June 23rd, 2008
AFV Club M5A1 Stuart
Another small and simple model. I really
can't finish all the models on the bench before moving to
the next. But I try and sometimes manage to do it like I did
with the Pz 38.
The model is progressing at a very fast
pace. The hull is ready for paint and the turret only needs
a couple of hours of work. This was one of the fastest kits
I've made. And with beautiful detail.
AFV Club gets a 10/10 on their quality. A
definite winner!
the M5A1 page
June 10th, 2008
Tristar Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf G
This model was waiting for one year on the
bench.
Now
it's time to get it done. And it's moving fast. I'll be
using some new techniques and some new products. I'm curious
about the results
the Pz 38 Ausf G page
May 30th, 2008
Staghound Mk.I
It took me a while to finish it. In fact it
was almost ready for a long time while other kits entered
the "assembly" line. I decided to finish it and it ended up
as a very nice model.
the Staghound page
May 16th, 2008
Legend Achzarit
After many hours around this kit, it's
almost ready for paint. This will go in my list as the most
complicated kit I assembled.
But I have to give credit to Legend as they produced a very
credible replica of this odd vehicle. Too bad the effort is
huge. It would be a lot simpler if they just took some time
to make decent instructions.
the Achzarit page
Apr 4th, 2008
Strange vehicle huh? This is the best
armored APC in the World. It's the Achzarit, and I lost my
mind and got one resin kit from Legend for building this
awkward but somehow appealing APC
Apr 22nd, 2008
Tiran 5
and the paintjob that almost ruined it
It was close. I almost messed painting the
Tiran. But I was able to save it. Don't try this at home.
the Tiran 5 page
Everyday since the last report I've been
working on this one. I'm really hooked on this build. A lot
happened and it's look good. In these two pictures you can
see how changing the height of the suspension significantly
changes the look of the model. It looks more real. And
that's we are trying to achieve. That's the nirvana of
modeling - Realism
Apr 4th, 2008
Israeli armor seems to be the trend of the
week for me LOL. I had this one in my sights for a long time
and I decided to have a go at it.
The building is under way and I'm having a
lot of fun with it.
Mar 16th, 2008
Tiger I Late
My first Tiger I is very near completion.
It's painted (Lifecolor Acrylics) and it's only lacking a
few minor details.
It really came out good, don't you think?
the Tiger I page
Feb 18th, 2008
I just started the Tiger I late from Dragon.
A very detailed kit that may destroy your patience. After
building a very simple kit (T70), building this one makes me
wonder couldn't be more painful.
The detail (absurd in some cases) turns a fun hobby into a
laborious and sometimes tedious activity.
Every time I start a Dragon kit I swear I'm not going to do
it again.... But I do. And you probably know why: Dragon
makes the best and most accurate kits on the market. In
spite of all the aggravation I get handling with those tiny
pieces, I always love the final result.
You can see a few pictures after building is complete.
Painting is the next step. Stay tuned...
Mar 9th, 2008
T70 Early
Done.
Well, almost done...
Just a few finishing touches still missing and another one
joins the fleet. I really enjoyed building this model.
Miniart is now on my favorites list.
the T70 page
Feb 3rd 2008
I had a this kit in the stash for a few months already and
now it was just the right time to start it.
It's simple, it looks good and 'm still waiting for a few
things for others kits.
the T70 page
Jan 27th, 2008
Back to business
From the shelf to the bench was just a matter of minutes.
This Kit released by Italeri seems to have enough potential
to make a fine model.
the Staghound page
May 27th, 2007
Painting a bust
Sometimes is not bad to try other things. After painting a
figure to complement the Pz. Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf G, I wondered
if I could paint a figure that could do a good model on it's
own.
A few searches on the net brought Young Miniatures to my
attention. This Korean brand makes the finest busts you can
imagine. Beautiful figures with incredible sculpting, and in
the middle of the product line there it was - a DAK Officer
bust. There's no better way to try one's abilities in figure
painting than a top notch piece.
the bust page
May 4th, 2007
The Hetzer featured in Armorama
Here it is. The Hetzer (that took so many hours to build) is
featured in Armorama. The photos really do make justice to a
kit I'm proud of (drool stop)
the Hetzer page
Apr 30th, 2007
Kit Maker Network and Armorama
There are things that really make you wonder. Since I
(re)started with static kits, Armorama has been a daily visit.
It's an amazing site about this art (more than a hobby) where
you can find all sorts of fantastic models built by very
talented people. They have been my source of inspiration and
news. Reviews, Photo features and a bunch of very knowledgeable
people on the forums made me try to improve my modeling skills
from the beginning.
In fact one of my models won the Model of The Month award in
July 2006 to my surprise. It meant that I was probably on the
right track.
During April I submitted the link for this site to them, hoping
that they would include it on the huge list of sites featured
there.
Not only did that happen, but I also got an email from Jim
Starkweather (the owner and founder of the
Kit Maker Network)
asking me if I wanted to be a contributor to the site as
an Associate Editor.
