Winter Warriors II - The Wintering!

MARC: as for whitewash,,hopefully... tomorrow after Lunch...If Rick ever pics a place..lol.. I just need to finish the tools on the rear deck, then start the white wash... 

I'm also toying with an idea, from another pic I found of a wintery M-10.. it was behind a drift or snowbank, and the wind had blown the snow across the tank,, creating small drifts on the tank itself...  I picked up some scenic snow from "bend u over Jeff"... to use on the running gear in the original pic.. so I may try the drifty part to... [View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

so.. we'll see,,,,

dupes

Boyd - so  you really started the Marder? Do we get to see it?

 

Indeed, I did.  I hope to get some serious bench time on Friday (tomorrow will be touch and go) so I'll try to get some pics up then.

So far I've only done a lot of clean-up and some work on the suspension.  It is a wierd kit in that Tamiya included a pretty nice engine, but other than that, no interior detail (even with a working back hatch).  Now part of that is because it is one of their old kits that could be motorized, but still. 

Because of that, I've picked up some bits and pieces that I hope to use to add some interior 'texture' so when you look into a hatch you see more than empty space.

Guys: I made some HUGE PROGRESS on my KV-1 over the 3-day weekend!  Started building Friday afternoon, done Saturday morning...this baby FLEW together!  Then on to painting.  I chose Tamiya XF-22 for the base color.  I wanted a blue-ish green and I recalled how nice of a color it was when I previously painted the Zu Fuss rockets the same color.  Here's how that came out: (of course Feldmeister Modeler von Builder Meister was looking on with great interest...and disgust when he saw I was using a German color on a Rusky tank!

Decals set and silly putty in place over the green...then a coat of white for the first layer of camo':

I mixed a custom oil color slightly greener than the XF-22 and drybrushed some wear.  I used a scotch-brite pad and the XF-22 for the chips and scratches.  I've tried the "sponge" technique more than once before, to no avail.  I think it worked this time because I switched to the rougher texture of the pad AND dabbed almost ALL the paint off before applying...kinda' like drybrushing.  I'm real happy with how it came out:

In the next step I diluted white acrylics 50% paint to 50% rubbing alcohol and lathered up the tank with white.  Random, hap-hazard brush strokes work best...and a stiff drink beforehand (if you drink) help on this step.  Since I'm familiar with this application, I stayed sober!  It looks like CRAP when its done, but the next steps will tone it down a lot and tie it together:

(5) tones of oil washes and it's starting to look the part:

I've made much more progress since this last photo...more to come...

SMJ,

I'm dashing off to teach, so only time for a quick comment:

SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Lookin' good SMJ. Yup, throwing all that white on there, you need a deep breath at the very least! You're right though, looks great with the weathering in place... actually, my car kinda looks like that right now!

Dupes – Nope, no Valleycon for me and not because it is close to 2 hrs north of me. There is a major conspiracy in which every modeling show during the past 3 years has been held the same days as my US Navy reserve duty weekends.

P38 – I did notice the bolt head shading, nice touch… no way I have those AB skills :)    M10 coming along rather nicely.

Panzerguy – the extra texture works well; green putty as in Squadron’s green tubes? Sorry the newbie question.

Steve – very nice KV… yes, I tried the sponge technique once before, it worked well the first time…because I got lucky and used a very stiff/rough bit of dishwashing sponge : )    Taking a personality of its own with each layer, look forward to the final product!

As for me, lost Dig Cam privileges again, so will have to work some more and then finally post WIP pics. Went brave and tried to make my own barrel out of hollow brass pipe and styrene. Hope to FINALLY post pics tomorrow, once eldest comes home with the Dig Cam 

TIP – Get your own camera memory card, so you don’t have to wait around for THE Dig Cam to come back to you to download your model pics.

Bonus – You don’t have to them scroll thru 200 pics of random idiotic teenager activity pictures in order to find your Precious models ;) LOL

browniii/ Vance/Jmart: Thanks guys!

dupes: I finally had a chance to get through all the pages of this GB.  I didn't read every post but I got a good feel where and what everyone has done to date.  It looks like there's a lot work still to be done too with the huge number of participants.  Any HOO...please update my entry to the  Trumpeter KV-1 1942 Heavy Cast Turret Tank now that I officially got started..  Thanks.

JMart: extra bonus TIP... some Dig cameras are pretty cheap now.. I got one for my sorta Step Daughter.. was only 50$ or so... give to teens,, saves scrolling thru the pics.. and YOU keep the good cam..

   p38 thanks man! I see what you mean about the fungi. Might hav'ta use scrubbing bubbles for a primer coat lol. Your M10 is looking real sharp. Note to self need to add some more US armor to the stash.

