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Hello people There are my two 1:35 models which I painted in the so-called meantime so please don't expect too much precision or details ZIS-3 is from Italeri 6499 kit and the GAZ-AA is a Zvezda 3602 kit. I made it as a movable model, as per tradition. There are no additional parts, just OOB. I don't expect much praise Models finished in 2021/2022 - "Sturmgeschutz III ausf G (1:35 vintage Tamiya)", "Matilda MK II (1:35 vintage Tamiya)" I invite you to see the rest of works on my site "about me"

I bought this a little while ago and messed up the turret by melting it with acetone to clean the paint off, oh dear. So destroyed Leopard it is then, many many planned shell holes, explosions points, fires, internal explosions, bullet holes and marks, melting and target range mayhem. I have added some additional armour to the front that I've seen in some photos and will need to get the melted turret into some form of presentable as it's absolutely mangled by melting, that and having to mantle my pristine hull and scratch built chequer amour to the front top plate.

It was the local model expo last week, and I managed some interesting kits at the swap’n’sell. Varying degrees of complexity. None of them a quick build! I also picked this up for a paltry A$5. This very definitely has potential for a quick build, mostly to practice my painting and weathering. I’m going to complete it straight out of the box as a carrier from 1 Armoured Division in North Africa. Started work on Friday. It comes moulded in very dark green hard plastic, but other than some injector marks is pretty clean if flash. Not bad for a kit first released in the mid-70s. I realise early on that it was going to be easier to paint as I go. I used Tamiya acrylic NATO Brown as a primer, and used Vallejo Model Air British Light Stone as the main colour. I was moving along quickly without thinking to take photos, so here is where I am this evening. A quick dry fit: And that’s it for now.

Built pretty much from the box, swapped the top .30 turret for a Sherman split hatch cuppola and left-off the tool boxes from rear. Paints are all Tamiya acrylics mixed by eye to 'try' and make the SCC13 Jungle Green. I've no idea what colour the earth is in Mandalay Burma, so mixed up some Mig Farm Soil & Vietnam Earth pigments and hoped for the best... Decals are by Star (35-C-1120) for a vehicle of the 3rd Carabiniers, 245th Indian Tank Brigade in Spring '45. Please feel free to make any comments or suggestions. All the best from New Zealand. Ian.

Picked the old Tamiya Universal Carrier up for A$5 at the recent local model expo. Perfect as a quick build to work on my painting and weathering. Brush painted with Vallejo and Tamiya Acrylics and finished with 1 Armoured Division markings straight out of the box. A little extra stowage added from the spares box. Figures donated by a Miniart Valentine kit. Build log can be found here: Off overseas for a little vacation for next couple of weeks, so hope everyone keeps safe and I’ll catch up when I get back. Looks good with my Border Models Crusader Mk II that I made at Christmas time. and finally one in black and white.

dear all inspectors! to your attention is another my build. It is a tank Pz I Ausf.A from 10th PzD, back in 1940 somewhere in France. This is Takom kit #2145, a great kit that allows us to build two Pz I out of one box, both Ausf. A and Ausf. B. Accuracy and fit of parts are very good. Gives you 8 painting options. I have chosen to build Ausf. A in version #3 which contains some field modifications, like - armored air intake and exhaust; smoke grenades. Enjoy it! At the finish of assembling: Main colors applied: Panzer grey by Tamiya XF63 + few drops of XF1 and even a drop of blue XF8. The camo brown by XF64+XF1. By the way in the painting instruction is misleading information. The panzer Dark grey (Dunkelgrau) is named as Olivgrun!!! Dont paint in Olivegreen 🙂 And here it is:

The Kit Still haven’t decided which scheme but one of the above. Some small modifications required, most notably the skirts and possibly the mantlet. The obligatory sprue shot This should be a quick build with he bulk of the construction completed by the weekend.

