Various WIP

[ripley]

Well I've finished the tank , but I still want to mount it on a base for which I need to pick up some air dry clay . I had some but it went hard 







I've got a variety of plastic shrubbery from the dollar store , some GW sci fi ferns as well as ground foams and lichens so a jungle type  base will really make it pop , I hope . I'm going for the jungle with cobble stones look here 

[ultravanillasmurf]

Nice job on that.

I'm going for the jungle with cobble stones look here

Very post apocalypse.

[ripley]

Thanks . Its probably going to end up as a scenery piece once I get the base sorted . Then I'll probably give it to one of my friends who plays Japanese

[ripley]

Latest project , Italeri M3A1 . Nice little kit , choice of the early welded or later cast turret , but typical  Italeri you only get one gun and mount .  Nice set of decals for US , Brits in the desert and Russian via lend lease  as well as half torso commanders for the 3 Allies . .The only tricky bit on the build was a couple of track pieces , they had the sprue gate in a bad spot which needed some cutting and sanding , the other track bits were a piece of cake , good build  all round . I also decided to make a couple of display type bases using some foam core board "borrowed" from work . I made one into a country side type grass field and the other I used some plastic cobble stone sheet to make a road and also added a bit of height to one side using more foam board . The ground cover on both is a mix of fine and course Woodland ground cover with a couple types of spagnum moss that I got from a craft shop . Crushed it makes great looking weeds , left longer it can pass as broken / dead tree branches







Thinking about adding a fence to the roadside and maybe a abandoned Jerry can or fuel drum to the field , but then again that might give the base a flavor  of a certain place or time period , maybe just leave it generic ?

[ultravanillasmurf]

Nice work on the tank and the bases.

I would leave the bases generic.

[ripley]

Thanks . I think your right , generic . Maybe a couple of scenic plastic bits that aren't glued down so can be used as game scenery as well ? I mostly made these as a base for taking photos , althougth I realize that stuff like  JS II & Tigers really don't fit . Oh well I guess I'll make a larger one

[ripley]

 Haven't been to interested in building my own 1/56 stuff lately ,  but have built and  painted 3 resin Type - 97 Japanese tanks  for one of my friends . Typical Warlord kits , some warpage and some short shots on the metal pieces , but they turned out alright .



I did finally finish a couple of Meng "egg"kits , a Tu-2 Russian bomber and a Matilda tank . I added 1/48 scale crew to the cockpit just for fun , you really can't see them that well through the thick plastic canopy , but you do know something is in there



I decided to add some more realistic detail to the Matilda ( 3 turret  lift rings , instead of kit supplied 1 ,etc ) , I also changed out the short stubby cartoon main gun , replaced a few bibs and bobs with stuff from the parts box . I'm probably going to add a Tamiya 1/35 tanker and maybe your standard Russian tank gear ( rolled tarp and un ditching log ) . This kit was really fun , I'm thinking of getting a 2nd one and paint it in a Caunter desert scheme

Oh and little hobby tip . I used some pieces of plastic screen to give the resin exhaust guards on the 97s a more realistic appearance .

[ultravanillasmurf]

Well done on the Type 97s.

That Matilda looks cute, I will have to look out for one.

[ripley]

Thank you . I sort fudged the paint schemes as I used colors I had at hand ( Russian green , German panzer yellow and black brown ) , but with a wash they look the part . The Matilda was very nice little kit , probably one of the best Meng has done so far , But it's  their next release I'm really looking forward to , # 15 a Tiger P . I've only seen a built up version on one of the hobby show news pages but it looks like it will kit bash nicely with some 1/35 Dragon / Tamiya kit parts I've got clogging up my parts box .

[Ballardian]

 Nice job on the Type 97's and the Meng Toons (fun little kits)

[ripley]

Thanks . Yes the Meng kits are a lot of fun , but really easy to get caught up in kit bashing them than building them right out of the box . I found an after market company that makes resin turrets and hulls to convert them into different models ( ie , Tiger I to a SturmTiger ) but the price for the resin bits are twice the price of the kit  . Well maybe I'll just get one ….

[ripley]

After adding the logs , tarp and crew man , and giving it a dirty wash , I'm calling the Matilda done .





And I also managed to finally finish (only been at it about a year ) a Zvezda 1/72 scale ZIS - 3 76mm gun . Again another project for a friend . I decided to add some spent shell casings ( plastic rod ) and a few ammo boxes ( some .80 plastic for the box and scribed plastic siding for the lid ) just to give some detail to the base



I find these Meng tanks and 1/72 scale kits a nice diversion , as I sometimes lose my inspiration on my 1/56 kits . I spend a week or two ( or a year ) working on these and I come away refreshed and ready to tackle my next conversion / kit bash project . I only I could learn to love things just built out of the box

[ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.

[ripley]

Thanks . Those 1/72 kits are nice but man are the parts small . I used to build Airfix and Matchbox kits back in the day , but I can't remember the pieces being this small … of course I'm 50 years older , my  eye sight isn't 20/20 and I seem to be all thumbs some days , but a fun project non the less . Next side project a 1/00 scale tiger II , but not till I finish my 250/9 kitbash

[ripley]

Almost finished my 250/9 neu build . The 20mm turret expansion kit is great but I noticed the vision hatch on the early 222 style turret has the hinges on the bottom which , according to photos is wrong



While I could have removed and replaced the hinges , I decided to open up the vision port and will add the hatch cover . I intend to add the turret to a 250 alte  to depict  a knocked out vehicle , open rear door , damaged fenders , maybe an engine and damaged front wheels . So although I've started work on the gun mount , the half track part of the kit is in the mail .



Still working on crew figures and a camo scheme  for this vehicle . I omitted the interior as you can't see anything with the crew in the turret , so lots of goodies for the parts box .