Stop by the roadside

1
March 29, 2023
What can I do with these?
2
March 29, 2023
Build the vehicles OOB? Nah - the kit has some annoying deficiencies, so I can't leave well enough alone 😉
3
March 29, 2023
I can see some fun potential updates here
4
March 29, 2023
Not as much to do on the Greyhound - we'll see how I feel after I work up the GMC CCKW
5
March 29, 2023
First thing - make the rear truck tires into something resembling two separate tires - first with a saw, and finish with a file.
You can see I did a better job centering on some wheels than others - still better than the racing slicks Revell started us with 🙂
6
March 29, 2023
Before and after - added a grill, removed/replaced the molded on headlights and added the headlight guards
7
March 29, 2023
Cut in some door and hood details with the hobby knife - one of these days I need to get a scribing tool
8
March 29, 2023
Makings of a windshield
9
March 29, 2023
Finished windshield and another experiment in scratchbuilding in 1:144
10
March 29, 2023
Windshield fitted on
11
March 29, 2023
Spent some time filing down the mudflaps - still not sure if replacement with PE is warranted
12
March 31, 2023
Not sure if I'll rig up a cover for the cab, but already much happier when compared to OOB
13
March 29, 2023
Started a bit of work on the Greyhound - shaped the headlamps a bit, added guards, and added a machine-gun barrel that was missing from the turret
14
March 31, 2023
I think I need some jerry cans - after some quick carving/sanding, ready to go
15
March 31, 2023
Time to plan layout
16
March 31, 2023
OK, preliminary layout in place - need to find some really small pebbles to fill in the planned wall
17
March 31, 2023
Created a quick rig to make appropriate width tracks and rolled it around a few times
18
March 31, 2023
Added mud flap supports (who knew those were necessary) and tailgate handles
19
March 31, 2023
I was wrong when I said there wasn't much to do on the M8 Greyhound. Since Revell kindly provided a couple extraneous machine guns that were meant for the LSM kit, why not put them to use (I know it's not the right gun - some surgery will be necessary)
20
March 31, 2023
Test fit of the ring mount - yes I could be neater with my putty application...
21
April 1, 2023
One steering wheel, coming up (spokes are from a 1:700 F6F prop)
22
April 1, 2023
Oerlikon to Browning conversion complete
23
April 1, 2023
Getting fence posts ready
24
April 1, 2023
Posts in!
25
April 1, 2023
Probable final layout
26
April 1, 2023
Turret is kinda bland on the interior - lets try an ammo rack or two
27
April 1, 2023
Test fitting - may need more tinkering
28
April 1, 2023
OK, ring mount and gun for the Greyhound, rear view mirrors, steering wheel, and gear shifts for the truck

