Tommygun

Love it. Its going to look great. I'll keep watching.

Made some progress over the weekend. I cut a section out of the plywood spine to take the upper part of the receiver with the cocking handle. This I turned and routed (7mm) then drilled and screwed it to the spine. I turned another, larger diameter part that holds the bolt. 2 sections were cut from this and glued either side of the spine underneath the upper part. The front end of the upper part was turned down to fit inside a section of 22mm steel tubing, This forms a sturdy socket into which I will later fix the front end of the rifle. I am now building up layers of filler between the two wooden sections. The screw heads will eventually be hidden under other components.

Hi, I am new to LSM and have just picked up this build. Great work, I love this type of model making. I will watch with great interest'

Thanks for your comments. Materials will be mainly wood, including balsa, which is easy to shape. I then resin coat any softwood to firm it up. Many of the details will be made using plasticard (up to 2mm). I will make some details with epoxy putty. Some metal will be used (rod and tube). The whole thing will be held together with glue and screws. In order to maintain strength the finished item will have no moving parts. It must, however, look totally realistic - that will be my aim.

Can't help with your decision, although if it were me, I would definitely go with paint. It is a build I would love to follow, hope you make that start.

I have decided on my next build - the historically important StG 44 Assault Rifle. Hitler was against its development but it did become the first of its kind to see major deployment - however it came too late to have any effect on the outcome of the war. STEP 1 Several searches of the Internet resulted in a good selection of photographs and engineers drawings with detailed measurements. I also found, and purchased a set of reproduction grips. Using these images I produced a full size (94cm overall) picture and printed it out on 5 sheets of A4 paper. I split the build into two halves to make it easier to shape. The assembled images were spray-glued to a piece of 12mm ply wood which will form the rigid spine of the model. The shape was roughly cut out with a jig saw and then carefully trimmed with the scroll saw. The left grip helps to check everything looks OK.

Does look good - impressive modelling.

Big improvement on the old Airfix offerings. Nice work, look forward to the finish.

Very nice work indeed. Will you be doing D-Day markings - I love those stripes.

UK gun law regarding deact/replica ownership is a bit more relaxed, although, strangely, there are restrictions sending a replica gun through the post but no problem if you order a deactivated one! - go figure!! As for my next build Dave, It was going to be a MkV Sten Gun but I am tempted with the German WW2 StG 44 assault rifle. The StG looks more daunting but I have found some working drawings on line. Many thanks for the interest. David

Just found this post. Looks cool in the matt finish. Great modelling.

Great detail in 1/72 - very precise - good looking build.

My completed build - full size (1:1) scale Thompson M1A1. I bought a set of genuine original woodwork for £40 (stock and grips) for this project. They came complete with all the metalwork, incluuding butt plate and sling swivels. I have a genuine set of M1A1 stock and grip screws let over - I am hoping to recover some of the cost by selling these on ebay. The rest was built using wood, plasticard and some metal rod and tubing. Paint and weathering was a mixture of rattle can and air brush using acrylics. Plans purchased from the internet (www.john-tom.com/ReplicaFirearms/ReplicaFirearms) The model is posed with 2 geniune 30 round magazines and a reproduction sling (with genuine metalwaork). Hope you all like it - I can't make my mind up yet for my next build - I will keep you posted. Regards David

Very nicely modelled. Lovely choice of paint scheme. It certainly pays to take care when lighting and photographing a model. Regards David

Added the final details on the weekend. I made a simple mold from epoxy putty and impressed a screw head (wear damaged) into it. When set I cast 4 dummy screw heads, again using epoxy putty. These were then painted and weathered - (photo A). The original woodwork was fixed to the model with modern wood screws (photo . The modern screw heads are hidden by the epoxy dummies with great effect. Surprising how little details can add so much to the look of a model. (photo C). That's this build finished. Thanks to all those who have showed an interest and have made comments. I have taken some shots of the completed model and will post them in the 'finished build' section.

