of these A/C's carrying them. For the shafts, I used lengths of plastic channel and glued strips of 10thou card to them, and then glued short lengths of 40thou rod to the ends for the handles. The feet were pieces left over from an Eduard set for the Academy Grant. I bent them to shape and then super glued them to the shafts. The stretcher's canvas is blue towel roll soaked in dilute white PVA glue, and then the whole thing was affixed to the side of the A/C. The retaining straps are also from the Grant set, plus some strips of pewter foil. On the other side and the rear I added some personal kit which came from a Verlinden set. I added a couple of straps and buckles to the large pack on the rear of the vehicle. Finally, I rolled up a length of camnet, soaked it in dilute PVA, and then positioned it around the top edge of the roof. I decided against adding any straps as the few (not very clear) photos that I have of these vehicles with camnets appear to show them just laying on the roofs. And that's the build completed. All that needs to be added are a couple of aerials and the headlamps, and these will all be done once the painting is finsihed. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a start on painting this over the next week. As always, thanks for looking and for any comments. John.

Hallo This is my Panzer 38(t) Ausführung B as Commander vehicle. The kit from HB in scale 1/35 is with full interior. The track chains I took from Friul. It is to my opinion the best way to achieve a good setting of the track chain. On the other positive side is the easy closing the chain. Here I prevent damage on the finished or almost finished model. Well, that is it. Have a look on it. Always open for suggestions and critics. Happy modelling

Cents had 2 external extinguisher pulls, one each side mounted close to the glacis plate where the front face of the front bins are. Small housing with twist and pull handles. Have talked to an ex Cent crewman(see above) and he confirms that the pull handles on the front of the bins are the exterior fire ex: pulls similar to Chieftain. Challenger and 432. Your tool boxes look the dogs! Looking forward to seeing this in paint Stay safe Roger

Thanks Tim. I built this one a year or so ago after a long time off moddelling tanks, so I was a bit tentative about the weathering. I still like it but it irritates me that the tracks and suspension units etc are SO clean. I tend not to go back to a completed project so I'll live with it.

That's a really impressive winter weary Stug!! Awesome modelling/weathering/presentation! Kind regards, Stix

That's a really great looking Stug, Einar. Very well done. Kind regards, Stix

Hi George. That really is a very impressive vignette and your first B&W photo shows it off a treat! Top notch modelling all round. Kind regards, Stix

Hi Francis. As always, it's a joy to behold one of your armour builds! You have obviously done a lot of work on this with very impressive results! Very done. Kind regards, Stix

Hi Gaz. Well you have done an excellent job with that! I really like these tanks with the boxes of reactive armour. I must have a go at one sometime! Very impressive build and presentation. Kind regards, Stix

@Das Abteilung thanks for your response. I appreciate your help. Can I rephrase my question… aesthetically, what are the most notable differences between those two Sherman tanks? Thanks

Perfect and absolute clean PE work Great model so far! MD

Hello Wayne Thanks for your opinion. Indeed, this project has cost me a lot of nerves with a lot of back and forth. In the end, it's the result that counts and I'm more and more satisfied with it every day. MD

Hello Ben Good to read that you are feeling better again Health is the most important thing and I'm sure our hobby will help you to recharge your batteries and get your mind off things. All the best! BTW: your build and also the stowage looks very good up to here. MD

Congratulations on a great looking vehicle, well done .

We did actually review that book direct from the publisher. Its also cheaper direct from them ATM

Very nice work going on here

The Tiger isn't to bad one thing you could try is to make out someone's watching them through binoculars with an outline and see how it comes out....Great job on the Flakvierling...

Been catching rabbits then ?.... ( pikey...)

Hi, yes I never made it clear that I was aware that it was the same unit. I believe that all other Kuwaiti centurions were captured by Iraq. Do you know if they got the 'Martyrs' label after this battle or was that always the 35th's name? What you are saying about the markings makes sense to me so hopefully dropping the chevron is enough. Cheers

Turned out fantastic and thx for making me feel old. Matt

Hello I started this post to proclaim I'd finished the main build only to realise I havent added the tow cables yet. There is nothing like putting a few pics online to spot flaws. Other than that I think everything else is done except filling those two storage bins with interesting stuff, I have a few bits and bobs coming from ebay. Since last I modified the Revell headlights which you cant really see now and created the IDF headlight guard and cover out of the heavily modified Revell part and some plasticard. I redid the linkage between the barrel and the IR searchlight which didnt look right. I glued a small square of plasticard under the front of the turret which offsets the forward tilt due to the weight of the gun. A couple of hairs from my washing up brush as antenna again. But the biggest part was the 3 Brownings, the .50 cal came from the accessory set below which I'd originally dismissed as being too modern, although the ammo box was from the ace kit. The two .30 cals I found in my aftermarket stash, they are resin from an ebay shop called scalefiend, they actually have very good detail. The machine gun mounts were a combination of the ace kit parts and scratch built. I think I will paint it before adding the bin stowage cheers and thanks for looking.

Yes. The 75mm sponson gun. That can't surely be the shorter of the 2 in the kit? It must be the longer. Or it should have been inserted very much further into the mantlet. The difference in real life was 675mm or 26 inches. 19mm in scale. You say "plain" barrels. Was there one with a counterweight option? That would be very appropriate for a Grant: the M2 gun needed it to compensate the stabiliser for the shorter barrel. Most Grants had the counterweight but it was not universal as the stabiliser was not initially fitted and was often disconnected if fitted. KIt manufacturers do muddle up the gun barrels as they are often on sprues common to both Lee and Grant variants. One advantage of Miniart's single-variant boxing approach. They get the 37mm barrel wrong too. All Grants had the shorter M5 whereas Lees had both the M5 and later the longer M6. Grant with M2 gun and later production Lee with M3 gun for length comparison. The M2 had a noticeable flare at the muzzle too.

@tomatosoup Just seen this on eBay. AEF Designs T-62M1 turret. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274989203040?hash=item4006a23e60:g:Yo0AAOSwAO1hYwqz

More great detail Nenad, it’s looking better and better... Ed