Never expected that detailing at 1:144 scale would be so fun 😉
29
April 3, 2023
Some cargo for the truck starting to shape up
30
April 3, 2023
Cans and boxes
31
April 3, 2023
Rifle boxes
32
April 3, 2023
Getting landscape ready for painting - we'll see how the static grass turns out after priming - may need another application or two
33
April 4, 2023
A coat of paint on everything - need to plan out (and practice) the weathering
34
April 4, 2023
Added a circle for the truck hood insignia - turned out ok but I'll touch up after applying the star decal - not happy with Revell for not providing more decal options 😉
Tried something with the headlights - hollowed them out and stuck a tiny piece of aluminum foil in each light - not sure if I'm going to add a drop of clear glue to each
35
April 4, 2023
Everything starting to come together - need to work on the P-51D Mustang, and waiting for some N-scale figures in the mail
Need to figure out the dirt and grass color a bit...
36
April 5, 2023
Borrowing a bit from an F-14 cockpit for the CCKW dash 😉
37
April 5, 2023
Dry fitting the cockpit parts
38
April 5, 2023
Not happy with the "2-D"ness of the Eduard PE cockpit walls
Made some details for both sides, and redid the seat back cushion to better fit online refs
39
April 6, 2023
Back to the vehicles - jerry cans need straps, Browning needs a cradle
40
April 6, 2023
Ammo racks installed in the M8
41
April 6, 2023
Not sure what possessed me, but the truck headlight guards have crossbars to further protect the lights, so they're on now - I'll just leave it at that
Revell also provided a spare tire, so let’s do something with that in the dio…hmm, we’ll need a 3-ton jack too.
42
April 6, 2023
So all of the cockpit builds of the P-51D show the battery wired up in the radio compartment, so lets see if we can do it in 1:144 🙂
Other cockpit parts are painted up in the background and ready for test fitting
43
April 7, 2023
The figs are here!
44
April 7, 2023
Is this too busy? What's with the horse??
I did put down some more static grass, but I need to add some long grass and other small plantings before everything is ready for final landscape painting
45
April 7, 2023
I think I'll give the front passenger tire a flat and put the spare and the jack with these two guys
Need to consult a few refs to see how much needs to be done to convert railway workers to soldiers
46
April 7, 2023
A couple bystanders
47
April 7, 2023
Everything is moving along!
Note: I bought a pair of opthalmic scissors (nice deals on Ebay) to help with cleaner decal borders, but they have been a Godsend for all sorts of tasks (eg trimming rigging, microsurgery on stretched sprue or thin plastic card, etc)
48
April 10, 2023
Cockpit together, battery wired up, and details added in
I didn't like the PE control stick, so made one out of stretched sprue and shaped after a couple applications of Tamiya extra-thin
49
April 10, 2023
A surprise guest
50
April 10, 2023
51
April 10, 2023
First coat of paint on everybody - in the background left is a late addition that I'm adding to the scene to give Maj Broadhead a better reason for visiting this part of the field
52
April 10, 2023
Forgot the seatbelts - now they're in
53
April 10, 2023
Put in the bits for the truck cab and the windscreen...which I promptly knocked off while weathering 😛
54
April 12, 2023
Farmer, wife, and horse are ready
55
April 12, 2023
Soldiers, not so much
56
April 12, 2023
Need to load up the truck too
57
April 12, 2023
Colors getting a bit closer to what I want, but still needs more layers to blend all the static grass and "dirt"
58
April 12, 2023
Moved things around a bit from the initial layout - the addition of the outhouse moved the truck to the other side of the road and switched the side of the flat tire
59
April 12, 2023
Now that everything is together, the MG and ring mount look a bit overscale 🙁
60
April 12, 2023
Haven't put the door on yet
61
April 14, 2023
Did I bit of work on the grass and dirt today while I wait for the primer on the Mustang to dry - I think it's looking pretty good, but I'm a bit nervous about fixing the pigments - we'll see what a quick low-pressure spray of matte varnish does
62
April 14, 2023
Primed up
63
April 14, 2023
Added all of the PE bits that Eduard included in the upgrade kit
64
April 14, 2023
Had to putty, sand and reprime around the cockpit (yes, I opened it up - hope the glass isn't too overscale thick)
65
April 17, 2023
Last little bit of construction - paint can and brush to go with the work on the fence
66
April 17, 2023
All aboard 😛
67
April 17, 2023
My first try at pre-shading
68
April 17, 2023
I may have overdone the dirt/mud weathering
69
April 17, 2023
Made sure to get some gunk on the mudflaps 😉
70
April 18, 2023
Main colors on!
71
April 18, 2023
OK, trying strips of PTFE thread tape to mask the prop spinner
After note: worked as a mask, but next time use white tape - the blue tape left residue like blu-tac sometimes does, and it's really obvious on the yellow
72
April 18, 2023
After reading some other threads, decided to try masking and airbrushing the stripes rather than using the supplied decals
Happy with the result with one caveat - the stripes on the wings may be a bit narrow. May just mask one side and correct with a brush
73
April 19, 2023
Decals on!
I did end up widening the wing stripes 1mm or so - much happier with them now
74
April 19, 2023
Most parts on, waiting on gloss coat to cure and on to pin washing...
75
April 20, 2023
Pin wash applied - fairly faint panel lines, but I'm satisfied with it
76
April 20, 2023
Learned that Vallejo acrylic on acrylic (Pledge/Future coat) pin wash can work, just need to use Vallejo airbrush thinner to remove tide marks and excess wash
77
April 21, 2023
I've always hated brush painting yellows - I had to correct so many times on the spinner that it ended up that lumpy mess on the left - realized a nice coating of gloss medium might smooth it over, and voila - smooth prop spinner!
78
April 21, 2023
Weathered and satin coated - I'll live with it
79
April 21, 2023
All done!
80
April 21, 2023
A lot going on on the road - on the field, not so much 🙂
81
April 21, 2023
How many guys does it take to change a flat tire?
Tire guy was adapted from paper waving guy in photo 45.
82
April 21, 2023
Not sure if he's mad about something
83
April 21, 2023
Yeah, I need to work on my weathering techniques - otherwise, this was a fun build
84
April 21, 2023
Figure pose just happened to work well with this
85
April 21, 2023
86
April 21, 2023
Not much else going on today, I guess
87
April 21, 2023
A nice little kit, I just wish Eduard had included the other gas tanks with the model - the paint guide shows the paper wing tanks
88
April 21, 2023
He's kinda working on that fence...
I'm very happy with how the paint can and paint brush turned out
89
April 21, 2023
I need to figure out the correct camera settings for taking pictures on a white background - I think I like these on my cutting pad better
90
April 21, 2023
Colors look different without the white background
91
April 21, 2023
I doubt this ever happened, but lets just say there was an outhouse on the outskirts of the airfield at Leicester 😉
92
April 21, 2023
The action - I really like how the rear view mirrors turned out
Kicking myself for dull-coating the whole dio with the truck already in place - the windshield lost some of its transparency
93
April 21, 2023
Added a bit of special cargo 😉
94
April 21, 2023
95
April 21, 2023

Comments

26 29 March 2023, 00:40

JC
Gonna be following this 👍

29 March 2023, 02:18

Spanjaard
Me too

29 March 2023, 23:46

Jv
Me to
Fantastic scratch work on this scale

30 March 2023, 11:36

Tyson Tu
Thanks all, welcome!

