Mark Deliduka

Well, I'm back from Ohio and have a day to myself to get caught up posting pics that were taken before I left. I'll start with my Russian Armored Train. After exhausting and time consuming labor, I finally got all the P/E hinges and detail parts on the engine and tender. It really does make this train look good! Now to do all the tedious work on all the four train cars.... While that was drying, I pulled out my Mercedes 3000 truck and went to work. I got some detail parts, the windows and the fenders and storage boxes installed here, then set it up to paint some more details: Then while looking through the instructions, I realized how close I was to actually completing assembly, so I finished this off with all the rest of the parts. Wow, still pretty rough looking here: After some paint and clearcoat, it's looking much better: Now to figure out how I'm going to mark it. The only options given in the instruction sheet are for two Afrika Korps vehicles (which are painted sand and mine is grey) and one Spanish vehicle from the Spanish Civil War, (which I did not want to do) There are multiple markings on the decal sheet not even indicated on the instructions so I might just use what I want and damn the torpedoes. Moving right along, I painted a camo pattern on my Neubau-Fahrzeug after installing the fenders and various other detail parts: Afterwards, when it was dry, I applied a clearcoat and the decals, then attempted a wash using Citadel's dark brown wash. Epic Fail: While the Neubau-Fahrzeug was drying, I also added the camo pattern and clearcoat to the M1A1 Abrams with minerollers and also attempted the wash with the Citadel dark color wash. Another Epic Fail: Almost makes one want to give up trying to wash. I can NEVER get it looking as good as everyone else's wash! Moving along again, I decided to start another ACE kit, the Kfz 21 that was Rommel's personal car, or one of them. He had about 16 I'm told. After looking at this, you can see why I set it aside after awhile for something a little less frustrating: Yeah, that's gonna take some serous sanding, shaping and fitting, with extensive dry-fitting in between. I'll get back to you on that one later..... On to something a little more easy. These three little gems are being done for a Group Build on another Forum, the camo Group Build. Well, they are almost fully camouflaged, except on that Hobby Day I had left the green color at home so I couldn't paint the wheels that needed that color. Otherwise, they are ready for the P/E, clearcoat, decals and final weathering: Here's the one Ha Go: The other Ha Go, the North China version: And the Chi Ha early version: Finally, here's a shot of them all together: Now I wasn't only working on Armor all this time. I needed to 'cleanse the pallet' once in a while, so I had started a couple aircraft. This first one is Captain Steve Hillman's F/A-18 Hornet from the Independence Day movie. This kit is a Lindbergh kit and going together surprisingly well for a Lindbergh kit! yeah it's fictional, but hey, I have Maverick's F-14 from Top Gun, so why not Capt. Steve's plane from Independence day? This other kit is the Hasegawa F-111 in Australian markings. I'm a bit disappointed in this model because Hasegawa requires me to build this model with the wings extended. There's no option for letting them swing, or leaving them swept (which I need to do to fit this on my shelf!) So, I'm going to go ahead and complete it th3e way it demands I do it. Here's where I left off on this model: Well, that is all I have so far to show. I have another Hobby Day tomorrow where I'll be getting alot more done, and I'll even be starting one or two new kits that I got in Ohio at the Dayton model show. Stay tuned, and as always, comments are welcome.

I'm sure he would. I'm sure having fun with them! Thanks Ed! I wish they were sold in gallon containers! It would make filling my airbrush much easier!

I'll be helping a friend cover his vendor tables, look for a red penant flag in the main vendor room Red pennant flag! Got it! See you there!

Okay, for those who don't get the Boresight, here's a peek at what 545 small scale armor models looks like on top of four tables: That collection now numbers 603 armor models due to the 58 more I built since these pics were taken.

Okay, I'm going to be there! I do hope I can meet a few of you guys! Feel free to look for me and introduce yourselves!

Geez! With all these big kits coming out, you'd think SOMEONE would shrink it down and release it in 1/72 scale, but NO! Still nothing in my scale; and I need about six!

I know hat you mean Jeff! My Dora Railgun has even more parts than that!

Best of luck my friend!

Thanks guys! I love the new issue also. Great articles in there along with mine. For those still reading it; the Shermans all along the top of the page and the other models featured in the "Second Look at Small Scale" article are all mine. The caption for my entire collection is off by a little bit as well. There is actually 545 completed models in that picture, not the 520-something they mentioned. It's cool; that may have been my mistake. Now that collection of finished models numbers 603. Thanks again for the kudos guys! Enjoy that new issue!

Seeing as how I usually finish so many models a year; I think I can fill your order. How many do you need? Or maybe I should ask; how big a box would you like?

Gee, it figures this comes out NOW when I'm long done with my M-50! Oh well... maybe I can use it when I find and start my M-51

Thanks Mark! Thanks Mike! Someday I'll get a count of all the other models I've built so I know how many I have completed altogether. Thanks also for the info on those pressed turrets. That is impressive! I used the term 'cast' because that's what Dragon had on their box and instruction sheets. Thanks Rob! That is a good idea, although I have to see what models I can use for comparisons. Some of my older ones I pulled down and improved with the new skills I learned. Still, that is brilliant. Once I start having a little more time on my hands again, I'll start that little project.

Thanks Gil! I know how you feel about having a setback like that. I'm still dealing with the one I had with the C-130. Not only that, but dealing with that setback and then trying to decal it; I broke off another propeller blade! Hopefully, I'll get that beast done soon! I managed to get more done yesterday at Hobby Day. I'll probably be able to post pics later this week, I hope. meanwhile, I'll keep truckin' and you keep hitting that bench Gil!