Thanks Dave, appreciate the comment. I think I might fall foul of UK law if I tried to sell them.

Thanks for your comments guys. My build is nearly complete. Last evening I applied a couple of coats of Johnsons Future polish, with a brush. This gave a convincing level of 'sheen' and darkened the grey. Today i added a 'patina' using Atelier Artist Acrylics - Ivory Black and Burnt Umber. The burnt umber added a warm weathering tone - a hint of rust maybe? I did not use the burnt umber on the magazine, nor did I do as much weathering. I wanted the look of the gun to differ from the magazine as the two items would not have been together for the whole of their lives. The difference is noticeable, yet subtle, and adds a lot to the overall character. On the stock is the original screw and washer, the finished effect had to match these original items in their finish. I have ordered a sling from ebay today, and I still need to add a couple of details. I will post some photos next week, hopefully when the sling is attached.

Back to my build. I have been away for a couple of weeks. Today I started to paint and weather the M1A1. I began by airbrushing Tamiya Dary Grey with a little black added. I sprayed this on in sections, rubbing back with a tissue, dampened with isopropyl alcohol, to show some of the underlying steel paint. (upper photograph). This looks a little obvious so I lightly sprayed over it again to make it more subtle. I did rub back again here and there again to bring out the steel paint. The gun now has a matt finnish and looks a liitle light. Tomorrow I will brush on some layers of 'Future' to add shine which should deepen the look. I will then add patina with some oil paint washes.

Thanks for the interest Dave. The main core of the body is a block of pine onto which the Original woodwork can be directly screwed for strength. The barrel was turned and tapered from an old broom handle on my lathe - I turned a smaller diameter plug on the end to fix it into the pine core.. The core was then built up using pine and balsa wood. Balsa is easy to shape and sand. When I was happy with it I coated all the balsa parts in epoxy resin, allowing it to soak in and harden. A lot of sanding and filling with epoxy putty and squadron white putty. The details such as magazine catch, retaining spring front and rear sights were built using laminations of plasticard - up to 2mm thick and carving or sawing (scroll saw) to shape. The magazine was mostly plasticard with some balsa shaped to support the curved part. Other bits were made with metal tubing and rod etc. Several good coats of yellow filler primer (plus sanding) followed until it looked O.K. David

Many thanks guys. My odd post is deleated.

The high quality Bluing on the earlier Thompsons was modified somewhat on the M1 & M1A1 in order to keep the cost down. I have the original butt plate on the stock, together with photos (like the one below) to give me a guide. Should be interesting though. The painting will need to be put on hold as i am working away for a couple of weeks. But I will post more photos as the build progresses. David.

Being a newbie I made a mistake in a post. I know I can edit it (and I have) but can I simply deleat a post?

I got one in my stash. I would be very pleased if it looked as good as yours. Great plane, great scale, great modelling.

Looks really good. Love the weathering.

Hi everyone, I am going to jump in right here. - I joined LSM to share my interest in model making. My subjects are machine guns of WW2 to the ultimate large scale of 1:1. I have built 3 to date, the first two were made for my grandson but, as my interest grew, I modified my building methods and became more concerned with getting the detail right. This is my 4th model – a Thompson M1A1 of WW2. I began with a genuine set of M1A1 woodwork and downloaded plans from the internet. The build is practically complete at the time I found LSM. There are a few details still to make. I sprayed the finished build with a yellow filler primer prior to painting. Then I sprayed the whole model with Simoniz Wheel Steel acrylic spray paint from Halfords. This is the stage I am at currently. I will need to think about the final finish as it needs to reflect the age and the patina of a WW2. It will be a dark grey of some sort with some dry-brushwork and some oil washes to bring it alive!!! I hope my buid interests some of you, It would be nice to make contact with someone else who has tried this. It would be great to share ideas. Anyway, here are the photos I took a few moments ago. (The grips are temporarily attached )