bull-nut

Doh! That'll teach me for trying tandem builds. No matter, I don't think it'll be visible anyway, and not fitting it should make squeezing in a pilot easier. Or maybe I'll separate the fuselage halves and squeeze them both in tomorrow, I'll see how it goes.

Sprue shots and decals, I'll likely not use any of the decals except the stencils, since the codes aren't valid for my build, and the blue in the roundels looks way too bright to me. Work begins with the cockpit as normal, rather more in this one than the Tempest, but it went together fairly well, (though I'm not sure why I bothered adding the Oxygen bottles, since they are completely invisible in the fuselage.) Tamiya IJN cockpit green, Athonian Camoshade, then a few different Citadel and Vallejo acrylics, and we have this. Closing up the fuselage and adding main-planes gave me this after an overnight drying period. The fit at the wing root is pretty poor, it will need some fairly expansive filling. So I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. TTFN Edit: Need to dig out Nil Time, find a decent overhead shot of a subject, and check cannon blisters, since they are separate parts.

And so it begins; I forgot to take sprue pics before I started, so I'll refer you to @Beard's build if I may. Anyway, there's not much to the cockpit in this kit, just a seat, stick, pedals and not even an instrument panel, but since the cockpit opening is tiny, I didn't bother adding any, I may squeeze in a pilot from the Revell set later. In the meantime, the office got a blast of Tamiya IJN cockpit green, a wash of Citadel Athonian Camoshade, and then I closed up the fuselage and added the main-planes. I think I'm going to need some filler before I go much further, plan for tomorrow is filler and tail surfaces. TTFN

Sorry about the lack of updates chaps, I've not been idle though. I added in the interior set from friendship models. not strictly accurate, but does the job. The interior was painted white, and the seat cushions painted with Citadel Dryad Bark, I then added a thinned wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade, followed by some chipping with Vallejo German Grey and a piece of sponge, though I think I went a little heavy on the chipping. Sponson and turret Ammo racks were sprayed gold, followed by a splash of Seraphim Sepia, projectiles touched in with black/silver, and the racks themselves with Ceramite White. Upper hull interior got a coat of white, but I didn't bother weathering it since it can't be seen with the hull closed up. The dash and radio from the FM set were added to strips of plasticard to fit under the sponsons near the end of construction. Turret interior painted using Mike Starmers SCC15 mix with Tamiya Acrylics, all ancillary pieces brush painted with Citadel and Vallejo paints, and then the turret closed up. With that done, external equipment was added to the upper hull and the sponson racks added. TBC

As I'm building a Tempest V over in the Hawker (Siddeley) GB, I thought I'd commemorate the RAF centenary with another aircraft type from my local R.Aux.A.F. squadron, No501 (County of Gloucester). Having already build four of their operational types, and with no5 under way, this build will be the final piston engined fighter they flew; the low back, Packard powered Spitfire LF XVIe. For the purposes of which, I acquired this kit: Final decision on codes and scheme will follow later. This will likely be an OOB build, though I may see about sourcing replacement guns. Decals will be a combination of kit and AM items

I almost forgot that I'd signed up for this, but now that the two Sherman's are done, it's time to shift back to thinks with wings. Specifically, this kit; With which I will attempt, in my ongoing project to model one each of all of my local squadrons types, a passing representation of one of the aircraft flown by No501 (County of Gloucester) Sqn RAuxAF. Which served as a fighter squadron from 1938 until it's disbandment in, IIRC, 1957. (Yes, I know 501 still exists, but they are now a logistics support squadron, and I don't have room to display an Atlas!) Airframe reg and codes to follow once I have suitably perused my reference material. I know I've seen a period photo of a bare metal finish somewhere. I want to say EJ533 SD-R, but I'll be back later after consulting Nil Time. Edit: SD-R was EJ538, but was stripped of paint, so she will be my subject for this GB.

Lovely looking Sherman, well done.

