Having fallen off the horse making a mess of my last build, , I’ve decided to climb back on with another build, .
I’ve purchased two Mirage kits, 1/72nd Lee and Stuart tank, not sure how good they are, but I like the look of early war tanks, .
The idea is to show them crossing a jungle ravine so, as usual, I’ve started to create an A4 size base. Starting with broken bits of polystyrene I created the basic shape and then coated it with a cement/diluted white glue mix.
That’s a really nice scene mate .. how did you build the rock wall up ? It’s very realistic . Is the DDay scene on the shelf now? Those 2 wagons you had done looked lovely as well…
Whaaaat?? How did the last one go wrong, did I miss something? Whatever, that rock wall er rocks. For a moment I saw that first photo and thought “WTF? Mount Rushmore?”
Thanks to Lee, Fred, and Richard for their kind words and positive feedback, I think it would be good to team up with a railway modeller and work solely on the scenery Fred,.
John and Tim - Thanks for the feedback, the ‘making a mess’ was the D-Day beach scene…I tried a protective layer of varnish on top of the Woodland Scenics water, there was a reaction…thousands of bubbles appeared. Should have read the destructions, it said the varnish would react with materials that have a high level of moisture, …so it’s not on the shelf, it’s in the bin, .
Erwin - The other railway bridge is still ongoing, it’s slowed down, but I do intend to complete it…fingers crossed, .
Not sure how good they are detail-wise, but reading through the destructions on the Lee it appears they allow you to build two versions, one with a grant turret and sherman type split commander’s hatch…
Hi, G!
Great to have you back and posting! Sorry to hear about the D-day build, I can understand how disheartening things like that can be. By the way, have you noticed we now have a kindred spirit of yours, @Frank_Wetekam? If you haven’t already, check out his Castle builds, there’s threads for four completed and one “in progress” for Castell de Mur…
His Castle builds are next level in the scale he uses …
Real shame about the DDay scene but totally understand, a reaction like that on the groundwork just rips the heart out of it … Main focus now … Burma !!
But I built this around 12 years ago and I don’t think the kit was exactly new at the time - your kits look far more contemporary. Whatever, I’d give Mirage 8 out of 10 – instructions fairly clear, no MiniArt-esque unnecessary complexity, excellent detail, OK plastic (i.e. Goldilocks, not too soft etc.). I had few refs to check for accuracy, so on the same basis I figured few could call me out for any errors. Anyhow it looked “right”, hopefully yours will too
That’s some great work Tim, very realistic, and thanks for the feedback on the Mirage kit, much appreciated, . Having checked out the contents of the boxes my first impression is positive, they seem to include many of the bits that were left off of the 1/72nd IBG kits that I built for my failed/kyboshed D-Day dio., e.g. tow cables and and their shackles, and external fire extinguishers.
See lack of in the two images of the 1/72nd IBG Centaur below:
Thanks KoSprueone, that’s fine praise coming from you as I admire your work greatly, .
The bulk of the contouring is polystyrene, I can’t remember where it came from, possibly some kit build furniture packing, but it’s very thin, so it’s possible to layer it in contours…if that makes sense, .
It’s then coated with a cement dust/PVA glue slurry. The cement is from an old bag, some of which has ‘clogged’ together as it’s absorbed moisture. I’ve broken up the clumps with a hammer and they’ve given me all the ‘boulders’ and smaller ‘stones’, .
, I’ve decided to climb back on with another build, 
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