Man... am I glad I got one of those tanks...

Well, I think by now that most people who ordered a Panzer II probably have them. Pictures are starting to turn up on various sites and those who didn't order one, are probably kicking themselves. Dragon certainly outdid themselves on this baby. I haven't done much more than put mine together and put it in the middle of the floor, but I am sure glad that I got it.

The detailing and finishing on the Panzer II are extremely well done. The only thing I wish is that all the hatches had been functional. I see that there is a real opportunity for the first person that creates an engine for this thing. It really doesn't look like it would be too hard to make the engine hatches functional (though I believe that I will let someone else show us how it is done first).

Here you are seeing my Panzer II with my Early War Germans. I am afraid that I don't have all that many. I have two Pak 37s with crews and non com. I have a 5 man infantry unit and an officer and I have my tank commander. Hardly a huge force, but I am pretty pleased with them. When added to what Panzercommander and Hammer Six have put together, we have a fairly sizable force. Hopefully everyone will get to see all three tanks at the meeting Wednesday night.

I have been working on pictures taken when PC and HS were here last weekend. It is sort of slow going because the backgrounds have to be completely removed. Once that is done. I am going to shoot an additional couple of scenes, add some new backgrounds and have a nice little teaser for a larger photo shoot that we want to do in the spring - working title, Battle of France.

The photo on top has had the background removed by adding what is called a "Clipping Path". The background is actually still there, but I can now choose not to show it, adding another background instead. The original background was this dark mottled green color that you see in the lower photo. This, by the way, is one of my favorite figures that PC put together for the shoot. What a great sculpt!

I am also working on my next VIETNAM STORY Episode. All of the pictures are completed and I am currently laying the story out in comic book form. I have two segments completed so far. I think it is going to be a good one because you will get to see the base for the first time. The Rat Patrol will show up for the first time and there will be a lot of new characters added into the storyline. I stopped to put together a handy reference sheet for myself and there are now 30 characters that are part of the story.

I needed a sheet like this just so I could keep all the names straight without having to constantly look them up in my background files.  I am pretty pleased with the images that I have put together for this story and I think folks will like it. I am pretty anxious to shoot the next one, once I have this one done.

But, I don't want to give too much away, so that is all I will say about it for now. I will let everyone know when it is online though.

Looking forward to seeing everyone Wednesday night at the meeting. Hope the weather will be okay and that everyone can make it (including me). Until then, have a good one!