Canadian 15CWT

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted here.  Been busy modeling I guess, and researching and writing news for Armorama.

Well here is the latest model to leave my desk.  An older Italeri 15CWT Truck, with some Eduard Photo Etch added.  It is an older model, not alot of detail, but alot of potential.  Pretty straight forward build, went together relatively well, and am happy with the end result.

Airfix Club Kit - little planes, lots of fun

About six months ago, I decided to join the Airfix Club.  Not only do I get monthly updates, a monthly magazine, special offers, but I got a free kit when I joined.  It was a duo kit, 1/72 F86 Sabre and Mig-15.  These are nice little kits on their own, but together tell a story of air war in Korea.

The kits are well detailed, engraved panel lines, and colorful decals.  On top of all that, they go together very well, very little seams to fill, great fit.  The Sabre was primed with Vallejo Black Primer and airbrushed various shade of Alclad Aluminum.  The Mig, was primed with Vallejo Grey Primer, and painted with Vallejo Air.  I had started with the Sand color, used Blue tack for masking, then did the Dark Green, more blue tack, then the lighter green.  I liked the way it came out.

Now I wanted to display them, well a block of would, some piano wire, hole in the bottom of each plane and little epoxy.

Voila, nice little display of Korea War era air power.

New Year Project - Chevrolet 15-CWT

Well it is a new year, and this is my first post, sorry for the delay.  Been working alot, and doing some reviews for Kitmaker Network.

So time for a new project.  This time around an older kit, Italeri's Chevrolet 15-CWT.  This originally was an old Peerless kit, with Italeri buying the molds.  You can tell that it is an older kit, molding is not as crisp and lots of flash.  Nothing that can't be cleaned up and used to build a decent model.  I have decided to add a little photo etched detail using the Eduard Details kit.  The PE set is originally for the Italeri Quad Gun Tractor, but there are some usable parts.

So I have started the basic construction of the frame, as per the instructions.  Everything so far is straight forward, just cleaning up some flash and sanding down some seams.  The fits is surprisingly good for a kit of this generation.  I am impressed so far.

So up next, I will move the cab, where we will start to add some PE detail.

Canadian Stuart V

Well it has been a while, but life, Christmas upcoming and of course, some modelling.  I have managed to finish my AFV Club M3A2 Stuart V, dressed up in Canadian Grenadier Guards colors.  The AFV Club kit is great, goes together very well, I added a Eduard PE set to add a little more detail.  The Eduard PE set adds tie-down, smoke launcher, .30 Cal barrel, and other detail.  It is a quite extensive set that adds great depth to the model.

As usual for me with Allied armor, I painted the model with Testors Military Master Acrylic Olive Drab.  In my opinion, it best creates the color of Allied armor.  The decals are from UltraCast, are were applied between a couple of coats of Future.  I then applied washes from Mig and pigments from Vallejo.

This tank was build for another campaign on Armorama.

Trying something new...USS Hancock

Well after visiting my local hobby shop yesterday, I though I would try something different for me.  I saw a Trumpeter 1/350 USS Hancock Aircraft Carrier (WW2), and it appealed to me.  Now I have built a U-Boat in the past, but this will be my first ship model of this size.  Opening the box, I found an excellent kit, well molded, and lots of detail.  I am going to pass on any PE for this kit, just want the experience of building a boat.  I was so excited about it, kind of pushed my other projects aside and laid down the hull last night.  The fit was ok, have to watch a few spot, mainly the bow piece, I put it on first to help line up the upper and lower hull pieces.  There is still some gaps(as you can tell from the pic).  So lots of putty, now to wait for it to dry and sand, then onto the flight deck.

Just one warning when starting a ship, have lots of glue on hand, almost half a bottle of liquid cement just doing the hull.

Lest we forget

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

First Attempt at 1/16 Figure

While at my local hobby store one day, I was eyeing the Tamiya 1/16 scale figures.  They looked pretty kewl, and I thought, maybe I should give this a try.  So I bought the Wehrmacht Tank Crewman.  It is a great kit, parts are well molded, very little flash, and great detail.  Instructions are straight forward, and goes together very well. I painted it with Vallejo Acryllics, including a couple of pin washes, some shadowing, and dry brushing of highlights.  I am not totally happy how it turned out, but I am going to do some more reading and studying of other people's work, and damn well try another.