  Dupes looks like you still have more to learn about shows and vendors grasshopper. Always check out the stuff that just thrown into box's even the ones under the tables. Never know what you'll find in there.

   SMJ three days! Somebody's making up for lost time. Very nice by the way. Gotta give one of those Trumpeter kits a try.

   Jmart thanks and yes its the green tube. Best way to apply the stuff is to first coat the part with some liquid glue and than dab on the putty using an old paint brush. The stiffer the bristles the better.

   Now it's back to the bench, have all night to myself so I'm going to take full advantage.

p38jl

 

ps.. try the other posting code that Vance suggested.. it didn;t work...? got an error code ( image removed)..

So, when you look at your Photobucket page you see something like this, correct?

And you are highlighting the Img Code at the bottom of the image as I've done, copied and pasted that directly into your paragraph?  As is?  With the image brackets and all?

If yes, and you get an "image removed" error, then I'm baffled.

I did try that, both pasting it into the paragraph( it made the image HUGE and a pain to resize.... and not always did that work either ) and pasting it in to the little , which is how I do it now.. but If I paste the IMG code in there I get the error..  If I paste the HTML code in to the film link, it works the best for me.. but does give that coding you spoke of.. Am I missing it ?

Simply pasting it into the paragraph is exactly how you should do it.  As far as image size, first make sure your photos are resized before uploading to Photobucket.  Either select a smaller file size before taking the pic, or using an image software to reduce the size.  You can also change your settings in Photobucket under Account Settings/Album Settings/Images Link back to Album.  Click on the blue Link Options, under Img unselect the Full size option and select the Thumbnail option.  That may help.

Hey P38, I'm just catching up with the image-pasting issue, are you straightened out now? I'm kinda cheating to get mine up there right now... I maintain the company website, and we have a portion of our server sererved for upcoming special projects... so I've hijacked a folder in there to store my pics! So the code I'm pasting in is the "absolute link" for each image. Sample code inside the brackets below.

( http://www.simplyforlife.com/simplyfit/dancingturtle/vanceimages/100_3136_sm.jpg )

I've just started using Photobucket but haven't tried coding those images into these forum posts yet.

Vance

PROGRESS!! And just as importantly, I'm feeling good about the Storch again - I had "a moment" there a few days ago...

Cabin etc. from above. The metal insert for the landing gear is in place, engine is now mounted, trying to figure out the best way to show off some of that detail. I plan on leaving the door open anyway, there are flaps & slats everywhere, I'll just leave the access panels open I guess. A little more smoothing to be done to my putty job on the back.

Ditto,

And here it is while dry-fitting the upper cowling, wings and tail feathers. Note the size of my standard Exacto knife... this bird is bigger than I thought it was going to be! I see a bunch of painting coming up this weekend!

Very nice looking Storch so far.Great job on all the problems/shortcomings issues.This thing would be large in 1/35 th .

p38jl

JMart: extra bonus TIP... some Dig cameras are pretty cheap now.. I got one for my sorta Step Daughter.. was only 50$ or so... give to teens,, saves scrolling thru the pics.. and YOU keep the good cam..

  yep, except wife is the one with the GOOD Dig cam, Im all the way down on the dig cam pecking order lol

Finally, my start WIP:

The kit is the old Tamiya T34/76 1942 model, kit #149. Right off the bat, I can say that the term “Tamiya fit” was coined AFTER this kit was molded. Details are not bad, but the fit is terrible at times.

The T34-76 in 1942 had mostly the perforated type of tire: 

The Tamiya tires have the “perforations” but they look very shallow. I drilled the perforations deeper in a couple of the tire; I think you can see the difference (right tire with the drilling, left tire as is): 

However, I am not about to spend 10 hours with a pin vise hand drilling 36 holes per tire, so unless I get a collete for the Dremel allowing the use of small drill bits, the tires will go on as is.

Next, I attempted to hollow out the engine side grills (yes, I know you can simply get the Zoom PE for the grills ;) .  

The TOP one took me close to 2-3 hours and it was hacked in a couple places (ahem, battle damage?). The bottom one took me 30 min and was easily cleaned up with a sharp new blade. The difference? How much I “Dremelled” under the plastic:

The first time, I hacked away at the plastic FROM ABOVE, after thinning the plastic underneath with the Dremel/sander. However, I did not think enough. The next one, I really sanded from below until I saw the grill themselves show thru the plastic. That made a huge difference in time and final appearance. I included all this just in case it helps someone down the road…

The side grills are also thick; but you cannot sand them down. Best you can do (besides replace with PE grills!) is to score the grills and use your blade or folded sand paper to thin out the plastic; not sure if it succeeded or not:

The grills now look “used” and scrappy… not sure if that would be an accurate reflection of hard usage or just a construction blunder : )   opinions on the above?