I was honored to say the least. Being invited
to contribute to the site I see as my reference is nothing short
of an honor. And a huge responsibility too. Everyone expects
that any review or feature I write is useful, well written and
worthy of being there.
I accepted of course and I'm now Associate Editor
of Armorama.
And what is this site? Have a look, but a long look because
you'll se something that is ranked very high on my personal list
of useful and well maintained sites on the Net.
I hope I can help maintain that high quality that I'm used
to see.
Apr 15th, 2007
Tristar Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf G. on the
bench
Another one started. I still have to decide
which version I'll do. The command version is very appealing
with the huge antenna, but I wanted to make a Dunkelgelb
version to try the pre shading techniques that become much
more evident with lighter colors.
A Panzer grey tank can end as a very
monotonous model is things are not done right. Am I ready?
We'll see.
From what I've seen the model is very good
in terms of surface detail. Don't ask me about accuracy
because I just know what I read. There are much better
persons out there that can point each and every flaw of the
model.
The CMK resin motor is very nicely detailed
and for the price, it was a real bargain. That's what I'm
doing right now and I'm liking it. On top of that the resin
is odorless unlike the Legend resin of the Merkava. The huge
casting blocks are the only complaint I have. Thank God for
the Dremel ;)
the Pz.Kpfw. 38 page
Apr 14th, 2007
Finito!!
After a few more hours of
painting and detailing the Luchs is finally
over.
I painted it with the new LifeColor range
and I found these colors to be very good. The final result
is very nice and I guess it captures the look of this recon
tank
the Luchs page
Apr 2nd, 2007
Building (gluing and detailing) is complete.
A coat of medium grey reveals flaws and things to correct.
Painting is close. After all it's the part
that I really like. I'm eager to see the outcome of my
efforts.
the Luchs page
Mar 25th, 2007
The first challenge is complete. The
workable suspension. Very nice.
the Luchs page
Mar 22nd, 2007
The building of tht Tasca Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf.
L "Luchs" starts.
And what a kit it is!! The moldings are
excellent in every sense of the word. The level of detail on
the surface is awesome. Expensive but well worth it.
Be tuned for the build log.
the Luchs page
Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. G
Some info was put into the new Stug III G
page. Not much but enough for you to know that the new Smart
Kit from Dragon is in the stash...
I'm becoming like all the modelers I know.
The pile grows faster than the kits I build. When the
calculations for the number of kits match my life
expectancy, I'll stop buying kits.
Yeah, right...
the Stug page
Mar 10th, 2007
Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
Painting ze Commander of ze Tank
Since my first tries with armor, I decided
to give them a little extra.
The logical thing to do is a display base
that puts the model in context. For this figures are a must.
But painting figures is an art in it's own right and if a
figure looks bad, then it looks terrible.
As usual, I decided to paint the best I
could by looking at the most amazing examples of figure
painting you can find.
I did find a few and my jaw dropped with the
detail and realism of some of the figures we can find on the
Net. Was I up to the challenge?
I tried and I'm still trying and every
figure I paint it looks better and better. This one is still
in progress but it's looking very good by now. Much of the
work is made easy by using excellent figures like the ones
from Alpine.
the Hetzer page
Mar 5th, 2007
The will to finish the Hetzer finally made
me do what was missing. Painting and detailing are under way
at a very fast pace.
Amazing the amount of hours one can spend
doing a kit. All the details, those that no one will see and
the ones people will find absurd take hours and hours to
achieve.
I'm very proud of this one considering it's
my first camouflage job. I guess I nailed it
the Hetzer page
Feb 7th, 2007
A proper mess
It always amazes me how a small detail can
really mess everything
Cyber-Hobby is renown for having a terrible
customer service (not the USA importer, but the one that us,
Europeans are stuck with... Hong Kong)
They don't reply emails, give little or no information about
the status of a given order, or even worse, "forget" to send
you the tracking number for your order.
This happened to me:
I made the order in November 2006, the 7th to be exact. A
couple of days after the order I received an email saying that I
would get my kit (this is a limited series, remember?). One
or two weeks after that, another email informed me that the
kit was going to be shipped the week of 20-25 of November.
And I waited... and waited... and waited.
After a couple of emails sent asking about the details of that
order to no avail, I decided to ask the "community" what was
their opinion on Cyber-Hobby.
And what a better place to do
it than Armorama where they advertise?
After an "acid" post, with replies of solidarity, much to my
surprise the following day I had one email from Cyber Hobby giving me the
tracking number for the order (after all I paid 39% just for
P&P) and informing me that there was something wrong with
customs in my country.
That's when hell breaks loose!!! When
customs comes into play, that's Armagedon!!!
I tracked the order that was sitting in
Customs there
since the 22nd of Novembe,. I should have received a letter
asking for the details (invoice, CC balance etc etc), but strangely I received no
communication from them in order to present the documents. Why?
