2012 Armor Models in Progress by the Duke.

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Dave. Yeah, guns are so much easier to build (sometimes!) so I figured I'd start assembling my large stock of artillery.

Yeah, Tank, she is huge!

Thanks again guys for all the great comments.

 

[Dave wahl]

Its nice to see you still can enjoy building the small scale small vehicles. Nice job and I'm looking forward to seeing them with a color coat on them. Very nice job.

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Dave! Yeah, I can't help it, these little guys are so fun. I do need to step up my aircraft production though...

 

[Dave wahl]

When do you find time to do the finer things in life, like sleeping, eating Bathroom, or do you have an assembly line setup for that as well. Well at least your wife can't accuse you of running around on her, unless the "Other Women" has or is STYRENE, LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Just kidding dude, but where do you find the time for the better things in life?

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well Dave, I actually have a lot of time for the better things in life. My wife's day off is Saturday so we spend the day going out and shopping together; eating out and occasionally catch a matinee. Sunday's are my rest days. I may do some model building that day, but not often. That day I'll take care of laundry and other assorted chores. Unless there are model shows or gaming conventions on weekends, then I go to those. Tuesday through Friday I'm usually repairing or improving someone's house, but my evenings are taken up by a little TV, some Forums browsing or a computer game; unless I have to go shopping for something.

Every Monday and every second Saturday are my Hobby Days. I go down to the Knights of Columbus Hall (I open it on Mondays about 10AM) and I spend the entire day working on my models. I get about 85% of my building and painting done at Hobby Days; then I bring the models home for airbrushing, detailing and weathering. Every third Friday evening is mine too; I go to my IPMS meeting to show my latest models I'd built since the previous meeting.

And that's my life in a nutshell.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, here is all the progress on my armor; I got all these things done during Hobby Day Monday before I got sick.

Aside from getting a little sanding done on the Dora, I managed to get two of my other guns completed to the painting stage. Here's the first one, a German K-18 10cm artillery piece:

Next is my Pak 43 88mm anti-tank gun:

I also added the windows to Rommel's Car and clearcoated it for decals:

And finally, I assembled the hood over the engine of the bus. This bus is real close to being done. I like this little guy. Now to get the Command version!

Here it is all dry-fit together:

That completes this week's work on my armor. As you can see, a lot of small stuff got done, but at least I'm that much closer to finishing some of these models. Remember, comments are welcome and I appreciate everyone stopping in to see these.

 

[Adam Baker]

Looking like some great progress. I'm really liking the train base you've got, and definitely the Dora.

A friend of mine picked up the 1/35 Dora a few years ago, but he wont ever build it. I've been poking at him for a long time that I'm just gonna buy it from him. I think he finally set a price on it at my last club meeting, I think he said 500 for it, which for that kit is a pretty decent price. One of these days I might actually buy it from him.

 

[Dave wahl]

Man, you got a lot of goodies on your plate, I must say. Nice to hear that you can have a life AND model as well Glad all is well for you.

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Adam! Yeah, I saw the 1/35th scale Dora already completed when a fellow IPMS member built it some years back. It's almost 6 feet long completed in that scale. What a monster! At least I only have to deal with four feet myself. Still, it's a huge model nonetheless...

Thanks Dave! Yeah, unless I'm way overworked; I feel like I have a good balance going here.

 

[Dave wahl]

That German bus gives me a small diorama idea. Put some civilian type figures in it like the kind of way we got indoctrinated into Basic. Have a couple of NCO tye figures just outside the bus, with everyone scrambling out of the bus and into line. Of course you would need a couple more busses to make it believable. That could be an interesting piece, don'tcha think???

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

That is an interesting diorama idea. I'd have to see about getting more buses though. Right now, funds are tight and so I'm trying to save up for the massive amount of Panzer dark grey I'm gonna need for my sweetheart Dora. Looking to go shopping tomorrow; Military Hobbies is having a Memorial Day sale.

Thanks again for the great comments! Stay tuned for more...

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well everyone, despite my being sick; I managed to get a little extra work done that I feel is worth posting. It's been slow going on my aircraft mostly; and an endurance run on my armor, but I'm seeing some good progress. Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle fully soon.

