SPA Modeler

Got some bits and bobs for this build - including a camo net.



The Chieftains often had camo nets around the barrel - so I'm hoping to make this...

Yes, building then in pairs does tend to slow down progress. And then you're upgrading a bit here and there as opposed to OOB, so that adds more delay. But otherwise you're doing quite rapidly I would say.

Thanks Carlos! I guess so, although I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them!

Well for better or worse the Milliputt gun mantle cover is done - looks better in the flesh than it does blown up in a photo but I'm pleased with it. I'm not sure what the tube is for over the gun, but I added it from a section of brass tube as it was missing from the kit and some of the videos I've seen.

Not 100%, but a hell of a lot better than the massive gap that was there before!





I've also been progressing the M48 turret bits.



Cheers all!

Kits and tools, techniques have grown over the years - but patience and clean hands are the timeless, unwavering bedrock of model building.

Very true John, although I've been reading a few old 80's era modelling books recently trying to pick up some old techniques - like using millputt to make tarps and sandbags, and making stuff from plasticard. It's be nice to mix a bit of the two, older techniques with more modern materials.

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:01 pm Cheers, Stuart! What a great pair of projects. I definitely feel I need to try something like this. I tend to focus on one and only one project. What’s it like for you to switch back and forth? Not to be too silly but do you take a break between each or just move from one to the next? Honestly I must be dense. Have you always worked like this?

Just been mulling this over Bruce... the answer is yes I guess, I've rarely just got one model on the bench. Too many ideas and not enough time. I don't often build a 'Dual Build' like this one, where I'm actively building two kits in parallel. But I do just jump from one to another - glue a few parts on one and then whilst that's drying do a bit to the other. I'm sort of trying to keep them in pace so that they both get to painting at the same time - and then I can set up my airbrush.

It's actually three anyway - as on my kitchen table tray I have a Tiger I I'm currently applying Zimmerit too. So last night I did the mantle cover on the Chieftain, and then did some Zimm on the Tiger Turret - and then, started tidying up the IR searchlight on the M48 ready to paint the interior (which I started this morning).

These are just OOB builds though, with a few things being corrected. If I was reaching a specific subject like you do, I might well just stick to the one build and concentrate on that... maybe.

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:01 pm I believe there may be something of an established tradition for model building. Recently I have been watching history videos on model making companies—Airfix, AMT, Aurora, Monogram, MPC, Revell—and I really see how different it was to build a kit during the Seventies, even the Eighties and how it is now.

Certainly manufacturing and design have changed dramatically since the 70s and 80s. Building the kits is much the same, although techniques have changes and we have a vast amount more materials and subjects now - so it's less about scratch-building and kit-bashing and more on AM and the best use of various materials. Personally I like the old methods more, so I've been reading a far bit of Shep Paine and Verlinden recently.

It's nice to se a mix of old and new though - Chris's work on that Monogram F-14 with home-grown D printed parts is amazing!

Looking good, Stuart !

Thanks Tom!