Hi All. Pictures below of my Panzer I - my third build ever. The build log was also posted previously, including the interior stages. The build is pretty much OOB and all brush painted. Base colours in acrylics and weathering in oils with pigments over the top. With hindsight the pigments don't give the impact I wanted but its good information for next time. The Hobbyboss model is incredibly fiddly with some really tiny parts, many of which are invisible after the build anyway. It was mostly a fun build challenge apart from the link tracks maybe. It was interesting adding the interior even though its mostly difficult to see even with the hatches open. Enjoy the pics and let me have any useful feedback. Thanks!

Greetings! After a disappointing Panzer II (build No 1 - EVER) followed by a so-so Panzer IV (build No 2), I've now started Build Number Three. Yep, third build ever. So, being a masochist I thought I'd leave those oh-so crisp Tamiyas behind and try a HobbyBoss Panzer I. I like a challenge. So, box open and found many, many parts. Some so small I can't actually see them. And every track link is separate. Joy! Moulding is REALLY detailed but not quite as sharp as Tamiya perhaps. So started building out of sequence with the destructions just for a larf. Kit has full interior so I thought I'd have some fun with it to try some techniques out. Shame it will be 90% covered up when the full Panzer is built but then, if it all goes pair-shaped, it will not be too embarrassing. So, onwards. Built up the hull interior first just to see what it is like. The parts are small and fit tolerance is mighty tight. Quite. Many parts cover over others which all seems a bit pointless but what the hell. Interior built with gearbox and basic engine lump. So it was time to have fun with HAIRSPRAY. So I borrowed some from the ladies of the house to spray over a base dunkelgrau colour then plenty of loverly ivory (criemweiss) over the top - but with green for the gearbox. Not sure if its completely correct but then we can argue the toss over a beer and we'll all be drunk before we agree what is actually right. Then on to chipping. It worked! Woohoo. High fives all round. Interior finished off with a bit of pigment for added filth. Cool. Just love that hairspray. Could always be better but it you never forget your first time....... And its a Panzer I so its smaller than a gnats navel. Oh, and I wont mention the missing flag rack if you don't. Test fit of the gearbox and engine. They just fit. And I mean just. There is so much detail. I know its there cos its in the pics but it will soon be covered up. Engine bay finished and side parts on. They will be finished off when the upper hull interior is done. Time to make tracks. Pun very much intended. I quickly made up the wheels, added a base dunkelgrau and fitted them with blutac. Already I can see the wheels are not quite square but that probably can be fixed/wont be noticeable anyway. I measured the flat run between the wheels for the first track parts. Before you can say Robert's your Aunties live-in lover its there! Sweet. (BTW, the wood is to ensure alignment and press the links down.) That's as far as I've got. Will probably finish the complete track on the left hand side to see how it goes. Or doesn't. Or have a beer. Or both.

Kit - Tamiya Paint - All acrylics. Decals - Kit Extras - Stowage from spares & scratch built. Achilles IIc GMC 11th Armoured Div. Dutch / German Border October 1944 Exactly a month after starting this 'side build', it's done. I think it says a LOT about the state of engineering in contemporary kits, ease and quality of construction which is IMHO incredible. So this drops together like so many Tamiya kits, of special note are the four figures which are beautifully posed and will definitely be added at a later date. The new generic .50 cal that Tamiya are adding to their Allied armour kits is very nice too, with proper 'chunky' ammo cans and nicely reproduced ammo belt. Colours are home-brewed using Tamiya acrylics, a lot of luck and a little alchemy - my not be 100% 'spot-on' but I really like what I've got - mixed-up far more SCC15 than I needed because I'm hoping to buy/build a Churchill later this year, and that thing will need about twice the paint of the Achilles !. Decals are from the box as is about 50% of the stowage, the rest is scratch built and from the spares box. Please feel free to make any comments, ask any questions or post any criticism. Very best from New Zealand, next (hopefully) I'll finish the F/A-18 project... after that... who knows. Ian.

