Panzerwomble

So that's it for today , coat of primer tommorrow and see where we are . I need to find a nice 50 cal in the box of useful stuff , a bunch of ammo boxes and jerry cans , and make some hood sticks ....and decide on a cammo scheme, as they served for 1942 to 1945 a could sport a number of options . Laters PW

Passenger seats getting similar treatment . Plastic part is very thick , so off with the backs replace with brass sheet ,and make some new seat cushions with milliput . Problem with a lot of kits if this age is that all the seats are all identical mouldings , drawing attention to them . Initial start - these will go in later post initial paint

Rear bumper was very ....plastic , replaced it with some brass sheet moulded over the existing plastic part , some grab handles from fuse wire .

One of my pet hates with US vehicles the the light guards , they always look way overscale . Not much I can other than cut out the grill and replace it with something more in scale , looks a bit numb but will be less obvious with some paint UK spec single headlight in as well .

General fit of everything is ok ..ish , but this is really showing it's age. Skate rail took some cleaning up ...apparently the Brits left them in place .

A good evening ..... I was wrong about hte ejector pin marks , all over some areas hard to hide, some sanding and filling needed, also filled some of the holes in the floor as I don't think all the seats will be going in ..

Really beautiful work on this paint , the finish and precision is quite exquisite .

In Blighty ......"Them" ...........wear odd camouflage and have black stripes across their eyes in photos .....& don't mention boathouses , it doesn't generally solicit a smile .

Don't go far .............this will be done by Sunday I reckon ..... It needs to be as I have a nice Scammell Pioneer sat on the shelf staring at me .

Thats looking cracking ....and a good tip on the wing to pass on , Also ..... I see what you did there .............sneaking in a pic of a two seater Hunter .....

Ah the Erks have been busy again .

very ......cheeeeeep ...... For some reason ( maybe because I thought of it as an Airfix release ) I had it in my head this was actually 1/32.......but later Airfix boxed it claiming 1/35 to fall in line with everyone else in the 1970's ...... This is completely fallacious , as I have a battered Tamiya M3 to compare it to, and surprise they are both the same scale / size...it was all in my head for 40 years ...... another childhood nonsense crashed..............now .....where did the Easter Bunny go again ?

Back again, more wheeled 1/35 stuff. M3A1 White Scout Car This is total nostalgia build for me. Back in 1978/9 I received this as the Airfix “new” boxing for Xmas. It wasn’t the first 1/35 I’d tackled (Tamiya’s early/awful Leopard 1 predated it), but it was one of the most complex kits I’d been given to date. This was back in the days of building with tube cement (no CA allowed) and brush painting everything with Airfix enamels. I seem to recall the Airfix boxing came with a crew of sorts as well, and could be done as several US or UK/ Kiwi versions. No pics of it exist, I recall being happy with the results, and it sat on the shelf for a number of years, being rolled into my obsession with recreating the Battle of the Bulge in 1/35 scale. So 40 years on, and those old moulds have been passed around from Peerless, to Airfix to Italeri, to Revell and finally the Ukrainian Zvezda. Until Hobby boss released theirs’s in 2010 it was pretty much the only show in town which is odd, given its popularity and plenty of survivors to copy. [ Correction Tamiya also released on in 2018 ] I guess it’s not in World of #anks, so endless paper “uberGerman Tier 500” designs needed tooling ahead of it. Bit like its half tracked M3/5 counterpart, very old Tamiya offering or Dragon and not a lot in between, another ubiquitous vehicle being ignored ….unlike the good old Hanomag …300 variants all catered for... OK my witch and binge over. So for my £16.25 this is what came in the box. Three sprues looking very dated now, dubious detailing, over scale armour & flashing, although the ejector pins seem to be not too bad. Brief instructions in Russian, no dramas this is a simple kit but today’s standards Some decals which are probably bin fodder / for a Russian vehicle, that’s not happening. I’m a little undecided where to take this, it needs a little more research. Not interested in the Russian vehicle, US is OK, but will be nothing out of the ordinary, quite fancy the idea of making this more a UK spec vehicle . We used them, mainly only for liaison, as we preferred Dingos and Daimlers for reconnaissance. Research suggests we replaced the headlights, often removed the MG skate rail and the ditching roller/ winch and used them as radio trucks / small unit command cars. The few pics I’ve been able to find support this. I am indebted to this website https://m3a1.co.uk/ , a restorer in the UK for the info available So on with the show and off to do some glue sniffing … British example outside a Danish Undertakers ( Mobler Ligkister - "coffin furniture ") presumably post May 45

