M5A1 Stuart

Finally finished the AFV Club M5A1. Loved the kit. Went together very well though AFV Club has a habit of leaving ejector pin marks in very annoying places like the inside of hatches that are a pain to remove. I also added MV lenses, a scratchbuilt hedgerow cutter and AFV Club individual link tracks (why these aren't included in the kit is a mystery to me) which had sink marks in the face of each and every track link. Ouch. Lots of sanding. Decals are stock. Weathering was post shading, washes and pastels. Very light chipping was done with a #9B aritst's pencil. The periscopes are detailed with exposed 35mm photo film.

The cotton machine gun ammo belt on the M1919 is cigarette rolling paper crimped over the outside ribbing on a Tamiya paint lid. I threw it on there for the heck of it to see how it would look. Still not sure if it works.
I added the Verlinden interior and PE which was ok, but nothing to write home about.
Stowage is facial tissue, cheesecloth and a Tamiya ration box. The aircraft panel marker is lead foil, as are the tool tiedown straps.

The mud was a first time experiment and I was plesantly surprised with the outcome. It's ground pastel chalk and laquer thinner. I mixed some static grass in the built up mud in on the hull.

M113 ACAV

Tamiya M113 ACAV kit that has been sitting on my shelf for eons. I added the Eduard PE set, MK tracks (which went together like a charm) and various scratchbuilt bits. I had a devil of a time with the very, very, very old (did I mention they were old?) Tamiya decals and had to improvise. It's a miracle they stuck to the model at all. The skull decal is from another kit. The trim vane extender arm is completely rebuilt. I played on M113s a fair bit in Iraq (none of which had a trim vane) so it was fun to build one from before my time.
The tie downs are resin replacements from Tiger Models. There are a LOT of tie downs and I think they add a lot. I put exposed 35mm film into the periscope blocks and MV lenses in the headlights and IR lamps. I also cut out and raised the cover on the receiver of the left hand M60. The tie downs on the tarp, jerry cans and the cyclone fence are lead foil.
The interior is based on period photos, conjecture and how we loaded them in Iraq. The sad thing is for all the time I spent on the interior you can't see half the work. I spent an entire evening making cans for one of the boxes up by the commander's cupola and you can't see one of them. Weathering was done with post shading, washes and pastels, pretty much in that order. The star on the glacics and the rear ramp are Archer dry transfers.