Defending the Hauptstadt...Berlin '45...

[adt70hk]

Allen,

Apologies for VERY behind on this. That's coming on very nicely indeed!

[minitnkr]

Judging by the expended cartridges in your first photo, the crew was pretty hard core.

[Graeme C.]

Coming along nicely Allen.

[Allen Dewire]

Morning world, from a dark and dreary Bamberg. Sorry I have been away for a while, but I have been busy but I'm still driving on with this...

Looking mighty fine dude.

Thanks Bro, but not as good as that mo'cycle of yours...

Solid work so far Mr D, this is coming along at quite the pace sir…..and very nicely too :smiling4:

Why thank you Mr. Benson. Great to see you back and hope the family is doing well my friend...

, and all the adjectives what the others used for me as well. Great stuff and glad to see you are getting on well with the cobbles once they were sorted out dimensionally.

The cobbles were a PITA, but they are done now Rick. I do appreciate your patience too Buddy...

Loving it Dude 1, just loving it .

Thanks Dude 2. It's not too shabby for having no clue of what I'm doing though...

Allen,

Apologies for VERY behind on this. That's coming on very nicely indeed!

No worries Andrew as you also have a lot on your plate at the moment too. Thanks, and It is great to see you stopping in. How's the laundering going???...

Judging by the expended cartridges in your first photo, the crew was pretty hard core.

It's funny Paul, but the more I study the photo, the more I believe it was staged, to a point, for propaganda. It was definitely taken well after the battle as there are too many civilians out walking around. It is also hard to find out exactly when the pic was taken. True, the crew were probably pretty hardcore, but the turret shows no sign of damage to it and live rounds laying there too. One of those things we will never know for sure I guess, unless one was there in '45...

Coming along nicely Allen.

Thanks too Graeme! I'm glad you like it and I hope you are doing well Sir...

I have been driving on with a hard.....You know the rest folks. After cutting all the cobbles to the new size and doing the first row, I moved on to the second. I usually leave the glue mix overnight to dry before doing the next step. I mixed up a new batch and went at it. After an hour, we had the second row in place. I also did the first row behind the Panther,


I tried to lay this row a bit looser for effect. For the most part, it worked. In a few places, the glue mix drew the cobbles together while drying. Oh well!!! Another pic,


I then realized my brainfart #23 and saw the Panther still sat too deep in the hole. I pulled the skewers, removed the hull, trimmed the foam again and raised it another 3mm. Re-skewered it and hoped it would be ok. When the glue had dried, I mixed up a batch in another cup and added a generous amount of AV Med Sea Grey into it and started painting the street. Using a flat wide brush worked good for this. After 1 coat, we had a good basis and the foam was almost sealed,


While waiting for the first coat to dry, I added the second row of cobbles behind the hull. Again, you have to let the glue dry overnight, before doing anything else, so in the meantime, I brushed the second coat on the cobbles. Now here is a side view,


The hull should now sit high enough to add the dirt on the berm. I played around making a mix of AV mud watered down and added some model RR ballast sand in it. Using a stiff flat brush, I applied a coat to see how it would work,


I guess I didn't mix it well enough as the sand clumped up and didn't smooth out the way I wanted. Ok, adding the ballast wasn't the way to go. I let this dry overnight and yesterday, smeared a coat of AV mud on using a small trowel. Dipping it in water and then pushing the mud around to keep it uniform and fill all the gaps. In the end, it came out like this,


I'll admit, that worked out rather well. I have to do some filling in around the hull so I can build up another layer to it. I put the turret on to see how it would look together. The mud is still drying as the coat was pretty thickly applied. I can now weather the hull and do some touch ups as needed. I can also do more painting on the cobbles and a few washes on them as well. Progress is being made..........

Thanks all for looking in and all abuse is needed to keep me on my toes. Have a great Wednesday!!!

Prost
Allen

[adt70hk]

Morning world, from a dark and dreary Bamberg. Sorry I have been away for a while, but I have been busy but I'm still driving on with this...


