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Finally finished the second part of my large diorama Liebe Deinen Nacthsten/Love thy neighbour and now hopefully Part one will make more sense. 20 figures, tamiya m8 greyhound, m10 wolverine, willys jeep. Its scratch built building and base and its all brush painted. I used the mini art garage set and beer bottles crates, the czech hedgehog is from Tamiya and barb wire from yan models, the rest I made. The figures are tamiya, mini art with hornets heads, bravo six and royal models. I adapted the some of the figures, the jeep driver had his arm remoulded to be the machine gunner on watch outside the gasthoff, the M10 gun loader is the m8 beer loader! The m10 gunner is now the jeep mechanic. I added a walking stick and bag to the civilian. Took a year on and off for both parts to complete. All feedback welcome. I added the camo net, made from a hair net and treated moss I made the sandbags from milliput and the rickety stowage holder from styrene. The guy with dark hair and his back turned is cheating at cards, note the cards tucked under his elbow! The back: A few pics of how part one fits in with part two: These guys have started realise that their neighbours might not just be so friendly as they hear the Glen Miller being played from nextdoor. I made it so that the two parts of the broken church steeple fit together once both boards are lined up: The link to part one is below: Sorry its bit photo heavy and the quality of my pics aren't great as I really need to upgrade my camera at some stage. All the best for now, Paul

Recently a relative gifted me an Airfix 1/35 M10 tank destroyer. Since I am home on acation now, I decided to get right into it. Photos to follow. Any ideas??

M10 GMC Tank Destroyer (A1360) 1:35 Airfix The M10 Tank Destroyer was produced due to a US Army requirement for a Tank Destroyer force after their entry to WWII in 1941. They needed a suitable tracked vehicle with a fully rotating turret. The prototype was delivered in early 1942 and after a few tweaks production was authorised in June 1942. The official name would be the 3 Inch Gun Motor Carriage M10 due to its 3 inch or 76.2mm M7 Gun. This was placed in an open turret on a modified M4A2 Sherman tank chassis. An alternative M10A would use the M4A3 chassis. The M10 combined thin sloped armour with the reliability of the Sherman design to produce a reasonably good tank killing platform. Despite later and better Tank Destroyers becoming available to deal with the more potent Tiger & Panther tanks the M10 in its larger numbers would continue to serve until the end of WWII. Even though it as a good platform the design had its weaknesses. Though the armour was sloped it was still thin, the turret was open and thus exposed crews to shell and mortar fire, as well as small arms fire. While the turret could traverse 360 degrees the traverse was by hand and thus slow. As well as service with the US Army units were supplied to the UK, Free French & Soviet forces under lease lend, Following WWI the US Would supply them to many countries under the Mutual Defence Assistance Act. The M10 was never assigned a name unlike other tanks/tank destroyers. The Kit This is one of Airfix's new range of 1:35 AFV models, which is a scale that they have not entered until now due to previous management apparently? the current management are much more switched-on to the hobby, so have reached an agreement to rebox some Academy AFV kits with the Airfix touch, and we should eventually see new tools from them in due course with a little luck. Construction starts with the wheels. The drive sprockets and idler wheels are built up then 12 wheels are made which are for the pairs in Sherman type bogies. Both solid and spoked wheels are provided (Early & late type) for this with no guidance on which ones to use? The bogie units are then built up 3 for each side. Again for these units two types of top for these are included in the kit, with again no indication of which needs to be used! Next up we move to the main hull. The mounting points for the front and rear axles are added to the lower hull. Next up all the wheels can be added in. work can now be done on the nearly full interior (minus the engine compartment. Onto the lower plate the front bulkhead is mounted and then the transmission housing. The drivers position and controls are added as is a second crew position on the right. This lower plate is then fitted into the hull, and the front of the vehicle added complete with its towing hooks and shackles. For the main interior fighting compartments a raised floor is then added complete with the rear bulkhead. many internal fittings such as ammo storage are added inside. The rear of the vehicle is then built up. This now completes the lower hull. Construction now moves to the upper hull. The crew hatches for the front are made up and added, these can be open or closed. The engine deck is added as is the front armour. Headlights, their guards, grab handles and other assorted fittings are then added to the outside, with tools being added to the rear. The upper and lower hulls can then be joined and the flexible track added. We now move to the turret. As this is open again a complete interior is provided. First the back end of the gun, its breech and recoil mechanism is built up and added into the lower turret section. Crew seating and controls are added along with ready use ammo. To the top of the turret stowage bins and exterior fittings are added. The two sections of the turret can then be joined. The gun mantlet and barrel can then be added. The last thing to do is add the machine guns to the turret. A 30 cal is provided for the front and a 50 cal for the rear. The turret can then be added to the hull. Markings There are two decal options in the box utilising the small decal sheet, and from the box you can build one of the following: 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion, US Third Army, France 1944 4e Escadron, Regiment Blinde de Fusillers-Marins, St Denis, France, August 1944. Conclusion The M10 is a well known Tank Destroyer from WWII, and the Academy kit under Airfix's auspices is a good compromise between ease of construction and detail. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all, So first proper post in ready for inspection so feeling a bit nervous actually. Since getting back into modelling I have been working through the available kits at Hobbycraft and was delighted to find the M10 in stock on my last visit (I don't go alone, Mrs Yetifan is a big time cake decorator hence how this all started). So my builds so far have been working through the available Tamiya kits they stock. All my builds so far have been entirely out of the box (OOB) and I have been using materials that have been available in Hobbycraft. So Tamiya paints and Tamiya Weathering Powders, Rowney oil paints, X20 thinners, tap water, a bit of Revell Plasto filler, cocktail sticks, bluetak and a bit of PVA. This is the first time I've used the Humbrol rattle can Matt Varnish and I'm much happier with it than the Tamiya Matt Clear. So I haven't got into using any of the myriad products some of you experts use but I will start to look into some of them for the next build. Especially some of the mud effect products that I really want to try and would suit this model perfectly. I painted the model using a soft wide brush with Tamiya Olive Drab watered down with warm tap water and it took 4 coats in total. I paint as I go so usually apply 1 or 2 coats before assembly and then the final 2 coats once the main build is complete. I think it works well and leaves a nice smooth finish. I do have an airbrush but find that i'm not happy with the finish, it is usually too Matt if that makes sense and I find the brush method leaves the paint smoother (probably my skills not the airbrush). Decals applied over gloss varnish and then sprayed with Humbrol Matt Varnish. Weathering is all oil paints and powders done in layers with the darkest powder first ending with the lightest. Overall a really fun build, having the interior adds something to this kit and makes it a bit more interesting than the Easy 8. I have tried doing some chipping but only in a small way with a small piece of old washing up sponge. I think I will practice more on one of my previous builds. I had a go at the figures and they came out ok(ish) but I still seem to fail when it comes to painting the faces. I'm getting the hang of flickr now so will start to photograph and upload some of my other completed builds. Thanks for looking.