danimalmagic

Thats why I did not get too much into the Brit version, I will stick to my plan.

Hi all, i have decided a while back that it was well pass time i stepped away from commission work and took a bit of time for yours truly, i had been pondering dipping my toe into an armour project for some years and i thought i may as well do something a bit challenging, words i may come to regret. So some time ago i started saving my pennies and trolling Ebay for all the parts i needed, the last and most delicate obstacle was negotiating the time with SWMBO but a quick bribe with some hard cash sorted that, needless to say i am now Broke!!! The project will be based around the awesome looking Hobby Boss M1070 Oshkosh and M1000 Trailer, initially i thought that would do nicely but what is the point of having a big empty trailer so i may as well just add an Abrams M1A2. During this time i was led astray by another modeller as to the resin goodies available from Real Models and when you see that the kit M1070 has just a great big empty hole for the engine my mind was made up, engine it is, well engine, cab externals, internals, armour, drive train and wheels for for the rig and trailer. Needless to say at this point the parts count for the kit models alone is around 3300, less a few parts that the resin wheels replace then add all the other additional resin details and the etch, needless to say there is plenty to do. If all goes to plan it should end up with a basic dessert road diorama so to facilitate that i bought some some figures and support equipment to help fill it out a bit as there was not quite enough to do as it stood. The Meng Abrams is pretty good as is and the only real thing i thought poor was the kit gun barrel, a real ugly seam that would be a pain to 100% clean up, a quick search and i found the rather nice and also very cheap RB Models machined barrel. I have not decided on Tusk 1 or 2 as yet, for the most part it is just the reactive armour but i have some time to consider that. I have some other minor bits and pieces to add a little realism but essentially that is it for the parts so i am now just getting started, i have got 12 weeks to get it all done before i will need to get back to paid work, not sure what the reality will be but i cant wait to get stuck in. From my own perspective i would have loved to put a Challenger 2 on the back but the British Oshkosh has a number of differences, it is probably at this very point that Accurate Armour re release there full resin UK Spec version but i cant await around for that to happen so time to get started. If they do, nobody tell me!!!! I am going to start with cleaning up the resin parts first, should keep me going for a while. First update should be at the weekend, see ya then.

Never again

Ryan is new here, if you ignore him he may go away

Ryan Behave!!

Thanks Richard, i was tempted to add some white speckles to give that milky way effect you see at night but decided i was pushing my luck and it would be best left well alone.

Hi all, it’s been a while since I posted last but with good reason, for the last 14 weeks I have been working at this 1/350 Diorama and it has been quite a challenge but it is now finally done. The basics of the project were a bespoke internally lighted back box with a star field effect, 2 x 1/350 Klingon Birds of Prey (KBOP’s) and of course the rather huge 1/350 Enterprise Re Fit with a shuttle coming into land. I started out with the Back Box, this is made from 2 sheets of Aluminium Sheet 2.5mm thick x 610mm wide x 2250mm long separated with an internal wooden frame to create the cavity for the lighting. I needed redundancy here so 2 x SMD Light Strips have been used, in the even one fails the DC supply jack can just be switched to the back-up rig. On top of this I have designed the ships so that they be removed from the Light Box at any time and the front of the Light box can be removed if it is ever required to change both LED strips. This was the initial test of the light box, I have drilled various size holes and some have coloured clear filters on the inside so some of the starts are different colours, red, Blue etc. Next up was the two KBOP, I have used varying lighting kits over the years and I tend to use Starling Technologies now whenever possible. He does a plug and play set for the KBOP which has really good light effects and a sound card with optional remote control FOB. I needed both KBOP to work off one remote FOB and after a few chats with Stan at Starling Technologies he had a simple solution for this, both kits are basically pre wired plug and play, there is some minimal soldering needed but for the most part they are ready to go, awesome. Lots of paint filters, washes and dry brushing to make the KBOP look a bit rusty and beaten up. First test of lights and RC. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hDspaNRG39XQxzk- Next up was by far the biggest task, the Enterprise, I have built one of these before and lighting a kit adds all sorts of issues. To make the build as expedient as possible I used the pre wired Trek Modeller Kit as this quite simply saves a massive amount of time in wiring and soldering, the kit was excellent but had one snag no working weapons, sounds effects and RC Unit. I needed sounds and effects to match the KBOP’s to create the battle effects so it was back to Stan at Starling. The easiest way around this was to install Stans Gen 3 Re Fit kit in the saucer and use that to just supply the 4 x working Lasers, the Photon Torpedo Launchers the Sound effects, Lighting effects for the Shuttle Bay,Impulse Engines, linked Impulse Crystal, Impulse Engines and the Warp Nacelles. This would basically also give me some additional lighting redundancy but is primarily for the various light and sound effects, the Trek Modeller kit would supply the internally lighting and Shuttle Bay etc. Shuttle Bay LIghts https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEdZoTmC8el1bxol Enterprise Weapons Test https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEvPRvxIhK8ZkajM The Astek decals for the Kit are a nice touch, very thin and delicate much like Cartograf quality just much bigger, the standard kit decals had some issues with breaking up, I had to get some spares from Polar Lights. My advice to anyone who builds this kit cover the standard kit decals with Microscale Liquid Decal Film first, it will save you some grief, I got the tip off a friend and it worked really well. I have had this issues with most of the standard Polar Lights kit decals i have used. With that all done it was just getting it all connected and mounted then final testing. Lights of and action. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hXOtNvsAOUFmlMNg I know its not everybody's favourite subject but i have to say i enjoyed this project. Thanks for Looking Danny

Oh Justin Easy Done

I know that feeling

Thanks guys Danny

This was the initial image of 762 and i was really going to dirty it up but when i scoured through all the other images she was really quite clean, so i just done the majority of the weathering with pre shading and post shading filters then a little light yellow staining on the control surfaces on the underside, sometimes less is more. Regards Danny

All my models are safely in the cabinet and i don't like to move them, to give you an idea the wingspan = 33" and fuselage length = 24.5", it is not small that's for sure

Hi all, it's been a while, I started this project back in February 2017 and managed to get 6 weeks done before commission work took over. By that time most of the hard work was done which just left the painting to do, well for the most part. I was working to copy VMGR-352 QB-6762 as I wanted to make sure I was working to an existing Harvest Hawk, I managed in the end to find some good reference material for 762 and I like the colour scheme so that was the final choice. I have had a bit of free time between commissions so the last two weeks I have got stuck in again. To recap, all the raised panel lines have been re scribed (Never Again, seriously!!) and I have used the Attack Squadron Harvest Hawk Conversion set which covers the AN-AAQ-30 Targeting Pod and the Hellfire Rack. I ended up using the Eduard AGM-114 Hellfire set as this was far more accurate. The Attack Squadron parts also included some very nice wheels, fuel pod, sponsons and most importantly replacement engines to correct the grim kit ones. I was tempted to use the rather nice Attack Squadron flap set but unless I was doing an inflight diorama or a maintenance diorama it was pretty pointless as the flaps would be level in reality so that idea was quickly scraped. There were a fair number of other modifications including the port parachute door which needed two launch tubes for the GBU-44 Viper Strike and GBU-176 Griffin Missiles, various windows have been filled and re positioned and the addition of the FCS Optics module either side of the parachute doors. Decals are a mixture of the kit decals and the Flying Leatherneck set, this with a little work gave me all the required numbers for the airframe in question. The walkway decals were the wrong colour and way to wide so I have masked and sprayed them on. Finished up yesterday. Thanks for Looking Danny

Yes I did, never heard back, I have resolve it myself now, next update in a few days