Thanks Bro, but not as good as that mo'cycle of yours...


Why thank you Mr. Benson. Great to see you back and hope the family is doing well my friend...


The cobbles were a PITA, but they are done now Rick. I do appreciate your patience too Buddy...


Thanks Dude 2. It's not too shabby for having no clue of what I'm doing though...


No worries Andrew as you also have a lot on your plate at the moment too. Thanks, and It is great to see you stopping in. How's the laundering going???...


It's funny Paul, but the more I study the photo, the more I believe it was staged, to a point, for propaganda. It was definitely taken well after the battle as there are too many civilians out walking around. It is also hard to find out exactly when the pic was taken. True, the crew were probably pretty hardcore, but the turret shows no sign of damage to it and live rounds laying there too. One of those things we will never know for sure I guess, unless one was there in '45...


Thanks too Graeme! I'm glad you like it and I hope you are doing well Sir...

I have been driving on with a hard.....You know the rest folks. After cutting all the cobbles to the new size and doing the first row, I moved on to the second. I usually leave the glue mix overnight to dry before doing the next step. I mixed up a new batch and went at it. After an hour, we had the second row in place. I also did the first row behind the Panther,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192938[/ATTACH]
I tried to lay this row a bit looser for effect. For the most part, it worked. In a few places, the glue mix drew the cobbles together while drying. Oh well!!! Another pic,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192939[/ATTACH]
I then realized my brainfart #23 and saw the Panther still sat too deep in the hole. I pulled the skewers, removed the hull, trimmed the foam again and raised it another 3mm. Re-skewered it and hoped it would be ok. When the glue had dried, I mixed up a batch in another cup and added a generous amount of AV Med Sea Grey into it and started painting the street. Using a flat wide brush worked good for this. After 1 coat, we had a good basis and the foam was almost sealed,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192940[/ATTACH]
While waiting for the first coat to dry, I added the second row of cobbles behind the hull. Again, you have to let the glue dry overnight, before doing anything else, so in the meantime, I brushed the second coat on the cobbles. Now here is a side view,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192941[/ATTACH]
The hull should now sit high enough to add the dirt on the berm. I played around making a mix of AV mud watered down and added some model RR ballast sand in it. Using a stiff flat brush, I applied a coat to see how it would work,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192942[/ATTACH]
I guess I didn't mix it well enough as the sand clumped up and didn't smooth out the way I wanted. Ok, adding the ballast wasn't the way to go. I let this dry overnight and yesterday, smeared a coat of AV mud on using a small trowel. Dipping it in water and then pushing the mud around to keep it uniform and fill all the gaps. In the end, it came out like this,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1192943[/ATTACH]
I'll admit, that worked out rather well. I have to do some filling in around the hull so I can build up another layer to it. I put the turret on to see how it would look together. The mud is still drying as the coat was pretty thickly applied. I can now weather the hull and do some touch ups as needed. I can also do more painting on the cobbles and a few washes on them as well. Progress is being made..........

Thanks all for looking in and all abuse is needed to keep me on my toes. Have a great Wednesday!!!

Prost
Allen

Mike that's coming on very nicely!!

Laundering is is going ok.... Finding my feet again with studying!

[Mickc1440]

Nice bit of gardening there Allen

[scottie3158]

Coming on very nicely dude.

[Mini Me]

Ohhhhh.....Mud pie mania!! Looking the Dog's Doodahs Allen! Hope to see the second coat on this soon.

[spanner570]

Superb stuff Allen.
A pleasure to watch it coming together.

This should be fun...
I'm joining the S.M. :nerd: Brigade for a tad.....
What we see here are not cobbles, but shaped 'Sets' made from quarried stone. Cobbles are real round /oval whatever, stones dug up and laid in the raw, as you like them. I know this because I had my fingers trod on by onlookers when I helped lay some in Chester in the sixties.....

Boring or what? Wake up at the back.....Nerd hat removed!