why this kit doesn’t ap-

pear in this month’s

competition, it was be-

cause I had a choice of

finishing a base for the

kit or the newsletter.

The newsletter won.

By all accounts, the kit

is also extremely accu-

rate, and I made con-

siderable use of Steve

Zaloga’s book

“Modeling US Armor of

World War 2”, which is

highly recommended.

Maybe I should buy US

Olive Drab by the gal-

lon . . . . . . ?

There are some mem-

bers, I suspect, who

have the belief that I

only build German

AFVs and buy Dark

Yellow paint by the gal-

lon.

Not true, I assure you. I

have just recently com-

pleted a DML M4A3

(75)W Sherman as a

change from German

vehicles, and it had me

wondering why I don’t

build more Shermans.

Instead of the usual

German kit of 23 steps

or so, the first half of

which are only for the

suspension, there were

only 12 steps, and the

suspension was com-

pleted in just a few

hours. No, I’m not Jum-

bo, who, I am sure, can

assemble Shermans

blindfolded, but it goes

to show the simplicity of

the beast.

For example, an SdKfz

7 has 24 roadwheels of

fiendish complexity—

the Sherman has 12

and they are all identi-

cal.

If anybody is wondering

Editorial (aka Rob’s Rantings)

1 February 2014

Volume 10, Issue 2

AMMS Brisbane News The New Format

A new year, a new

format

All articles accepted

within reason

As you can see, plen-

ty of space for snip-

pets

Suggestions for con-

tent and/or improve-

ments (within rea-

son!) will be grateful-

ly accepted

Inside this issue:

David’s Drivel 2

Work Light 3

Probing & Prodding 4-6

Tanks for the Memo-ries

6

Trumeter’s Ssym 80 Schwere Platform-wagen

7-

10

Welcome one and all to another fun filled AMMS month. January’s meeting saw more people attend than we thought there'd be, not sure if that was by design or accident - alt-hough, I'm sure that the venue having functioning air conditioning was a sig-nificant draw card for many. Let's hope this meeting sees the same patronage without the same heat wave condi-tions. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Brad's QMHE display ideas, your input will assist formulate a display that will no doubt be first rate, I will at this point, take the time to reaffirm what it is that AMMS does seeing as how the question was raised at the meeting I feel it deserves formal recognition. AMMS is a special interest group (SIG) and as such

caters to a specific inter-est, that interest being purely military, land based armour in nature, that's how it was set up, that's how it's been run and that's how it will continue to operate. That isn't to say that you as members can't, or don't make other model genres - Hell... Even I make WW1 air-craft!!! All it means is that AMMS isn't available for the showcasing of that product, either at meetings or displays. AMMS members come from a variety of club backgrounds, some still holding dual memberships and without singling out any specific member I can say we have current mem-bers of IPMS, Riverside, Morton Bay and Northern Rivers clubs these mem-bers use these clubs as the creative outlet for the model subjects that fall outside of AMMS' SIG doctrine.

I implore you to maintain the external club connec-tion, if not only to strengthen the hobby in south east Queensland, but to maintain and devel-op strong cross club ties that can only strengthen the hobby and maintain the viability of all clubs concerned well into the future plus, bottom line, it provides those members the opportunity to exhibit their other creative works in a suitable environment that would otherwise be precluded at AMMS. We ask that you strive to keep AMMS as pure and fo-cused as it was originally set up, keeping it for the promotion, advancement and enjoyment of land based military modelling. If anyone is in any doubt about what is and what isn't considered kosher for display at AMMS, feel free to approach either Brad or myself for clarification. End of rant - now! Let's move onto more enter-taining topics - bring on the articles!!!! Till next month.., Be good.. Be safe...... Be productive....... Regards, David Scorer AMMS Brisbane coordinator 2014.

.

This Saturday is the first AMMS competition for the year, with both the stand-ard competition and the technical competition open for entries. Don’t forget all entrants to the technical comp are in with a chance to win a $50 voucher from Firestorm, Ronnels, Platypus or BNA Modelworld, with the win-ners to be drawn later in the year.

David’s Drivel

Page 2

AMMS Brisbane News Volume 10, Issue 2

Hobby One

is Moving!!

Reminder (thanks Jamie)

Rusty informs me that

Hobby One will no

longer be at Mt Gravatt

as of mid-March. Aldi

own the site, and Hob-

by One do not current-

ly have a new premis-

es.

When I visited recent-

ly, there was no fur-

ther word regarding a

new location.