30 March 2023, 15:07

Tyson Tu
I'm thinking that some figures will be necessary for this one - any suggestions? At 1:144, they're a lot harder to find than 1:72 🙁

31 March 2023, 19:29

Spanjaard
The are some, but not many...

31 March 2023, 19:47

Tyson Tu
Turns out N-gauge is pretty close to 1:144, so I'm going to see how they work out - rail workers should be pretty easy to convert to soldiers - I hope 🤞

1 April 2023, 20:30

Spanjaard
sure, that is always possible.

3 April 2023, 08:33

Tyson Tu
Got the figs in the mail - the Preiser casting is amazing for that scale! Time for some cleanup and we'll see how they work with the dio

7 April 2023, 17:07

JC
Can't wait to see the final dio, the horse is definitely an inspired move lol.

13 April 2023, 01:08

CHE Scale Model
Hi. It looks great. I just have one small tip or criticism or whatever you want to call it 😄
In my opinion the rocks, road and the vehicles are too glossy. I think it would look more realistic if it would be much more matt.
But don´t worry, just my personal opinion 👍

13 April 2023, 06:37

Spanjaard
adding details to a cockpit in 1/144?.... that is usually considered beyond insanity....welcome to the club Tyson Tu 😄 😄

13 April 2023, 08:06

Tyson Tu
Thanks all for the likes!
@ JC- definitely happy with the horse - it adds a spot of color to all the otherwise olive drab bits 😉
@ CHE - thanks for the comment! - I'm always worried about shine, and the inks/washes tend to leave things with that glossy finish. I still have a few weathering layers to add to everything, but I'll definitely finish everything with a matte varnish 👍
@ Spanjaard - thanks for the warm welcome - happy to belong 😀

13 April 2023, 10:58

Tyson Tu
Just a quick update today - after all of the figure and vehicle work - realized I still had a plane to build 🙂
Also had my first experience using pigments on the landscape, and it worked well - now I just need to fix it without blowing it all over my workspace...

14 April 2023, 21:50

Patrick Hagelstein
Hi Tyson! Watch a couple of Luke's clips for inspiration and tips on the landscape: youtube.com/@LukeTowan

14 April 2023, 22:10

Tyson Tu
Thanks for the advice Patrick! His videos are great for tips and tricks 👍

Now I just need to go get some small spritzing bottles…

14 April 2023, 23:44

Patrick Hagelstein
You're welcome! ☺️

15 April 2023, 07:21

Tyson Tu
Thanks all for the likes! This has been a fun project and I'm excited to bring it all together in the dio.

20 April 2023, 11:55

Tyson Tu
I had so much fun with the diorama, I'm getting a tiny bit frustrated with my "learnings" on the plane. Since I work in an open part of the house near the kitchen, I'm sticking with acrylics only. I know this isn't optimal for weathering, but I'm trying to work out ways to get it done. A few learnings:
Vallejo airbrush thinner is great for removing excess wash or pigments
Vallejo airbrush thinner can eat right through the gloss coat and into the primary coat if you let it
Mixing pigments with iso alcohol causes a very heavy application that bonds instantly to Future/Pledge 😞
Black pigment is way too dark for the scales that I work in

Live and learn - I'll upload new pics of the completed dio later today if I'm not too embarrassed with how the Mustang turns out 😳

21 April 2023, 15:33

Spanjaard
If you want a pin wash that is harmless to future or other acrylic varnish, try florymodels clay wash, works like a charm, and can be varnished again (with acylics) without any problem

21 April 2023, 18:12

Spanjaard
About weathering... ideally you need to used enamel since it should not affect the acrylics, but there are other methods, like using g pastel etc (I have not used them, to be honest)

21 April 2023, 18:17

Tyson Tu
Thanks all for the likes! This one was definitely about breaking out of my comfort zone and picking up some new skills.
@ Spanjaard - I've really appreciated your advice - I'll definitely look into the clay wash - I've seen the great results on your Zero model 👍 For the pastels/pigments, I need to experiment a bit more with using a medium to put it down or just brushing on repeated layers and fixing the stuff in between layers
We'll see how things go, as I'm moving back to my 1:700 comfort area for my next project, so definitely different types of weathering 😀

22 April 2023, 11:27

Spanjaard
Glad to help. Beautiful results on the dio. 1:160 figures seem to work well with 1:144 models. I received mine a few days ago. I guess that as long as they are not mixed (figures of both scales) in the same duo, it is ok

22 April 2023, 13:56

Tyson Tu
Thanks Spanjaard! Looking forward to seeing what you do with your figures 😀

22 April 2023, 17:17

Album info

Planning a chance meeting in the British or French countryside.

P-51 and a couple Army vehicles

WW II roadside stop

95 images

1:144

Completed

1:160 Railroad personnel, passengers and passers-by, Workers, Animals (Preiser 79000)

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