Scrapper_511

That's awesome, Gibsonm. I'm new to airbrushing as well. I have a compressor and airbrush on a wishlist and the Merkava I'm finishing up will be my learning canvas.

My buddy told me that some of these kits originally were designed to accommodate motors and such for RC usage. And I do see some provisions for them in some of the lower hull pieces. The Skif T-64 is taking a while and I learned that despite the Amazon store front is located in America, secondary stock may come from Ukraine. So go figure the delay. Trumpeter kits seem readily available, but at 700+ pieces I am just not ready.

Tankleader, your shop is as big as my house . I like your Tiger, your collection...and your retirement plan. At the rate I'm going, 1:35 would be my build-to-stash ratio. If I could only convince my wife that travel is over-rated, and staying home and building models and playing SB is the way.

Thanks for the feedback, Stuart'. I've read about the tracks on this Skiff kit, as well as the aftermarket turret for it. Not sure if I want to upgrade anything on this kit since, at $45, has already cost me a pretty penny, for such an old kit. I bought it 15 March, and have ETA of tomorrow or until 26 April.

Hello SB family. I hope this finds you well. I recently got into the armor model kit hobby and I was wondering if anyone else in here are also builders. I wouldn't mind seeing your work and hearing your suggestions! A fellow baseball dad has the common interest in armor and is actually a very experienced builder. He gifted me a Tamiya Mk1 Merkava which I am in the process of building. It's slow-going since free time is limited but it's been a lot of fun. Build time may be limited but I couldn't help ordering a bunch of kits for the future. Here's my stash (all 1:35): Tamiya Merkava Academy M966 Humvee TOW Tamiya M1A1 Abrams Academy M2 Bradley Tamiya T-72M1 Revell BMP-2 Skif T-64A Zvezda BMP-1 Hobby Boss Leopard 2A4 Tamiya Marder 1A2 Tamiya Challenger 1 Mk3 Academy MCV-80 I also have my eye on the Academy IDF Achzarit (early) to continue the late 80s MBT/IFV theme. Will probably get a BRDM-2, SpPz Luchs2, and USMC vehicles.

Thanks for the booklet.

Happy, healthy, and prosperous 2024 to my SB fam!

That looks like hundreds of hours of work. I wish I could commit to the exact same endeavor (as a hobby and work).

RIP.

Shot in the dark: Do you have any custom settings in the nVidia software that's auto-loading with SB (full screen)?

Throwing out some ideas here... There's been some recent problems with Samsung SSDs (or was it NVME?) drives failing prematurely because of Samsung's utility software. Going back to the graphics card, there's a utility called "DDU" which wipes out remnants of previously installed drivers. Highly recommended in some communities when changing GPUs. I know you were having problems even before you changed cards and subsequently discovered DX9 was your culprit, but I thought I'd mention this. Goodluck and I hope your hair grows back, Gibsonm!

These graphics settings are not in the manual. What do they do?

In case anyone else is in the GPU market for a good 1440p card in the $400(US) range, I should add that the Radeon RX 6750 XT is not a bad choice in the current market. The reference card can be had directly from AMD at $420(US). The 6600 that I recommended previously should be considered if gaming only at 1080p and within the $260(US) range.

The AMD counterpart, RX 6600 XT has comparable performance for much less money. Also there are 12GB versions of the RTX 3060 for about equal price of a 8GB 3060 ti. Radeon has great value, but GeForce has that Ray-Tracing thing and arguably better driver reputation. Goodluck!

I've got a handful of AAA titles that run extremely well at 1440p on Ultra graphics settings. The only ones that run around 40-60fps are DCS and Cyberpunk. Steelbeasts, punishes my build the most at 12-25fps in a very busy scenario (lots of units, buildings, smoke), so this is the only title where I can't max out visual settings. It's a very humbling feeling 🤣. As has been mentioned in the past, Steel Beasts prefers a CPU with excellent single-core performance. If I were building primarily for SB I would focus on the best CPU you can get (I believe Intel continues to reign supreme in this regard). Any of the outgoing cards from nVidia or AMD will probably still serve you well. Also, invest in the fastest and largest storage you can get which will help a lot with SB load times. My specs: Ryzen 7 5700X 32Gb DDR4 Radeon RX 6800 XT