Anyone looking for a good work light should try

Office Works. I picked up the one above for $

129.

As you can see it comes with a magnifying lens

and is clamped to your desk and you can posi-

tion it to your heart’s desire. The light itself is a

tube that goes around the outside of the lens

and is brilliant to work with as it gets rid of those annoying shad-

ows that hide details in your model that you can find with other

lighting.

They do also sell a smaller model for about $80 but for a bit

more you get a far better light.

I will happily endorse Graham’s comments—I have one too

(and I paid the same price 12 months ago)—Rob

Work Light (thanks Graham McNamara)

Page 3

Volume 10, Issue 2 AMMS Brisbane News

I remember Adam Cretier spending months scratch building

one of these—no doubt he is now aware of the saying “As

soon as you scratch-build it, somebody will release a kit of

it”. That’s one of the reasons I’m holding off scratch-building

a Bergepanther!

Let me make

three things perfectly clear

right from the start – firstly,

this kit was generously

provided to me courtesy of

my credit card - therefore

all comments are mine

and are based upon my

opinion and are not other-

wise influenced in any

way. Secondly, I don’t

know much about WW2

Japanese tanks. And

thirdly, I really enjoyed

building this kit. I built it

strictly OOB (other than

replacing the track with

Spade Ace individual met-

al link track and replacing

a couple of handles). It

was a relatively quick, fun

build and I would highly

recommend it to anyone

moderately interested in

WW2 Japanese armour.

In my opinion it is a great

kit, but it’s not perfect, not

quite. A couple of minor

issues let it down unfortu-

nately and these will be

explained in further detail

below.

The following criteria were

taken into consideration

for the purpose of this re-

view: kit contents, detail,

instructions, and build-

ability. Normally accuracy

would also be included in

my review however this

criterion was not consid-

ered in this instance.

CONTENTS

The box top indicates that

over 270 parts are con-

tained in the kit and this

equates to a moderate

number of grey and clear

injection moulded styrene

parts, a small fret of photo

etch, and a pair of DS

tracks, with instructions

and decals to boot! And

lucky for me, as an added

bonus mine was one of

the “special” kits providing

a “realistic 1/35 scale fig-

ure” and “available in Ja-

pan only” – a rather nice

Japanese tanker half-

figure.

I can happily say that the

detail and fi-

nesse of the parts was

crisp, flash free and very

impressive. Slide moulds

have been used exten-

sively and to great effect.

Parts break down and en-

gineering has been well

thought out generally and

executed reasonably well

with a couple of notable

exceptions – addressed

below. Decals are the

usual quality items from

Cartograf in Italy providing

options for four vehicles.

DETAIL

As already alluded to, the

level of detail across the

board is extremely high.

There are no ejector pin

marks to contend with.

Nuts, bolts, welds, open

ventilation grilles, muzzle

openings, all lovely. The

included photo etch parts

compliment the finesse at

the highest level. Cont’d

p5

Probing & Prodding (thanks Brad)

Page 4

AMMS Brisbane News Volume 10, Issue 2

Below—some emp-

ty space which I

could have filled

with snippets if I

had any!

1:35 IJA Type 95 Light Tank “Ha-Go” Early Production

Dragon / Cyber-Hobby Smart Kit - kit number 6767

you have to remove the mould-on

detail to add the enhancement!

That’s right, in most instances you

have to be a bloody magician to

remove the detail without destroy-

ing all the other surrounding de-

tails! I personally loathe having to

do this where it is highly probable

that other detail will be obliterated

in the process.

Having said this I fully appreciate

that it is an option and not a ne-

cessity for completing this model,

and that some modellers would

prefer not to add small fiddly bits

of plastic or photo etch if the detail

could be moulded on satisfactorily

in the first instance. But just im-

agine for a moment that the spe-

cific detail was not moulded onto

the part and was provided as sep-

arate parts in either plastic or pho-

to etch, AND as a further option

the same part included with the

detail moulded-on! Wouldn’t this

be the ultimate option? Well

Dragon applied this level of engi-

neering to most of the kit but not

Slide-moulded machine-guns are

particularly striking in detail. The

main armament is also a product of

slide-mould technology and is su-

perbly rendered. Even the DS track

is very well detailed with hollow

guide teeth.

However, I have a couple of relative-

ly minor gripes. The DS track, while

superbly detailed, provides a medio-

cre medium for replicating the ever-

present track sag resplendent of

WW2 Japanese tanks. This kit

would benefit greatly from individual

links such as Dragon EZ track to

gain the necessary sag or relatively

simple link and length track with the

catenary curve moulded in along the

top run.

