Well scratch one Tristar Storch! It's one of those kits that started going wrong as soon as the paint went on so bugger it. The final coat of matt varnish showed up the huge sink marks on the upper wing surfaces plus it frosted in places so it's on the Shelf-of Doom (TM) pending it's fate.
Meanwhile....A Hasegawa 1/48 Ju87B has appeared on the bench plus I'm putting the final bits together on the P-51D AND I'm eyeing up an Eduard 1/48 Fw190D-11 just for laughs :o)
Oh and there is paint on the Sturmtiger too YAY!

Sturmtiger built

Here's a look before it's washed down then painted. Built straight out of the box, the only exception being the tracks (which are by AFV Club), the wooden block for the jack, fuse wire for grab handles and the zimmerit. I did expect a load of trouble with this kit but it was'nt that bad, just some omissions in the instructions such as the cable reel on the winch.
I did make a couple of minor changes such as the front and rear hull tow hook locations as AFV Club used the hull from their late production Tiger andSturmtigers were based on mid-production models. The brackets for the jack were made from brass strip as the position of the jack was turned 90 degrees on the Sturmtiger, also a wooden jack block was added as to the rear hull as AFV Club missed it off all together.
So with a bit of luck it'll be finished in time to put it on the 580 Modellers table at Telford in november, maybe with a 1/35 Storch too....MAYBE even a 1/48 Ju87 which is next on the list.

You can see in the 2nd picture where I altered the brackets for the towing lugs. I normally glue the tracks to the wheels but as the tracks are a 'workable' type I can paint them seperately and fit them later

Well that went better than I thought. All links cleaned up and the first run assembled...wow!

This has GOT to be one of THE most tedious aspects of armour modelling.....cleaning up those four pin marks;

Only another 199 links to go......kill me now....

So far the hull has gone together very well and I've applied the zimmerit using Milliput. I did this by mixing some Milliput together and leaving it for 20 minutes or so, then I rolled it flat on a small sheet of glass (with a very small amount of petroleum jelly to stop it sticking).
I applied the Milliput to the hull sides and used the Modelkasten Zimmerit Roller set for the pattern (Hint: get the Trumpeter zimmerit roller set for half the price...D'OH!) and here's the result;

I'm quite pleased with it! :o)

Back again after a bit of a lull in modelling and I'm going to attempt the impossible;

Apparently its got a reputation as a difficult kit to put together so we'll see eh?
There is a Tamiya kit on standby if things go pear-shaped :o)

Tristar Storch camo done....

Next the yellow ID panels under the wing and around the fuselage. I might even get some decals on before Christmas...