West German Leopard

This one is also just off the press.

This is the 1/35 Tamiya Leopard. another great kit and one I also enjoyed building. The only problem area was the front armour plating, it seemed a bit warped and needed to be clamped down and finished with some putty. I scratch built the 2 canisters at the rear of the turret as they weren't worth using. The barrel was not the best fit and needed alot of putty and sanding to get  a reasonable finish. Paints were all Tamiya acrylic, starting with an overall flat black, with the olive green final colour. I washed it with some oil paints, and finished with a light dusting of earth powders. The tracks were painted firstly in steel, then red brown, got a light sanding to expose some of the underneath steel and then washed with thinned down rust (testors). Let me know if it was too much. All comments welcome.

Heinkel HE 111 H6

Hi Everyone,

Just finished this one so it's hot off the press. 1/75 Hasegawa Heinkel HE 111 H-6. I really enjoyed building this craft. Most of it went together pretty well. The areas in question ( could of been my own mistakes) were the wing to fuselage fit, the undercarriage bomb bay. Anyway, I decided to finish it in dessert colours, All Tamiya acrylic paints, I used the AIMS decals collection part 2  - VG+ES Wk. Nr 4085, I also used the Eduard mask set as there was no way i would of attempted this kit if there were no masks for it.
this was my first attempt at pres-hading so I'm not sure how visible it is, I hand brushed a thinned down flat black, but i recon I will try airbrushing it next time.. The only scratch building I did was the pilot tube and i lost the fuel hose and had to scratch build one.
Overall i would recommend this kit with someone with a few kits under their belt. comments welcome

1/72 Airfix Beaufighter TFX Trench Art

Hello again,

I've been looking at this kit in my stash for quite a while now. I go to start it, think about what i need to do  and then I keep putting it away. Then one day I was surfing e-bay and came across some trench art aircraft when I had my light bulb moment. So here it is. I really should invest in a photo booth because it was real hard to get good photos with a metallic finish. By the way the aircraft was finished with Allclad Chrome. I will eventually mount it to a base and it will sit proudly on my work desk.

Thanks Leo`

1/48 Tamiya Dewoitine Tobruk de Torch

Greetings all,

I've been at it again. Here is my latest build for my local club challenge. This model will be going into the National Model Expo. 1/48 Tamiya Dewoitine D.520. What a pleasure to build this kit, everything went together easily, the only area i had issues with were the side windows. This was no fault of the kit, just my bad habits I suspect. The cockpit is pretty much stock with the exception of Eduard belts and I used aftermarket dials (decals) on the instrument panel. she was painted with ModelMaster enamels and the decals are from Iliad. They went down beautifully. I gave it a black water colour wash. First time I've done this and I think it turned out OK. I need more practice though. Any tips in this area would be appreciated. Finished off with ModelMaster Matt lacquer. Please post comments.

Cheers - Leo

Latest build Tamiya 1/35 Sturmgeschutz IV

Hi everyone,

Just finished this fun build of the  Tamiya 1/35 Sturmgeschutz IV. The only aftermarket bit is the barrel, when looking at the kit one, the choice was obvious. I also scratch built the tow cable at the rear with fishing wire. The antennas were made from stretched sprue. Probably the only thing I didn't like were the one piece tracks. Although they fit well, It was pretty hard to get the seam marks off. Otherwise everything went well together. Tamiya paints were my preferred option with an undercoat of red brown followed by desert yellow. I painted the interior flat white.  I tried the salt effect and I thought this turned out pretty good. The model was finished with oil paint washes and powders. I recon I over did the weathering and will probably tone it down for the next build. Please tell me what you think.

Till the next build.

Cheers - Leo

1/72 Dragon Jagdtiger

Hi all,

This one is hot off the press. We have the 1/72 Dragon sd.kfz.186 Jagdtiger Porche production with Zimmerit. This kit went together without any problems, except for the rear exhaust plate. There was this huge gap that after looking at some photo's wasn't meant to be there. I had to grind away some of the top armor so it would fit better. Painting was done with mainly Tamiya acrylics. Started with a red brown undercoat then a coat of desert yellow, masked off the appropriate areas and finished with Humbrol flat white (best flat white on the market in my opinion). went a once over with clear flat lacquer, and then weathered it with pastels. My inspiration came from the Tiger article in Fine Scale Modeller FEB 2011. This is only my second armor model and i enjoyed it immensely. i feel there are more armor builds on the horizon. As all ways, comments welcome.
Cheers - Leo

1/72 Legato RE-2000 & 1/48 Tamiya A6M3

Hi all,

First up for 2011 is the Legato 1/72 RE-2000 in Hungarian markings. Pretty much OOB except for the pilot tube and seat belts. I finished it with Polyscale acrylic paints. They are ok and have a great range to choose from but have difficulty spraying them. I'm not too happy with how the camo turned out, as it was meant to be thinner green lines over a yellow base coat. I've just purchased a new airbrush so wasn't confident with the type of finish so i went with the good old blu tack.

Next is the 1/48 tamiya A6M3 (old raised panel line kit) I haven't finished a Tamiya kit in a long time and forgot how good they go together. The only addition was the seat belts (Eduard). Paints used were Tamiya acrylic and went on well. all in all an enjoyable build. The only thing I'm not happy about is the paint chipping. I've just bought a Tamiya silver marker and I obviously need more practice.

please comments everyone and don't hold back.
PS: I know my photography leaves a lot to be desired but am working on that.

Cheers - Leo P