Chrisswim Stuff.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Sun Jul 19, 2020 3:50 am

This is an M1 Abrams,
The 105mm barrel arrived from an ebay auction. What a guy to do?
Well, I need 120mm, but the turret isnâ€™t identical.
Snipped off the very front of the turret, then create a hole with safety pin.
Then get some styrene, shave off some to insert in the newly created hole.
Snag TUSH bucket, snip off previous commander hatch, snip stem of bucket glue down.
Paint the Aussie camouflage.
Cut off some of the cheese cloth thatâ€™s already sprayed Dark Green, fiddle with it to get some pieces to cover barrel since itâ€™s styrene.
Also, since M1 there isnâ€™t a storage rack, but I need one right? So, cut a small pice of clear plastic from a package to be a shelf, thus extend the rear/stern of the turret. Roll some Dark Green Cheese Cloth, glue press, glue to plastic shelf.
Cut off some of the thread pieces sticking up.
Touch up.
. Antennas

Looks better from a foot away than this picture.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:26 pm

Three cargo trucks

Hemtt with cargo under canvas

M925 series with extended bed,

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Mon Jul 20, 2020 1:39 am

Nice camo, Chris, but how does the gunner in those tanks see to shoot?

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Mon Jul 20, 2020 5:06 am

By a good, really good die roll. LOL.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:38 am

Excellent work, Chris! I like the camo on your tanks. The cargo in your trucks is great - adds some flavor and a nice touch to the vehicles!

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:21 pm

GHQ damaged Middle East house
Knocked through most of the windows and 2 doors, they were blown out.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:43 am

Which are better, the two on the left or the two on the right?
Mostly looking for color evaluation. Comments welcome.

Begemot · Post by **Begemot** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:21 am

Chris - It looks like you're working on the winter verdant MERDC scheme. The vehicles on the right have it right for the green and brown (field drab). The sand color looks too white and there is too much of it. Both the black and sand components of this scheme are each 5% of the covered area. The green and brown are each 45%.These colors look about right on your models in terms of area covered. So, good with the green and brown. Tone down the sand and less black and sand.

My two cents (and we know how valuable pennies are these days).

Begemot

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:14 am

First, might cancel the penny. Better pick up 500 of them before they are gone.
Good consistency from you. Just read 45-45-5-5 percents. I had thought 40-40-10-10.
Anyway still working on some of them to paint over the sand & Black.
Was there any painting of 1 color during a change of a season? Or were the vehicles left in the camouflage scheme that they were already painted in?

Begemot · Post by **Begemot** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:50 am

Chris - In my experience, the MERDC scheme was never changed after it was applied. In Germany during '76 - '79 the vehicles in the 8th Infantry Division were painted in the winter verdant pattern and that is what they wore year round.

Begemot

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:58 am

Painting a battalion is not an overnight project. It took us about two months to apply MERDC to our approximately 226 tracked and wheeled vehicles, what with alerts, training excursions for tactics and gunnery, local training area stuff, practice in the frangible range, preventive quarterly and semi-annual maintenance services, regular maintenance, classroom time, pot guard and detail, inspections, VIP visits, and just the endless, mindless cycle of niggling little tasks that go into the days and nights of soldiering.

There was one paint job that served all seasons throughout the year, and probably continued until the next pattern came out, which would have been NATO three-point or the Desert Storm schemes. I never saw a second round of the same pattern. NO TIME for that or seasonal changes. Not a priority. Even before all the Southwest Asia crap, the operational tempo of the Cold War in Germany was intense and continuous. Two tacticals to Hohenfels, two gunneries at Graf, one gunnery at Wildflecken, each about 4 weeks from start of prep until finish of recovery, quarterly alerts, prep at local training area for tacticals, prep at the frangible range for gunnery. Nobody was there for the fun and travel except to Graf, Hohenfels, and Wildflecken. And REFORGER, if course - another four weeks, three of which were away from garrison as well.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:07 am

Guys, thank you. I was trying to figure out how any seasonal camo updates could take place. It cannot. Good. Thank you.

The two on the right have Dark Tan vs. the Field Drab on the other 7.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:56 am

Those look great Chris! I'm torn on the colors. They both look good to me!

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:33 am

Better. Black and sand still too big.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:39 am

Dang!! PG, I was afraid of that. O