ErikT

Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone! This one took me a while, but I have a few more ship models in my to-do pile, so there will be further posts in the future. I really can't take all the credit for the sea base; check out Studio Blue Ocean on YouTube. That guy works magic and I just copy him, though I still struggle with the foam effects. Next up will be an Iowa-class battleship, I think.

This is the first one I've finished in a long time because it took ages and ages; I'm not sure if I'll ever do an aircraft carrier again. Battleships and destroyers I can handle, but this one felt like a slog at times. I've had the kit in my stash for over 20 years, and I finally decided to give it a go. As my first carrier, I think it went okay; I definitely made a few mistakes, and the kit itself had more than a few inaccuracies and badly-moulded parts so I had to fix or replace what I could. I even 3D printed a few small parts here and there because some things were just featureless lumps. The hull number is incorrect because the decal sheet had absorbed some moisture at some point and the proper hull number had deteriorated to being unusable, but the rest of the decals actually turned out pretty nicely. I detailed it with the GMM Russian Navy photo etch kit along with some much better fighters and helicopters from Trumpeter, and I had a couple little missile boats sitting around that I decided to add in there to give the old girl some company. It was all painted using Tamiya acrylics and weathered with Abteilung oils, then set into a base I made by following Studio Blue Ocean's techniques on YouTube.

The model is superb, and the photos take it all one step further. Very very nice, and a fitting tribute.

Terrific diorama! There's a sense of action to it, like everyone's holding their breath listening for the enemy. Your painting and weathering is amazing.

I love unusual armour, and this has always been one of the strangest ones from the cold war era. Very nicely done!

You've done a beautiful job on that girl. The build and paint are first-rate to my eyes, and I really enjoyed the backstory as well!

Like so many others on this site, you've made me feel totally inadequate. Incredibly well done!

That is one sharp looking old girl! Very very nicely done. I especially like the subtle weathering; I always tend to overdo it somehow.

Very nicely done! This is my favourite scale, and I love the paint scheme.

My favourite fighter of WW2, and extremely well done!

I've always loved those little ferrets, and you've built and finished this one beautifully! Very nicely done.

Why? Why do people have to make me feel so inadequate? Amazingly well done, especially for such a small scale (my favourite scale, no less).

Cheers, everyone! This is still one of my favourites.

Thanks! For the trees, I bought a Christmas wreath of fake pine boughs with the thin plastic needles, then cut off a few different lengths and brushed glue all over everything. Then I dusted them with static grass and painted them when dry.

Canada, along with other NATO forces, kept a presence in West Germany from 1957 to 1993 as 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. Here we have some Canucks working on getting their M109 set up for a big combined forces exercise in 1982. The M109 is the only thing here that wasn't either 3D printed or scratchbuilt. This was my first attempt at a small-scale cam net, which wasn't a complete failure, though I did learn what not to do after several tries. It's a piece of stretched gauze with crushed up leaves from my yard glued to it, but I think it looks okay. This was also my first attempt at evergreen trees. Everything was painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with Abteilung oils.