Here then is my contribution. I'm often of two minds about building "classic" armor kits. While on the one hand, I appreciate their simplicity in contrast to the complexity of modern toolings; the rivet-counter in me gets a little itchy when I see sometimes obvious details missing or simplified. But not all classic kits are created equal, and this little Tamiya gem has aged fairly well. The kit is from 1974, which makes it four years older than me. Unlike me, it still looks pretty trim after all these years. Sure some details are a bit soft, but I'll see about replacing/updating the ones that matter, and living with/hiding the ones which do not. One such hide-able part will be the bottom. I don't really get the point of a well detailed bottom, particularly if the model will be mounted on a base. What Tamiya gave us here is more than sufficient, in my opinion. Doubly so, considering it consists of just six pieces! A few more bits still need to be added. But it's getting late, so another time.

Moving on to my next project, a break from tracked vehicles. The Airfix K2/Y just popped up in my local hobby shop, so I grabbed one. They also had the Gecko kit, but after a few challenging builds I fancy a bit of break! I won’t waste space with a bunch of sprue shots, as that has been covered well elsewhere. I have decided to have a go at the Caunter scheme, hopefully a bit more straight forward than the Stuart I did last year. I have the paints in stock, Vallejo ModelAir for the Portland Stone and my attempts at the Starmer mixes in Tamiya acrylics. I had a look at the instructions for the Gecko kit on Scalemates (one of the reasons I decided on the Airfix kit - too much photoetch for me!), and noted that the colour callout suggests middle stone for inside of the rear cabin, rather than cream or white. This would align with a rather nice article I found concerning a restoration of a K2/Y here in Perth WA (see https://www.keymilitary.com/article/helping-hands). I have some Italeri Acryl middle stone, which I think will do. Perhaps not strictly accurate, but anything that avoids me having to brush paint a really pale colour…

First, this is only the second kit I've ever built and painted. The first was a Tamiya Panzer II and painted in dunkelgrau and dry brushed and it wasn't great. So I watched a few YouTube vids, bought some more paints and set about this basic Panzer IV as an OOB build as a typical Ausf D from France 1940. Not sure the Tamiya decals are right for that though but still. The kit was assembled in subsections and all brush painted as I don't own an airbrush. First thing learnt is that my sight is just not good enough for detail as the photos have shown all sorts of mistakes I never saw. So I shall have to invest in something to remedy that. First step was a wash of Vallejo grey primer followed by thin washes of lightened Revell anthracite. I did a couple of further very pale grey washes to upper surfaces but I don't think that actually helped much. Tried chipping with pale grey then dark grey infill but it looks pretty lame to be honest. Exhaust silencers were washed and dabbed with rusty brown shades. Decals on and the wheels, tools etc painted off the kit. Then a quick spray (rattle can!) of Humbrol satin varnish. Next was a thin mix of dirty brown oil colours for a pin wash. Maybe its me but that just didn't show much after all the later stuff, so perhaps it was too thin. After that was an (oil) dot filter of blue/green and light buff which just seemed to result in awful turquoise streaks. This took forever to dry. So, a further dot filter of brown/black and darker buff oil paint. Even when painted out its still left steaks which seem more zebra that dirt stains. Ah well. After 10 years (ok 5 days) that was dry so the kit got a Humbrol matt varnish spray and the tools and other bits were added. The S hooks repeatedly fell off and that is why they now look odd. Undercarriage areas had a application of Vallejo European Mud which, with hindsight, is much too thick. Then I had some fun with Vallejo pigments brushed on dry and set with thinners. The burnt umber worked great but the pale dust just seemed to disappear once the thinners was dabbed on. There was swearing. Rubbery tracks were treated with various grey and brown washes none of which seemed to improve them much but the final drybrush of acrylic matt steel helped. So there you go. My second kit. Ever. With a brush. I've learnt lots and realised it will take a while to improve the techniques. And I need a better way of seeing what I'm doing. And its really true that less is more. I haven't got as far as painting any crew members yet but I'll need more colours (and some practice) first. Anyhoo, feel free to suggest some areas for improvement or tell me I should take up knitting instead. I've got a Panzer I lined up next and that will be in Panzer grey too so I'd be interested to know if there is a better way to age & weather grey than what I attempted.

