Alclad for the chassis

Here is a shot of the Cobra chassis. I have sprayed it completely with Alclad steel and will now go around and touch in the other colours - mostly black.

What is annoying is that I have lost one of the rocker covers. This means I will probably seal up the bonnet (hood)  but then again, I may just leave it.

I forgot to add a photo of the upper surfaces so here it is:

'Mr. Muscle Oven Cleaner' factory delivers!

Well here is the result of a night in the factory.

As you can see, we are left with a nice white sprue - not a scrap of shiny chrome - all ready for a coat of primer and then Alclad will give us the perfect metal finish.

Tales of etched brass - and then onwards

The Bronco A13, as I have mentioned, requires that you use etched brass. Here are some examples.

I am not happy with the fit of some of this and I am going to have to work out how to correct some of the problems I have found and/or made. It's in its box for a while while I get on with some 'modelling' rather than 'struggling'.

Yet another Young Miniatures Figure
Here we go again. This one is the U-Boat crewman. I know I tell everyone that I don't like doing 'German' but these figures always have such character in them. Maybe I always get the one's from the losing time.

I like to do one of these as they can be done in small bits whilst I get on with a bigger project - assuming I can find one that I can finish.

This one I can finish.
Having made a good job of the Shelby Mustang, I was wondering what to do next in the car line when I saw a Shelby Cobra drive down the road in Ipswich a couple of weeks ago. Having agreed with my friend Dan from CT, that I would tackle a couple of the latest Shelby Mustangs, since he was kind enough to send me a Motor Trend magazine which reviewed it, I feel that this is in the theme.
I have sent the chrome sprue off to the 'Mr. Muscle Oven Cleaner' factory to strip the chrome so that I can Alclad everything. I have now primed the rest of the sprues. Well I missed one part which I only saw when taking the photos. see if you can see which part.

Bendy Buses? Now we have Bendy Tanks!

In my enthusiasm to get on with the A-13 Cruiser there were a few things I didn't check out.

1. It is a 'sort of' short run kit. Although we think of Bronco as a mainstream manufacturer, this kit exhibits many of the traits of a short run manufacturer. Whilst we have some moulded alignment pins, many parts just don't have them.
2. I just love etched brass! (well no) but this kit has lots of it. Unfortunately, unlike some of the mainstream manufacturers, the etched isn't optional. Ever tried to fit a strap around a 1/35th scale exhaust pipe? No? - well I have!
3. Every one complained that the rubber band tracks in the earlier A-13s didn't fit.  So, now we have the smallest mouldings possible - 120 per side - to make the tracks and - guess what! - NO rubber band option. I even went looking for some Friul Modellissmo tracks.
4. Biggest of all, the whole of the upper hull is warped!!!!!

Here are some photos:

However, I have spent more time working on this kit than anything I have made in the last year. 2 1/2 hours, the other evening.

Lastly, to show you what I have really been spending my time doing, here is a Jigsaw puzzle lent to me by my good customer and even better friend, Paul Waters.

It's a 1,000 piece puzzle that illustrates the vast bulk of armour used by the British Army. This has inspired me to try and expand on my current little group. I have done a Humber Scout Car, A Scorpion from the UN Balkans and now the A-13 from the desert in 41. Loads more to do. If these work as I hope, I may lay low the ghost of Aircraft modelling - smile.

Kettenhund - and a reprieve

Kettenhund - Chain Dog - the
'unkind' nickname for the WWII German Feldgendarmerie, so named because of their badge of office, a gorget hanging on a chain around their neck.

My version is a Young Miniatures 1/10th scale bust. This is the same
construction as the DAK tanker I finished recently. The coat he is
wearing is a rubberised motorcycle full length coat. He is shown as he
would have been during the Ardennes campaign in late 1944 - the
so-called 'Battle of the Bulge'. Note that he doesn't have any badges
on his helmet. The Germans had worked out by now that such flashes of
colour on the helmet made ideal sniper targets!

Reprieve
I have dropped some hints to people in the shop and on e-mail that the F-16I Sufa was for the big heave-ho into the bin. This was because I was being singularly unsuccessful at doing the three colour camo using a freehand airbrush. This is exactly the same problem that I had when doing the Israeli F-16B in 1/72 scale. I decided that I was better off moving on rather than stopping so I have taken the same route with this as with the previous one - I am hand painting it. Now I have NEVER hand painted a 1/48th aircraft so I am out into new territory. I am expecting it to be a bit suspect but I am determined to finish a plane, no matter what.

This is where I am so far.


























I have some way to go, mainly in masking out the straight lines. I don't think that this one will go to the club but it will probably make the shop.

Finally - two new projects!
As if I didn't have enough on the go, what with Valerie having me do Jigsaw puzzles every night!



I like the colours on this one, although, having looked at the individually moulded track links, this may be more 'fun' than the Fruil tracks on the Marder!

Lastly, after Paul Casson ordering some 28mm Napoleonic Imperial Guardsmen - the Victrix set, I decided to go back to my 1970's Napoleonic roots - 30mm Hinchcliffe in those days - and try some British Waterloo Artillery.

progress of two strands

Firstly, I am attempting to free hand airbrush the Israeli camo on the F-16I Sufa.

This is what it looks like so far. I think I will have to go over it one more time to kill the overspray and to get the colour even.














Secondly, I am moving on with the Feldgendarme. Following a discussion with Mike Grzebien, I have decided that the helmet, by the time of the Ardennes battle, would have been clear of any markings. Well this is where I am so far:

Vallejo Polyurethane Primer

Tamiya Magazine extolled the virtues of the new Vallejo primer which the editor obtained at Nuremburg. It has taken some time for it to arrive but we now have it in stock. I thought you might like to know what it is like. It comes in three colours and two sizes. There is a choice of 60ml (£4.95) and 200ml (£9.99) in White, Grey or Black. Black, I assume, is for the Games Workshop crowd where they always recommend a black base for all figure painting. Not sure that I agree but there we are. This leaves a choice of White or Grey so I decided to try both.

So far I can't talk about toughness. This report is purely about its application to a model. I had two items that needed priming - a 1/10th scale bust in resin and a 1/48the Hasegawa F-16I Sufa. I decided to prime the F-16 with white and the figure with grey. the F-16 is getting Israeli camo so it will have a light coloured underside so white seemed the best choice. As the figure is a German Feldgendarme in a rubberised German Grey/Green colour, the grey seems ideal/ The grey went on like a dream. It is very much lighter than my usual favourite - Vallejo Model Air grey. It also covered easily in one coat and when on quite thin. The white wasn't quite such a good experience. I found that it needed a couple of coats to cover - even to the level seen in the photo below. I also found that I needed to thin the primer half way through. It seemed to thicken up as I went. It also didn't want to be misted on so gave quite a wet finish. However, after letting both dry thoroughly, I can't really tell any difference between them except for the lack of complete cover from the white. I will let you know how I got on with durability once I start painting the figure. It is very easy to rub primer off a resin figure as you turn it around to paint it - we shall see.