Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Apparently people in Italy like me...

Here are my audience stats:
Canada: 45 views
USA: 13 views (Aaaaaaaaah unlucky number! I would almost go to the US and look at my blog to change it)
UK: 7 views
Italy: 7 views
Netherlands: 5 views
Germany: 4 views
Japan: 4 views
Australia: 3 views
Czech Republic: 3 views
Poland: 2 views

Looked up term that led to my blog:
"jagdpanther" peices [sic] site:blogspot.com

Most viewed post:
Russo-German Diorama with 8 views

OMG!!! My Blog is SOOOOOOO popular! 93 views in 9 months? That's... 1 view every 3 days. Awww...

Now what I do find interesting is looking at the source pages (what people clicked to get to my blog):
A lot of people got here through looking for pics, my #1 being my Russo-German Diorama overview pic, #2 being my F-15, and #3 being my A-10.

Now, for something truly special. I clicked on the link I was given that was supposedly how someone got to my blog, and found a google image result. Only no "Google image result", more:

Putting the Pieces Together: Russo-German Diorama

Russo-German Diorama
piecestogether1.blogspot.com
ขนาด: 1600 × 1200
ประเภท: 161KB JPG
ภาพอาจมีลิขสิทธิ์
Can somebody read whatever that is? I can predict what it says though:
"Image"
"See Full Size Image - Same as image shown here"
"Dimentions:"
"Size:"
"Image may be subject to copyright laws".

Friday, February 11, 2011

My luck has come...

A couple weeks ago (yes, this post is very delayed) I finally found my previous modelling kit: a box, 2 knives, 20-ish paints, good paint thinner, a LOT of paint brushes, and a paintbrush-drying rag.
I combined that with my previous one, and found that I had too many paints! But with some reorganization, I managed to stuff it all together.
So I am happy.

1/76 Sherman and 1/76* Sherman Firefly

For those who don't know, the Sherman (designated "M4 Sherman" in the US military code) was an American tank that played a huge role in the second world war. It was a medium-weight, medium-armor tank, similar to that of the German panzer, only it had one major weakness: its gun. The German standard tank, the panzer IV (4, for those who don't know roman numerals), had similar armor, speed, etc. but had a much longer barrel, and could therefor shoot further, more accurately, and have more power.
I bought 2 of these:



Looking 3'o'clock High



The British, lacking a sufficient better tank design, decided to buy a few. By a few, I mean about 2,000. But the British realized that the Shermans' 75mm guns were to wimpy to take on the panzers. So they upgraded it with a 17-pdr cannon, which fires a 17-pound projectile. Although the 17-pdr was 76mm caliber, it had the anti-tank capabilities rivaling the German Tiger I's 88mm gun. Naturally, the British needed to call this upgraded tank something other than what the Americans called it, so they called it the "Firefly". Now this did not help with the Germans' nickname for shermans "Ronsons" (A cigarette lighter company, with the motto "Lights the first time, every time.") due to the flammability of the contents of the tanks.
I only bought 1 of these:
 
 
Looking 9'o'clock High



As you will notice in my model progress bar, I also bought 2 Tiger I's, but that is a completely other story.

Anyways, the Firefly only differed in the following ways:
-Bigger/longer main gun
-No front machinegun (More main ammo)
-Turret stretched backwards (To accomodate kickback)
And some other minor changes, like the mud flaps, which had more to do with American vs British, not Firefly vs Sherman (The Brits used regular Shermans too, just prefered Fireflies).
Now, compare them:




Very different, eh? Well thats what I get for betraying Revell and buying an Airfix model...