Warsaw, 17th of August 1944. The Warsaw uprisings are in full swing. In order to help suppress the revolt, the German army sends one of the 60mm mortars "Karl Gerät" named Ziu by rail. After a long journey, it has finally arrived and prepares to drive to the front. Transporting such a large weapon is a big logistic operation! Is is a small wonder therefore that, while Ziu is already en route, the train that brought it here is still being unloaded. All this under the ever watchfull eye of a camera from a Propaganda Kompagnie, ever ready to show the actions of the German Army in the cinemas. Finishing this dio took me 2,5 years, with many delays and detours in order to finish other projects. But finally it is finished. A good observer will notice all kinds of small scenes telling their own little stories, together painting the big picture. There are 11 vehicles, more than 20 figures and numerous accessoiries on the dio. Enjoy watching!

Hello folks I had the last time very little time for the hobby, but in small steps it goes back to the workbench. Unfortunately I could not finish the Halftruck GB, so here in the WIP for all interested at first a small summary of the work on the M3 so far. My idea to convert it into an ambulance has given me a bigger task and as so often the work took no end. If you decide for an OOB build, the kit makes no problems, but if PE parts are used (eg Voyager), a lot of surgery is required. Once again, I find that a halftruck is much more work than a tank or truck. Here you have a mixture of both, which increases the amount of detail. If you then want to show the interior and engine, it does not get easier. As far as the painting is concerned, you have to see exactly when, where and how you paint or glue together. Otherwise you will have more work later. I hope you like the model so far. MD The object of desire 😁 Ready to go! The engine is not well detailed and important parts are missing. Wheels can not be shown turned in, I have changed that. Cast on springs... ...better 😁 Work for the saw... The PE parts were not usable, so I use the kit parts. The fighting room must be rebuilt. Seats out, stretchers in. The new base. Since the ambulances were troop conversions, there are very few pictures of the interior-plus each vehicle varies in its design. Checker plates for the floor. The previously removed seats are reused. The new interior with seats, boxes and supports for 3 stretchers. The next step is the engine. A distributor is needed... Generator, starter, fuel pump, ignition coil, etc. are rebuilt. The splashboard of the engine compartment is not correct. done To simplify the subsequent painting, I have changed the model and created individual assemblies. To do this, you have to work very carefully and check everything again and again by test fits. The cooler also fits 😅 Some parts had to be rebuilt to reproduce the engine halfway reasonably There is also an alternative engine kit from Plus Models, but I preferred to rely on my references and also saved money. Everything fits together well and can also be disassembled again. The shifters were rebuilt with wire-the geometry from the kit was not correct. The fins of the radiator armor was newly created from plastic card. New, more stable axles were installed. Missing strengthening ribs and holes were added. New tailgate latch, taillights drilled out and reinserted, and a storage rack for luggage. Trial fit of the engine hood. The engine gets its base color. And again a trial fit, lamps are also installed. The complete engine is painted and weathered. The painting would otherwise not be possible later without the removable front. The result after 40 hours of work... My template for comparison See you!

