PENNCON 2012 Central Pensylvania IPMS Show - Awards

As I wrote in previous post, on September 15th I attended Penncon 2012 Show, organized by folks from Central Pensylvania IPMS. This year I placed on the tables 6 of my models, and I brought home some awards :) In fact, each one of my models received the medal :) It was quite successful day...
Thank you guys!

Penncon 2012 - Awards

Click "READ MORE" to see awarded models.

1/72 "Cat & Mouse" MAUS Dragon - Gallery

More pictures from my completed "Cat & Mouse" project. I used model of Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus (Dragon), resin building walls (Tiger Dioramics), resin cobblestone street (own production), crew figures - mix of resin & plastic figures, infantry from WWII German Army with Camouflage Cape set (Ceasar Miniatures).

1/72 Maus Dragon Diorama

1/72 Maus Dragon Diorama

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Completed

Finally Cat & Maus project is finished and I found some time to get the pictures. Everyone knows why Maus (Mouse), but where is cat? Now, you'll know 
Everything assembled and mounted on the base. Here's the result (probably could be better...).

1/72 Maus Dragon Diorama

1/72 Maus Dragon Diorama

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 8

Again, a little step forward... I did a little bit more work on city scene. I added mixes of various pigments to get more dusty, full of debris look, followed by weathering with artistic oils. The street lamp received its top and some shattered glass inside.
I also decided to add two German posters from the period (printed on laser printer). Results are below:

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 7

At last I got to the step where more colors start to show up. All the elements received number of acrylic colors, followed by some oil washed (here and there...). Below are the results.

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 6

Long time passed by since I did any work on this project... but eventually Little Boss allowed for some activity.
I've added some rubble and debris on the base.

1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc Dragon - Completed

Finally Firefly Vc is completed. Crew was mounted in their hatches (placing the driver was really tricky :)). Terrain was made with mixture of pigments, white glue and matt varnish. Vegetation was done with different products from Silflor and Polak companies. Decals came from 1st Polish Armoured Division Part 1 set by Armo (72408). This Firefly received markings of 1st Squadron, 2nd Regiment, 1st polish Armoured Division, in England, during Spring 1944.

1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc Dragon - Workbench Part 5

Some family matters prevented me from more often posting, but hopefully everything will get back to normal. However, in meantime I was able to spend a bot of time modeling.
I managed to assemble the crew for Firefly. Parts for them came from Milicast British Tankers, Preiser RAF mechanics, and Airfix donated parts for driver. Here are three musketeers:

Before painting them, I checked if the fit into the hatches

1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc Dragon - Workbench Part 4

Since Firefly build is coming close to an end, I decided to start working on the base for it. I sculpted base it using DAS (air drying sculpting clay). After shaping general terrain layout, I added tracks impression on the ground, with DS tracks from another Firefly... It still needs some more detail, but here's general idea of it.

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 5

Small progress, despite constant time shortage...
I casted from resin two parts of cobblestone street with sidewalk and assembled one base from its partials. Dug out some ruins from my collection, which initiated my work on the base.

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 4

While working on both Shermans, I also took care of Maus. First clear coat, with some unwanted texture, little bit of sanding and more clear gloss. Next I applied decals.

1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc Dragon - Workbench Part 3

Work on Firefly continues. First some problems... I applied Johnson's Clear, which resulted in a bit rough texture and also darken the tank. I sanded it down a bit and few more coats of gloss clear. I was ready for decals. I used decals from Polish manufacturer ARMO, set 72408 1st Polish Armoured Division Part 1.

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 3

Spending evening at the workbench, I could not abandon my little Maus :)
Maybe it's not too much progress, but at least I'm moving forward.

1/72 MAUS Dragon - Workbench part 2

 In previous part, I ended up with Maus painted with base color. Sometimes I have crazy ideas, and decided to try Digi Camo on this beast. Initially I thought it would be much quicker, but apparently I was wrong. Let me cover this process step by step...
It takes masking tape, scalpel, and lot of free time accompanied with patience. First masking layer on.

1/72 Sherman Firefly Vc Dragon - Workbench

Another Sherman on the workbench, but it's a braille scale this time. Quick built OOB (out of the box), without any modifications. I wanted to try slightly different approach with the paint job.

There were no surprises during the build, so could move on quickly to painting stage. First, grey primer Mr. Hobby Surfacer 1200, then black pre-shading.

1/72 German Panzerkampfwagen VIII MAUS Dragon - Workbench

During one club meetings I bought Maus tank model kit from one of the members. Initially I was little bit hesitant, but he convinced me I should give it a shot since I already have built E-100.
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built.
The complete vehicle was 10.2 metres (33 ft 6 in) long, 3.71 metres (12 ft 2 in) wide and 3.63 metres (11.9 ft) tall.
Weighing 200 metric tons, the Maus's main armament was a 128 mm KwK 44 gun with a coaxial 75 mm gun. The 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all enemy armored fighting vehicles at close or medium ranges, and even some at ranges exceeding 3500 meters.

 

1/72 Abrams 1st Cavalry "Desert Shield" - Dragon

Publishing my builds I almost forgot to mention quite important one for me. It was my first model built after 10 years break, first tank in small scale ever. It was also a present for friend of mine which served in 1st Cavalry Division during Desert Shield & Desert Storm. I decided to build model of his tank during these operations.

Mark in his earlier Abrams

To achieve this goal, I bought in local hobby store 1/72 Abrams model kit by Dragon. In fact I had no choice at all, since it was the only one Abrams in 1/72nd available there.

1/72 E-100 German Heavy Tank, Dragon

Another of my builds is WWII German heavy tank E-100. In fact this vehicle never entered the service, and only one hull was completed.