Right out straight!

That's right fellow modelers, I am busy as a one armed paper hanger... whatever that means. I know it's been a month as of today since my last update but I have been very busy at the bench working on many projects.

Both of the little armored cars I posted earlier are built and ready for paint. The Russian BA-64 will find it's way into a little vignette, abandoned on the side of a muddy road in the snow, with a few Germans using it for cover. I have most of the various sub assemblies for this scene complete and just need to start painting them and putting them together. The BA-64 itself will be the focus of my latest project, one that I hope to make public by the end of September. I apologize for the cloak and dagger secrecy but that's how these things go.

So here's a look at the various pieces, as well as the basic layout idea assembled. No photo booth for these, just right off the bench.















Just a quick note before I go. My captured German half track seen in posts below will be in Military Modelcraft International's September issue, which goes out around the middle of August if I recall correctly. You can see a small photo of it there on the cover in the bottom left hand corner. My thanks to editor David Grummitt for the opportunity to work with him and Michael Rinaldi for putting in the good word.

June 30th, the SMA contest comes to a close

That's right, as of midnight tonight the contest is officially over. Voting will be sometime in the next week or so and now, after three months of light stress, the long wait begins (like a week or so, but it seems like forever when you have models entered)

This year was three time larger than last years in terms of entries, so the competition should be much tougher. We were given three months instead of two and this year I actually managed to enter two models, the Sd Kfz and Ma.K. below.


Here are a couple views of the finished products.


























For my next projects, I have decided to keep them small and simple and as stress free as possible. I will try to keep this blog updated with these builds and cover as much as I can about the builds, the paint and the weathering. I have chosen two small vehicles for my next builds and unless I become sidetracked with other stuff, this is what I should be posting here for the time being, once I've taken a break and spent a little time away from the bench.


See you all soon.

Who's the Ma.K. daddy?

Sorry, that was pretty lame eh? In my defense, it's been a very long week of working in the rain and tonight, I'm off on hols.

(that's 'vacation' for the rest of my fellow Yanks)

I thought I'd pop in and make a quick appearance before I take this much needed break, and just mention a few things and then post a few in progress photos of what's currently residing in the front spot of the work bench, which the title alludes to.

I've been playing around with a whole bunch of new AK Interactive products that made their way into my mail box, so much of the bench time has been experiments and trial and error stuff. So far I'm loving everything I've tried and will make sure they get some time in the spotlight here in the near future.

The Scale Model Addict 'Big Spring Contest' is about to come to a close. This is the second year and it's twice the success of last years so far. Not including the 'All Open' category we have about 133 entries all jockeying for the over $4000.00 dollars in prizes. I have two entires in this year, one in the diorama category, (the half track seen below) and one in the sc-fi category (which until these photos I'm about to upload, has been fairly secret). I am no where near done but I have about a week until I need to make sure I get everything done. Will I make it... that's anybody's guess but I will try like hell and enter anyway.

Lastly just a quick mention that I have been toying around with the HobbyBoss M3A1 Scout Car, so far I'm pretty thrilled with what I have seen but I will try to cover that in more depth in the coming months.

For now, I will leave you with a few progress photos of my Ma.K. Panzer Kampf Anzug Wapruf (K). The oils are still wet in these photos (hence the shine) and nothing, including the groundwork should be considered finished at this point. You should however get a feel for where it's going.

Getting there fast

This build is coming close to the end, my captured Sd Kfz 11 late half track is nearing completion at this point, although every time I really look at it I can see just how much more I need to do. There's quite a bit actually, and this is just sub assemblies posed for the photo.

I've been sidetracked with other stuff lately (my 1/72 Finemolds Millennium Falcon) but managed to put in a few nights on this to get where I am now, at any rate it's begining to look the part.


Enjoy/Comment/Critique.

Moving right along

Well,

this whole 'what if' thing is really getting my attention lately. Truth be told, it's such a refreshing way of modeling. The lack of strict rules and restrictions is really nice, I'm free to be totally artistic for the most part and ignore the reality of it all. I'm not 'hating' on reality bit it is nice to escape it once in a while.

This doesn't mean that my love for creating accurate representations of half tracks from old photos is dead and done with but I am really enjoying my current vacation. Here's a few shots of what's going on, from the booth and the bench.


Hope you enjoy.

Pardon the silence

...if you will.

I know it has been quiet here, as I find things besides this blog distracting me. The end of winter and the subsequent warming up of the days have allowed me to get stuff done outside.

I have been modeling, just not here on the blog. I have been assembling a bunch of kits for a project in the works and then as of April 1st, the Scale Model Addict second annual 'Big Spring Contest' kicked off. Recently at the last show I attended I picked an odd kit (for me) and paired it up with something unexpected, yet logically possible, to create a 'what if' model which isn't something I do too often. I just liked the lines of the half track, which will allow great painting effects and the cargo was something I had kicking around in the stash. I threw in a modified Alpine figure by changing the hand molded to the thigh and adding another Alpine hand and weapon to the carved out sleeve, a Hornet head just to alter the figures look ever so slightly more.


I don't have any good pictures for that I apologize, only right on the bench as I began to finally see what I was imagining. The kits are in loose, sub-assemblies just posed for the pictures, just to get the idea, I am just completely swamp with stuff and promise to get back here the next time I come up for air.

Until then my friends, I'll give you a glimpse...



'Finders Keepers'