W.I.P SERIES: Academy M1A1 Abrams Part II Rear hull details and suspension

In part one of this series on building Academy's M1A1 Abrams the basic hull was assembled, motorization holes filled, and a non skid texture was added to the upper surfaces. In part two I will go over the details and fixes for the rear panel and the suspension which consists of the road wheels, idlers, and main drive sprockets.

The photo above shows an overview of the rear panel. Everything here was assembled per the instruction sheet except for the addition of two missing lift rings. These can be seen directly over the main exhaust visible by their silvery color. In order to produce these I bent a piece of hollow core solder to shape then flattened it with a hobby knife. They were then glued on with CA and blended in with tiny amounts of Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1000. The below photo shows them in greater detail. They may not be entirely the correct shape but since I am a fan of the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method they are good enough for me.

Any resemblance to reality is purely coencidental...

Posted by SP&R member Spruemaster I had to share this video in which a silhouetted man with an altered voice discusses an addiction to plastic models that has destroyed his life. This video is intended to be taken purely as a joke for a good laugh.

Kit Review: Revell-Monogram 1962 Corvette

 When it came to the 1961/62 Corvette for almost 50 years all modelers had to choose from was the very flawed AMT/MPC offering. The original suffered greatly due to the tooling technology of the day with an undersized body, chrome headlights, a front end that was far too vertical, metal axles that slid through the oil pan, and an overall poor parts breakdown. As the years went on and the molds aged further problems cropped up such as an overabundance of flash, heavy mold lines, poor quality plating, scratches in the clear parts, the list goes on and on.

I really hate technology

Recently I have been making a whole lot of changes to the Havoc site. It's come to my attention that most pictures have disappeared overnight and are now just tiny gray boxes, please bear with these broken links while I go through the pages and attempt to fix the situation.

EDIT: It took about 6 hours or uploading and tinkering but most of the site is back online save for one of the tutorials which it seems I have lost the original files. Maybe one day they'll turn up or I'll find another project to replicate the step by step on, until then that page will be the token busted page. 

Picking a proper paint brush

There are two tools in your arsenal you will use more than any other, the hobby knife and the common paint brush. Choosing a brush might seem like a fairly easy task but when it comes to the difference between a mediocre finish and a top notch one your choices can make a pretty sizable difference. One thing to remember, and this goes for any tool really, is the age old rule you get what you pay for. Buy a cheap brush it ain't gonna last. It'll shed it's bristles and may even dissolve in solvent based paint. That being said, how exactly do you choose a "good" brush?
For starters do your shopping at a store specifically geared toward art supplies like Aaron Brothers where you will find a much better selection and quality then you would at a discount super mart. The brushes commonly found at your everyday big box stores are geared toward amateurs and weekend crafters and won't hold up as long forcing you to go out and replace them more often. My brushes cost me $5-12 each but in the end if you need to replace a $2 brush twice in less time than it takes for the $5 brush to wear out, you've equalized the costs. Now lets take a more in depth look at brushes keeping in mind the brands and types I have listed are not to be taken as the only choice there is. Find what you're comfortable using and go with it!