IDF M-50 Sherman by Chan Jackson

 Chan finished the MP Model 1985 boxing of an Israeli M-50 Sherman as a vehicle given to the SLA Christian Militia  in the period they were allied during Lebanon's civil war from 1975 to 1990.

Chan was drawn to this vehicle because of its unusual blue paint scheme which he found a bit difficult to replicate.  All vehicles used by the SLA (they also used Tirans) appeared to be rough condition which afforded Chan the opportunity to get creative with his weathering. 

The building is balsa wood covered in putty and the road is cork covered with AK textured asphalt paste.

The figures are from VLS.

Valentine XI by Chan Jackson

 Chan's "Lendlease Valentine XI" is an easy kit bash of the Tamiya Valentine and the Maquette Valentine XI. The Tamiya kit is their typical excellent quality and includes link and length tracks. The older Maquette kit is a bit hit-or-miss with some nicely molded parts while others are on the crude side.

Since the Russians rarely repainted Lend Lease vehicles Chan opted to go with brown. The kit was painted with Tamiya's new "Red Brand" 2 paint which is an excellent match for British Brown. 

The base is a grass mat in the Ammo by Mig product line which Chan is not sure he likes but decided to use. The figures are Masterbox Soviet Marines, some of which have replacement heads. They were painted with Vallejo acrylics.

Crusader III by Stew Langenbeck

 Stew pulled out all the stops in super detailing the Tamiya Crusader III. Eduard, E.T. Models, Yang, & Airwaves P.E. sets and Friulmodel tracks were used to enhance Tamiya's already excellent kit. 

The Eduard and Airwaves sets provided additional detail to the interior turret walls and the portion of the hull surrounding the driver's head (vision ports and some gauges).  Stowage, the turret and driver's compartment were kit-bashed/scratch-built which included a Zvezda 6-pdr. breech block.

The white metal figure, which seems a bit oversized, is from Wee Friends. The tank was brush painted with a subdued mixture of British stone and desert yellow.

 

The shadow on base was created with Woodland Scenics fine dark brown ballast. Chalk pastel was also "shaved" into "shadow" ballast to adjust the color.
 

British Humber by Chan Jackson

 Chan painted the Hobby Boss Humber kit with Vallejo's "Bronze Green" modulation set and set it on a Tiger Works base.

The base was painted with Vallejo and Mig paints and weathered with AK and Mig washes and pigments.

The British tank crew figures are from MiniArt, the refugee kids are Sol, and the Santa is a Stalingrad offering.

 

Bren Gun Carrier by Terry McKeown

Terry's Tamiya Bren Gun Carrier was painted with Tamiya paints and weathered with oils.

Stowage was from the spares box, the tarps were fashioned from tissue paper, and an Academy 50 cal. machine gun was added.

The figures are the excellent "British Tank Crew in Winter Clothing" set from Miniart. All-in-all Terry found it a an easy one day build.

 

T-34/85 Bunker by Chan Jackson

 Chan painted Verlinden's bunker with AK 3rd Generation and Tamiya Buff and Deck Tan paints and added Tamiya's Gaz with the kit figures. The children playing on the tank are from a Stalingrad set he felt was unique.

Tamiya anti-tank obstacles were added to fill the open area in front of the bunker.  The groundwork is static grass from AK.

 Chan wasn't entirely happy with the results of the build feeling he should have used a tank with a longer gun barrel. Also, the base and diorama layout weren't quite right with the road being too narrow for most vehicles.

Marder III Ausf.H by Bernie Dietrich

 

This is Italeri's 1/72 Marder III Ausf. H which Bernie built around 2017. It was an easier build than his StuG IV but still featured plenty of detail.

The vehicle's base color is Vallejo German yellow sealed with Vallejo satin varnish. A coat of hairspray force dried with a hairdryer was added prior to covering the model in Vallejo light grey. After letting that dry Bernie used an old toothbrush and water to remove the light grey to show a worn winter camouflage. 

He used a small plastic case covered with modeling clay the terrain. The clay was smoothed out with water to get the ground to the correct shape. The rock in front of the Marder was made in a Woodland scenics rock mold with hydrocal plaster painted white.  He then placed Woodland scenic grass and bush on the clay and covered it all with Mig snow. Years later the clay detached from the plastic and shrank quite a bit.

Russian T-90 MBT Diorama by Chan Jackson

The Zvezda T-90 was well-reviewed and Chan found it an enjoyable build except for the weak instructions and the many sub-assembly steps required that made painting more difficult than it should have been. On a positive note, the "length and link" tracks were easy to assemble.

 

Tamiya and AK paints were used for the painting. The building is from Diorama Plus and the figures are Evolution and VLS.  The road is cork covered with Light Terrain inspired by "Night Shift" modeler Martin Kovacs techniques.

 

Diana 76.2 Self-propelled Gun by Chan Jackson

 Chan reports that the Bronco Diana is a very nice kit albeit plagued with really small photo etch parts that are prone to constant "tweezer launching" or breaking off the kit once installed. He painted the kit with Tamiya and Mig paints and pigments. The groundwork is Celluclay covered with AK Desert Sand texture paint.  The figures are VLS/Warriors and Tamiya painted with Tamiya paint.

 

Stalingrad Diorama by Dave Blankenship

 This small diorama makes use of the vacuform building from the MiniArt "Poland 1944"  kit, replacing the Miniart Russian7.62cm gun and figures with a Dragon German 7.5cm PAK 40 and crew.  The figure straddling the left gun trail is a modified Tamiya figure from their PAK 37 kit.

The MiniArt bases are fairly plain and offer a lot of opportunity for embellishment. Crushed plaster and assorted detritus were strew about to give it a more realistic look. All-in-all, a relaxing and enjoyable build.