Academy 1/35 M1A2 Abrams (TUSK).

[langy71]

Been plodding along with this for the last two/three months,

Nothing much to say other than it's a brilliantly designed kit, there are various options for differing versions, goes together quite easily but you've gotta follow the instructions, all four sections of them, as the build sequence jumps around the various sections

Still some work to do with it..(I'm not 100% happy with the desert cam, but it's a work in progress....)

[papa 695]

Looking very good Chris.

[Scratchbuilder]

Looks ok, camera light always makes things look worse than they are, bet it looks much better in real life.

[langy71]

Funny you say that Michael, I thought the colour looks 'washed out' on the pics, so I had a play with the brightness, and got it to look more like it does on th bench.

[Guest]

The background you photograph the model against also very much affects the colour you’ll see in photos, at least if you use a phone or a tablet — see this thread for an example to specifically illustrate this phenomenon. If you find that the model on the screen looks too far different from the real thing, try photographing it against a different colour of background.

[scottie3158]

Chris,
Coming on nicely mate.

[The Smythe Meister]

Not my kind of era really,
But I love a quality build,so I shall follow along with much interest Chris,

[Scratchbuilder]

That has sorted it out a lot.
I must remember the advice I was given about photographing something - always use a grey neutral background, like a sheet... But of course it is advice that I forget every time I come to photograph my items. Just off to the tattoo parlour to get the advice tattooed on my forhead.
Look forward to more of your work.
Mike.

[langy71]

Just off to the tattoo parlour to get the advice tattooed on my forhead.

Mike.

Save me a place, I'm gonna have it done on the inside of my eyelids... that way I'll never forget it...lol

[langy71]

Grabbed a couple of hours inbetween the chaos that is christmas prep to throw some paint at the stowage..

[scottie3158]

Chris,

Luggage looks good mate.

[langy71]

Been a while since I threw anything resembling paint or glue at this,

Life has been.. way too busy to say the least.

Maria's aging father, became 'no longer able to care for himself in his own home', which was in deepest darker Wales, so cue to hasty move into a 24hrs care facility for him, which although was slowly turning him around wasn't good at all as he's beginning to suffer from the first stages of Alzheimer's, so It was a massive task to get him out of the care home in Wales and into one that deals with 'dementia' care in Nottingham near us...
(just gotta note that the various departments within the UK care system seem to be totally unable to communicate with each other 99.9% of the time, and as such you end up doing it all yourself....maybe I should send them a bill for my time !)

Oh, and nearly a year since I lost my father, the solicitors dealing with his estate have managed to 'loose' my 'middle' brothers inheritance, claiming that they were unable to transfer it to an Australian bank account, but attempted to sent it anyway, and inevitably it's now floating around in the ether somewhere, god knows where it went.... so there's a potentially huge legal case against them just starting... (funny thing is though.. they made sure their bill was paid before messing the job up...hmmm)

Whilst this was ongoing we'd already planned for a Landscape Gardener to rip out the old rotting decking in the garden and lay a brand spanking new patio,
which has come with it's own set of issues, mainly around the amount of bodging the guy who laid the decking before we bought the house did....eg:

Incorrectly buried and unmarked main Gas pipe,...talk about a ticking time bomb....
Concreted over waste water drain manholes,
Half a ton of crap buried under the soil that the decking was laid on..(with just an inch layer of concrete covering it for the decking to rest on, how that didn't crumble over the years I'll never know...)
Shed loads of rotted wood due to the aversion of putting proper waterproof membranes below the decking,
Waste skip not being delivered because the local council didn't bother processing the 'permit' to place it outside my house..
To name but a few.

Two days ago my garden looked like 'time team' were digging for buried ordnance, but our gardener guy has done a cracking job putting all the above issues and other smaller stuff right.

We are getting there..

So modelling has taken a major back seat... but in the words of that famous cyborg...''I'll be back''.

[Scratchbuilder]

Garden - Buy one of those blow up sx dolls, then phone the police from a call box and tell them there you have seen the owners burying a body in the garden, and they will be round and dig the whole garden over for you... Job sorted.

