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In an attempt to enlarge my Medusa collection I picked up the offering from Greenwell Studio quite a while ago. Looking for something to build, I dug deep and pulled this out of my stash pile. First thing I noticed was that her snakes were really tentacles. OK... Close enuff, lets get on with it. In the kit there were 3 tentacles that had to be glued on to the head, with no readily apparent place for them. First job was to find an old pic that gave me a clue. Base colors started - Working on the tentacles - Didn't like the purple on the tentacles, and also changed a few other things. Worked on the eyes and of course goofed one of them up. The R eye is a two timer. 😉 But all done.

With the national called off, I got busy doing some figure painting. The busts are from Nuts Planet, and Youngs miniatures. The girls with the goggles is Honey Bee and I have no idea what company made her (she was a gift). I cheat and use Archer eyes and some other decals on parts of the figures. I did paint the leopard skins on the Hussars free hand. I do make my own bases. The armor I did with Alclad. The rest is oils over enamels. The Opalinski brothers are real people that are also characters in some books by Eric Flint. Dak

Welcome! I can commiserate when a project goes sideways....but just remember it's still only a model! You can start again from scratch if you think something can't be salvaged, or take a little time off like you did and have at it again. Those dioramas look pretty good to me! Glad to have you here plugging away with us! Gil

Wow, welcome to the Forums; what an amazing 'calling card' you posted in that first diorama! Beautiful work! The KV diorama was looking good too, too bad that can't be recovered. I also build 1/72 scale armor; I do my armor exclusively in that scale so I can appreciate your work on that KV immensely. Welcome once again! I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Okay, here it is a week later and I actually have something to show for it. This is another small update for this week. First, I painted the propellers for the A-400 in basic black: And that's all I did on that plane. I guess I was too interested in moving forward on the An-124 instead because I kept going back to it. To wit: While chatting on the phone with someone, I picked up the one wing and started dry fitting the wing fences and engine pods, mostly to see what kind of adjustments I was going to need to do to make them fit: Well, I took some time to make whatever adjustments were needed and the next day, I found myself pulling out my two-part epoxy and gluing them all down. I started with the wing fences first as two of them on each wing needed to be fit under the rear of the engine pods: You can see just how big those wings are. They are overhanging my workspace by half! The next day; after letting the wing fences dry overnight, I added the engine pods: They are still drying there, later I'll have to do some filling and other repair work due to some issues with fit and my not paying enough attention to what I was doing till too late. Meanwhile, I decided to finish the nose section as well. I needed to cut two sections out of the bottom for the nose landing gear. I did that and then proceeded to glue in the nose gear 'bay'... such as it is: This is all you can see of it from the other side. I guess there is no room for hanging gear doors, so this is what you get: Hey, at least I don't have to worry about detailing it! LOL! Now all I need to do is find the missing nose gear strut so I can finish building it.... Oh, I also have to remember to put the ten pounds of nose weight in there so this will sit properly. Now that the wings are done I can actually paint these and the tail feathers a light grey as called for in my chosen paint scheme. After all that work on this monster Russian, I was finally done with planes for a bit. Back on Monday, it was actually cool enough to open my window to vent my airbrush. I jumped at the chance to finish the camouflage on the tank transporters. They were already masked with the Silly Putty so I loaded and shot the brown color onto the tractors and trailers. First the tractors.... And then the trailers: Then I moved and/or added more Silly Putty to cover the brown spots: After that I shot the final green color on top: A day later I peeled it all off and was pretty pleased with the results: You can see I also lost the trailer hitch pad on the HEMMT tractor. Man, I cannot catch a break! Time to rob another kit for one! There is still some additional painting and touch ups to be done, but these are getting very close to the clearcoat and decal steps. Finally! Also, I shot a base coat of green on the BTR, but didn't shoot any pics of it. I'll try to remember to post them in the next update. And that is a full account of my last week at the workbench. It ain't much, but I'm happy. Hopefully there'll be more to see next week. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Both of my metal F-104s together

I think what we have here is a "failure to communicate". This could have been a more positive experience for all concerned and with a more positive outcome than I believe will be derived from any continued commenting on this thread. Tom's appearance on the forum after a self-described average of two visits per 365 days with a question indicates that he has an apparent lack of interest in this forum, matched by a documented lack of participation on this forum. Clearly, those two characteristics (lack of interest, lack of participation) will will bring about the change that Tom seeks. Lesson # 1: Invest time, treasure, and talent in the change you seek. Tom's post was characterized as a "scold" by one reader, and with a "I agree with your comment" by another member. Both Gil and Nick routinely post on the forum so they have made that investment of time and talent in the forum as a communication device. (Please note that it is not significant if you agree or disagree with their message, the point is that they spend time and talent by posting in the forum, something which Tom does not currently do.) Clearly, as evidenced by the opposite reactions manifested by Gil and Nick, the original point Tom was trying to make (an assumption on my part that his goal was to get a link to the Forum relocated in a more visible location on the IPMS home page, and to encourage the launch of some form of group build) was re-directed by Nick's post which challenged the language of the post rather than the goal. Lesson # 2: Stay on topic and don't make the assumption that a person is a forum-terrorist until they prove it. Lesson # 3: The person making the original post has a small window of opportunity to respond positively, and to redirect the thread back to the original intent. Doing so indicates that they are, indeed more interested in their stated goal and are not about to pull the pin on a forum grenade. Failing to do so will result in a continuation of a tedious, pointless, and mundane argument. Lastly, and most importantly, all current participants and any future participants in this thread can quite simply think be they type, making sure that they focus on Lessons 1 and 2. And now we will see who starts talking about Group Builds and Forum links, and who continues to pointlessly focus on negativity. I'll add to the conversation by stating that: Regarding the forum link, p erhaps adding a link to the forum in a more conspicuous location on the Home Page will increase traffic flow on the forum. Perhaps it won't. If it is technologically feasible then what's the harm in experimenting? It will be several months before the numbers indicate any change in forum participation, but change takes time. Regarding a group build............Tom, what do you have in mind as a subject?

The category is there, if and when members choose to make use of it. It is very democratic. I do not believe it is appropriate to scold the Society for not doing more of what one lone person personally thinks is somehow important! Nick Filippone