The Official 2014 "All the Rest" Community Build-Extended to April 31st

[formula1129]

The bike, the plane, and the Tank are all great guys!!!

I got a wrench in my spokes on my Camaro. I thought I was almost done with the paint on the body, but something didn't look right with the back quarters, so I looked at a few pics of the 1:1's and there it was. The decals that come with the model are not complete, and they instruct the builder to paint below the decals, and somehow blend the paint into the decal, so it looks like part of the decal. Huh?

I sure hope I bought the right color white.

All masked up to try to blend the white paint with the decal.

And a quick pic with it's first coat of white on the rear quarters. Another couple of coats, wet sanding, and more clear, and hoping the white paint blends with the decals.

[Agent G]

Ok here we go. I'm building this for a GB on another site devoted to the M4 Sherman tank. We decided to use the old Tamiya kit and see what develops from there. I will be constructing a USMC flame tank from the Iwo Jima campaign.

I decided to scratch build all the odds and ends unique to a US Marine Corps tank on Iwo Jima. I'm using sheet and strip for the wading trunks and various rod and sheet to fill unsightly holes. The entire engine deck and sponson tops will be covered with sand bags, but I just didn't want to take any chances.

Obligatory start shot.



I began with the upper wading attachment. I took strip and just eyeballed it from here.









You can see where I filled the big ditches on the rear of the hull.







Trimmed and puttied





That's all for today.

G

[mustang1989]

Ben:Whew! Bet you're glad you spotted that in this stage of the build!! Lookin' forward to see how it all blends together. Fingers crossed!!!!

Wayne:Glad you're back buddy!!!! This outta be just awesome to watch you build!

I'll get you in the intro post!! Edit (just a few minutes later) You're added!!

Edited April 28, 2014 by mustang1989

[HNTR]

Some more progress.

[mustang1989]

You see guys! There he goes again building that real bike in his living room floor on that sheet of plywood!! lol

Man that's really looking good Mark!!! Awesome paint and detail on this one!!!

Edited April 29, 2014 by mustang1989

[formula1129]

I hate to say it guys, but.......

Plus this............

Equals this....

[mustang1989]

Hey Ben I didn't get that last pic. It didn't melt the plastic did it?????????????????????????

[formula1129]

Hey Ben I didn't get that last pic. It didn't melt the plastic did it?????????????????????????

So sorry Joe, didn't mean to give ya a heart attack. No, that is a pic of a paint stripped Camaro that I got off the net.

Here is mine taking a Purple bath. Good news though. I have passed the depression stage of having to do this. I just convinced myself that I could have done better getting the paint flat, so it's OK now. LOL

[mustang1989]

It had to hurt to have to do that but am really looking forward to what youre going to do next.

[mustang1989]

Well here we are mostly together save for the elevators:

and primed and ready to go for the preshading.........

and ..................preshaded!

I've gotta say what I did skip over in pictures and won't in the text here is the 4-5 hours of freekin' sanding that I had to do to correct the HORRIBLE fit between the fuselage halves at the bottom of this birdie! Simply couldn't believe it after all the test fits but hey, that's modeling. I got it ironed out.

[HNTR]

You guys are doing GREAT work!!!!! And to take off that beautiful paint job, I couldn't do it.

​Just to show a little more progress, I painted some fenders and the gas tank. I have some pics of the gas tank showing what I use to try to get the paint shiny. Never had luck with anything but sandpaper. I use to never do anything cause I had a hard time scuffing up a paint job that was always so/so, until I tried the sand paper. I start with 3200 or 3600 and work my way up.

Here are some pics of the progress-

3600

4000

[mustang1989]

Now THATS a smooth finish! I just picked up some sandpaper/ polishing squares yesterday by chance and I saw this post afterwards. Man am I glad I did!! Good job on this Mark!

Edited May 3, 2014 by mustang1989

[Agent G]

That gas tank is glowing!

Great job.

Looking forward to seeing more of the Stuka also.

G

[Agent G]

A hectic week and the promise of in laws visiting starting tomorrow sent my schedule into a tailspin.

Began with the turret.







I added back some stretched sprue to replicate that seam in the turret bustle. No finished shots just yet.



A self proclaimed expert on another site decreed I do that texture thing all wrong. I no longer visit that site, in fact a lot of folks don't anymore. Their loss. While I was at it I added texture to other cast parts.





I couldn't resist adding those track block holders seen on 4th and 5th Battalion tanks.





You can see the strip I used to add fender detail. In fact I have yet to use any AM or PE parts preferring to roll my own. Here are stretched sprue weld beads. The rest of the hull will be covered with sandbags so I only did what might be seen.



G

[mustang1989]

Man that's looking good Wayne. Can you explain the painting process for somtthing like the turret?

Edited May 6, 2014 by mustang1989

[cobraman]

The tank is looking great !

[Agent G]

I have a jar of Mr Surfacer that should by all rights have been tossed years ago. I continue to add laquer thinner a bit at a time to rejuvenate the stuff. I use a selection of old brushes colected over the years that I have cut down. All I do is dab the Mr Surfacer on and continue poke at it with the brush. You must watch carefully as there's a point where it sets and any further work will be counter productive.

The Final Drive Cover (nose piece) was textured with Bondo Spot Putty mixed with Testors liquid cement. I used the same brushes and technique.

There is no right or wrong way. The cast pieces were quite crude and never finished beyond what was required for assembly. It made no sense to polish a tank to perfection. Even as late as the 80's early 90's the turret of an M60 A1 or A3 is really quite rough.

G

Edited May 6, 2014 by Agent G

[mustang1989]

Thanks for the tips Wayne. Just like knowing some of the hidden sciences behind the armor builds. I've got a few more aircraft builds to go before I'm going to have the guts to take an armor project on! lol

[mustang1989]

We're slingin' paint!!! RLM70 dark green and RLM 71 light green in a splinter camo first. Then after I paint the whole plane in the factory camo scheme I'll apply the field camo over it with RLM 79 tan. First things first though, here we are starting with the port wing......

[Agent G]

In my best Homer Simpson voice,

Ummmmm paaaaaaaint

G

[mustang1989]

LOL!!! It's coming along so far.Got the other wing done now and some of the fuselage areas....................

[Dragline]

All the builds are looking great guys. I will have to back off this till and undetermined future date. I just have a few too many things in front of my MaK passion that need to be finished as people have paid. That and my airbrush is sick and i'm waiting for parts. I may buy another but that will just sit in the box till i finish my commitments. I'll look in from time to time.

Keep up the great work all of you.

Bob

[mustang1989]

We'll be looking forward to your return Mark. And you were just getting to the good part too!!!! We've got till next Feb pal so come on back when you get your stuff ironed out.

[Mooneyzs]

This is a great thread.... I didn't know about this and stumbled across it thru another thread. I need to pull out one of the 3 to 4 armor kits I have picked up for a change of pace. I have always wanted to learn how to do weathering really nice. My only problem is I don't know how quick I will to build an armor kit as I am concentrating on my 1/16th scale Army Vega funny car that I want to finish this year.

[mustang1989]

It would be a pleasure to have you in here Chris! This build goes until the end of January 2015 so jump in any time. Between all the guys that are in here I'm sure we can come up with somebody to help with the weathering. I'm learning alot watching Agent G!!! Whenever youre ready to jump and have a kit in mind lemme know!