How to

Metal tracks are all the rage when building AFVs, so I knew on my latest build (Trumpter Sd. Kfz 7/2, kit # 01527), I knew I had to try them. I bought a pair of the Friulmodel tracks and dove in. I totally ruined a set when I burnished them to turn them black(ish). Well, not ruined as much as made really great burned out/rusted out tracks. Some day, I'll put them to work on that particular project. So... I started over, and learned along the way. Here's some of those learnings, in no particular order, and with what personally works well for me. Your mileage may vary. Construction After doing cleanup one at a time on the first set, I started a production line for the second step. Clean up any burrs or other imperfections. In the Sd. Kfz. 7 set, the imperfections were all basically in the same spot [...]

You know that incredible feeling when you finally figure out a technique that has eaten up too many expensive parts? No matter how many forum posts you read, no matter how many YouTube videos you ready, you simply can't get the hang of the technique. Then you do. Blessed day, you do it. Yesterday was one of those day. I love superdetailing with photoetch add-on sets. I'm getting better about not losing every third PE part to the carpet void. But one thing I could never, ever figure out is those damn pressed louvres. You know the ones... the vertical sides of many softskin engine compartments. They are molded shut on plastic parts, but are open (and thin) in real life. A perfect PE replacement option. The problem, however, is that getting the pressed louvres to realistically pop out of the flat PE, all while ensuring the full panel stays flat [...]

I've been struggling to figure out the process of painting the German WWII Oak Leaf camo pattern on some figures. If you are too, check out this great tutorial. (Note: The image above isn't mine... it's from the author of the tutorial. Impressive, eh??)