Gents; the rescue boat is done!  Sehr gut!  Just need to finish its base to mount it.  Now back to that motorcycle.  What’s a transmorgifier again and what color is it?? 

A short video of the boat.  Auf wiedersehen.

– Chris

My latest build in progress, this is the AMT Garwood trash truck. So far it has received a MASSIVE scale ride height adjustment (think between 5-8 inches!) a conversion to “super singles” and the conversion of the engine into a 428 SCJ with an 8-71 Cragar supercharger. For when the trash needs picked up RIGHT NOW. Lol. We will see what sort of tricks I will have to pull out of my hat to get the cab floor to clear the motor, and if the body will fit over the rear tires without further modification.

This is the cab height I am hoping to achieve. Which may be a struggle given the intake scoop is just below the bottom of the rear window! 

Here is the interior tub cut out to clear the ludicrous engine. These cuts were required to allow the cab to pivot on its hinges and sit level on the frame.  The following photo shows the drivers seat riser I made from styrene to cover the aforementioned cuts and allow the seats to fit over the engine.

Here are the seats mounted to their risers. And lastly the cab, now attached to the modified interior tub and mocked up to the frame. Looks like I have achieved the cab height and stance I was looking for!  The goofy wheel offset has been fixed by shortening the interior hub surface, I just forgot to take a photo, oops!

Paint work almost finished. The cab is pearl white and red metallic. The body is gloss white, with pearl white in the outer recess of the body and metallic red on the inside. Still have the “tailgate” portion to finish as well as the interior of the cab.

Here is the interior all finished. The seat height for the driver isn’t as crazy as I had feared it would be.  Detail work on the cab also nearly finished. The Ford lettering on the nose required a dose of Jamiesons to steady my hand a little :p

And here she is almost complete. Detail painting of the compactor, decals and if I can find a diagram online routing all the hydraulic and air hoses. Photos make the compactor appear unpainted, which it most definitely IS NOT. I’ll just have to bring it to the March meeting and show off a little…

– Ross

Okay gents. The Luftwaffe rescue boat is getting closer to its first rescue on the Channel!  The pilot house is in and just about all the wood tones are painted.  Left to go is the install of the windbreak glass panels and the real fun begins-the weathering to make it look like it has a tough go of it in the choppy waters of the North Sea and the Channel

– Chris

Hey gents here are some update photos of the Luftwaffe rescue boat.  The hull sides are given several light layers of a grey-white paint.  The pilot house is pretty much done minus the windows-thanks to Scott for supplying the clear material for the windows!  The cabin deck has been started but has a ways to go but not so bad so far.  See the aircraft recognition poster!

– Chris

The Luftwaffe used the same boat as the Kriegsmarine captain’s gig.  The Luftwaffe used it however as a rescue boat to pick up downed aircrew in the Channel.  Here is the boat in work.  It is 1/35 scale.  The pilot house had zero interior so I scratchbuilt what you see inside it.  I added the hand bars on top of the house using evergreen strips.  I primed it a bit to see how it was coming along and where extra attention needed to be applied.   
The picture of gear that will be eventually added are from various 1/35 accessory kits.   Will keep you posted on progress!

– Chris

Gents. Here is the finished Gepetto scene.  The he figure set is from Andrea Miniatures 54mm metal figure set.  Acrylics were used for the figures but lacquers were used for the flooring and the work table.  I used a block of walnut wood from the garage for its “woodshop” look. 

– Chris

In a comment on another post, Ross demanded updates from other members, so I figured I would update you guys on my lack of building progress.

I will be out of the state for the Richmond show, so my deadline for contest entries has been slightly extended with NOVA being the next target in April. I don’t believe my motorcycle will make it (it’s going to need a base and I need to develop those skills a bit first) but fingers crossed for the Bonanza. My 3D printing side gig is taking off and proving a bit difficult to keep up with, but that just means more money for kits I’ll never build!

In the immediate future, I’m working on an article to be published in the Mentor Monitor which is a quarterly magazine put out by the T-34 Association, which I’m a member of through my job. I’m going to be covering as many of the different scale model kits available for the T-34 Mentor as i can and trying to give comparisons between them. Here are some of the photos I’ve been accumulating for that project.

– Chad

Taking a brief break from one type of plastic in favor of another. This is a truly enormous AN225 in 1:84 scale if the package is to be believed.

This thing is so huge my work area is actually too small to contain it. The package it arrived in weighed 13 pounds!  In photo two you see my Harbor Freight bin set up I use to separate the parts for assembly.

The wings fleshed out, then the six engines assembled and installed. To those who may be wondering this build took about twenty hours spread out over ten days.

Anyone have any spare hangar space they are willing to rent me for cheap?

– Ross

Gents; wrapped up 3 busts.  One is a para about to board; another is soldier from Easy Company in Bastogne; and the third is Capt Miller of Saving Private Ryan.   I like these large bust figures as you can have fun with the faces.  Enjoy

– Chris

Here is my latest kit-bashing project, A Ford Galaxie taxi with a V12 SOHC engine shoehorned into it.

The chassis for this creation is that of a 57 Edsel Pacer (!) whose wheelbase perfectly matches that of the Galaxie. As you can see the kits chassis pan needed quite a bit of work to accommodate the Edsel frame.

All buttoned up. The wheels, tires, and engine for this project came from TX3D customs, a vendor that I have grown to love very quickly. The interior hosts seats from a Fujimi drift car, and a Sparco steering wheel.

– Ross