"CRICKLADE" C Sqn, Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, 9th Armd Bde, 2nz NZ Div, EL Alamein 1943 A real mix of materials in this one. Lower hull, mantlet, crewman, transmission cover, sprockets and wheels by Tamiya; bogies, turret and upper hull by Friendship models; tracks by Gaso-line of Paris; gun barrels by RB, hatches, main gun mount and stowage bin cast at home; tools from Hauler; decals from Bison; brush guards, lifting eyes and Sunshield mounting brackets scratchbuild from wire and styrene strip. Aerials from dead brush bristles, coloured with Sharpie marker. Paint is a mix of home mixed Tamiya colours, with Vallejo and Citadel acrylics. Camo pattern thanks to "Alamein and After" by Mike Starmer. WiP Thread

And I'd say she's done! A very dilute light tan coloured wash was added over the entire tank and running gear, and with that dry, a mist glaze coat of Tamiya Matt Clear and Buff, first in vertical streaks over the vertical surfaces, then swirled over the horizontal. I followed this with some chipping using a fine brush, Desert Pink over the green disruptive area's and XF62 Olive Drab on the pink areas, in all cases focusing on areas around hatches, corners, and places where the crew would walk or climb, such as the glacis plate. Then an overall Matt coat. I added a small amount of Citadel Agrax Earthshade around the fuel filler ports to represent small spills, and painted the co-drivers hatch pad with Citadel Mournfang Brown. A crew figure from the plastic Tamiya British set was painted with Citadel paint, before the No19 aerials were added using sections of paint brush bristles coloured with black Sharpie. More pics in the Gallery.

Thanks Nigel. I can't recommend Mikes books enough for anyone who models British or Commonwealth WW2 armour, and now: Decals! My first time using Bison decals, they are a lot thinner than I was expecting but they did seem to snug down nicely over the cast texture, without having to resort to decal solution. Of course, as the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we'll find out just how well they snugged this afternoon. This is one of the things I like about Armour modelling over winged things. There are usually a lot fewer decals to worry about. I did have a brief panic when the left side name decal broke and I briefly lost the C and top corner of the R, but it turned up. The tank is now back in it's box with another clear coat over the decals. Hopefully this afternoon I'll be able to start on weathering!

Pic heavy post this one guys, sorry. I cut off the casting block from one of the stowage bins and fitted to the turret rear, the gaps thus generated were filled with kneadatite putty, textured as weld beads. The turret was then primed and the painted Desert Pink, along with the upper hull, according to Mike Starmers recipe using Tamiya acrylics. Mine came out slightly lighter than the swatch, but I'll put that down to scale effect. With that dry, came the interesting bit. I consulted the afore mentioned book by Mr Starmer, for the correct ministry camo pattern. And sketched it lightly onto the model in HB pencil, following the guidelines laid down in the relevant order Masking then commenced using Humbrol Maskol to give a sharp edge to the disruptive areas, I got carried away and sprayed the hull before I remembered to take a pic, so I'm afraid you'll have to settle for just the turret at this stage The green areas were painted using Mike's mix for SCC7 again using Tamiya acrylics, and when dry, the masking was removed Now my information from Steve Zaloga's Osprey book on modelling the M4(75mm) tells me that the vehicle equipment would be painted either OD, Black, or civilian in colour. While it is unlikely that the tools would be removed at the base workshops prior to repainting in theatre, that doesn't mean that they kept the same tools on the vehicle. I have heard of an old tankers adage that you should "Look after your tools, or someone else will" With this in mind I opted to go with black, so to continue the scale effect I painted the tools, grouser bin mesh, and MG barrels with Vallejo German Grey. Next I painted in the counter shading on the gun and transmission housing with Citadel Ceramite White, and the head and tail lights with relevant Citadel Acrylics With that dry (I love painting with acrylics!) I sprayed a gloss coat with Humbrol Clear. that is currently drying in a plastic box, so tomorrow it will be Decal time. I might actually get it done before the 31st a this rate! Edit: yes, I know I missed some Maskol on the transmission cover, I got it after taking the pic, but luckily before I sprayed the Gloss.

Pics as promised. Single sided silicone mould and three crusader pattern stowage bins. I have also painted the track blocks and tyres with Tamiya XF85, and the bogies and underside of the hull with XF62. The end connectors will get XF84 on them this evening I hope. The colour looks rather washed out in the pic, it's a lot richer IRL. Next stage is to dive to Halfords for some more primer, then I can fit the stowage bin to the back, prime, and start with the upper surfaces.