Finally, I made a barrel out of brass tubing and some styrene, will have to wait till priming step to see if it looks better than the plastic version:

Some more minor steps have been done, in the process of filling in the old tamiya “motorized” hull holes and those for the cylindrical gas tanks, to be replaced by rear square versions.

Feel free to point out any errors, inaccuracies or issues! Only by second 1:35 armor, very much on the learning stage!

bbrowniii

Because of that, I've picked up some bits and pieces that I hope to use to add some interior 'texture' so when you look into a hatch you see more than empty space.

You could stuff some figures into those holes.

JMart

Dupes – Nope, no Valleycon for me and not because it is close to 2 hrs north of me. There is a major conspiracy in which every modeling show during the past 3 years has been held the same days as my US Navy reserve duty weekends.

Bummer...was hoping we'd finally get to meet you! Looks like there'll be a decent FSM contingent on hand.

This may only be your second armor build, but it's coming along great. Putting a lot of effort into this guy...I like it.

SMJ - updated page one with your actual build. Heheh. Looking at that front page, it appears that there's quite a few participants who committed to building something that haven't really built anything...going to pony up some sweet winter camo, fellas?

Received some terrible news this afternoon...the coffee shop (read: my internet source) is closing for a MONTH for renovations. Means I'm either saddled with dialup, or I need to start hanging out at Denny's a lot more. Of course, I could just park in the library parking lot like a pervert. Not that I haven't done that before...

dupes

bbrowniii:

Because of that, I've picked up some bits and pieces that I hope to use to add some interior 'texture' so when you look into a hatch you see more than empty space.

 

You could stuff some figures into those holes.

True, but I'm worried you could see around them and it'd be all empty space.  Like I said, I'm not planning major renovations - just a few little details...

dupes

...Looking at that front page, it appears that there's quite a few participants who committed to building something that haven't really built anything...

Looking at that front page, it appears some participants who committed to building something and did build something need to have their status updated.

Slacker.

UPDATE... M-10 is ready for whitewash... finished the tools last night, did a bit more weathering, and final touches..  I'll post a final pre white wash pic soon..

Everyones builds are looking very sweet.. ! Keep up the good work!  

Hahahhahaaaa....I'll get on it right now, Arki!

So my camera and laptop were stolen, and got evicted and moved, but I am back and here is where my Marder III stands....

Hey Brutus, glad to hear you've survived. The Marder is looking good though. On pictures 3 and 5 - is that the salt-crystal method in action? Have you done it before? How does the salt react to Tamiya acrylics? I'm thinking about using this to finish a Japanese fighter - green paint peeling from the NMF underneath - so any tips would be greatly appreciated,

Vance

Vance,

Thanks for the support, it has been a really bad cpl months, but things have done a complete 180 and life is really lookin good again. Anyway, yes its salt. Ive used water and windshield fluid (which I use to thin acrylics) and either will work well. I also use Tamiya acrylics primarily, and as long as the top coat is dry, the salt comes off gently with a wire brush. I've used liquid mask as well, and the salt seems to come off afterward better. I usually use kosher salt, but if you're doing anything smaller than 1/35, i would recomend somethimg with smaller size granules. I've done regular table salt on 1/48 aircraft, and that looks really cool. HTH.

Here is where I am. In about an hour I will be heading out to spray the green coat on. I have all the wheels glued up and together ready for paint also.

I know there might be some flaws here and there. Comments, criticism and anything to help my next build are welcome. Wingnut already pointed out that I have the screen on the wrong side of the engine cover, but it was already glued and done.

Josh

Ho hoooo! Lots of updates this afternoon...I love it!

Brutus - glad to see a pic of your Marder. Looks like she's coming out well despite all of the other stuff you're dealing with.

Josh - paint time! Always my favorite. Keep at it!

SMJ - meant to ask you this yesterday. XF-22???? as your base coat???? For the green part???? Can I put in any more question marks????

At the gentle prodding by Arki (thanks man), I did indeed get the first page updated. 10 suh-weeeet builds so far, with many more coming in the next six weeks. Good stuff, fellas!

Tellis - glad I did the wrapup, didn't even SEE your intro pic. It was right at the bottom of one of the pages, and it must have been a dialup day for me...got you added to the front page. My apologies, sir.

Dupes - no coffee shop - no high-speed?! A whole freakin' month!!!

Don't these people realize that you're in the homestretch of a group build? The nerve!