No More Excuses GB: Part Deux. Closed to New Entries But Finish What You Signed Up For

Thanks, man! I'm doing the topsurface wash right now, I could actually do with the pure black to make ti stand out, but that might actually be unrealistically stark, and the dark grey might be the more accurate. With luck I'll have a sealer coat on over the wash later on, then I can get to decals.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Awesome work Mike!  The panel wash color you chose looks fantastic. 

Thanks, Kevin! With the sealant coat on it's quite apparent to the naked eye that the wash is tonally lighter than the green, so last night I bit the bullet and ordered up the pure black wash. I usually have them sent from lucky Model in Hong Kong, but black is  not in their catalog at the moment, so it was Sprue Bros to the rescue. (BTW, here in Aus we have a liquor store chain that uses the samed play on words... you guessed, it -- The Booze Brothers...)

I considered pressing on with the decals but it might be better to wait for the wash. I have the landing gear to complete as well, and plenty of other models to work on in the next week or two, then I'll come back to the Meteor and get her to the fiish line.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Mike, what do you use for your washes?  I use the typical oil paint and thinner.  I am always looking for new ideas.

Booze Brothers....  That definelty works.

Take your time on the Meteor.  Got plenty of time.  That's how were got here in the first place....

Kevin -- I use Promodeller Weathering Wash, the company has recently come under the banner of a firm called Florey Models. It's a clay-based fluic with a mild detergent component, you brush it on and wipe off when dry, leaving a deposit in recesses. it's great stuff and quick to use, though it takes a bit of practice as it can leave deposits in rough spots too. I've used "Dark Dirt" in preference to black as black as too stark for scale realism under most conditions, but when a model is a dark colour black becomes the only option if you're coing to use the effect at all. Twice I've simply not bothered because the clearcoat brings up the edges of recessed lines anyway, but this RAF green is begging for more definition.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thanks for the info Mike.  Much appreciated.  I may have to give that a try. 

I agree that black seems a bit stark but like you said, for some colors, black may be the only option.  Dark green is definetly one of them.

Keep up the good work sir.

I've got the Dark Dirt and the Black Flory Models washes and they work great!  Used both a few months ago on a Monogram 1:35 M48 Patton tank with very nice results.  Never tried them on AC but I can't imagine they wouldn't work even better on those panel lines!

 Mike, The Meteor is looking pretty cool. Nice work.

 MacAttack80, This is something I'd picked up for a GB that ended before I could contribute. I just finished up the paint on the vehicles and took a quick posing shot to aid in layout. The Stug was shelved during this period but I think it's about ready for paint.

 Here is a shot of the 1/48 GD recon element. The Sdkfz251 C is the 1/48 AFV Club kit and the Schwimmwagen is the Tamiya kit. The figures are from the Tamiya assualt troops set and look like to be wearing SS gear, not Wehrmacht. Hmm, must have been a paperwork error at OKH. Anyway they will be assigned to the GD recon element seen here.

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 This will be headed for the shelf until the StugIII and the Sherman are out of the paint booth and I find material for a base. The Sherman has been setting on the shelf for over a year, not sure where the time goes when a project gets shelved.

 I'll get some pics up of the Stug after paint.

 Mark

No fair teasing us with those nice builds Mark!  Can't wait to see the Stug and Sherman and the whole dio!

Mark -- gorgeous work! Makes me want to build some of these myself!

M/TB379

Those look awesome Mobious!  Definetly looking forward to seeing more of your work.

macattack80

Those look awesome Mobious!  Definetly looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Heres my nasty attempt to use the surfacer s white

will try a second layer main problem of mr surfacer is the instantly dry time!

 Thanks for the kind words. I did get some bench, err booth, time last night and took advantage of it.

bysamato, I haven't tried Mr. Surfacer White. I've been using the grey primer 1200 for the past few years. I love the stuff, except the nasty smell. There was an article in FSM covering it's use and application. Good article. I would recommend the spray bombs, although I've never used one. I would bet it would be easier to apply than with a brush.especially it being a primer. The only other thing I would try is possibly adding a drying retarder to the mix and test it to see how it works. That may help with the instant dry time you had noted.