@Sgt.Squarehead Thanks. It is a little frustrating that 1/48 seems to take third place for after market producers behind 1/35 and Braille scale models, but we are still a relatively small market. Things are improving slowly though, so I wouldn't be surprised if, in 5-7 years, the AM availability for 1/48 is close to what 1/35 has now. If I could trust myself not to make a pigs ear of it, I might consider entering the market myself on a part time basis, but not knowing where to start with etch and turned components holds up the aerial bases at least. I have had some success with resin casting recently, so maybe I should start there? On the subject of which, the stowage bin mould has fully cured and I've got a few casts out of it for this and future projects. The new resin is making things soooo much easier. No pics yet, because the batteries are all flat, but I'll see if I can get some up later today.

Almost, but not quite. The M2 .50 has had the RB upgrade set attached and the bow and co-axial MG barrels are fitted. The new cupola casting came out much more solid than the first attempt, largely I think due to my using the correct type of resin so I have fitted that as well. I added the various lifting eyes with .5mm brass rod bent around a 1.6mm drill bit, and also some semblance of the antenna bases using 1.2mm plastic rod, the wedge on top of the turret bustle made a convenient mounting spot to put the second antenna for the No. 19 set used by the British. The hoop guard of the B set was made from a scrap of etch fret, with copper wire supports fitted into a hole drilled through a plastic rod antenna base. Only two supports at the moment, I'll try for the other two later, but right now I need a break from small fiddly scratch building. Why does no-one make British WWII antenna bases in 1/48? Edit: Yes, I have noticed that the .50's barrel is not square to the receiver, I'll fix that now. Moulding the stowage bin has proved more complex than I first thought, since I managed to over heat the Composimold and warp the master. New master obtained, and a new Silicone rubber mould is now curing, that will need a few days, then I can pour the resin. Off to my FLGC this evening, to give the 43rd Wessex a run out, so I think tomorrow I'll see about getting paint on the track/bogie assemblies.

@Sgt.Squarehead: Thanks, I used to build the tracks and running gear after painting, but I think I prefer the modular style and will be adopting it for all of my future armour builds. Progress continues slowly but surely. Tools were added from the Hauler resin/etch set, also tidied up the front tinwork alignment. Checking my reference photo again showed that Cricklade had no brush guards over the rear light clusters, (so off they came and were replaced with the lights from my M10 kit, and the resulting holes filled), and mounting brackets for a Sunshade disguise (which I added with some narrow strip plastic and channel). Unfortunately, the TC Hatch casting turned out to be thinner than wafer thin, and splintered to next to nothing, so I've had to order some new resin to recast it. I'm now very pleased that I didn't reuse the Composimold. So jobs for the next week include, mounting the MG's, casting a new TC hatch and stowage bin, fabricating the aerial bases, and upgrading the M2HB with the RB set. Hopefully then she'll be ready for paint.

Quick update, but quite intensive, all surface details short of the on vehicle tools are now added, bogies cleaned up and the track runs assembled. I had to grind away the a lot of material from the lower edge of the hull sides, since the front tinwork snapped off while cleaning up the hull. Not a big deal, I had to add sponson bottoms anyway, so I killed two birds with one stone and ran the new sheet part straight through to where the front tinwork will go. Drilled out my mantlet casting to accept an RB metal barrel, and added it and the rotor shield to the mantlet. Periscope brushguards were added in the same way as my Op Husky build. Glued down the upper hull after still more grinding with the Dremel, and added the front tinwork, lights and brushguards. The Hull MG ballmount is just a sanded piece of the kit sprue. Next job is to clean up the tinwork, add the MG barrels, Tools, and scratch together some No19 set aerial bases. I also need to raid my Crusader1 and make a casting of the turret stowage box.