The next issue may be considered

petty considering the effort that

Dragon has gone to to provide the

modeller with options to enhance

certain parts of the kit. For instance

Dragon have provided numerous

alternate parts so the modeller can

choose the part with moulded on

detail, or the part without the mould-

ed on detail to add the provided pho-

to etch or plastic parts for additional

detail enhancement. This makes

for some very thoughtful and wel-

come options, an example of which

is the driver’s hatch.

However, ironically, Dragon have

moulded on other small details such

as the numerous moveable vision

opening protection plates/pistol ports

located on the hull and turret, which

are nicely rendered and well execut-

ed, except that they have supplied

alternate replacement parts as photo

etch. Thoughtful? Well yes, a nice

option for enhanced detail, however

all of it! Go figure.

A perfect example of this selective

engineering sloppiness is the ba-

sis for my main complaint which

relates to the complete lack of

engineering effort applied to the

turret hatch interior grab handles.

These are moulded-on, non-

descript blobs of plastic, and no

enhancement alternate parts are

provided. Surely if Dragon can

provide photo etch or plastic parts

to enhance other parts of the kit

then why on earth didn’t they do it

for the turret hatch interior grab

handles. These are just rubbish!

The rest of the kit detail wise is

superb with obvious effort in re-

search and detail and then they

just mould a non-descript lump as

a handle. Fail! It’s as if this last

item of detail was given to the

cleaner to come up with a solution

because the engineering team

didn’t bother or completely forgot!

Just sloppy Dragon, considering

the effort applied to the rest of the

model! Cont’d p6

Probing & Prodding

(cont’d from Page 4)

Page 5

Volume 10, Issue 2 AMMS Brisbane News

It would have also been nice if plas-

tic and metal wire grab handles were

supplied as optional parts rather

than just moulding them directly onto

the kit.

INSTRUCTIONS

Instructions are produced in the fa-

miliar Dragon style. Due to the mod-

erate parts count, they are easy to

follow, in a logical sequence, and all

parts are correctly labelled. That

said Dragon provide optional assem-

blies and parts but don’t provide any

information whatsoever to help you

choose, one example is the gun

breach guard and spent rounds

catcher and associated elevation

and sighting equipment. It would

have been logical for Dragon to have

included something to assist the

modeller with making a decision,

e.g. early configuration, late produc-

tion, whatever, but they give you

nothing (yes I know many other

Dragon kits come to mind regarding

this issue – one battle at a time).

This would be acceptable IF you

were very familiar with the actual

vehicle and had plenty of reference

material. This is true for other as-

semblies also. If these optional

assemblies related to each other

for specific production changes

then it would be helpful to know.

BUILDABILITY

The kit went together like beer and

prawns. Awesome!

ACCURACY

I did not rate this kit on an accura-

cy scale as I simply wanted to build

it out of the box regardless of any

inherent errors that may besiege

the kit. I will however research the

supplied camouflage and marking

options before painting and finish-

ing the model and make this infor-

mation available in an addendum

to this review.

not assessed CONCLUSION

If DML had just

applied the same

level of detailing

and engineering

across the board

and included EZ

track this kit would

have been top of

the class in all re-

spects.

All in all I really

enjoyed building this kit and it

really is a stunning little piece of

injection moulded engineering

(other than the minor issues

raised). It is a straight-forward

build, not overly complicated,

with an extremely high level of

detail. I suppose the real beauty

of this kit and many of the current

crop of the “twenty-teen kits” is

the superb engineering, detail,

and quality that is included in the

box.

Stay tuned for the next en-

thralling instalment as we look at

applying the colours and mark-

ings to the kit. Now to splash

some paint onto it!

Very highly recommended!

OVERALL RATING – 9 out

of 10

………….. and the next kit to en-

dure PROBING & PRODDING is

Master Box’s brand new 1:72 Mk

I “Male” British Tank, and I bet

you just can’t wait for that one!

Probing & Prodding (continued from Page 5)

Page 6

AMMS Brisbane News Volume 10, Issue 2

selling memorabilia and kits as well as a display of uniforms, weapons and other items relating to Aussie Armour.

All in all a great day out and well recommended to anyone with an interest in armour (which I assume is everyone reading this) visiting Victoria, the only disappointment being that there wasn’t even a glimpse of an Abrams.