Here is my Tamiya M51 built as a tank from the Six Day War (June 1967). Ariel Sharon, who would go on to become PM of Israel from 2001 to 2006, commanded an armored division from the turret of this tank, during the Battle of Abu Ageila in the Sainai. The Tamiya kit is very good, but has a few shortcomings. My main issue swith recent Tamiya Shermans are the seam line along the edge of the rubber track, the grab handles molded as tabs of plastic, and the the manufacturer's insistence that a sherman could be driven on instruments. They give you commander figures yelling orders into a radio, but then all vision periscopes, including the driver's, are closed. Modeling an open periscope requires only minor surgery, so I did that. But if you want open hatches with periscopes in them, you'll need to hit up your spares or the aftermarket. I also added some resin boxes from Value Gear, to the rear rack. The securing cable is this very fine rubber tubing I got lord knows when where or how. I had this tank sitting in the almost finished pile for well over a year. I didn't really know how I wanted to weather it. After painting (Tamiya mixed colors), I applied some dark brown and dark greenish brown washes in something of a hybrid between a pinwash and a general wash. Perhaps a very sloppy pin wash. As the washes began to dry, I moved them around, dragging, streaking, and redepositing with brushed dipped in mineral spirits. This was followed with a very subtle drybrushing with Vallejo buff and deck tan. I then applied a slurry of light earthen colored pigments suspended in a solution of water and white glue, to the undercarriage, and once dry, scrubbed most of it off with an old toothbrush. A few scratches were added with taps and quick swishes of a piece of stretched sprue dipped in thin black/brown paint. That's it. Not my best armor model, but pretty good, considering I went from paint to finished in three nights. I was going to just paint the tyres as a break from my Hayate build. But then I just built up momentum, and here we are! The tarp is tissue painted with Vallejo thinned in water mixed with white glue. Same with the camouflage netting, but that began as medical gauze I probably could have scraped off a bit more of my pigment paste closeup of one of my simple periscopes. Just a wedge of plastic covered by a little flat square to represent the lid. A tiny bit of stretched sprue in back, simulates the hinge. Not thrilled with my mantlet canvas cover painting. I'm still working on fabric effects

Hi! I'm starting a new build of Takom's fantastic Panther kit. It has a full interior included and very thorough detailwise. I have an ABER set to it, which has all the goodies including aluminum barrel, brass MG barrels, antennas etc. There's also MasterClub tracks, Eduard Panther interior set, Tamiya brass shells and Aber shackles. Some of the aftermarket aren't really necessary, but on the other hand, why the hell not. The details are very crisp and so far the kit goes together really nice. Nothing much has done yet. I'm at the point to get the first paint on it to get the lower hull sides and bottom together. Sorry about the crappy images. We had a rare occasion of sunshine this time of year here and there's a lot of light and shadow on the photos. Cheers! Kristjan

OK, so here's my first upload effort. Was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this kit as my usual subjects are 1/72 modern or 1/48 WW2 aircraft. Currently unweathered (the kit, definitely not me!) I've ordered some oil paints and will make my first attempts when those arrive. I thought it was on the whole a good kit with most parts fitting well and no filling required. There is a lot of internal engine detail hidden beneath the hatches. In the end I couldn't fit all of it in, possibly due to my errors, so I permanently fixed the hatches shut. I also found that the turret wouldn't turn, obstructed by an internal bulkhead so carried out a little surgery to free it up. Again may be down to my errors. There appeared to be scope to maintain up and down movement in the wheels, though in the end it was necessary to glue things in place so that only one wheel pair now moves. The instructions weren't at all clear what was intended here. Enough whingeing, I'm quite happy with the result and will have a go at the Tamiya Chieftain in due course. Any thoughts welcome! Bigger images now inserted. Thanks to all for advice! Trevor

Some of you may have already noticed a Pz.IV hull lurking at background on the Matilda photos. Well, here it is. The kit is Tristar's Panzer IV Ausf.B. some of the things to add are the PE fenders and the basic set by Aber. I also have Modelkasten early 38cm tracks to use and an aluminum barrel is on its way as well. Assembling the hull is tricky to say the least. large thin details are somewhat warped and there are no exact location points to be guided of. I started slow gluing it together segment by segment, on a glass sheet under the gentle weight to ensure the hull to be as straight as possible. the rear wall was the least collaborate and needed some filling at the bottom edge. Hull assembled, the next thing to deal with was to correct the brackets that support the idler's tensioning system. Tristar has depicted these the later type beginning of Ausf.D. Ausf A/B/C had these different however. I didn't have any clear photo of the bracket though, so the rivets there are pretty much the way as Dragon has these on their early Pz.IV hull. Front tow eyelets were replaced by details left over from some Dragon kit - Seemed a bit more accurate to me and I had these on hand anyway. One of the things that bothers me about this kit is the loose fit of the wheels. Haven't touched the roadwheels yet, but both the sprocket and the Idler sit quite loosely, return rollers being the worst with a half mill larger diameter hole to fit in. Otherwise the kit seems to go together quite nicely so far. Cheers! Kristjan

