Richard

Amen! I do still want to do the up-armored BMP-3 in the variant of the three-color desert they used on their BMP-T "Terminator".

Thanks, Mark. I'm not sure how often I'll do that type of camo. It's a PITA! I wanted to do it once just to see if I could do it. I don't think it turned out too terrible.

Welcome to the Order, Tony!

I've actually exceeded the capacity of my shelves in my closet and have been given permission by the lady of the manor to put up some shelves in our designated hobby room. I'm thinking that if they are staring me in the face more it will shame me into building them, eventually. 😁 I have picked up the pace with my building though. I've already completed as many in 2019 as I did in all of 2018! 😃 My problem is that some many cool ones are coming out that I keep buying more! 😃

I've got the old Revell B-29 kit that I'm wanting to turn into the Soviet Tu-4 complete with motorized props.

You hit the nail on the head, Richard! Remember when the Confederate Air Force was still called the Confederate Air Force?! 😁 Your response reminds me of a chaplain I had in the Army in Germany. If we saluted him he'd flip us the bird! I don't believe that the hobby is dying. Just look at the sheer number of companies putting out products these days! Those companies aren't going to do that if the hobby is going into it's death throes. As far as whether IPMS is dying, I can't really speak to that. All I will say is that if it does then we've got no one to blame but us and that's all I'll say about that (said in my Forrest Gump voice).

I picked up the Trumpy SA-4 Ganef kit from Squadron as a "Hey, I didn't run anyone through a wood chipper over the holidays!" present! When I was a SigInt puke back in the late '80s to early '90s we used to call these things "Volkswagen Launchers". My wife ordered me something else from Squadron that was supposed to be for Christmas but it turns out will be for my birthday on Jan 8. Still no clue as to what it is! 😄

I've finally completed a kit! For me it's nothing short of amazing! 😊 This is the Trumpy Type 63 107mm rocket launcher. I've got the Revell-Germany MAN 5T Mil GL truck about to move to the paint booth right now.

Wow! Very nicely done! I like the pock-marks on the top of the glacis plate! Top notch work!

Thanks for the tip! I'm going to give that a whirl once I get to the painting stage, hopefully very soon.

Yeah, Tamiya paints are pretty much all I use. I like that they clean up easily and that the acrylics can be thinned with rubbing alcohol. So what do you think about what I mentioned about the issue of the decals and the HS technique? Here's a pic of the Tunguska turret: The flat surface just to the left of the missile racks each has the Russian equivalent of a bumper number on it or a emblem of some kind. My gut says it will be safer to do the paint chipping over the desired area then put the decals on and seal it. The whole piece is like an inch and a half long by an inch or so high.

I haven't used the Tamiya clear before. I've always used Future. I've got about 3/4 of a bottle that I bought over 10 years ago. I was looking at it the other day and it looks to be yellowing a little bit. I don't do that many models, about one or two a year. I've been away from it for about a year doing other things, ham radio, competition pistol shooting, etc. But I always find myself coming back to my first love.

What if I was going to do this on an area that was going to have decals? Here's my plan. I'm working on the Panda Tunguska kit and it has these panels on each side of the missile rails. I was going to paint these panels Russian armor green, then the hairspray followed by white and/or gray (all Tamiya acrylics). Should I put the decals on before the hairspray, seal them with Future then do the hairspray or should I just chip the area large enough for the decals to fit then put them on? I'm thinking I want it to look like the vehicle was originally green then deployed to an Arctic base where the camo pattern was applied; but they still wanted the vehicle number or insignia to be visible. It makes more sense in my head than it does here probably.

I'm going to have to try that hairspray technique one of these days. Everyone that I've seen use it seems to get great results! I actually broke down and bought my first Mig pigments last week, Gun Metal. I've always just done washes and called it a day.