f matthews

Working on the new Miniart T-34/85 w/D-5T Interior Kit. It is a fantastic kit so far. While the sheer number of parts was initially intimidating, it’s moving along nicely. The fighting compartment interior is pretty much complete, so now on to the engine bay.

Thanks so much!!!

OK, I went with a Hasegawa JU-87D Kanonvogel (always wanted to do a Stuka) and minutes after that, a Cyberhobby/Dragon BF-110 showed up pretty cheap on eBay so I grabbed it . These should get me going. I’m sure I’ll grab some aftermarket stuff to go with these as well, but I’m looking forward to doing a wingy-thing for a change. Thanks for the pointers here-if these take off, I’ll be adding some of them for sure.

I’ve been away from building 1/32 aircraft for almost 30 years, since I switched over to armour (it takes up less shelf space ). Anyway, I keep bouncing back to wanting to try my hand at a large scale WW2 plane again and am looking for suggestions as to the best kits of particular airplanes. When I parked my kits in the hangar in 1992, Revell was fun, had the most kits, but was the least detailed and already pretty outdated; Hasegawa was close to the top end of things, but there was a much more limited selection. Tamiya only made one or two jets (Phantom and F-15) and didn’t release their Zero until 1994 or so, and the Hasegawa one seemed ok and much cheaper. I pretty much bought everything in 1/32 available back then, which wasn’t a lot, but my standards are much higher these days, so I doubt I’ll ever even open the ones left in my stash. As an example, there are four or five companies (at least) that make a 109E, Spitfire or P51, and several that make a FW 190 Stuka or P40. Even after looking at reviews, it’s hard to tell what is the best kit. Price aside, who makes the best: -BF-109 -FW 190A/F -P40 -P47 -JU-87 Stuka Are there any “must-have” kits of other a/c that are really outstanding? Again, I’m looking at WW2. Not looking to re-create a stash or kit collect, but looking for a great kit or two. I picked up a bunch of WNW kits a year or two ago but am not really looking at doing a WW1 kit, since my tastes and knowledge are in 1939-45 era stuff. Thanks in advance for any suggestions-so many great builds and reviews here that I figured someone would have experienced opinions!

Well-executed scene with subtle tension. Once again, a masterful effort!

Stunning!

Fantastic work on the tank, the crew and the base-the mud is brilliant!

Excellent work-very nicely done and not “overdone” as some weathering can be.

That's the scheme featured on the box art and since I’m planning to so a half-dozen or so in total, anything to mix it up is good!

Just finished this one up-Miniart’s T-60 from the Stalingrad factory (plant No.264). Each factory had its own unique features for their versions of these tanks. I am working on building the whole series and I’ve completed three of them so far. This one was quick (under a month) since I didn’t include the interior.

Looking good!

I have this kit as well and yes, the wheels are incorrect. They offer the correct ones in their Mk.IV and perhaps the sprues are available from AFVClub, but I don’t know. I picked up some correct aftermarket wheels. I didn’t pick up the tool box lid bit-thanks for the heads-up on that! I’ve built all of the Valentine kits out there-the Alan/Dragon kit is terrible and not worth dealing with; Miniart kits have dimensional issues that are not a simple matter to rectify; Bronco kits are based on the Miniart ones, but are largely correct, though have some issues here and there; Tamiya is a nice build, but like most Tamiya kits, takes too many shortcuts which sacrifice detail. The AFV kits are in my opinion, the best Valentines out there overall, although as you discovered, the Mk. II kit is a mix of features, but will build up nicely-I’ll be following your posts-looking great so far! I built Tamiya’s kit as a Mk.IV, but it does a Mk.II pretty well also, just be prepared to add detail. The base colour is Vallejo’s AV Light Stone (I had originally recalled that I used a Starmer Tamiya mix, but looking back, it was Vallejo). Looking at the wheels on yours, I think you got the colour right. I lightened mine a little to represent sun fading and scale effect. Here is AFV’s Mk.I with Bronco early tracks. I’m not a fan of vinyl/rubber band tracks either for the reasons you mention.

Spectacular

Another Miniart T-60 build, this time is their version of the vehicles produced by Factory 264 (Stalingrad). These tanks had some unique features such as modified stowage and rubber tire-less wheels. Most tanks rolled out of the factory directly to the front. I painted this in the camo scheme on the box art since it was different than the standard monochromatic 4BO Green that every other Soviet tank got in WW2 (if they weren’t whitewashed). I skipped the interior on this one, as I included interiors on my other two Miniart T-60s. This one is pretty much complete save for some minor detailing and preparing the display base. This was a fun, quick project.

Light Stone has troubled me for years-none of the paint manufacturers seem to get it correct or even as it looks in b/w photos. This is a slightly dark photo, but this was using the Tamiya mix (or pretty close to it). The yellow looked very yellow to me and one can see how it differs from the artist’s interpretation on the box art. Is this even close to Light Stone?

The Miniart truck kits are nicely done. They can be a bit fiddly, but look great. Nice work!

That’s Tamiya Desert Yellow base coat with a pretty-much-covering coat of Tamiya Buff. The mixes called for to mix Light Stone always look unnaturally yellow to me.

The first Grants that came over in Feb/March of ‘42 were delivered to the theatre without some components-like track guard/side skirts. Yes, the original OD colour showed through quite a bit, but I liked the idea of the “late delivery” parts that missed getting repainted so much, I chose that finish for a Grant that I built earlier this year. Some great links and ideas suggested above-I’m perusing them now to plan out my next Grant, which hopefully, I can start on next month. Best of luck with your build and finish!

VERY nice. It doesn’t look nearly as good in the unpainted plastic-your finish work brings it alive and looks fantastic. I’ve got the Gecko 1/35 A9s both in “shelf queen” status-the Caunter Scheme is daunting!

Fantastic work. I, for one, am glad the Tamiya decals got botched-these markings look far better. Nice job!

The interiors on these kits are nicely done too. Pretty much everything but the rear left fuel tank are included.

Miniart is putting out some spectacular kits. Their T-60 series (all come with near-complete interiors) are manageable, accurate, and fun. I kind of winged it on the display base and I like the way it turned out.

Another project I boxed up a while back (last Summer) and recently rediscovered-a Miniart T-60 Late Production. I decided to try to finish it now as I’m keen to start on another, but must finish this one first. These are spectacular little kits. I redid some of the finish and finished most of the remaining assembly other than tools and the exhaust/muffler. Here it is laid out on what will be its display base.

Excellent finish-I particularly like how you modeled the paint scheme of the original so well-that is not an easy task and you pulled it off masterfully.

What started out as a lifeless dark grey was “ruined” by using a commercially-produced filter “for Panzer Grey”, which is a strong blue tint, unlike the real Panzer Grey. This made the tank look light blue, and just not correct. That flub shelved this project back in 2018 for the second time (I put it aside in 2015 because I wasn’t happy with the finish). I pulled it out of mothballs this time, determined to wither fix it or bin it and gradually worked the finish out with different browns, tans and greys to get it back where I was happier with it. The “blue” photos above appear much bluer than they were live, those were taken outside under sunlight. It still needed toning-down. In-progress photos are a great way to see where you’re screwing something up or missed a spot. Thanks for the comments-it’s getting there finally! Hand-painted the numbers on the turret (I’m not a fan of decals).