Hello folks Before the GB starts I would like to introduce you to my model. A lot of small parts in a full package made a lot of work, but the real nightmare are the 3 PE sets. As always there is also a small vignette, this time it goes to Omaha Beach, a few days after D-Day. Looking forward to many nice models, see you! MD There are 3 variants with many details

Hi folks 🥳 Now that the M3/4 GB is finished, I would like to continue with my work here. As you can read in the title, it's about the M12 GMC from Academy, which I finished building after a lot of work, but I couldn't paint it in time. As usual, I had also planned a vignette, so I still have a long way to go. Some of you already know my model from the GB, for all those interested I would like to present a few pictures with the most important milestones of the project. In the coming months I will be painting figures, pouring water, creating decals and weathering the M12. I would be happy if you join me in this process. MD The figures were more expensive than the kit😁 The wall to the engine compartment was revised The bogies have been reworked to show the weight The drive housing has been improved The air filters were redesigned and printed The spade was also redesigned and printed The details of the bogies have been improved The gun socket was improved... also the fuel filler caps The complete rear section was rebuilt... and provided with missing rivets and weld seams Missing details of the gun were attached The drive for the height adjustment was added The trackguards were ground thinner The front trackguards were rebuilt Adding new details to the hatches The gun support revised and made movable The ammunition rack newly created Missing weld seams and holes added Casting markings applied The protective shield improved The drive wheels modified... for new AFV Club tracks (here you can see the weight distribution well) new seats The complete new winch is a model in itself The finished model with some accessories is ready for the last steps before painting When I look at the pictures again, I realise why I didn't finish them completely 😁 See you!

I was gifted this for my birthday late last year. A fabulous (mostly) trouble free build. Brush painted with Vallejo Model Air for the main scheme, weathered using various Vallejo Model Washes. Finished with the markings for “The Saint”, which I think is a tank from the 10th Royal Hussars, 1st Armoured Division in North Africa. Build thread can be found here: Now sorely tempted by the Mk III… While I was taking photos in the morning sun, an inquisitive bee came along to inspect my work. And finally one in black and white:

A kind friend in the USA bought me this old Academy kit. I won't build it quite 'OOB' - I'll definitely add the Eduard brass set - or part of it - and i need to move the crane, which is in the wrong place. I may also decide to use the 'late' bin-fit, rather than the early as on the picture here - but to begin with it doesn't make any difference to the build. So here we go. Out of order, of course - who needs instructions?

Hello, everybody! Starting with a new model(s)... well actually started with these a while ago, but due to a slow progress haven't yet published it here. The kit is ICM ANZAC Ford Model T 3in1 kit, of which I'm building two. I have a Microdesign PE sets for both of them, a GasPatch Models beautifully made Lewis gun set and one figure from D-Day Miniature Studio for now. There is a small diorama setting with those two vehicles and a few more figures in my mind. Here are all the goodies I have at hand. The mudguards and the frame are molded into one piece and have quite a few KO marks underneath that will not be visible really, but I filled these anyway. One thing I wanted to try is to make the front axle movable at least on one of the vehicles to make the setting more lively. It required some on-the-edge surgery, but turned out to be not as hard as one might expect, As both of the kits have double details for the axle and the steering parts it made it a lot easier to do. Underneath I added brake linkages and rods. Again - won't be much visible, but an the other hand, why not. To date I'm a bit more than on a halfway there with the engine compartment, that included some added wiring and replaced piping. Here is the thing with the details dry-fitted. And with another one that is disassembled. Cheers! Kristjan

Hello. I'm happy to present my newest project. It is the Scammell from Thunder Model with US Tractor D7 (dozer version) from Miniart. All in 1:35 scale. Cheers