RalphSarc

Look what came home with Carol and I today!!! It was my first time driving the Gemini and it was truly a wonderful comfortable non-stressful drive home!! Now I have to figure out how everything functions!

Mail Call! Looking forward to building this 1/35 Trumpeter Paper Panzer for the second time!!

Oh wow I’ll have to look into the Soviet kit. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mail Call. Tamiya 1/35 Matilda Mk.III/IV is in the stash!! Although the blue is cool I really like the 49th Royal Tank Regiment, 35th Army Tank Brigade, England, 1942 color scheme!!

Tamiya 1/48 A1H SkyRaider (Navy). I understand this is an amazing kit so I look forward to building it soon.

I ordered a metal barrel, PE engine grille set, zimmerit decal set plus a tow cable set.

LOL just barely!!

Yeah it’s a pretty cool Paper Panzer.

After suffering through the build of that awful Monogram Me410B kit it’s nice to return to the perfect engineering of a Tamiya kit. Finished step one assembling the suspension parts to the lower hull.

Tamiya 1/35 King Tiger with Production Turret build thread (July 2025) After my Sherman E8 build follow along as I rebuild possibly my most favorite armor kit in an ambush scheme. In order to counter the increasing threat of Russian tanks during the latter part of the Second World War, Germany began development of a new heavy tank in February 1943. Officially designated the Panzerkampfwagen VI-B Tiger II, but better known as the King Tiger, it featured thick armor and a powerful main gun. Henschel and Porsche, who had prior experiences in the manufacturing of heavy tanks, came up with rival prototypes incorporating different turret configurations. After trials, the Henschel design was adopted for production. The King Tiger carried the Type 43 L71, 88mm high velocity main gun which was capable of penetrating 170mm thick armor plate at a distance of 1000 meters. Auxiliary armament included two 7.92mm machine guns mounted on the front hull section and on the turret. The extremely thick armor on the turret front measured 185mm and 88mm on the side panels. Power for this massive tank was supplied by a Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 cylinder, liquid cooled engine, producing 700 horsepower. The King Tiger went into mass production at the Henschel factory beginning August 1944, following the delivery of the last Tiger I tanks. Although the tank possessed advanced technology and sophistication, only 430 units incorporating the Henschel turret came off the factory line, and less than 500 total were ever available for combat.

This morning I attached the cockpit doors using PVA glue plus installed the radio antenna mast. Once all is dry I’ll begin masking the canopy.

It was poorly engineered to say the least. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about trashing this kit! It’s an awful piece of …….

Was super thrilled to see this Trumpeter 1/35 German E75 Flakpanzer (Paper Panzer) finally, after many years, pop up on my Amazon back in stock list today! I built it once before using rust techniques as it would have been found abandoned in a testing area at wars end. Yes the Dark Side Devil made me order it, lol!!!

Mail call!! Tamiya 1/35 US Medium Tank M26 Pershing! Somehow while I was on our RV trip my stash started to grow! How does that happen??

I’m letting the canopy dry so I can mask it off tomorrow then I can begin painting the fuselage.

Okay this is a totally cool technique to add interest to either a armor or aircraft build. The Diraccos 1/35 Scale Camouflage Netting I ordered from Amazon and its painted with XF-26 Deep Green, XF-68 NATO Brown and finally XF-85 Rubber Black.

Okay this is a totally cool technique to add interest to either a armor or aircraft build. The Diraccos 1/35 Scale Camouflage Netting I ordered from Amazon and its painted with XF-26 Deep Green, XF-68 NATO Brown and finally XF-85 Rubber Black.

Good Lord the canopy was a nightmare to align properly!!! Since the Me410B will sit on a base hooked to shore power cart while being serviced I opted to have one canopy hatch open with the remainder covered with a tarp and possible camouflage netting.

Back to the Me410B this morning while enjoying my coffee. Did a bit of detail painting of the cockpit using my acrylic pens to highlight switches etc.

Oh thanks for the suggestion I’ll definitely look into them. During our recent RV trip I did a lot of research into early version camouflage schemes. I’ve also been watching a few new YouTube channels specifically tuned to weathering and detailing armor builds. I’m very excited to try some new techniques on my future builds.

Thanks so much. Apparently the OD and black camouflage scheme with black markings became very popular amongst E8 crews nearing wars end. Plus I agree stowage really does add interest plus tells the story of the crew living and fighting in their tanks. I particularly like the bike!!

Successful day! Crew figure and 50cal painted and installed. Next comes a gloss coat, decals, weathering and a final coat of flat clear!!

Tamiya 1/35 Pz Kpfw IV Ausf. H Early Ver. Kit arrived today!

Back home and back at the Me410B. Painted the cockpit XF-63 German Grey so I can do some detail painting tomorrow, mask and install the canopy and then prime the fuselage.

I’m looking forward to building both. Probably build the SkyRaider as a buddy build on my The Basement Air Force FB page.