I decided to make a new thread in order not to clutter Les' own. So picking up from where I left, I decided to make up the rest of the 1944 Pz.Regiment. I'm using a variant of Spearhead wargames rules, which call for a representation scale of 1:5. I'll be doing my troops at paper strength, actual scenarios will call for rather less All material will be Heroics & Ros. So as I was saying here is my Pz.IV battalion minus Flak etc. This is the Big German Mess as I took it after transport, shades of Falaise. The Russians are in not much better shape As an aside, this is my BEF. No wonder they had to evacuate! So this is my immediate objective: completing and basing the Pz.Regiment. At the top left is a Maus by Skytrex, bought in what, early 80s? I'll be doing this for fun! I'll try and make a step by step. First of all everything will go for a bubble bath to remove years of dust and grime! Come back soon!
Rather nice Za, good to see you modelling again. Really must get over my own hiatus. I knew some of those transport bottlenecks could be bad... but I never realised they got this bad, or is it your own artistic interpretation of Falaise, Prokhorovka and a touch of Dunkirk all rolled into one? : ~A
What a cryptic post In the meantime the saga continues. 2 dozen 25mm square bases cut from a card sheet I bought in an art store, plus a few deeper ones to acommodate the JagdPanthers and ze Maus. I have a a few bags of several types of sand I caught here and there in construction sites, this one is in a bag supplied by the local council to pick up your dog poo. Isn't a wargamer's life interesting? Using common white glue, you make sure your base has an even coat covering up to the edge. Easier done than said. Then you cover everything with a thick layer of sand and let lie for a few hours. And no, this post was not inspired by Beau Geste. Now I'm going to clean up those unpainted models, and take a long hard look at ze Maus to see what can be done to improve a 30 year old casting. After that, to the kitchen as I'm going to cook myself a sushi dinner
More pics tomorrow But before we go any further I'd like to point out again that I'm not inventing anything. As I wrote before I'm using techniques taken from other websites such as: - our own 6milPhil WotNoChad . (2) . (3) - Six Twentyeight . (this leaves me breathless) - The War Depot - Mikes' Leadpile . (2) Etc, etc. So if you don't really feel like reading my drivel take a look at the places above and their sub-links.
Television and girls......both are pretty neat my friend What a cryptic post Not so cryptic I fear Za, looks to me like a dangerous 'Elephant in the room' reference in the modeling/gaming sections to the fact we're (theoretically) grown men that scrape away at plastic and lead, often in an environment faintly reminiscent of a teenage bedroom... Only with a glass of decent spirits to hand these days, rather than the bottle of Cider of old. Self-awareness is the key to avoiding any shame though. I'd just like to stand up in front of the group and say; "My name is Adam, and... I'm a modeller" . Personally though Brad, I think you blew it with the television mention :p
First of all, nice thread Za, that Falaise, Somme, Thermopylae Diorama is brilliant, Cant wait to see the Athenian Phalanx against those Jagd Panthers!! Television Vs. Models....hmm yeah models win every time!
....Self-awareness is the key to avoiding any shame though. I'd just like to stand up in front of the group and say; "My name is Adam, and... I'm a modeller" . I feel a song comming on: YouTube - Right Said Fred I`m Too Sexy The Original
I'd better add a post of my own or two before the fools take the asylum over However, as Confucius said, "A good thread one worthy of hijacking is"! So here are the bases as unearthed from beneath the Dunes. None of these were found, though. This is my cheap plastic palette bought at an art store for less than €1 (or less than USD1.35448 or less than GBP0.89789 or less than CAD1.38316 or...). Some of the bases are painted already. Note that the paint is highly thinned with water and Johnson Klear, what I really want is to tint the sand, not paint it out entirely. So here is the difference between a painted (left) and a painted and drybrushed (right) base. For drybrushing I use an somewhat old brush that had already lost its tip, so I cut most of the hair off square. It became of course much stiffer, which is what I wanted. Remember that dry brushing means dry. After you dip your brush in the paint you have to wear most of the paint off elsewhere before using it on your model. Always, always better two gentle coats than one thick one. You'll see there are some spots where the sand did not stick. That's not critical, you can always flock those bald spots over later View attachment 28549 William approves my changing from Humbrol to acrylics, at least these don't offend his nostrils View attachment 28550
I'm starting to think of improvements already, for instance I'd like to have tank tracks imprinted, although this is not a necessity, it depends on how dry the ground is. But getting something like this shouldn't be impossible, I suppose I can do it by tacking two bits ot card strip to the base before gluing the sand. Afterwards I can remove the strips and I'll have two tracks on the ground below sand level I have to think of a practical and lazy way to do this. Which also reminds me I don't have any Valentines at all for my RKKA!
Leaving the bases alone for the time being, it's time to look at the vehicles. I had purchased this lot a couple of years ago already painted, but with basic colours only, so in order to make them a bit more presentable I wanted to add some shades and highlights. I was thinking of using my trusted Vallejo acrylics, but the shade colour I was thinking of when I thinned it with water proved to be too grainy for my taste, the pigment could be ground finer. So setting it aside I took this Miguel Jimenez ready (or almost) wash I had once bought on a whim. Humbrol pigments are guaranteedly fine but I had stopped using them for acrylics a few years ago already. Anyway, so this MIG product it was, and fortunately I had a can of synthetic paint thinner, as even if this is theoretically ready to be used straight from the flask I wanted to thin it rather more. So here they are with a good puddly wash over engine, front, track, turret areas done with a largish brush. There is a Panther sticking out 'unwashed' for comparison. After letting the wash evaporate for a while, the subsequent procedure took a bit of work. I took a stiff, flat square brush, moisted on thinner and excess wiped on a paper towel, and on each model I wiped the excess wash. What took work was that after each model I had to clean the brush and wipe again so I would not accumulate more grime taken from the previous model. Takes effort but it's worth it. This is the result, again using the same clean Panther for comparison. Next step: go over again on the engine grilles to really darken their insides up using a fine pointed brush this time, and then on to the drybrushed highlights after all is well dry, on the following day. I'd be using my oil colours but I want to finish this series relatively soon, it would take days between each layer! To do things properly, I'd blu-tack the hulls and turrets onto wooden strips, but I've run out of them and haven't found a supplier where I'm living now. As a consequence my fingernails look like I've been changing the oil on a Catterpillar!
