dnl42

The tracks have been touched up and the tools painted and attached. I used AK Gunmetal and Black for the 50cal and 30cal MGs. The Army Painter Warpaints Necromancer Cloak was used for steel. A mixture of their Oak Brown and Hemp Rope was used for the wooden handles. Their Pure Red and Necromancer Cloak was used for the tail lights. Finally Shining Silver was used for the headlights. I went with "Unit unknown, France, Summer 1944". I have had a strong aversion to Tamiya decals based on their aircraft kits. With no AM decals at hand and only 10 to apply, I tried the kit's decals with their Mark Fit Strong. This worked out very well. I'll coat with MSI Micro Flat once the decals have dried overnight. Remaining are fitting the 50 cal and 30 cal MGs, bolting the upper hull to the lower hull, and adding an antenna from 6 mil ceramic fiber. Thanks for looking.

And the tracks are on. I was concerned about getting this to sit right but Tamiya did a fine job engineering this. With careful placement, they snapped into the right locations with good alignment, ready for a quick swipe of Tamiya Extra Thin. Some touch-up is needed.

Bravo! Fit and finish looks fabulous!

Wow, you're doing so much more with this than I could manage! Sorry about the tracks and other stuff.

This is very cool! I'm thinkin the kit designer had either Darth Vader or a Minion in mind when they were designing this kit.

Well done! I recall building this model lo those many years ago. Your build is head and shoulders above that effort...

Thanks! The bogies are on. I also added the highlight and shadow colors, but I see more work is needed on the upper hull. I think these are supposed to be the T48 tracks, but am quite happy to be corrected. Assuming they are, the tracks are painted Mr Color Tire Black (C1137). Thanks for looking.

I rely on good quality Swiss-pattern needle files to eliminate bulges without causing collateral damage. For this use, I suggest an equalling file is for its rigid planar surface. Sanding paper will likely cause collateral damage around the filler. A sanding stick will tend to flex over the bulge or perhaps even be pushed into the seam. I'd start with a 4-cut file to knock the bulge down flush with the surface and then a 6-cut file for the final smooth finish. Vallorbe (Grobet Vallorbe in the US) are excellent files. Not cheap but head and shoulders above the typical readily-available needle file set. HTH -- dnl

Excellent work! And it does evoke a sense of peace and serenity, which is fully opposite the actual circumstances. Bravo!

Very well done! Bravo!

Nice fit and finish! What wheel wells did you use?

Howzabout the Big H? Here's a Military Vehicles search; use the Product Type menu on the right. Oh, and Hannants sent out an email this morning about Jordio Rubio retiring; they suggested getting these while they last. In the US, I'd try Sprue Bros. I'm also an AFV noob, doing a 1/48 Tamiya Sherman in the M3/M4 STGB. There are some masters working there to learn from.

Outstanding pair of siblings! I'm always up for a Grumman build, so all the better.

On the transparency of paint. Alclad is very much an example of this. Any color will show through. I foolishly believed the color call-outs for a Grumman Goose in pre-war service and thought I had completed the painting before the error was identified. Turns out the leading edge was bare metal. I tried to spray Alcad atop the yellow--big mistake. I eventually overcoated with white before laying down the Alclad You can also see the other error in the kit's color call-out.

Very nicely done! Amodel do some outstanding and unusual subjects.