SoftScience

I don't know if it's you lot, but every Eduard Hellcat in every US online shop is suddenly sold out! Curse you!

Wow, dude...

This is really great! I like the unique camouflage and the grayish-brown dirt complements it nicely. Understated and classy.

Wow, very cool!

Well done! And a very interesting subject

Ahhhh!!! I thought maybe it is the commander and loader Cool! I got to learn some Russian today!

Perfect!!! Great use of extra parts. What are the host and sloth?

Believe me, I applied microset, sol, Mr. Mark Softer, and all kinds of other solvents to these monsters. I also sanded them down with micromesh. Trying to feather in the edges. It sort of worked on the turret decals, where there were no bolts to get in my way.

Takom's M3 Lee is a pretty good kit marred by horrible decals. These things are thick as stickers! The markings, such as they are, are from war games held in South Carolina in early 1942; hence the funny stars. When I first finished this model at the start of 2020 I was really unhappy with my paint job and initial weathering attempts. I was about to throw it out, but I was studying Steven Załoga style on Missing Lynx and decided to try his light oil wash (Naples yellow) and dark dry-brush (Vallejo Olive Drab) approach to modeling a dusty tank. The lower hull and running gear were done up old school style with misty coats of earth colors. Some of the texturing on there is from my previous attempt at weathering, and kind of complements this one. I noticed that I have forgotten the ring of exposed steel on the rims. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out (minus the decal edges you can see through the mud and dust layer -UGH!!) and will continue to practicing to emulate Zaloga's style on future models. It might not be the most realistic approach but I find it a lot less stressful for me, than trying to get pigments to stay exactly where I want them to!

I have applied a general dirt undercoat to the running gear. This is a mix of Tamiya red brown and tire black. The wheel faces and lower hull then got a blast of the black/brown mix with some khaki drab added. With the base color on, the fenders and skirts were added. Color will later be added as needed to exposed parts.

Sorry for not updating in a while. I've been distracted by other projects. Tracks are in progress. I decided to use the kit tracks and their neat jig. What's not neat is the seem line along the connectors. I tried to clean it up as best as I could, hopefully with weathering and all, it won't be too obvious.

Your models always look so alive and animated. Many of us might be good model craftsmen, but you're a model artist.

Thanks. They're in my top-5 for sure. I have four more in the stash

This kit was one of Tamiya's earliest 1/48 releases, back in 2004. It is labeled as a 1941 cast turret model, but more closely resembles a 1942/1943 production tank from Krasnoye Sormovo (Factory 112) in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow. Factory 112 produced cast 3-man turret t-34s from 1941 until late 1943, but the 1941 models were a good deal different from what Tamiya kits up. All that aside, the kit is an absolute dream to build, and can be the basis for a lot of fun conversions. Construction took me about six hours, but spread out over the course of 10 months The only changes I made to the kit was to remove the fenders, and add grab handles from guitar string. I also milled out the headlight and made a lens from Micro Krystal Klear. Because I have a very short attention span, when it comes to models. I Painted the model with Mig Ammo paints, but found them to be somewhat disappointing. Decals are for a unit fighting in Estonia. The slogans say "for Soviet Estonia" in Russian and Estonian. I'm not sure how keen the Estonians were for a Soviet Estonia... Weathering was done entirely with oil paints and acrylic glazes. The dust on the background paper is from another model I photographed immediately before this one. Despite the 10 month break in this build, I had a great deal of fun with this model. Probably the most fun I had with an armor kit since....well...since the last time I built a 1/48 scale armor kit. Seriously, if you haven't ever tried one, treat yourself!

Build #4 for 2021 is Tamiya's venerable T-55. I added fuel lines for the tanks on the fenders using copper wire and I also added the wiring behind the headlights with wire and a spare fragment of photo etched brass. I wanted to build the kit with open hatches, but there is nothing on the inside of the pretty busy commander's hatch, so that plan was shelved. I used the most "Society" looking decals to make a Russian machine. Tamiya also gives you markings for Polish and Czech tanks, but there are several prominent details missing to build a proper Polish or Czech production T-55. I painted my model using Mig Ammo colors. They sprayed ok, but remained tacky for a long time. In fact there is still a spot under the tank that is tacky to the touch - this about a month after painting! I experimented with artists oils mixed with pigment powders to give the tank a dusty appearance, with clumps of dry mud built up around recesses and crevices. I also played around with paint flicking to simulate mud splashes. At some point, I'm going to attach it to a diorama base. Overall, a fairly fun project, but if you only ever build one T-55, go for one of the many Miniart kits. You get much better detail, more production options, and for about the same cost as Tamiya. Please leave constructive criticism/feedback