Leopard Matt Coat, A New Project & A Combat JCB!

Work on the leopard is progressing nicely after some oil dot fading I sprayed the matt varnish on last night. VMS varnish as usual was used for a nice flat coat. A couple of days to cure will be needed before pigments etc. For that I am planning on using some of the wilder aqua line pigments as well as my normal selection of VMS ones. 

With time on my hands what with the leopard just sprayed and the AIFV done bar the base, (which I plan to do at the same time as the leopard base), I decided to crack open the box on tamiya's new M3 Stuart late production. This is a brand new molding and you can really see what an excellent kit it is. The details are superb and it builds up really fast! 

It's very well engineered which makes for a stress free build. I have replaced solid handles however on the turret and front hatches as well as the engine access doors on the rear. I also accidentally opened up a few holes on the hull top for the US version as I didn't read the instructions properly so have plugged them as I'm building the Russian version for a change.  

Finally an interesting future release from panda models, a HMEE 1. This is essentially a good old JCB unarmoured and adapted for military use. A very cool looking bit of kit and something I'll definitely be getting. Used by the British army, US army and many other countries it's got lots of scope for markings and scenarios.