January Meeting Cancellation

 

 

The meeting tomorrow night, January 10, is cancelled due to expected inclement weather. 

See everyone next month.

Tiger I by David Blankenship

 This is Tamiya's original boxing of a 1/35th Tiger 1 I purchased in 1975 for $3.74 as a close-out at KMart (yes, they used to carry the latest models.)  Shortly after I bought it,  I assembled and painted the kit with Tamiya (?)  dunkelgelb and weathered it with a bit of dry brushing.  The model sat on the shelf where it somehow managed to survive for the past 49 years.  Modeling techniques, and my skill level, have improved a lot in the intervening 5 decades so I decided to pull it off the shelf, clean the 1/32nd of an inch of dust off it and see what I could do to bring it closer to today's standards.

I started by removing a section of side shirts, denting the rest, and adding some battle damage to the exhaust covers.  This was followed by airbrushing a red-brown and dark green camo scheme and covering that with the "ambush scheme" of dots.   Finally, a cable from the spares box was added to the left side of the hull to replace the molded cable that was sanded off. That was about it for the modifications to the kit. 

                                       

It then received the standard treatment of airbrushed enamel filters, oil pin washes, pigments for mud build-up, and diluted Tamiya Buff for weathering.

The vinyl tracks were glued to the tops of the road wheels to give them a little sag and were weathered with pigments.

All-in-all, it was a relaxing bit of modeling and a welcome break from the, what seems like , one-thousand-piece Takom Panther A with full interior kit I started months ago.

Marder II by Chan Jackson

 This Tamiya Marder II was a shelf queen Chan pulled off the shelf and finished, painting it with Floquil and Tamiya paints. The weathering was done with Mig, VMS, and AK mud.  

The base was finished with AK trees, bushes, and static grass.

The figures are a Stalingrad set. Chan has worked with a lot of Stalingrad figures and finds they can be rather "hit and miss" in quality. This set was pretty decent.

LVT-2 Water Buffalo by Terry Mckeown

 Here is another nicely done LVT by Terry. This one is the 1/35th Italeri LVT-2 Water Buffalo.  Additions he made to the base kit include gun shields and 50 cal. guns from AFV Club.

Panzerjaeger IV by Chan Jackson IV

 Chan built the 1/35th Dragon (ex-Gunze) Panzerjaeger IV A-0 and covered it with Atak Zimmerit and painted it with Tamiya acrylics.  He doesn't recall who produced the base but used AK landscaping products to finish it.

The motorcycle is Tamiya's DKW and figures outside the PzJg IV are Tamiya and Dragon while those in the vehicle are from Alpine.

LVT A-1 by Chan Jackson

 Chan finished Italeri's 1/35th scale LVT "Alligator" with Tamiya and AK paints and AK and Scale 75 "soil works" enamels.

The figures are Scale 75 and VLS with Hornet heads. The palm tree is from a Vietnamese company imported to the US by a Columbus, Ohio dealer who is, unfortunately, no longer able to procure them.

Sd.Kfz. 3 Maultier Ambulance by Dave Blankenship

 I finished Dragon's 1/35th scale Sd.Kfz. 3 Maultier Ambulance with Ammo by MIG acrylics, weathered it with oil filters and pin washes, and powdered pigments. The interior was dressed up a bit with parts from the spares box and a floor surface done with oil paints. 

All-in-all, and enjoyable build and another kit to add to my growing collection of WW II German medical evacuation vehicles.