Right (top to bottom) - Matilda Flame Tank, Sen-tinel AC1, Leopard Driver Training Unit

In late 2012 whilst visiting family in Melbourne I found myself with a free day and, on impulse, de-cided to visit the Tank Museum at Puckapunyal. Fortunately my free day coincided with one of the days that the museum is open to the public so after an absence of over 40 years (I was last at Pucka in early 2012) I set off up the Hume Highway. The Leader of the Opposition was engaged in family history research in Mel-bourne so I was on my own and without any deadline to pick her up I was looking forward to a good look around.

My memory from 40 years ago of the tank museum was of a reasonable num-ber of basically rusting hulks parked out in the weather not far from the Nissen Huts where we undertook training at the Armoured Centre. On arri-val at Pucka and being signed in by a civilian guard I found that my 40 year old memory was not of much use as I really couldn’t get my bearings at all however I proceeded to the museum.

I don’t intend to list all the exhibits (a full list of what is on display is on their website) but the collection is quite extensive with ob-viously an emphasis on Australian vehicles. The Matilda display is particu-larly impressive as are the number of Leopard vari-ants scattered around the place. There is a shop

Tanks for the Memories

(thanks Kerry)

Page 7

Volume 10, Issue 2 AMMS Brisbane News

Painting and Weath-

ering

The following steps are generally the order in which everything was done, however I do move back and forth with some of the techniques outlined further down such as the artist oils applications

Rail Car including the bogies

Priming - All photo etch and other metal parts were primed with Tamiya surface primer – thinned with Tamiya lacquer thin-ner through the airbrush

Airbrushing - All paints for airbrushing are thinned with Tamiya lacquer thin-ner, ratios vary depending on the effect required

Base coat - Airbrush– Tamiya XF 63 German Grey applied as a general base coat.

Then XF 63 was mixed with some XF 69 Nato black and XF 10 Flat Brown, this is thinned slightly more than the gen-eral base coat and is ap-

plied in a random patchy manner for shading and to add variation, with more focus in corners etc.

XF 54 Dark Sea Grey is then applied as a highlight in the same manner, this simulates some fading and once gain is used to add variation to the overall base coat

Vallejo’s - Whilst the vari-ation added with the air-brush does provide more visual appeal, it does look a little unnatural, as it is all “cloudy/soft edged”. I now add some further colours with diluted Vallejo’s, these are applied by brush and give more of a hard edge to the staining and scuffing.

I applied a shadow colour slightly darker than the base coat, for this I used Vallejo Black Grey mixed with Black

I applied a medium grey mixed from Vallejo London Grey and Black Grey, this is reasonably well diluted otherwise the lighter col-our is too stark.

Both these colours were applied in a random patchy manner (not like chipping, much larger, similar to the “mapping” technique) and in some instances covering and altering the airbrushed variation underneath.

I add a retarder to the Val-lejo’s as this allows them to be blended on the mod-el a little better.

Both of the techniques can be a little stark, so to har-monize the colours and variation a little I then air-

brushed a XF 77 IJN Gray with some XF 51 Khaki Drab and XF 63. Once again this is applied in a patchy manner and it al-most acts like a filter. The reason I add the XF 51 is that it adds a little brown to the mix, I don’t really like the blue tone of XF 63, so this helps alter it somewhat.

Decaling – Tamiya X 22 Clear was then airbrushed in several lights coat in all places where the decals would go. The Trumpeter decals were excellent, they were durable, and there was no silvering at all.

Filter - On the bogies on-ly, but not on the main frame of the rail car I ap-plied a filter of Van Dyke Brown artist oils thinned with white spirit. This was done to simulate some dirt build up and to add some slight variation compared to the main frame.

After the filter on the bo-gies had dried and the decals had dried I then airbrushed on a couple of coats of Pascoe’s’ floor polish to protect every-thing for the next steps. I see no reason why Tami-ya XF 22 clear could not be used but it is more eco-nomical to use the floor polish.

Pin wash - A Pin wash was applied around all detail and along any panel lines with AK interactive Dark Brown wash, this is quite thick, so I diluted it with white spirit 50/50

On the bogies only, I se-lectively added a dusty/dirt wash with AK Interactive Earth Effects Cont’d p9

Trumpeter’s Ssyms 80 Schwere Platformwagen (thanks Jamie)

Page 8

AMMS Brisbane News Volume 10, Issue 2

Below—last but not

least a few more

future releases

Chipping – I first apply a highlight chip with a me-dium grey mixed from Vallejo, this was the same medium grey colour as used above, however slightly less diluted. All chipping is applied with a fine sponge and a fine brush, and a retarder is always added. This is applied in any logical areas that may receive higher amounts of wear and tear. This highlight chip also simulates scuff as op-posed to heavy chips/flaked paint.

