Sailing_Dutchman

I would like the last picture.

 

I would like the last picture.

Hey Dutch, that diorama looks excellent!!  Thanks for the walk through.  Very helpful for those of us who have yet to try doing a dio.  Snow effects came out really well.  Good luck at the show.

Let me know which picture you would like for the completed kit post on the GB front page.  Thanks for being part of the GB! 

Thanks for walking us though your diorama Dutchman. Again, the snow and ice looks fantastic!!! 

I was wondering where you were going with that base Dutch but now I get it! That looks terrific! The snow / ice effects came out great. 

Товарищи, новый штурмовик готов служить Сталину и родине!

I have finished my diorama. Following is my progress over the past week in preparation for the IPMS show.

To build the trees I cut a piece of 3/8"x3/8" balsa 6"-9" long:

Then carved and sanded them down to shape and inserted a pin:

After that, I used a wire brush to scribe the bark, and use Tamiya black and brown panel liner to color it.

Holes were made with a pin, and plumosa fern fronds were glued in.

I then cut and stained pieces from 1/4"x6"x36" popler for the border:

After sanding I found they were a little small, so I removed 1/4" from the front of the base:

I then went on to build the crew from the Dragon Russian Tank Crew kit. The kit had only two full figures, so I used the legs from two Tamiya american crewmen. The americans however used a different boot so I carved the legs down to replicate this:

Unfortunatly, I forgot to take pictures of the painted crew, but I used the article in the Kursk edition as reference. I will atempt to open the top and get some pictures, but this may take awhile.

After the wood was nailed around the foam, there was a gap which I filled with sculptamold:

Next, I used Woodland Scenics earth undercoat to paint the plaster brown to mostly match the base, and glued some pieces of plaster in the ditch for rocks:

I added some static grass and bushes made from a glob of scenic glue rolled in corse foliage and cated in hairspay to get it to stick together:

I then covered everything in a 1/2 mm coat of Krycell extra and airbrushed their adhesive from 12"-18". The tank was given a similar treatment and put on the base.

Sorry for the missing pictures and the poor quality, but I was in a rush and most of the work was done in th wee hours of the morning. If there is anything you would like to see that I missed I will gladly post pictures of it.

Thanks Dwayne! This has been the easy part, wait till I get to the engine and the zillion teeny PE parts on the hull and fenders... 

Personally I think the sprue shells look horrible but there's no way to see them though the commander's hatch with the turret together. With a flashlight you can see the shadows so I did want to put something in there!

Hopefully with those out of the way I can get back in gear. I can't believe we're down to two and a half months left to go. 

Geez Gamera, your "cheat" shells look better than the "best" I could pull off.  LOL.

Seriously, I don't think anyone would give you a hard time for that short-cut, and if it helps to get you back to working on the kit, so much the better!  I totally get how the shell issue could cause you to want to put this kit on the back burner for a while.

I forgot how detailed that kit is.  From what I see in the pics you just posted, you are doing a fantastic job!

Griffin: Thanks! It's just Flory dark dirt wash. You put it on and then wipe the excess off with a damp cotton swab. The more you scrub the more you take off, if you take off too much you can just put down another wash. 

Finally we get a pic! Jeez. Lol. That looks great Gamera. I really like the weathering. Just enough. What did you use for the pin wash around the rivets? Looks good 

BTW: My apologies for not posting anything for the better part of forever. Melting down the kit's ammo threw me for a loop and I've been working with the brass turned shells making replacement buckles and straps.

Most of the ammo in the turret won't be very visible so I decided to cheat and just make some fake shells out of sprue to put behind the brass ones.

LA: She's lookin' good! Again, kudos to you for taking a rough kit and building a gem out of her. 

Zvezda: Beautiful! She looks a slightly worn dusty vetern of many battles! 

BTW: Got to meet Sailing Dutchman at our club show Sat. and look at some of his cool stuff. We both won an award! 

All set.  Thanks for being part of the GB!

Thank you Dwayne. It was fun building it and experimenting with various new (to me) techniques.

Use the first (upper) photo of my last post please.

Excellent job on that T-34.  I really like the weathering you did on this build.  The base helps pull it together.  Photoshop effects are pretty cool.

Do you have a preference for the first page finished kit photo?

After some finishing touches and the making of a basic small scenery, this build is finished.

with a little bit of photoshop, just for the fun

and an 'aged' version that a veteran tanker might keep in his wallet for decades... On the back is written 'Bessarabia, April 1944'

Eric very nice and clean built and painting, very convincing even though it's still factory fresh.

LA, great 'steelworks' you are doing there.

Tony indeed the painting and white-wash are terrific, I will blatantly copy you in the future.

Shading and chipping is well done.  Old decals area always a risk, but it sounds like you have it figured out on this kit.

Forgot to add in the bit where I added a few chips on the corners and some other spots. Used Vallejo Sky Green, then Gloss balck and mahogany inside that, then a glaze of mahogany. May add some graphite in some places later.

I did the lightened shades to give a bit of variation to the green.

Happy with that I glossed it, then started to add some mud behind the wheels. Then realised I hadn't put the decals on, so did that in a hurry. The old dragon decals from the '90s took ages to come off the paper, but were going well until I got to the unit markings. So they came back off and the '76 is now from a different unit. I used liquid decal film, but the last decal still split, I have to try and paint/patch it over.

Tony: As the guys said the whitewash looks perfect! 

Tony,

Fantastic work with the white wash. I really looking forward to seeing the weathering to follow.

Tony, you nailed the whitewash fading look.  Great first step for your weathering!

That subtle white wash looks great! Springtime on the steppe 

Nice work again Piers.

I've done the whitewash on my KV-1. What I've tried to get to is a 'Spring' look, the snow is melting, the whitewash has run, is thin and scarred from use. Lot's of dirt and weathering to go though.

Cheers

Tony

LA: Looking good there! You're making great progress!!

Dutchman: I'd agree with the guys here. Just get her done and then worry about posting photos.

BTW: I feel kinda bad here, looks like the only thing I'll have ready for the show is a single diorama. After you coming all this way and now I'm competing with you I feel like a jerk...

SD, I agree with LA.  Focus on getting the project done for the competition, and take pics as you go.  Worry about posting later.

LA, nice progress on your SU.  Looks really good with color on it, and the color looks right.  Good job!

Hey SD, I would suggest you concentrate on getting the diorama and accessories done, but take plenty of photos as you go. Once you have presented at Roanoke, you can show us all the pics and let us know how it went.

A_A the Su has come along very well, a good bit of weathering will bring it up a treat.

Das Beav, I think my build may be an excellent guide on some of the things to avoid for the Alan kit... I am going to use a lot of weathering to hide the blemishes.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, still moving forward.

tyres were painted nato black, and the rims masked off. The tracks were painted steel and in between the guide teeth masked off.

The undercoat is tamiya black green as a base for the colour coats before the weathering.

I just found out about the IPMS near me in Roanoke. I plan to enter my dio, but need to finish it first. As there will be much to do in the next week, what would be the prefered method of posting? My options are: daily, per unit project (eg. crew, trees), per part of the unit (eg. making telogreika, modding figeres, trunks....), or something else.

Gamera

AA: She's looking sharp!