I spent this weekend painting examples of a couple new kits for Area 52 models. The first model uses the resin interior and landing arms from Area 52 updating the Pegasus U.F.O. 
The second is a Recce Pod for the Krieger 1/20 Falke, not installed on the kit.
I also did work on the masters for these kits.
This is the Panther A currently on display in Ottawa, at the Canadian war museum. 
There are often questions about the original paint scheme and origin of the vehicle. Hopefully this vintage photo of the vehicle will help provide some insight:
My 1/32 Spitfire is moving along slowly with the latest progress of painting the cockpit. 
I recently received from Andy Bass of Storm Miniatures his new 1/35 Zu-23-2 kit.
This is a pre-production sample, and did not include instructions. I'm hoping to get this painted for his box-art, I just finished building the kit this morning.
The kit is excellent quality with many fine details. The kit consists of finely cast resin, wheels designed by Hussar, and 2 brass 3 piece barrels from Czech Master. Cleaning up the resin parts was simple, and only required a sharp #11 blade, after that the kit assembled really fast. Easily a weekend build. 
This kit will be extremely popular for those who build modern dioramas and anti-aircraft guns. There are many possibilities for this kit with the widespread use of the gun worldwide.
I came across a great set of pictures from the Pacific theatre on another blog today, for those who may also be interested:
Click here for the photos
Today I received all the updates from Anson at Orange Hobby for the DML Jagdpanzer IV L70 and I must say I'm impressed!
The quality is similar to ABER, but with a few bonuses really making these sets a good value, like all the turned brass parts, brass nuts and bolts, 3 piece barrel with threading and rifling, resin, decals for the fire extinguisher, and if you order direct from Anson a very affordable price tag.
Finally wrapped this project up! A few more pictures are up in my temporary gallery.
Some advantages of making your own bases are they cheaper than those commercially available, they can be made from all sorts of exotic woods, and they don't look tacky like an old trophy or plaque base that we see covering the tables at almost every model convention.
To make nice bases I suggest obtaining the following:
-Different sizes of blocks of wood to cover with veneer.I try to make all the bases at least 1 1/2 - 2 inches thick.
-An assortment of different veneers, I like birds eye maple, walnut burl, maple burl, any sort of nice burl...
-Stainable Wood glue, a sharp knife, sanding blocks, and some long clamps
-A large flat surface like table that you can clamp onto.
-Wood finishing products, such as stain and lacquer clear coat.
Step 1: I decided to make the base for my Panther from Walnut Burl:
Step 2: Apply the veneer to the wood block, start by doing the edges, cover the area where you are applying veneer with a thin coat of stainable wood glue.
Step 3: Once the base is covered with veneer, sand, making sure to take the arris off the edges and remove and excess glue. I used a 200 grit sandpaper and worked well, but you could go finer. Make sure not to sand threw the veneer! (note: I did not use the sanding stick in the photo for this, except for removing the arris)
Step 4: Stain and varnish. For this base, I liked the natural colors of the wood and decided to just apply 4 coats of fast drying polyurethane from a spray can. I think the natural colors in this case look excellent.
Step 5: I had a friend at the local framing shop do a black frame around the bottom for the final touch. A frame like this is usually very cheap and takes them about 5 minutes to make on the spot.
Step 6: Apply model ;-) I will also have a name plaque done at some point when the figures are painted.
The end result is worth it. Any model you have spent large amounts of time researching, detailing, and painting deserves a nice base to be displayed on.
This week I just managed to get more painting done, next will be painting the figures.
Although still many hours to go, the weathering on my Panther is progressing slowly, still needs paint chiping, more dirt, details, oil stains, ect. ect. 
More soon hopefully.