M4A1, Operation Husky, 1943 Tamiya 1/48, with combination Tamiya/scratchbuilt stowage, scratchbuilt wading trunk and lower hull, Tracks by Gaso-line of Paris. Paint is a mix of Tamiya, Humbrol and Citadel, The unit markings are the kit ones, cut up and re-purposed. It should IIRC be 2nd Armoured, but the kit decals don't contain any 2's. Weathering has been kept intentionally light, until I build a base for it, when I will weather both together to maintain consistency. M2HB .50cal MG is kit receiver and mount, with barrel and grips from RB Models. WiP thread

The last addition to the wading trunk on this build was the semi circular cap. this was made with a pair of partial circles cut with a circle cutter from 3/4mm plasticard, with an added styrene tube spacer. Then a rectangle of 1/2mm card was clued to one side, and when the glue was fully set 24hrs later, heated in hot water and wrapped around the remainder of the sides. This was allowed to dry fully again, before trimming the excess material with a blade. I painted the inside with Tamiya dark iron, just because I had it to hand, and the outside with the same Khaki Drab as the ret of the wading trunk, before gluing in place. I decided not to redo the mantlet waterproofing after all. After another look, I decided it was "close enough for government work" so to speak, so went ahead and painted the waterproofing, stowage, tools and a TC from the Tamiya US figure set with a variety of Citadel acrylics. The usual gloss goat, decals, and flat coat followed, then a light weathering glaze of 9/1 Tamiya Flat Clear/Buff. I followed this with an overall flat coat just to even out the finish, and I can call it done. more pics in the Gallery Edit: AAArgh, still missed the inside of the antenna mount, I'll get that with a hairy stick shortly.

Weren't a few painted in an AUSCAM scheme of green/black/tan for the Australian procurement trials a while back? Edit: Found a pic And a paint plan

Apparently, a combination of Pan-chromatic film, and yellow lens filters increases the contrast between the colours. I think if you combine that with most authors/illustrators not having easy access to period orders and paint chips, and what you get is a Best Guess arrangement, because everyone knows that deserts are yellow, right?

Paint on, I started by spraying the track blocks and tyres with XF85 rubber black; Then mixed up a small batch of something approximating US Yellow Earth using XF60 Dark Yellow, with some X6 Orange added to it, I'm not sure how close of a match it realy is, but it looks close enough to my eyes. This was sprayed over the mud guards, upper hull sides, transmission housing and upper glacis. While that dried, I mixed some XF60 into the remnants of my XF62 Olive Drab, I think it is about a 3:1 ration of OD:DY. This was sprayed at low pressure over the wheels, bogies, and the front and sides of the hull, over some of the yellow earth colour, leaving in improvised camo pattern around the upper hull, I then turned up the pressure slightly to spray the remainder of the hull and turret. The wading trunk was sprayed with straight XF51 Khaki Drab to give some colour variety. I deliberately left the paint a little patchy to make a start on the weathering process. I usually try for an even as possible base coat, so this is a little out of my comfort zone. After rechecking my references however, I have noticed that my mantlet waterproofing looks nothing like the period photo's, so it's all going to have to come off and be redone. That will teach me to get carried away with the putty. I'll try and get this done this week, but I'm off to Bovington with the family on Saturday, so if there is anything anyone wants pictures of, let me know and I'll see what I can do. edit: Don't you just hate it when you look at hi res pics in a monitor, and notice all the bits that the paint missed? No way to cover those with weathering, so It's back out with the airbrush later I guess!

Friendship models have an M4A4 (Sherman V) conversion available that was only recently released. I understand that they have Tims Sherman track masters, so is the 'A4 the same conversion kit? could someone who knows it have a look and check?

With two builds ongoing over in the M3/M4 STGB, it may seem foolish to start another GB, however there is reason to my madness which I shall explain later. In the meantime, here is my choice of kit for this GB Sprue shots A short while later, after putting children to bed, I had this. Typical Tamiya quality, shake and bake. I have no idea why Tamiya chose not to add a gearbox housing to the lower hull, I may have to get one from Ian over at Friendship models. And my reason for starting another build. I was asked over in my Op Husky thread how I did my tracks, so thought I may as well put them together for this build and document it accordingly. I'll put the full process up in the general armour forum, but for the purposes of this build, I now have two of these. More to follow soon, I hope.

Glad too be of service Thanks @PlaStix On a slight side note, does anyone know how many towing shackles British A15 and A27 cruiser tanks were issued with, I have one of each in the stash, all of which come with shackles, and it seems odd that Tamiya chose not to include said parts in their Sherman kits. If the answer to the above is only 4, then I can rob the kits. I have not found any images of A15's with a full compliment. Ordinarily I would get some from Ian at Friendship Models, but he is out of stoke ATM.