f matthews

The later “bluer” photos were taken outside in afternoon shadow while the first one, which reflects the actual colour better, was in the am sunlight when it was behind a cloud, but still lit. The telltale for me is the backdrop which is correct in the first photo, but blueish in the others. Unfortunately the morning sun made the initial shoot largely useless and all sorts of reflections and shadows ruined many images. The basecoat was Lifecolor Panzer Grey from their German Armour Set, but it has “evolved” with many washes and filters in the past few years!

A fantastic project with two superb results!!

This project ended up taking about five and a half years, mostly because I wasn’t happy with the Panzer Grey. It sat for a few years and I got to it a few times here and there until I was ok with the finish. The Bronco kit is very nicely done. I added a CMK engine, Friul tracks and brass gun barrels. Happy to have this one off the workbench and on the display shelf at last.

Between the numerous active projects that I have on the workbench, I was able to finish up the tank and the tanker and get started on the base. When the groundwork is dry, I will paint it and then add grass, etc. Getting there, but I am determined to finish this five-plus year project up this month.

The Caunter scheme was phased out several months before the Pz IV Ausf. F2s arrived in Afrika (I recall that was April 42-the Caunter scheme directive was superseded in late 41). While it might be a slight possibility, I would think it would be unlikely to see the two contemporaneously. I’ll have to pull my Starmer book on the Caunter scheme, but I’m pretty sure it was gone by 1942.

Looking great so far! The figure looks to be a later-war Soviet guy-you did fantastic work on him. I built the version of this kit (w/the 20mm) with the individual tracks-it was not a simple build at all. I have the MG version in the stash, but those tracks have moved it to the back of the line a bit. Building the tracks and suspension extended my build to a little over a year, but by the end, I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Nicely done and welcome back! That kit is actually pretty nice and is still respectable 45 (I know-wow!!) years later. I’ve built all three versions of Tamiya’s Type 97 in the past few years and did two of them for “old school” or “out-of-the-box” builds. You’ve done a great job finishing this one and hope the rest of this year is better for you (and all of us)!

I did a primer coat of red oxide then basecoated it with Lifecolor dark tan from their Italian armour set.

This is the Italeri 1/35 L6/40 with Friul tracks.

Here’s one I finished up a while back. Not a bad little kit if you don’t mind putting in a little extra work. Friul tracks added and still a nice relatively quick project for a slow builder like me.

Engine and Transmission compartments now pretty well wrapped up.

There are a LOT of different photos and very few seem consistent as many are museum pieces that have been “freshened up” with little care for slavish accuracy. I based the fighting compartment off of some black and white pics which aren’t the greatest choice and engine photos mostly from colour photos of actual vehicles since the engines themselves would not as likely get repainted.

Thanks for the very generous comments! I’m currently working on a sequel...(Grant Mk. II) Ready to install the tracks and sand shields before I move on to the rest (only the lower hull and running gear are complete so far). This one will get a charcoal/black disruptive scheme over Desert Pink. DP is very difficult to photograph. This is actually a warmer, rosier (slightly) finish, but looks more yellow/orange in pics than it actually is.

Likely those will take the next few decades, which means that I’ll just have to live past 100 I am currently building their new T-34/85 and it is very nice. The T-54/55 turrets look to be the most challenging of the lot.

Looks fantastic! I picked up one of these (T-54-3 Interior) and it looked so good in the box, I went overboard and picked up four or five others. Fortunately, I got one that is interior-less, so I should be able to retain my sanity. I will be using this thread as a “how-to” guide for sure!

Looks great. I have one of these in the stash-much better than the old Italeri kit for sure (I had one almost complete when Dragon released this and binned it). Open-topped vehicles are something I hesitate to tackle, but you certainly nailed it!

Here is Italeri’s Autoblinda AB-41 in 1/72 scale. This was my first small scale build since 1979...(!) It was fun building one of these little kits for a change of pace. And here it is next to my 1/35 Autoblinda AB-40:

A little work on the engine. Pity that most of it is not visible because of the radiators.

That was the box cover-art scheme. I liked it because it was unique as well. I’m building a series of the Miniart T-60s (working on #4 now) so anything to differentiate them is good!

Revisiting this project and hoping to finish it up this year. There is an embarrassingly small amount of work to do to complete things, but I can’t seem to focus long enough while bouncing between three or four other projects. Roland has a head, btw...

It is some micro-balloons that I picked up at a model show 20 or more years ago scattered on a textured base. It worked out very well-looks like real snow.

Hairspray technique. Never know how that’s going to turn out!

I eventually finished this one: