Yesterday's Weapons Forums

No writing gig at the moment so I've been playing with model kits I had on hand. Just finished this T-34/76 in German service = why it's German yellow.

The hard part for me is to leave well enough alone when weathering. Got the fuel tanks looking like gas had been spilled on them a lot & called it quits. Sprayed it with clear coat & will try to add decals when that dries all day.

Not a great job by any means, but it's good enough for the public display shelf in my man room. SW


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Very nice. Great mancave addition.

i have not , but i see the appeal , as i mentioned to doc in the other post i no longer see that well and the arthritis is taking a toll on the finger dexterity , i do see the appeal and admire your work ,

Ought to try colored chalk powdered up and apply with a fluffy long bristle brush, just before the clear hardens. That simulates dust and dirt. Just mix colors to match what you want. Just before your color coat hardens go after the sharp edges and flake the paint so it looks like boot wear from climbing on and off.
You know someday someone will teach me how to upload pictures I hope.

Good advice on the colored chalk. I use powdered graphite to age surfaces, and cheep cinnamon represents rust well. There are a lot of pigments and paints for about every scenario, but it's part of the fun to achieve the same effect with stuff already on hand.

I've got a WW2 Hanomag tractor coming & a Russian AT-T prime mover & artillery tractor after that.

Keeps me out of the taverns!

For uploading pics, I have a USB core for my cameras and transfer from there to my laptop pic file. Very simple to upload from there. SW

....2 of my 5 winter model projects awaiting their turn.... Trumpeter 1/32 scale of my squadron aircraft ...A6-A and A6-E Intruders were heavily used in bombing during Vietnam...there were 2 different paint schemes both used during my time with the squadron...the models are extremely highly detailed right down to every rivet or switch in the cockpit...and LOTS of nie big bang ordnance.....huge-almost 2' wingspan but the stock decals were limited to only a couple squadrons....and not mine...I was surprised to be contacted by the owner of the Decal manufacturer who saw my photos on some Navy Airwing sites and asked my permission to use them to help design the decals since none existed...offered to give me credit and use my photos (first pic is a photo I took from flight deck...and he even stuck my name in the lower right corner )...and I got freebie decals-(which aint cheap)....fortunately I have copious photos of every detail of the aircraft I took back in the day to use as reference.......this will keep me occupied thru the winter months


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....one of our birds fully loaded to kick major ass back in those years...


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I can't say enough good about Navy & Marine fast movers dropping ordnance where it needed to go. God bless 'em all! SW

yes and we can finally celebrate that great capability all these years later - so many of my marine friends from that time are starting to open up with the respect given that was deserved back then , this country has plenty to feel guilty over in terms of how we treated those that served , to hell with all the PC BS from the 60s to now or all the alphabet soup creeps that seem to think they have respect owed - earn it , our military did ,

I didn't quite finish this AT-T kit... Had a hard time with bending the sub-atomic brass photo-etched parts around microscopic plastic ones and finally gave up after dropping some.

But it was a good kit to practice making the track sag and a little weathering. SW


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....this aint the 1/32 scale ones yet...did a 1/48 scale I had lying around for 20 years that I stopped because of some poorly fitting parts you might see...even filling and sanding didnt help the warped nose and cockpit and canopy area...I finished it off after many years this past weekend to get some practice before getting to the big boys

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Do you free hand paint the canopy metal? SW

...yeah...but did that long time ago...I'm better at it now and have masking materials I didnt have back then,not to mention an airbrush....if you zoom in youcan see how warped and poorly fitted the canopy and front section of fuselage is...I basically used this as some practice after a long hiatus of doing any models....in fact I just decided today that since I have another 1/48 thats been lying around unopened I got at the same time as this one 20 years ago, that I would do it before I hit the 1/32 ones for more practice...hopefully that one isnt warped too

Wifey had a little "paper tape" used for arranging hair. Works great for masking off windows on model trucks.

I see there are dedicated masking sets for specific aircraft, but I haven't done any planes yet. SW

I did a german half-track a looong time ago. It was sort of unique for a kids model: front wheels and track were able to rotate. Had a heck of a time keeping the youngest siblings away from it.
There were a lot of spring wire parts in it. Can't remember the make. It was a good step above Revell in price though...
It went the way of most of my models- younger kids got to it and it was broken instantly.

The last one I did was a plane- a Hurricane in very small scale, and then lost interest....

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

I still enjoy it when I don't have other projects that have to bee finished first.
That seems to keep the modeling down to 2 maybe 3 a year.

I intended for this T-62 kit to resemble one taken from long term storage by rebels during the Libyan civil war. Beraing seals have dried out, oil and grease leak everywhere, and the rebel crew don't know how to tension the tracks.

I didn't lay the weathering on too thick... I figured I'd quit while I was ahead. The tank isn't the worst I've ever done, but I suck at painting figures. SW


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Nice job Bud!! Start doing dioramas you would be good at it.

Since it's starting to act like spring, I got off my butt & did yard work - trimmed a bunch of limbs from the power & cable TV lines. Have other projects but it rained, so that's on hold for a few days. Which left me time for the initial paint job on this Panzer I Munitionsschlepper kit. Weathering comes next - maybe in a week or two. SW


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The real deal in France. About 50 of this variety were made from worn out Panzer I training tanks. In theory they were to supply ammo to tanks very near the fighting. I doubt many saw actual service.


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