I am pleased to announce that after finally finishing all eight of my T-34's which are shown here in this post, I have achieved a new milestone. These eight T-34's have brought my count up to 600 completed small scale armor models! And now, here they are! These first three are all T-34/76 mod 1940 tanks. They are all the same kit from Dragon; I'm not even sure how I managed to get three of the same kit. The two with the red writing and red stars are going to go to my wargame army. Next is my T-34/76 mod 1941: And my T-34/76 mod 1941 with the cast turret: Now on to 1942... My T-34/76 mod 1942: And my T-34/76 mod 1942 with the cast turret: And finally, my eighth T-34/76 mod 1943: And those are my numbers 593 to number 600! These are numbers 601, 602, and 603: Number 601, the German SdKfz 13 scout car: Number 602, the Russian Zil 157 Command truck: and number 603: Japanese Tyoe 95 Kurogane utility car: Okay, those are all the models I've finished in the last two weeks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed working on them. I especially feel good about achieving that milestone. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome!

Okay, here's a pretty long Progress thread showing what I've been doing between jobs for the last three weeks. I've been so busy, I've not been able to post anything until today. Okay, I did manage to start getting decals on my C-130, but they aren't all on yet so I didn't take any pics. Besides, they are the old MPC decals that are thicker than vacuform. I even used Tamiya Extra Thin cement on them to get them to lay down-- nothing else would work!!! I also got the camo pattern painted on the C-160 Transall. She's been clearcoated as well, and as soon as I get her decals out, I'll get them put on when I next can apply them. Here she is just before the clearcoat: All other progress so far is on my armor models. I'll start with the eight T-34's. Two weeks ago, I had them all camouflaged and half were clearcoated for decals. Here they were back then: Now all these T34's are completed. You'll see them all in the Armor Forums, feel free to check them out. Next I clearcoated the Zil 157 Command Truck to get it ready for decals. That happened two weeks ago as well, it looked like this: That one is also finished and can be seen in the Armor Forums. Another one I was working on was this little Japanese Kurogane utility car. I got the windows on it and was waiting for them to dry before adding the top and the machine gun. Here is what it looked like then: It is also now finished and posted with the others above. Now for a few that aren't completed yet. These still need work: This first one is the German Neubau Fahrzeug. I have the camo pattern on it and waiting for more detail painting to be done before I add the fenders to it: Then I painted on the basecoats for all my little Japanese tanks. Later I'll add the camouflage patterns: My M-1A1 Abrams with minerollers now has a basecoat on as well, waiting for the camouflage pattern: And finally, I was able to add a bit more photo etch to my Russian armored train. This is looking pretty good so far! I'm slowly making some progress on that train, it is tedious work placing all that photo etch. That's all for now. I'll be at Hobby Day tomorrow so there'll be a bit more progress to show after that. I just don't know when I'll be able to post it! LOL! Meanwhile, comments are welcome; thanks for looking in! Stay tuned for more!

I finished mine with a couple weeks to spare. That means something considering what I went through! I finished this in the second week of December. these pics show it at my December IPMS meeting. Here it is: Here are some closeup shots: Now hopefully I'll get the Dora done as well.

I got mine: the 1/72 scale Hobby Boss Dora Railgun. I think I'll be starting that in the next few weeks.

And me!

Sweet! I'm gonna be in Columbus that week for two weeks. My brother has already set one of those days aside to attend. I might even bring a few models to enter!

ACE kit? The only ACE company I know does strictly 1/72 scale short run armor kits. I also want to know what scale it is. I've been wanting to get the two of the 1/72 scale ones so I can make one British Airways and the other Air France. This one sure looks fantastic!

I know. Thankfully, all six of my Tigers are already all built! Same with my five King Tigers, 5 Panthers, and eight halftracks.

Today I spent my birthday working on my models, so I have a bit more progress to show. Here is today's latest work. After fixing the C-130, I took a good look at it. I realized I was pretty hasty in applying the paint and camo to this bird; I had a ton more issues to sand and fill so I went to work. Here is my Herc after I got it sanded. You can see where all the issues were: The horizontal stabilizer on the right had broken off the tape was helping it to dry level: Even underneath had a ton of issues: Afterward, I added my Mr. Surfacer 500 to everything and set it aside to dry. After all that, I figured I'd better check my An-12 Cub. Yep, a few issues there too, but fortunately not as many as the Herc: Once that Mr. Surfacer dries, I'll be able to sand both smooth and move on. Speaking of moving on, I also spent some time painting all the rubber on the T-34 roadwheels. I managed to get all eight tanks done: Oh, and for those wondering how I keep all these t-34;'s straight, well, I labeled them as shown here (BTW, the CT stands for cast turret): Along with all of this, I also did a little work on the mooring tower for the R-100 airship; added liquid decal film to a couple sheets of decals and touched up a little on the Russian command truck. Not enough progress on those to show in pics, so they weren't taken. It's a small update, but I'm that much closer to being done with a few of these. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

That's spectacular Mark! I am speechless! Well Done!!

LOLOLOL!!! :lol: :lol: Thanks Gil! I needed that laugh!! Stay tuned, more to come!

Yeah, I was going to suggest Goo Gone. I've never had a problem with it lifting paint, but I get rid of alot of other residue with it. I'm glad everything worked out okay.