CarolsHusband

It is the Tamiya kit. It's the early 70's one with about 20 parts but the photo etch extra detail really brings it to life. The clips for the tools on the fenders are proper fiddly. And yeah, Zee Germans would have won WW2 if it had been a cool looking armour competition. It becomes quite obvious that George Lucas based "The Empire" on the Krauts when you compare some of the transports & walkers to German Halftracks.

Evening. Four monthly update on the halftrack. As you may have guessed I've been busy on other things but I got this finished the other day It's going to end up in a diorama with the Flak 88mm so I'll post sunny (and hopefully better) pictures then. Got a a few bits & bobs going on, plus a juicy big one that I got for Christmas. Hopefully back at it soon.

In the other Hako news.... Stupid leaky, pedal to the floor, crunchy gears, nearly through the back of the barn quitter. Yay shiny new different bore/ bit longer/ works just fine shiny Ebay thing. Good enough for a country job. Have been thinking a repaint might be fun either in that factory red or the original dark green metallic, but seeing what happened to @mlracing.co.nz's Hako, I think I'll carry on in blissful white ignorance. / not racially.

After the disappointment of the last kit, I've had a little break & started a new one. I made one of these when I was a kid, I may even have a pic somewhere. This one's heavy on the photo etch additions as it's a really old kit & very basic. Let's hope I can do it justice. I've already pinged a few tiny bits off around the place. Didn't want them anyway.

Ooh, that's a bit more like it. Might have to get the paint out for the cab now... / The weights will probably go. I've already knocked some off with ball joints & brake cooling ducts.

I guess this is finished, I kind of lost my way with it to be honest. Still, have a look. Not sure what's next. Maybe build a couple of dioramas for kits I've already built. Maybe stick to the big stuff until the winter.

16 month update. As mentioned elsewhere, gave it a wash and went for a blast. Thought I'd better do a bit more cleaning,which, as you may have guessed over the years, is not exactly my "thing" but I pulled the interior out and scraped some crap off if. Also, the parcel shelf has been bugging me as it is cardboard & has mostly not been in the car. I got some vinyl & El Danny's Trim Shop was open for 15 minutes. Not much of leap forward, but it all helps. It's at the front of the barn so I'm going to use it as much as poss this summer. Thinking about cutting a coil out of the springs which will drop it about 40mm & putting a big single back-box on. We'll see.

Done a bit more this arvo Italian Kiwi Kamo. Might dry brush the edges, might not. Might also fix that busted suspension I'm seem to have clumsied.

*EDIT* Oops, left a bit out. The new galvanised bed & arches would have come to about £2,200 delivered to the firms UK yard for pick up. Whilst that is a ridiculous amount of money, it is half a truck FFS & would look mint. So I asked for an email address as all this was through FB. Heard nothing back. So yeah, I'll do a bank transfer on the strength of a Facebook page as you won't take Paypal because you've had people taking out claims against you. Sigh. / Anyone got a nice bed for me ? / Not sexually....

Thought it might be interest to y'all, a little side project that's been going on at Shuzz Towers. Stepson is a bit of a blacksmith/welder so we thought a forge in the paddock might be a good idea to keep him out of trouble & off the PS4. Building it out of cob blocks with a lime render as it's a traditional method round here & we're also banking on getting away with it coz it's pretty. Planning wise, it's a "field shelter" so we may be OK but also hoping that Clarksons Law my help us avoid a bollocking. Built onto the bedrock/ well drained brash & ultimately it'll have a live roof. Last image is the rough coat of course lime applied today, followed by two smooth coats in a week or so Pics..

Lame update. As mentioned elsewhere, the old crate passed its MOT once more. I like my Hilux. Rewarded it with new bed sides. There's a tailgate too, but I'll save that pic for next year probably. Also, 33/12.5/15's will not quite fit in its current Litmus Configururation without spacers, so I'm going for 31's on the slotmags. Anyway, pics of new wood & ancient, soon to be fitted slot mags for Fred.

Painted the tracks & fitted some interior stuff on the ARV. Painted the tyres too, but there's no way I'm posting pics of those until they're weathered. It's lucky I like modelling coz it's a pain in the arse.

I bought some recently too. So much better than busting stuff or pinging them off around the place with the knife.

Yeah, fair enough. I'll get on with mine later. / Bet you're glad you've finished those.

That looks like it'll be a fiddley one. ARV has come to a dead stop. I suspect it's waiting outside the same tyre shop as @Indiana_Jones's Stug

Thought I'd better do a post before the thread falls off the page. Slogging along. Paint tomorrow, then camo, decals & my usual laying on of filth & cargo.

That does seem to be the 'correct' way to do it, but I've never had a decal fall off a matt painted finish yet. It all sounds a bit "Emperors new clothes" to me. Surely you'd start losing detail lumping all that paint on. Is there not something called decal fix or similar ? You could always get masks for the markings & airbrush them on....

Also, goals

Plodding continues on the Armoured Recovery vehicle. No modelling time and I'm not feeling it like the HST but will hopefully get painting tomorrow & it'll all be better. Fancy doing the wheels for me, @Indiana_Jones ? /shit pics

Would I use a full size broom or a 1/35th scale one ?

That's looking good. Well, what I can see of it, obvs. Camo looks ace.

I've got to do two more High Speed Tractors first.

I've got a kit of my Chevy in the stash, maybe it should be next on the list. Kind of fancy doing it as it was after it had finished the Alaska Highway & was just a yellow maintenance truck.

That's pretty cool. Buy it, put it in the shed & take it for a drive maybe twice a year...

Keen for a real life M4 High Speed Tractor, Haven't got 120 grand though. sigh. Crowd fund anyone ?