I called... It seems that the letter
addressed to me was returned because of incorrect
address (??). When the person on the phone told me the
address, I could see it was perfectly correct, so the
postman
was on a bad day for sure.
In spite of having a correct address and a
phone number, customs did what they do
best - Wait for something to happen. The problem is that
the packages are returned to the sender after one month, and
we were in the first days of February!!!!
Diligently I sent all the details I had and
the copy of the Credit Card transaction for them to confirm
the cost of the order. I sent them my email and asked them to contact me if something was needed (silly
me, I should know better).
They called me during work in the
middle of a meeting and I could not answer. And they did
what they do best (again). They wait...
After a couple of days I called again and
they told me there was something missing - An Invoice.
Without it they would not give me the kit in spite of having
the value for it (remember the CC balance?)
To cut a long story short, I went there in
person and presented them
with the much needed invoice and finally got my kit intact
after 45 minutes there.
I was lucky for two reasons. The kit was not
returned to the sender because they had a huge amount of
work during Christmas and they were just starting to return
unclaimed items
and because the post on Armorama opened the eyes of someone
at Cyber-Hobby and that person decided to reply.
If it was not for this I had spent 48€ on a
limited series kit that I would never get.
That's the importance of a small e-mail or a
decent online shop.
Jan 13th, 2007
LAV 25 Piranha
Another one to build. It's not like I bought all these kits
the same day. I just decided to update the pages today ;)
the USMC LAV-25 Piranha
page
Tasca Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf L "Luchs"
Another addition to the German WWII collection. Excellent
detail on a kit with a high price tag. But it's worth it,
believe me.
the Pz.Kpfw. II
Ausf L page
Nov 21st, 2006
Tristar Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf G.
After enjoying the build of the Hetzer so much I knew I had
to build a coupe of variants of this little Czech tank.
Kit and aftermarket parts are ready for the
build. After the Hetzer is completed I "guess" that this
will be the next one.
the Pz.Kpfw. 38 page
Nov 6th, 2006
Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
Soldering photo etch has become very easy to
do. Practice makes perfect they say. And it's true. No more
ciano glue everywhere, no more scratching the excess glue
from delicate metal parts.
PE was made for soldering.
The Modelkasten tracks are done. )6 links on
each side, 192 pins for each side and a couple of hours to
complete each of them.
What a marathon. The work is tedious but the
result is very nice.
the Hetzer page
Oct
30th, 2006
JagdPanzer IV L/70 Johann Huber
This kit is a limited edition released at
the Dragon Expo 2005. During the build of the Hetzer I
started to like these tank killers more and more.. The
logical step was to get one.
Oct
28th, 2006
Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
The gun is a project in itself. Lots of small parts, from
the sight to the guard.
And on top of that it moves and if it's not assembled with
care we can mess everything.
I've done some weathering on the gun although it will not be
very visible from the outside :( . Anyway, it's complete and
I'm approaching the phase I love the most - Painting the
camouflage!!!
the Hetzer page
Oct
26th, 2006
I've
applied some weathering on the interior. The next phase will
be the application of pigments (not too much) on the floor
and places where typically the crew puts their boots.
The engine compartment was highlighted with an light oil
wash to add depth and to create light and shadow effects.
The gun assembly started and already I've lost a small part
to the carpet monster (sniff sniff)
the Hetzer page
Oct
23rd, 2006
The
detail on the interior is pretty much complete. I don't want
to go overboard because in the end this interior can barely
be seen.
Much more important is the look on the outside. That's what
people will see. I've put some cabling and weathering on the
interior is the next phase. More detail in
Hetzer.
the Hetzer page
Oct
21st, 2006
The
Hetzer interior goes on at full speed. There are a lot of
details, plenty of colors and photo etch in abundance.
Its a pity that most of this detail can't be seen when the kit is
fully assembled.
That's one of the biggest ironies of the hobby. The place
where we spend most of the time, no one will see. Oh well,
at least I know what inside and I have the photos to prove
it.
the Hetzer page
Oct
18th, 2006
A new model is on the way. After trying to find a Dragon
Tiger with no success, cyber-hobby releases Wittmann's
Tiger (13./ Panzerregiment 1 - July 1943 Operation
"Zitadelle")!! Of course, it's ordered
Oct
17th, 2006
Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
The
Hetzer is progressing. A couple of hours per day. Not bad
considering my daily schedule.
Very nice kit indeed. Every detail that I build makes me to
believe that it'll end up being one very nice kit.
I've finished painting the Ivory white inside
the hull and the Field gray will follow soon. It's turning out
really nice.
the Hetzer page
Oct
12th, 2006
The stash is getting bigger. The latest
arrival was the Sherman M4A3 - Battle of the Bulge. My first
try at WWII Allied Armor. The content of the box looks very
nice. Metal Barrel, metal ammo rounds, excellent cast turret
detail and link by link tracks. I'm becoming an expert at
this (lol)