Father - I know what you are going through, had similar with my dad at his house. Unfortunately I was working nights at the time so it was a case of finish work, sort Dad out in the morning, go home for a couple of hours sleep, then back up to his house for lunch, then home again for another couple of hours, then back to his house for the evening meal and get him bedded down for the night. But it was the mornings I dreaded having to clean him up from what he had done during the night. Thankfully I had put a plastic cover over the mattress, so it was sheet washing every day. Then his mind went and I was re-named Bill, and he would sit looking out of the window and the kids playing in the school field became horses, then he would hold a conversation with the news reader on the tv. Eventually he went into hospital for what we guessed was the big 'C' and died there.

I cannot offer any advice except to just go with the flow, it will become frustrating, and in my case Social Services were a nightmare, waited in all day after organising adult style Pampers, and when the two drips from SS turned up all they had brought with them was 6 outer pants and not the liners, and when asked where they had been all day, the answer was shopping.... That is when I blew....
Solicitors - Scum of the earth, now I would rather deal with any problem myself and if it gets fannhouse, car, money in the bank the lot. ied up, then I know who to blame. Went to a solicitors when divorcing my first wife, the wife was 100% in the wrong, desertion, playing around etc etc.... The damn solicitor sold me completely down the drain and it was me she was supposed to be working for, lost everything, house in my name, car, money in the bank the lot, ended up sleeping on my mothers sofa for months.

So if your modelling has to take a back seat for a while, don't worry we will still be here and will I am sure have something to look at when you return.

Your health and the welfare of your life comes first for both of you.

[scottie3158]

Let's hope this nightmare aĺl gets sorted.

[Waspie]

Been a while since I threw anything resembling paint or glue at this,

Life has been.. way too busy to say the least.

Maria's aging father, became 'no longer able to care for himself in his own home', which was in deepest darker Wales, so cue to hasty move into a 24hrs care facility for him, which although was slowly turning him around wasn't good at all as he's beginning to suffer from the first stages of Alzheimer's, so It was a massive task to get him out of the care home in Wales and into one that deals with 'dementia' care in Nottingham near us...
(just gotta note that the various departments within the UK care system seem to be totally unable to communicate with each other 99.9% of the time, and as such you end up doing it all yourself....maybe I should send them a bill for my time !)

Oh, and nearly a year since I lost my father, the solicitors dealing with his estate have managed to 'loose' my 'middle' brothers inheritance, claiming that they were unable to transfer it to an Australian bank account, but attempted to sent it anyway, and inevitably it's now floating around in the ether somewhere, god knows where it went.... so there's a potentially huge legal case against them just starting... (funny thing is though.. they made sure their bill was paid before messing the job up...hmmm)

Whilst this was ongoing we'd already planned for a Landscape Gardener to rip out the old rotting decking in the garden and lay a brand spanking new patio,
which has come with it's own set of issues, mainly around the amount of bodging the guy who laid the decking before we bought the house did....eg:

Incorrectly buried and unmarked main Gas pipe,...talk about a ticking time bomb....
Concreted over waste water drain manholes,
Half a ton of crap buried under the soil that the decking was laid on..(with just an inch layer of concrete covering it for the decking to rest on, how that didn't crumble over the years I'll never know...)
Shed loads of rotted wood due to the aversion of putting proper waterproof membranes below the decking,
Waste skip not being delivered because the local council didn't bother processing the 'permit' to place it outside my house..
To name but a few.

Two days ago my garden looked like 'time team' were digging for buried ordnance, but our gardener guy has done a cracking job putting all the above issues and other smaller stuff right.

We are getting there..

So modelling has taken a major back seat... but in the words of that famous cyborg...''I'll be back''.

Garden, been there!!!
When we moved to our current home the garden we nicknamed the swamp!!!!
Several £££££’s later, landscapers, electricians we had something resembling a decent garden!!!
Then the crows and a ton of rain happened.
Despondent of Dorset!!!!
Still nearly summer!!!!