Dark chipping is then applied inside many of these highlight chips with Vallejo German Cam Black Brown.

Rust tones - I use four different shades of oil paint for rust tones, from an orange (Raw Sienna/

Burnt Sienna), through red (Burnt Sienna) to dark red brown (Burnt Umber).

These are applied mostly pre-diluted as local fil-ters, especially on the areas where the chipping had been applied, rusty streaks were also applied in logical areas. The orange tone was added very sparingly, but it does offer a good contrast against the grey. Some dots of straight oils were also ap-plied and blended with white spirit on the model.

I also added, very sparingly, some fine rust chips using the Life

Trumpeter’s Ssyms 80 Schwere Platformwagen (cont’d from Page 8)

Page 9

Volume 10, Issue 2 AMMS Brisbane News

I also added, very sparingly, some fine rust chips using the Life Colour rust set, Rust Light Shadow and Rust Base colour. I would also go back with some grey chipping back over some of the rusted areas.

Other oils - Oil streaking and staining and fading was also applied with non rust tones, such as Mig 502 Abtei-lung Faded Grey, to fade and highlight, Mig 502 Shadow Brown and Van Dyke Brown for shading and dirt build up and to further accentuate where the pin wash had been applied previously. I also applied Payne’s Grey to alter the base coat.

The oils were applied in the same manner as outlined un-der the rust tones

Buffers – For the areas of constant contact, on the buffers at each end of the rail car I did not want the look of brown oxidised metal, so I used Humbrol Metal Cote Polished Steel. This was stippled on with a brush and then polished with a motor tool. The result gave a nice metallic finish but was a little bright so this was toned down with acrylic wash of Citadel Miniatures Badab Black (I did not use enamel based wash as it would affect the Metal Cote).

Flat Coat – Testors Dullcote was applied through the air-brush to flatten everything down, taking care to avoid the metal effect on the buffers

Metallics – a graphite pencil was used to metalize the edges of the higher traffic areas of the rail car such as edges where vehicles would drive over to be loaded and also the access steps at each corner. In some parts this is rubbed down with a cotton bud to dull down the sheen a little.

Wooden Decking – Prior to painting the plastic decking was gouged/scraped/beaten and the wood grain enhanced with a file and a Tamiya P cutter. Cont’d p10

Meets first Saturday of every month at

Loganlea Community Centre, Timms Street,

Loganlea, between 11:30am and 4:00pm

Contributions to the newsletter are always

welcome. Please email contributions to the

editor at gncw@bigpond.com

A M M S B R I S B A N E

scratched, scraped and chipped with various devices such as small brushes, and a sharpened toothpick.

I then added another layer of hairspray again and this time in very selected areas added Tamiya XF 77 IJN Gray through the airbrush, this was then chipped again in the same manner.

Another wash of AK Interactive was applied to bring out the grain and also as a build up of dirt

Testor’s Dullcote was then applied to flatten everything.

A base coat was applied with different shades of Tami-ya XF 57 Buff, XF 55 Deck Tan, and XF 19 Sky Grey, but I was not really happy with this look so I applied various diluted Vallejo’s such as Light Grey, London Grey, and German Cam Beige. These were applied by brush so that individual planks could be picked out.

A wash of diluted AK Interactive Brown Wash was ap-plied to bring out the grain and for dirt build up. The decking was a little too blue/grey in tone so I dry brushed straight Tamiya Buff over all the decking to change the tone. I am not a fan of dry brushing howev-er in this instance it served my purpose as a filter would have settled in the grain and a light misting with the airbrush would have been too uniform. Another application of AK was then applied.

Testor’s dullcote was then applied.

A couple of layers of hairspray were applied through the airbrush. This was then dried with a hair dryer. Tamiya XF 63 was then applied, diluted with lacquer thinner, this was applied in a random patchy manner, with virtually none applied on the edges where the tanks would drive over.

The grey was then moistened with water and

Trumpeter’s Ssyms 80 Schwere Platformwagen (cont’d from Page 8)

2014 World Toy Fair in Germany (thanks Bruce)

AMMS Brisbane is on

the Web at

www.ammsbrisbane.co