badger

Just building it now and this, genuinely, has to be the best fitting kit I've ever built!! Absolutely stunning. My only gripe is that the hatches aren't open so I could add a crew but the rest of the kit is excellent.

Cheers chaps!! Was hoping to do a bit today as am off on holiday for a couple of days. Sadly I then had the great idea to do some decorating! Hopefully get chance to do a bit once I've tided up All the best Ben

Tonight's work has mostly been on the base. Bit rough yet but the idea is starting to come together. Forgot to add tank tracks so this will be rectified tomorrow All the best Ben

Think this fits the grumpy modellers thread. Just spent an hour cleaning up a 1/43 diecast Lamborghini Diablo bodyshell from a multi-media kit. It's been soaking in dettol for a couple of days which has softened the horrible factory applied red paint (ready for a nice black or a blue). I was scrubbing off the residue in the sink, let the water go and realised I'd forgotten to take out the rear spoiler (which was a separate part), which had promptly disappeared down the plug hole. Quite how I don't know as; 1.It was diecast metal 2. It must have only just fit down the holes 3. The u-bend didn't catch it. Just had to spend £5 buying a toy one I can pinch the spoiler off! I know not all had them but I very much prefer the look with one and have two neatly drilled holes in the bodyshell I really don't want to have to try and fill. Rant over All the best Ben

Oh dear - think you qualify for an iron cross second class for that wound. Great progress and a nice save on the panzer. Hope the thumb heals quickly All the best Ben

There's not much difference between an F2 and the early G other than the muzzle brake and it's much more plausible they could have had a G (and dunkelgelb would work) as F2s only seem to pop up in Russia and North Africa. Shall I pop you a spare revell barrel in the post? All the best Ben

Great progress! A quick thought - the panzer iv f2 was produced before dunkelgelb was introduced (in Feb 1943), so it would be either panzer grey or afrika korps tan. If you fancy the afrika korps let me know and I'll sort some paint matches for you. All the best Ben

Feeling a bit left out with all the excellent progress that's being made by @BIG X, @Hewy and @Churchill so thought I'd better show what I managed to do last night. Tools have started to be painted - couple of bits left to do and the spare tracks on the front have been painted ready for washing and weathering. The base has also been primered, ready for some attention with the airbrush More later All the best Ben

Great work - I really like this kit (have about a dozen of them in various forms), and you're definitely doing it justice. Great idea for the frontal mg. All the best Ben

Looking really good and very excited about seeing the whitewash and snow go on. All the best Ben

Looking great! Like the exhaust technique - will be trying that on mine I think All the best Ben

They're nice kits. Perhaps not quite as nice as the Dragon ones but cheaper and obtainable. I've got a couple and they build up nicely. Great to see this one join the panzer parade - for a quickbuild kit it didn't look too bad. The hull top was quite well detailed to my eyes. All the best Ben

Excellent job mate - look very nice indeed and the extra bits and pieces have really lifted the kits nicely!! Sterling work! All the best Ben

No progress on the base tonight as it was still drying out and a bit too smelly to work on. Instead I matt varnished the tyres to remove the shine and started the detail painting on the panzer. I've base coloured in the wooden sections of the tools ready for the steel work and some wear and tear. Next I added some chipping to.the damaged sections of zimmerit using a light sand colour as zimmerit had an ochre pigment added to it so therefore any chipping would show up as a sand colour, not red primer or dark grey! This will be toned down a little with a wash once dry. The big news of the night was fitting the rest of the turret schurtzen. This was rather delicate and more than a bit fiddly but I'm quite pleased with the result. There's a couple of paint touch ups to do, but nothing major. Have just noticed I've bent the sight on the mg - oops! All the best Ben

Cheers Stix - have managed to pop out tonight when I got home and primered the base so there might be a bit of progress on it tonight now. All the best Ben