Meanwhile, here's what I got done so far. These first projects are for the first ever Group Build on the AMPS Forums. They are doing a T-34 Group Build on the Small Scale Forum on that site. Here's the first T-34 I started for this Group Build. It's a Dragon T-34 Beute from 1943 and here is where I started with it:

Later I found another Dragon T-34 Beute, this time on a 1941 T-34. I started that as well this past Monday at Hobby Day. I had to drill out all the holes in the roadwheels for the one T-34 first, then I added all the roadwheels to the two lower hulls:

Later; after having assembled the upper hull and turret for the 1941 T-34, I added a few other detail pieces to the 1943 T-34. Here is where they stand now:

These are mostly waiting for the photo-etch parts to be added and a few other detail parts. Once that is done; these will be ready for paint.

After drilling out all those wheels and doing all that assembly, I decided to take a break for awhile and sand down the seams on the Dora's main gun. That was relaxing enough to allow me to start a photo-etch marathon on my Russian armored train. Before I show the train, here's the Dora's gun next to an Exacto blade for comparison:

Now, as I mentioned I spent a good couple hours applying the photo-etch hatches and other parts to the rest of the Russian train's turreted cars. That was tough, but I managed to get them pretty well assembled. Now all that's left to do is the final detail parts and the quad-Maxim AA gun for the tender and this train will be ready for paint.

Well, that's about all the progress I have so far. I feel I could have done a lot more if I'd been feeling better, but I'm pleased with what I got done with so far. At least I'm that much closer to completing some of these! Feel free to check out the Wesendorf Field Forum for my latest progress on my aircraft.

Thanks again everyone for looking in; as always, comments are welcome.

 

[reconron]

Love it,Mark!

Are you going to give the Beute T-34's a German tri-color camo?

[hope you soon feeling better]


Greetings,Ron.

 

[Dave wahl]

That T-34 for the AMPS forum is looking good so far, and the Russian train getting better every day. Can't wait to see the final result of both of them. Good work my friend.

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the comments.

Ron, I do have a tri-color camo pattern planed for then one, but the earlier version is supposed to sport a winter whitewash over green. Since I never do winter whitewashes, I'll just be painting this one green and adding the German crosses to it.

Dave, I am going to be so happy to have that train finished with the completed photo-etch. That is such a difficult thing to do, especially for this train. Can't wait to get some paint fired on this thing!

 

[moon puppy]

come on Mark, great opertunity to get out of the comfort zone and try something different. Go with the whitewash!

 

[Dave wahl]

Yeah duke, dare to be different, try that whitewash treatment as something out of the ordinary.

Dave W.

 

[Duke Maddog]

My apologies for not responding sooner; I guess I never got the E-mail telling me when a reply was posted here.

Thanks for the encouragement gentlemen, but it's not a matter of stepping out of my comfort zone or building something different. Trust me, I have quite the eclectic collection of "different" models already under construction or in the lineup as you'll see when you visit my Works in Progress threads.

If you look at my pics I posted some time back showing my entire armor collection, you'll see that there's no winter schemes in evidence. I have over 605 small scale armor models in some type of single to three-tone camo pattern, but no winter schemes. If I do one now, it'll stand out in a way that is not too pleasing to me; breaking the consistency of my collection. I just have no desire or drive to do a winter pattern.


Now, on to some of the latest progress I've made last Monday. I have a very, very small update to show since most of my work this week was mostly sanding and filling and sanding and filling; mostly on my Dora rail gun's wheel trucks. Now they are smooth enough for a coat of paint, and I've even skipped ahead a bit to add more parts to the wheel truck assemblies to further complete them.

So, in armor, the only progress I made was on my Russian armored train. I attached all the P/E to all the cars; then I added all the final detail parts, including the machine gun barrels.

Here it is all ready for paint:

And, here it is with the first coat of primer on it so that the paint will adhere to the P/E:

So there you have it, a very slow week for me. This coming weekend I'll be picking up the pace. After all, I have 7 models all ready for paint, so my spray booth will be humming this weekend!

Until then, thanks for looking in and remember that comments are always welcome.

 

[Dave wahl]

Duke:

Looking forward to seeing all of them finished and set up in their own respective shelves. Can't wait to see the train finished up in its colors. Looking forward to seeing your finished armor pieces. Nice job.

Dave

 

[Gunfighter45]

Go for the whitewash! Easier than you might think and if you use the pastel chalk
method, very forgiving.

Mike B)