gamevender

You were saying that you were not looking forward to fitting the tracks. How did that go? They are usually one of the "weakest links" of WW I tanks. I have been using some resin tracks from matador models. They are cast in lengths with some individual plates to go around the curves. They come with and without the grousers. Nicely cast, easy to use and look much better.

Whatever you use to paint them, give them a thorough cleaning with some sort of de-greasing agent like washing up liquid or alcohol or vinegar or whatever. Getting paint to stick to soft tracks is tricky anyway, but it there's any grease/soil on the surface no paint will stick and it will flake off if they are flexed.

1/35 Interocitor in Metalunian marking.

I made a brace out of cardboard cut at the angle of the strut to the lower wing. I then glued all the struts in place one by one at the correct angel using quick setting cement. I also had a some of dividers set at the correct spacing to make sure everything lined up. I then let it set for a day to make sure the cement was fully hardened. Then starting on one end, I put the struts into their locators one by one until I had worked my way all the way across the wing. A drop of quick setting cement at the top of each strut held it in place. After all that had set, I inserted the cabane struts into their places. Tedious but not difficult and I was very lucky that I got it all correct the first time.

Those Tamiya destroyer kits are pretty neat. I've done one or two myself and they are a nice, hassle free outing. Yours looks great with a "bone in her teeth" as they say.

Nenad, I'm guessing that's a pretty early Mk I because that single headlamp is a hold over from the Covenanter that preceded the Crusader but closely resembled it. Later versions had the two lights with the brush guards.

Wasn't one of the reasons Patton got all those accolades in part because in post war interviews the German Generals said that he was the one they "feared" the most? Of course, at that point they might have said anything to please their captors.

I didn't think the Mk II's had the auxiliary MG turret on the glacis. Nobody has mentioned that so is that not correct? If it is and you get a Mk II kit you may get the correct mantlet but not the MG turret for a Mk I or does Italeri include it in both kits?

Stretched sprue.

Airfix 1/72 Bristol F2B Brisfit done pretty much OOTB with the exception of re-working the scarf mount and MG and shortening the exhausts. The paint scheme was from a photo of a/c in Syria toward the end of WW I. It was quite a bit different from the ones normally seen so I went for it.

Went to Fox Transfers but not being a RR guy I can't figure out what to order plus they are REALLY expensive, like more than I paid for the kit. I'll see if I can find those Model master ones.

No reply from Dapol, so I'll try Fox Tansfers while the kit decals bake in my window.

Just as a bit of an aside, the Bell P-39 was armed with a US made 37mm cannon in the nose and was available at the start of the war. I know the Airacobra gets a bad rap for a variety of reasons, but someone in the design team thought a cannon was a good idea back in 1938. Just sayin'...

This is the Revell re-release of the Matchbox Humber Mk II armoured car. It's a neat little kit and has one of their display bases included. I opened the vision slits on the hull sides, added the lifting rings front and rear, removed the molded in tools and tow cable and replaced them from the spares box and drilled out the guns and smoke dischargers. The base is another story. I covered the grassy area with Woodland Scenics products. Then I covered the shell hole with real dirt and filled the puddle in the middle with Klear wax. The last photo is the inspiration for the whole project, a book I recently read.

Noel, I've been coming over for SMW every year (save one or two) for over 20 years. We always come a week or so early and travel around. One year we did a cathedral tour and visited Winchester, Salisbury, Westminster and St. Paul's in one swoop of the south. Then once we did Edward's Welsh castles.

1/72

I recently finished the Amodel kit of the Hart. It's better detailed than the Airfix one, but 10 times harder to assemble, fits poorly and getting the top wing staggered correctly leaves the cabane struts out of whack. But, just for fun, here it is side by side with it's elderly predecessor. You decide which one is better.

Another kit dragged out to kill time while a big project dried/set. What a nice little kit. With care, it went together easily and makes a nice display model. the decals were yellowed so the only ones I used were the checks. The rest are from the spares pile.

Noel, I few years back I was visiting air museums and we stopped at the one outside York.(Which is excellent by the way. They trained air gunners there during WW II and they have one of every turret carried on a British a/c. ) I made a point of going into the city and visiting the National Railway Museum. As I said, I'm not a RR guy, but it was an excellent museum and well worth taking the time to visit. I see what Dapol can do for me and if they come thru I'll post more photos here.

I have no idea if this is the appropriate place for this, but there is no "train" topic so I'll let the moderator decide and move it if necessary. Anyhoo, this is the Kitmaster release of the Evening Star locomotive and tender. I'm not a model RR guy, but these kits are a good relief from my normal builds and if done carefully look quite nice. They may not show up in the photos (although I fear many do) but there is a whole host of small "oops" throughout this build. The drive linkage is pretty fiddly and not being a RR guy and Kitmaster instructions being less than clear, it took some head scratching to get it all lined up correctly. I removed the molded in railing and piping on the boiler and replaced it with wire. I also added Woodland Scenics "coal" to the tender as the way it was modeled the chunks would have never fit in the fire box and maybe taken two men to lift. The rest is OOTB. There are no markings on it yet because the decals were severely yellowed and are currently taped to a sunny window hoping they will bleach out somewhat. Or if I can find reasonably prices replacements I'll use those.

This was a "something to do while I waited for paint/glue to dry on another project" model. I changed it to the trainer version by redoing the rear cockpit and omitting the guns. The paint scheme came from a book I have. Surprisingly, given it's age, it went together pretty well with even the two wings going together pretty easily. Decals were shot so these are from the spares box.

Very nice looking model. One suggestion. I think the model would show better with a lighter background. As is, it is all rather dark. But, like I said, good job on quite a project.

Thank you for the information. However, the photos that show the spades are from a distance and are grainy. In one they look to be on top of the trails and in the other they look under the trails so the question still remains.

I can't find any clear photos of a 17 pdr being towed that show how the recoil spades are stowed. Do they fold up and over and rest on the tops of the trails or down under and against the bottom of the trails? I've seen photos of them under the trails, but the trails are always open as if the gun is in battery.

It wasn't just the Calliope that had that interior detail. The regular M4A1 kit had it as well. With a little added detail it could look like this.