And another one done. I enjoyed building this one. Mostly out of box with some amends. Replaced the “nose peak” with brass, the windows with styrene sheet more of a scale thickness, added a few bits and bobs. Happy with the worn out and oil stained deck, the general beaten up appearance of truck in constant use from D-Day ( 50th ID landed at Gold went on through France , Belgium, Netherlands before being stood down in December 44) . Revell’s paint plan is obviously based on post war restorations ( red painted wheel nuts et all ) , which are at odds with wartime pics, so ignored most of it, and gone with what I can see from period pics / what I know from restoring real MVs . I’ll be back with the next one, not sure if it will be the aged Zvezda White Scout Car (of Peerless max moulds), or IBG’s very nice Scammel Pioneer Cheers Guy @MARU5137 I lived in and around Leeds for about 20 years , moved back South about 12 years ago ,

The footage of all the Tomcats getting trashed by digger was very sad . I understand a lot of vets were upset that more didn't find their way to museums . The UK did ok with Lightnings, less so with Phantoms in the much same vein for the same politcal reasons .

Hate to state the obvious , but I find with problem ( or all ) decals using lukewarm/ hot water seems to cheer them up a lot . The quality even within the same manufacturer seems to be very variable these days - more than I remember in the past +one on the whisky or maybe it's better Labatt's !

Ron Swanson......there should be a monument to him in every town ...park

More progress. Building up the cab and hiding all that engine detail . Fit here was a little tricky as the mudguard part had some bad warpage. Warpage has been noted on other builder’s logs as well, in that case the doors. It’s all fixable, but also avoidable. Revell take note The plastic is best described as soft and malleable, which brings with it it’s owns pro’s and cons . The angled fit on the cab sides was well done , so it’s not all bad news Some further research on bridging plates reveals that they were a factory option from 1943 onwards for overseas vehicles ( although plenty of pics of them in the UK as well of course ), bit not universally accepted until after the war. The methodology of assessing their weight changed a bit over the war as well. So some pics of it’s own little cockpit ... So we are heading the home straight now. Complete the cab, final paint ( probably going for “mickey mouse ears” cammo as it is more interesting than just Olive Drab IMHO ) , the odd decal and some weathering . Cheers

That all looks very precise and neat to me . I like the idea with the landing gear legs , I would not have anywhere near enough patience to try that .

...and also add two 1/32 Sopwith Camels abandoned with a lack of will to complete.

The surface details on the Hurricane seems to be standing up well to the paint / repaint ,it looks all well defined still. Hitting a brick wall on a particular subject is familiar to me . I've launched two 1/48 Sea Harriers - both the abysmal Airfix kits I honestly could not find the will to do anymore than give up . Same with Rodens 1/48 Gladiator , two attempts both ending with them being binned in frustration as not fit to continue, despite them being a decent kit . I think sometime just loose the mojo with a subject , or in my own case aircraft altogether for several years . Sounds like your suffering from "Spitfire block" ...the old adage of if you are not enjoying it , move on perhaps ? The Mustang might be more engaging . Failing all that a nice bottle of wine !

Achtung , the Red Baron approaches !

You are paint stripping again your perserverance is impressive & it mus be costing you a bomb in paint At this stage I'd be tempted myself to throw matt black car rattle can at it and declare it a nightfighter !!!

Dale - who are "they" and why are "they" so mean ?? Every week we come here and suplicate for oodels of new 1/32 aircraft , and all we get is re runs of aircraft that have been covered many times before , it's worse than daytime TV . You need to have a word with "them" ...

Hey Richard - Hands off Blackburn , they are my comedy territory ....I've years of thread drifting material . Since you bring it up though, from the Womble's files comes this pic showing another Kangeroo drinking at a waterhole after a long leap .