 Here's a shot of the "Shelf Setting Sherman" in Mr Surfacer 1200. It was shot thru a single action Paasche H, cut at about a 70% ratio with the air set at 20psi.

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 and a shot of the StugIII after preshading.

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 The Mr Surfacer primer levels out pretty good, almost to a medium sheen without adding any dry retarder to the mix.

Thanx for tips Mobious but i don't have airbrush LOL i'm try to use the surfacer instead of 7-8 layers of thinned white, i'm about out of white (and no orders for supplies are planned soon) ,and the eb-66 is a huge beast. Tried to retard the surfacer with white alcool and acrilyc thinner but failed (the eb was painted with the thinner try). Right now i'm experiment a way to use on it, the best seems to quick paint withouth thinning and frequently cleaning the brush.. AARGh!!

Good sherman (want one in 1/72 ) and Stug

Thunderbolt379

great meteor Thunderbolt  this is my absolutely favourite camo scheme for planes !

 

 

Your Sherman and Stug are looking good Mobious!  I like the presade streaking idea on the schurzen.

Thanks for the comments.

  Macattack,I saw the streaking of the preshading on another post here in the forums and thought I'd give it a try. I tend to get heavy handed when it comes to the paint. With the base coat, a highlight color and camo, by the time I've finished with that I lose the preshading effect all together.

 Bysamato, I think you're on the right track with several light coats. I seen the folks in the B-17 GB lay down some very nice paint work with a brush, using light coats and getting fantastic results.

 Thunderbolt, That Meteor is very cool. Great work! Looking forward to seeing more of that one.

Mo

Thanks, bsyamato -- it's my first time doing RAF camo since I was a kid, and my first time masked and sprayed. It's taken since early last year to get my head around the process but now I know how. I bought my first airbrush in 1979 and have never touched a model with an ordinary brush since then.

Macattack80 -- the preshading on the StuG looks great, I must do that more. I think I did some preshading on the M110 I did last year, but that's about it, I seem to put the paint on pretty solidly for armour. Speaking of which, I must move my own StuG IV along todau.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

thanks. these beasties are complicated. good practice for the 3 trumpeter 1/35 engines in the stash. my airbrushng is iffy so i pulled out gb2 hasagawa k-5. may do overspray in red brown. again good practice for hobbyboss 1/72 k-5 and DORA and 1/35 trumpeter k-5 in the stash. also have a pair of 1/35 gondolas (working on one), 1/35 KARL and 1/72 KARL w/rail carrier. plus 3-5 1/87 kits. so, given all that, the plastic railbed looks like plastic even after a few hours of work sooooo going to lay my own track and bed. i think the 1/35 will be easier to build. means i need to airbrush more for practice. will probably mount the 1/35 with ubolts before attaching the boiler. i have a friend who built a case for my 1/35 MAS boat and i will have him build cases for the 1/35 stuff. and um has a soviet 1/72 armored train plus additional cars,

started the railbed. 2 feet of basewood. wanted a little elevation for bed and ballast but not a lot. the bed is deliberately off center. have a small miter saw so cutting the ties was easy. stained with driftwood and washed with black. right now thet look too tall buy after ballast will be fine. today i will add gwound base. i think i will use model clay around and between the ties. thinking maybe use a lot of white glue but don't know how long it would take to dry and want to nhave this done today. will also decal, add clear colors to lenses and add windows to br-52. may tint cab windows w. clear blue just to add some color. still need to weather it a bit too. have a um pz-38 rail car carrier for an armoured train. all this railroad stuff drives some of the guys in my wood ship club crazy.

Waynec, The base is going to look cool. What type of rail were you planning on using? Looking forward to seeing updates on progress.

 

Looking fantastic waynec!  Keep up the good work.

I think the gloss black paint on the Tomcat might finally be cured enough to handle and continue working on it.  I hope to get to the wheel wells tonight.

While working on an Academy Mig-21 I found an old Matchbox Mig-21 back the closet that I forgot about.

Now if I can only get a nice black base coat!

