Unfinished business - 1/76 Airfix Sherman Pt. 1

One of the reasons I restarted modelling again about a year or so ago was because I just happened to have a collection of Airfix kits in my attic (left by one of my daughter's ex-boyfriends). It seemed to be an opportunity to start a new hobby with the minimum of outlay so I cracked open the box - the Airfix D-Day set - and took out the first kits that came to hand.

Well, I soon learned that I didn't know that much about making kits, or painting them, and these early attempts at my new hobby have languished unfinished in a draw while I went back to the beginning again and practised basic model techniques from scratch.

Among these early amateurish attempts was an Sherman tank - the (in)famous Airfix M4 with it's undersized turret and questionable tracks. I came across it again while looking for something else and I realised that it was time I finished this little cutey off...

Now I bit off more that I could chew with this one as I jumped straight in and attempted a bit of a conversion job - I tried to improve the undersized turret and I turned the Airfix M4 version into an M4A2 version by building a whole new engine deck from scratch!

You can catch up with the whole 'story so far' by looking at the Flickr photo diary I did of this hatchet job: Airfix 1/76 scale Sherman M4 Tank gallery (opens in new browser window).

Even though I am still a kit noob I can see a lot of things in this kit that I would do differently now, but I still think there are a few bits of my work that I am proud of, especially as they were such early attempts. For example, I was particularly pleased with how the stowage turned out...

Anyway, I think I've got to the point where I can do the final stages of this build justice (I am more confident about my painting skills now), so this weekend I will get the tracks on and get some other finishing touches on the go.

Featured work - 15mm USS Covington

I'm a bit of a Steampunk fan, and it's something I want to explore with models when I get a bit more proficient, so I was really impressed with this beautiful model of this steam gunboat in 15mm scale...

This was featured in - rather aptly - the Society of Gentleman Gamers forum and was crafted by Malc Taylor of the Grimsby War Game Society.

I would love to do something like this - maybe a British colonial gun boat - and you can see more photos of this amazing build here: Society of Gentleman Gamers Projects - USS Covington in 15mm

Featured work & stash update - ICM Zil 157

This is a bit of a happy co-incidence - I ordered a couple of 1/72 ICM ZIL 157 heavy Soviet trucks on pay day and by chance a model of this truck is featured on the MiniAFV blog today!

Above: Gürkan Özkan's 1/72 Trumpeter ZIL 157 as featured on the MiniAFV Blog.

The ZIL 157 was the Soviet Unions standard general purpose 2.5 ton 6x6 truck from the end of the Second World War and through most of the early Cold War. But my interest in it is that it was a direct copy of the American International Harvester K-7 truck, many of which were supplied to the Soviet Union as lend lease during WW2. And - more importantly for me - the Finnish army purchased several of these big K-7 trucks as heavy artillery prime movers early in the war.

Above: Box artwork for my 1/72 ICM ZIL 157 - two of which I received today!

The International Harvester K series trucks were manufactured in all maner of formats, from the convensional 'stake bed' truck (like the ZIL pictured above) to the articulated multi-axeld heavy movers. Information I have found indicates that the Finnish artillery had 23 of the 6 wheeled versions and 31 of the longer (articulated?) 10 wheeled versions.

Differences between the American K-7s and the Soviet ZIL 157 copies were minor - such as the front grills being vertical instead of horizontal on the Soviet version and the front fenders and bumper being a slightly different shape. Nothing too difficult to make, a pretty simple conversion really.

Once converted my two fake K-7s will join my Altaya Steyr RSO/01 diecast model as my Finnish heavy artillery prime movers.

Me109 G-6 research - I over-complicate everything!

Here's an amusing tale (sort of) - I've been desperately trying to understand the colour schemes for Me109s, in particular the standard grey pattern called RML-74/75/76, and have searched high and low for reference photos.

Well, I just happened to be trawling through my own Flickr gallery today and came across this snapshot that I took while I was visiting the fantastic Yorkshire Air Museum...

It's a Me 109 G-6, exactly the type that I'm interested in at the moment. Who'd have thought that I would find an example more or less on my own doorstep, let alone a photo I actually took of it myself!

Typical.

Incidentally, I should add that the YAM is a 'must see' attraction if you find yourself in Yorkshire. I's very well laid out and has some unique 'museums with a museum', like the air gunners museum and the beautiful remembrance memorials (chapel and garden). Check out my full Flickr album from my 2007 visit:  My visit to the Yorkshire Air Museum

Cheap Ford-Werke V3000 (Pt.9) - Cargo Pt.2

(Building a Rapid Fire! Finnish Army HQ Part 11)
Time to make a concerted effort to move this project on to a finished state (I'm so easily distracted)! I was working on the cargo for my supply truck, and my main problem was buying some scale oil drums that I wanted.

In the end I found a nice little cheap set of 12 HO/00 (1/76) oil drums made by Model Scene which cost just £2.48. But the main feature of this post is how I integrated my cargo into the truck which making the troop carrying ability still available should I want it.

I went for a simple 'palette' - making a piece of metal sheet that sits on the troop benches to provide a false bottom for my cargo...

I did try a plastic false bed, but that tended to warp and wasn't thin enough. Metal is more ridged and wafer thin. Next I had to collect my cargo items and where necessary cut the items down so they look like they are sitting in the cargo bed itself and not on top of on a higher false bed...

Hopefully my choice of cargo looks authentic enough, I did check out some reference photos and the Finns did seem to 'pile 'em high' and shift about everything from mail to food stuffs to spare parts and ammunition. I've just made a bit of a mix...

Well, there you go. Now to the painting of the cargo and the pin-washing of the truck itself.

Featured work - Darkbirk's Soviet infantry

I am a big fan of Darkbirk's little dioramas, and no more so than his latest project. He is taking part in The Guild 2013 build project and is producing some terrific looking wintery scenes based on the Soviet Army in WW2. Take a look at these...

I think these are stunning - I particularly like his home made Birch trees - and I like the way he has blurred the divide between war game modelling and display modelling.

Nip over to his blog to see more: Are We Not Men?

Or you can go over to the Guild forum to follow the project: WW2 20mm Soviets

Eduard 1/144 Me 109 G-2 - Part 3

Painting thoughts for a Finnish Me 109
I've had a look at quite a few pictures of 'Finnish Me 109s' - well, at least people's impressions of what they looked like. There seems to be quite varied and diverse opinion on the matter, especially when it comes to the colours.

I *think* the basic colour of Finnish Me 109s - as they were delivered from the Germans in standard camo patterns - was the RLM 74/75/76 (grey green, green violet and light blue).

Here's a drawing I did to illustrate 'a' (generic) Finnish Me 109 pattern from 1944...

Where the discrepancies - and my confusion - seem to come about is where the Finns may have over-sprayed the original Luftwaffe crosses and where these new, vivid, colours became faded. So some modellers depict these colours as far more subtle greys and less hard edged than my first drawing. Like this...

Anyway, if like me you like acrylic spray paints, the good news is that the Tamiya AS range of sprays makes this scheme easy to paint as they have:

> AS-3 Gray Green (Luftwaffe) Acrylic Spray Paint (RLM-74 Graugrun)

> AS-4 Gray Violet (Luftwaffe) Acrylic Spray Paint (RLM-75 Grauviolett)

> AS-5 Light Blue (Luftwaffe) Acrylic Spray Paint (RLM-76 Lichtblau)

...So, this is my starting point.

But here is how one modeller - S. Bathy - has toned these vivid pristine colours down to give a more war weary look to his Finnish Me 109...

Whether the Finns actually toned down the German colours themselves I am not sure - but in the reference book I have - Osprey's 'Finnish Aces of WW2' - many of the Finn's 1944 Messerschmitts are depicted in this more faded grey scheme (like my second drawing).

Anyone any opinions?

<-- Previous post in this project