Blimey, I thought you said you were a bit lazy, what are you like when you feel like a bit of modelling punishment? :m13::smash:
Well, believe me or not these are the first tanks I've painted in the last 5 years or so, I'm making up for time lost
So what do you reckon on that Mig wash then Za? Does it dry too shiny, run nicely, dry quickly etc.? Quite a tempting instant product for me, as I seem to grind to a halt at the washing stage these days. I don't mind if it needs a bit of monitoring and sponging off, as that's par for the course in washes anyway. Vallejo paint is very good - I seem to have bought dozens of 'em now, but it appears to me that grainy problem affects a few specific colours - mostly lighter greens. I was wondering if it's a quality control thing, or if others have had the same bother. I feel like finishing a 1/48 mobelwagen I started 6 months ago... hmm, haven't felt like finishing anything for a while.
Miguel, Interesting to see your techniques and a good thread to read. That reminds me, I really must make some time to start my Schwimmwagen Type 166, in a slightly bigger scale . Regards Tom
Miguel, Interesting to see your techniques and a good thread to read. That reminds me, I really must make some time to start my Schwimmwagen Type 166, in a slightly bigger scale . Regards Tom Bigger scale? You are a man obsessed I have no problem with any scale, I have the proper equipment for all possible environments! If I use all of these at the same time I can work on my 1:300 models as if they were 1:1 So what do you reckon on that Mig wash then Za? Does it dry too shiny, run nicely, dry quickly etc.? Quite a tempting instant product for me, as I seem to grind to a halt at the washing stage these days. I don't mind if it needs a bit of monitoring and sponging off, as that's par for the course in washes anyway. Vallejo paint is very good - I seem to have bought dozens of 'em now, but it appears to me that grainy problem affects a few specific colours - mostly lighter greens. I was wondering if it's a quality control thing, or if others have had the same bother. I feel like finishing a 1/48 mobelwagen I started 6 months ago... hmm, haven't felt like finishing anything for a while. This coarser grain can be a problem. As I said before I'm enamoured with Winsor & Newton oils, but some tubes used to be absolute crap due to grain. However when I replaced some tubes last year (I have tubes 30 years old in prime condition ) they were smoother than the proverbial baby's posterior. Is this a problem with particular batches? I don't know, I'll buy another bottle of Vallejo Smoke to see if it's the same thing, because I never had any problem with V. There are other brands of course but V. is the most popular over here, and I'm not going to do a mail order from Hannant's or whatever for a couple of bottles only. This MIG wash I liked very very much. If the puddle is too deep it appears to become glossy but this is something one has to get in stride. Let's see, what do we want from a wash? We want it to stick into dark corners! This Mig liquid is already very thin (even if I thinned it further, but I'm slightly mad), so one thing it does and that is apparent on my latest pics above is that it darked my models. Why? Because it stuck to the microscopical coarseness obligatory in matt paint. If the surface were smooth (=gloss), it would flow nicely into corners where it's surface tension would pull it. Solution? Paint the model in gloss paint (Xtracolor paints are gloss for this and a second reason), or apply a coat of gloss varnish (or my beloved Johnson Klear) before shading! "You bl**dy b*****rd, now my Tiger is all f***ing glossy! :mad111:" That was the idea! Now your decals won't suffer from silvering, and all your washes will flow smoothly without staining the rest of the model. And after you're done with that you will certainly apply a coat or two of Krylon Matt Varnish from the supermarket car stuff section, or some other more sophisticated product that will do the same thing Read below. The Complete Future This idea of painting the model gloss - or painting it flat and then coating in gloss varnish, applying decals & washes, and then flat varnish has been standard technique for quite a few years already. And believe me, it does work! Xtracolor developed an entire range of standard modelling gloss paints in FS.595, RAL, RLM, BS, whatever, to help you avoid using your standard Humbrol matt paint and then having to coat in gloss!
Will give the Mig wash a go. I'm already a believer in Klear, but not for everything. I've a taste for those mig weathering powders and they're a bugger if you need to do a matt varnish coat after Klear's been involved... had one Stug looking lovely, then overdid the final varnish, turning the carefully applied weathering powder into thick brown paint. Not happy.
Well, believe me or not these are the first tanks I've painted in the last 5 years or so, I'm making up for time lost You think that you are lazy. I started with work on Italeri's Chinook six years ago and it's still unfinished. That's really fantastic job Za. Especially those Pz.IV ... company
You think that you are lazy. I started with work on Italeri's Chinook six years ago and it's still unfinished. I have that box, it says "3 to 6 years" so you're covered That's really fantastic job Za. Especially those Pz.IV ... company Ahh, a religious discussion... Representational scales, that's what it is Will give the Mig wash a go. I'm already a believer in Klear, but not for everything. I've a taste for those mig weathering powders and they're a bugger if you need to do a matt varnish coat after Klear's been involved... had one Stug looking lovely, then overdid the final varnish, turning the carefully applied weathering powder into thick brown paint. Not happy. ??? What are you applying your final varnish with? It's supposed to be spray or airbrush in mist coats only, to fix the powder in place! :mellow:
