LMV Lince Progress

Work on the kit has been going well even with some photo etch to deal with. All supplied in the kit by the way. The seat belts are rather nice, shame most of it won't be seen. However they certainly help make the cab look busy. Some nice etch also on the front of the bonnet which was a perfect fit. Some areas are a bit soft on detail like the front winch and the snorkel end but I will make a new end from plastic tube and tart up the winch with some plastic card and extra bolts.   

Italeri LMV Lince Begins

I started the kit last night and already have an assembled chassis. I didn't spend much time cleaning up parts here because with the belly armour & upper body in place very little will be seen on the finished model. The floor pan and upper body just click into place as well so the fit is very good. This will enable me to paint everything in sub assemblies later on. Detail is good so far with just the odd bit of flash and some ejector pin marks to deal with. 

Next On The Bench, Italeri LMV Lince

With the space shuttle build winding down & the sherman just waiting for final weathering I have as usual got itchy hands and have delved back into the stash to search for the next build. After a short time going through a few kits I've selected Italeri's LMV Lince for the next project.

I've had this kit for some time so it's matured nicely! I'm going to build it as an Italian vehicle in Afghanistan which means another interesting middle eastern type diorama base later. 

Space Shuttle Atlantis

I've now finished all the main decals on the model so only have the gaps on the bottom of the model to sort out now. Lots more work still to do but I can now see the finish line looming up.

Space Shuttle Decals

Today the mother of all decal sessions has commenced starting with the tile decals on the underside. The warbirds decals are very big so I used the lid from a storage box which gave me plenty of room to get them in. They are also quite sturdy which does help loads when positioning them on the model.

Daco medium & strong setting solution was used to get them bedded down well. Once the underside was done i changed to the tamiya decals for the nose section before finishing off with the warbirds sections. Finally for today one side of the tail was done as well as the rear flap. 

There are some gaps on the underside but there are hopefully enough spare tile decals to cover these up. I will also have to tidy up the white and black areas around the nose and tail so once all the decals are on and fully set I'll start masking and sorting those areas out.

On Track 2020 Show Report

The first show of our display year for Stonehenge Modellers and the usual drive down to Folkestone on Friday afternoon with no issues and a really good run down saw us set up and checked into our hotel by 1500 hrs. However like last year this then followed the sadly predictable format of myself and Brian attending the bar straight away! Brian had stated he would not be drinking much this year, but true to form he folded like a damp newspaper as soon as the first beer passed his lips!

With the constant arrival of a good few from Modeller's Haven Online forum and the flow of beer I'm afraid it all became a bit of a blur. But it was great to all meet up and have a laugh whilst talking modelling bollocks even if some of us had to retire for the night at 2000 hrs. Yes you guessed it that was Brian!

Onto the show proper on Saturday and it started promisingly enough with some early interest at our stand. This year the halls did seem slightly lacking in both clubs and traders although there was still plenty to see. But by about lunchtime it went really quiet and didn't pick up for the rest of the day. However it was good to chat to people and meet up with old friends again.

Competition entries where also light however the standards where high with some cracking models on display. Paul B came away with a very well deserved gold and best of show, so worth the trip all the way from Germany I'd say.

Stash additions for me were restrained with only the acquisition of the Retrokit Belgian JPK90 on my hit list. Expect an in box review of this soon, and a couple of diorama bits & Chally 1 book. 

So a good day all round even with the lack of visitors so thanks to the show organisers for all the hard work they put in to make this event happen.