Nice find 68GT.  I assume you want that added to the roster?

I have enough on there as it is so its not any big deal if it gets on the roster or not.  I was able to get the black lacquer to lay down nicely last night so it looks like it will be the first of my Closet Crusties to make it to the finish line.

I also found Matchbox Ju188 and He111 in 1/72 that were partially assembled and bagged away.  I'll build some of the list before these are added.

thanks i'll use 1/87 HO rails. it's closer to 1/72 than 1/48 O though i have some of them too. the rails are the hard part because they have to be perfect for all the wheels to sit on them. and, at least for the contest, it will not be secured to the rails as i may use the base for my rr gun plus i have enough room to add a car ahead or behind the locomotive. couplings will be faked though it looks like the 1/35 ones are functional. i used some modeling clay inside the tender to attach "real" coal and it works. certainly less messy than usual stuff.

68GT, I will just add it to the roster.  Can't hurt.  Happy to hear that you will finally be able to get it finished.

waynec, the ties are looking good.  I really like how you made them slightly off center.  Looks very realistic.

After numerous attempts at getting these exhaust nozzles to look good I give up.  I ordered some Steel Beach resin covered nozzles from Sprue Brothers.  They are drop in replacements meant to fit the Revell kit.  Since the exhast will be covered I ordered the intake FOD covers as well.

got the ballast down but it looks like crap. tried to paint to fix things and it got worse. will try painting all of it with a light gray wash on sunday and at least finish it for a test bed, so to speak. took a break for a local ipms contest. decided quantity is it's own quality so i put 7 models in 5 catagories. that and just showing up with something in a catagory got me some wins, especially the more obscure catagories i chose. so took a first (2cm FLAK), 2 seconds (BR-50 locomotive and BRDM-3 AT), and a third (BIG BOY locomotive). not as impressive as it sounds but.... so all of these are now on the retired shelf. looks like i have one other guy doing RR so i will continue with RR stuff, get cracking on finishing ww1 snf esrlier ships since they don't show up a lot, artillery and missles, and wheeled modern NATO and primarily chinese PLA stuff. my 2 axis light tanks look nice but they didn't break out axis armor into light and heavy or early and late and a PZ-II can't really compete against the big cats. but that's ok we had great demos on PE, salt weathering, hairspray weathering, styrene scratch building, decals, and putty. all in all a good day. i didn't get 2 models finished for it though i discplined myself not to rush them and screw them up. there will be more contests.

Waynec -- great haul at the show! Sorry the ballast didn't turn out as you'd like it, I'm watching this build with interest as one day I would love to add a Leopold to the collection and that means a RR bed base.

PLA stuff? Weelllll -- may I ask what paints you use for modern PLA armour? I'm thinking the three-tone camo of the last twenty years -- I've heard it said German Dark Yellow is a close match for the yellow, and the two greens have close FS equivalents. I've been wanting to get into PLA armour but haven't cracked the camo colours yet...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

thanks. it's not going to my head but it is nice. i think my "best" showing was a second for 1/35 dak 4x4 sdkfz-222 last year. that may go to NATS PLA and PLAN stuff is on my really want to build shelves but i am trying to clean up a bunch of shelf queens and june start looking at big models for NATS in 2013 up the road a piece from the house. i suspect PLA tank transporter, mbt type 99a and df-21 icbm will be on the short list along with CSS HUNLEY and sino-japanese warships and 1/35 and 1/72 rr stuff. i will look for colors but i am calmer in my old age and close is good enough. the rail bed may look better today. the molding clay worked great. LESSONS LEARNED use a goofy color clay to make terrain, then paint it similar to color of ground stuff. acrylics stuck well and ground stuff stuck well to that. not doing this for 1/72 RR but 1/35 i will have to make at least 1000 german rail mounting plates. sounds like a resin mold project. a guy in my springs club also dies RR and has made them soooo.... forgot. we had a really cool demo on lighting models with LEDs; how to diffuse to get a solid strip like blue on ENTERPRISE nacelles, how to do spotlights, how to power and how to color. have a shelf queen 1/110ish lightship to try that on.