Quote from: zenrat on September 27, 2024, 05:39:48 AMMy mother says "more haste, less speed".
And she's usually correct.

Exactly what my mum said, until I "dilly dallied" then I'd get a "will you hurry up for heavan's sake, I haven't got all day" 

Quote from: Old Wombat on September 26, 2024, 10:31:06 PMThe prop blades are fine (actually one of the better props I've seen/used), but the scratch ... let's call it what it is ... the gouge above the left exhaust stacks is one of the worst offences.

How visible is it from 6' away?

Quote from: zenrat on September 27, 2024, 05:39:48 AMIt looks great considering the time you did it in.   

So how did you gouge it?  If it had been me it'd be when I was hurriedly clearing paint out of the slot for the exhaust and just grabbed the knife which fell closest to hand rather than using something better that wasn't immediately visible.  Well, that's what usually happens anyway...

Thanks, Fred!

Cause was very similar to what you described; to get the exhausts to fit (I had already ensured there was no paint by masking the inside of the slots) I had to sand down the bases until they were rice-paper thin, & they were still sitting too high, so I had to try to scrape out the bottom of the slot .... with the first knife that came to hand.

So my mum was right again...   

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Quote from: zenrat on September 28, 2024, 02:55:18 AMWhy do we do this to ourselves?

It's pennance 

When one fails to make sufficient sacrifice to Styrene she blocks common sense & guides one's mind along the path of stupidity.

Sometimes when I'm trying to work on something and I have to sit back and take 5 minutes to settle myself then go back and actually accomplish something. Especially when my fingers start to shake. Last night I actually looked at my fingers and said "OK, are you done now?" It worked.   

Quote from: kerick on September 29, 2024, 10:56:13 AMLast night I actually looked at my fingers and said "OK, are you done now?" It worked.

Whatever gets the desired result.   

So, I spent part of last night & all of today cleaning up the work bench & modelling room. There's a bit of mess off to the left, in front of the computer & further to the left past that, but it's much better than it was.

Mind you, if you go by the image below, you may find that last statement difficult to believe;



This is because I started on my next build straight after dinner!

It's another Real World build, but one I have some decent (but far from perfect) photographic references for.

In fact, it's this M3 Grant;



https://guyplachy.smugmug.com/Malkara-M3-Grant

Used to observe/film the Malkara anti-tank rocket tests at Woomera in the early-1950s.

As I intend getting this one "right", I'll be taking my time &, possibly/probably, diverting off to do other, rather more "me" builds to escape this Realism thing.

First one of these is likely to be a "dark Santa" figure, using the Northern Wandering Knight figure from Pegaso (75-129);



Then, maybe, back to the RAMs pre-war exercise (Vickers Mk.II*), for which I have 3 more vehicles to complete & at least 2 more figures ... Or I might go off on another tangent, somewhere else completely.

For what it's worth:

I'm using the Airfix (Academy) M3 Grant for this build & have already had to hack into it.

There are a surprising number of small changes made to the Malkara Grant & they're adding up fast.

I'll definitely have to go back to the museum & take more photo's to get some of the details right.

Got to get back to doing daytime stuff, now, but I'll be back with a photo or two of where I'm at tonight.

The Aussies in WW2 did make quite a few changes to their Grants even before they went into combat and then made even more once in combat..your probably having to deal with even more modifications for this vehicle with some of the combat mods still present in a small part mate .
This sounds like fun 😁 😂

Sounds like you'll be having fun, anyway - looking forward to seeing it progress.
(said in a completely NON-"Hurry the Flock Up" way... just so's there's no mistaking my intent... )

Quote from: Wardukw on September 30, 2024, 08:51:55 PMThe Aussies in WW2 did make quite a few changes to their Grants even before they went into combat and then made even more once in combat..your probably having to deal with even more modifications for this vehicle with some of the combat mods still present in a small part mate .
This sounds like fun 😁 😂

I'm not sure Aussie Grants ever saw active service during WW2, there is mention of "M3" tanks of the 2nd Armoured Division being deployed to the Buna-Gona campaign, but the 2nd operated both M3 Grants & M3 Stuarts, & I've only seen mention of Stuarts in the books I've read that cover this part of the overall Kokoda Campaign. After that Matildas, & the occasional Stuart, were pretty much our only active combat tanks (plus a few captured Italian tanks in North Africa ... Oh, & Crusader Mk.IIs plus some captured Renaults in Syria).

From 1942 to 1944, after the threat of invasion went away, Australia wound down from 3 armoured divisions to one armoured brigade, with all the troopers being re-trained as jungle commandos.

Quote from: Old Wombat on September 30, 2024, 10:08:38 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on September 30, 2024, 08:51:55 PMThe Aussies in WW2 did make quite a few changes to their Grants even before they went into combat and then made even more once in combat..your probably having to deal with even more modifications for this vehicle with some of the combat mods still present in a small part mate .
This sounds like fun 😁 😂

I'm not sure Aussie Grants ever saw active service during WW2, there is mention of "M3" tanks of the 2nd Armoured Division being deployed to the Buna-Gona campaign, but the 2nd operated both M3 Grants & M3 Stuarts, & I've only seen mention of Stuarts in the books I've read that cover this part of the overall Kokoda Campaign. After that Matildas, & the occasional Stuart, were pretty much our only active combat tanks (plus a few captured Italian tanks in North Africa ... Oh, & Crusader Mk.IIs plus some captured Renaults in Syria).

From 1942 to 1944, after the threat of invasion went away, Australia wound down from 3 armoured divisions to one armoured brigade, with all the troopers being re-trained as jungle commandos.

The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum have a couple ..well many more now ...Grants that are vets ..some with the original wire mesh shields still on em ..there anti grenade screens made in the field and that makes em super rare vehicles indeed .
They have a bloke who's a walking encyclopedia on the M3 and he's rebuilt a few and owns more...im pretty sure he's the one I'd talk to.
He's just finished one for the museum..damn he's good 👍

The "rust-oration" rebuild. Yeah, I watched that.    

I'm fairly sure it was he who mentioned that the Grants never saw combat with the Australian army, somewhere during either that build or the previous one.