Italeri 1/35 M-24 Chaffee (Backdated)
Had this kit laying in the stash for quite a while. Saw the movie “Bridge at Remagen” and got inspired to build it. Funny, two months after I built this, Bronco announces it is releasing an early version Chaffee. The Italeri kit is more of a post WWII/Korean War Chaffee and I had to do a lot of correcting. I wanted to depict a recon group rushing into the outskirts of the city towards the bridge at Remagen.
11 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Jack Mugan said on April 6, 2013
Seamus….. Nice looking armor diorama and great looking figures.
Well done.
Craig Abrahamson said on April 6, 2013
I agree wholeheartedly with Jack…great work in all regards. Nice job!
Editor said on April 7, 2013
Stunning diorama, I wish my painting skills ever get this good. Thanks for sharing
Gregor de Ste Croix said on April 7, 2013
Fantastic!!
Matthew Sorensen said on April 7, 2013
The Diorama is very nice no doubt but I want to comment on the photography. I think you have captured the seen really well and the pictures are nice and sharp.
Seamus Boughe said on April 7, 2013
The photography is purely accidental. I use a cheap Nikon digital camera that my spouse received as a Christmas gift. My spouse gave me a crash course in how to use it and my only concern is to get whatever it is I am photographing to stay in focus. For every good photograph I take, I must delete two or three. As far as my painting skills…well I did attend art school when I was younger. Art school turned out to be a whole lot of bollocks so I ended up becoming a Registered Nurse instead. I do a little canvas work now and again for kicks, but prefer to apply my painting to models overall. I do not use any fancy techniques, I pre-shade, base coat, pastel, pinwash, drybrush, and seal. I do not even use
a fancy airbrush, all my models are painted with an Aztec airbrush. I do own two Iwata airbrushes but prefer the Aztec as it is very easy to clean and maintain. The only thing I did different on this work was use oil paints for shading and highlighting on the figures and stowage. Not bad for my first time out but I still have a lot to learn. Anyway, I am happy with the results.
Walt Babst said on April 7, 2013
That is a beautiful piece of work. I love the figures and being a 1/48th builder it is the one thing I do miss about our scale. We suffer from a lack of figures that 1/35th scale seems to have an endless variety of. I lack he skills in both painting and posing but I do like to add them to my builds for adding scale and interest. You did a wonderful job on your kit and figures.
Seamus Boughe said on April 7, 2013
Well, Walt you are partly right. My preferrred scale is 1/48 and in the past, good figures in 1/48 have been hard to come by. Now that 1/48 has become more popular in both armor and aircraft, new 1/48 figure lines seem to be popping up all over. Have you tried the web-store Track48.com? Lots of really good 1/48 figures for sale there. Mostly armor figures but they do carry the Dartmoor line which is dedicated to aircraft modeling. You should pick up the old DML/Dragon 1/48 Luftwaffe Day Fighters figure set. The torsos in this set are absolutely horrendous, but the heads are the most beautifully sculpted I have ever seen. I used one of those heads on the figure that accompanies my Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire which I have recently posted here. Otherwise, I use and convert the figures that come with a lot of the Monogram aircraft kits. Those figures are the best 1/48 figures I have ever seen.
Craig Abrahamson said on April 7, 2013
Back in the day, before the “foreign invasion” took hold, Monogram (in my opinion) was THE best kit out there. Even now, if I come across an ‘old’ Monogram a/c kit – especially their “century series”, I usually grab it [for parts, if nothing else] if the price is right.
Seamus Boughe said on April 7, 2013
No doubt about Monogram kits. The first kit I purchased when I got back into the hobby was the 1/48 Monogram FW-190. That is because it was last last kit I had built before taking a 15 year hiatus from the hobby. Still one of my favorites. Loved their 1/48 P-51B Mustang also, not to mention their P-40C and Hurricane kits. Oh, and that marvelous 1/48 Mosquito. The memories…..
Bryan W. Bernart said on April 7, 2013
Superior, tight, clean work. Great results.
Tom Cleaver said on April 7, 2013
Really nice work – that Chaffee is one of my favorite creepie-crawlies.
bob mack said on April 14, 2013
astounding clarity ton your work