Hi Harold, thanks for answering my query about the pipette -  will have to get me a few of those. 

Not concerned yet about the delay in the book order, could be just less flights being accepted here in Canada, and more stringent procedures once anything does arrive out of country.

No problem about helping out with your build, that's what we are here for.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Harold, that continues to look good.  I'm still waiting my copies of Starmer books, and we both ordered around the same time.   Have also been meaning to ask, what did you use to measure out your paint when mixing - some kind of eye dropper tool or pipette?

 

regards,

Jack 

I wanted enough paint to give the entire model at least two coats, so I started with 100 drops = 5 parts of XF-61. Then it was easy to calculate the other colour parts and by the time I had all the colors in one of the mixing bottles the bottle was full of paint, so it worked out well for me. I also used AK Interactive stainless steel shaker balls in the mixing bottle.

I am really surprised you haven't received your books yet. I got the impression Mike sent your shipment a few days before he sent mine. You might want to email him and find out when he sent them and confirm the address he used. If I haven't said so before it was great working with you on my Matador model. I would have never figured out the decals and through you I made a new friend in Mike Starmer.

Harold

I've built the little Challenger from Dragon about a decade back.  I believe the canvas skirt was added during the Gulf War to keep the dust down when travelling.  Try using a Buff colour, like from Tamiya.  Follow up with a thin  dark brown wash, and dust it up a little during the weathering stage.

Svenne, thanks for that and the invite.

Harold, that continues to look good.  I'm still waiting my copies of Starmer books, and we both ordered around the same time.   Have also been meaning to ask, what did you use to measure out your paint when mixing - some kind of eye dropper tool or pipette?

regards,

Jack

@Robert

1/72 ey...

Looks amazing.

Can not help you with the canvas thingy - not seen that before.

You might want to ask that question in the reguar Armour forum - lots of ppz there to guide you right.

Looking good - keep them coming!

With regards
Svenne

And me again,

Since my last update:

New compressor: Check!
(family downstairs will be pleased)

New AB, Paasche Talon: Check!
(And it does not fit my std 1/8" thread, guess it is M5*0,5 same as Badger)

Tamiya XF-81: Check
(6 bottles obtained from obscure source since all main distributores in Europe are out of stock - BoB syndrom?)

And got myself a 5 pounder to drag behind the tractor :)

Party on!

With best wishes
Svenne

I second that Bish.
This is just awesome!

Harold, Jack - the work you have put into this is worth every credit!

When ever in Gothenburg/Sweden PM me and drinks are on me!

Very Best Regards
Svenne 

@lostagain

Hi,
Ditto all what you just said lostagain.

And to my eye that looks quite right, the XF-61is not to dark - XF-62 would have renderd that almost black.

Good one :)

Svenne

Quick progress update, road wheels are painted and installed.  Body is glued together, and a basecoat of desert tan is applied. Turret is just in place for the photo.

The yucky khaki thing along the bottom of the side armor is supposed to be some canvas clothes, some kind of protection for the road wheels i assume, I thought this color would work..but I am not pleased.  It will take some major washes and drybrushing to get it up to snuff.  Glad I haven't affixed them yet.

Bish

Pic of the inside or not, thats looking very nice harold. look forward to seeing the camo on and how you get on with those stencils.

 

Pic of the inside or not, thats looking very nice harold. look forward to seeing the camo on and how you get on with those stencils.

I have some good news and bad news. I have completed all the assembly and base coat of S.C.C. 15 paint. Waiting now for the camouflage stencil template to arrive so I can complete the rest of the painting and decals. The bad news is I did not take a photograph of the interior painting before I glued the cab together. I did remember to remove the masking tape on the inside of the windows, but I am afraid the interior will need to wait until the painting is all done to be seen.

I also received Mike Starmer's books today and was pleased to see that my S.C.C. 15 Olive Drab paint matches his colour chip perfectly. However, I was surprised to see that his book British Army Colours & Disruptive Camouflage in the United Kingdom, France and NW Europe 1936-1945, updated in December 2019 did not include the Tamiya mixes in his article https://www.mafva.org/british-vehicle-camouflage-1939-45/?v=79cba1185463. But I have no doubt that Mike is the kind of person that will help modelers find the best Tamiya paint to match whatever British colour we are trying to represent. I am a big fan of Mike Starmer and highly recommend his books for British military colours and camouflage patterns.

Harold

I am almost done with assembly and the base coat S.C.C. 15 Olive Drab paint. I have a little more to do on the interior then I can glue the cab together. The next step will be to install 28 gage, dead soft, copper wire on the canopy as tie-down rope. This will be threaded through the holes on the sides of the canopy and secured on exterior truck bed hooks. Then I can glue the canopy to the truck bed. Once that is done, I can install decals and add the camouflage in Nato Black which will represent S.C.C. 14 paint.

I have practiced free-hand camouflage painting for a couple of days on art paper and decided to use a combination of forest camo airbrush stencil template and free-hand to apply the Matador camouflage. The stencil set is shown below.

Harold

Gamera

Robert, Harold, Piers, and Jack: Those look great guys, please keep us updated! 

 

(2) I had read that changing the psi on an air compressor can change the surface texture of the paint. Vallejo varnish is a heavy medium, the viscosity is much thicker than Vallejo Model Air paint or Tamiya acrylic paint. I tried applying the varnish at 17 psi and noticed it was textured almost like orange peel. So, I applied 3 coats and it just became more noticeable. After it dried, I applied one coat of matte varnish at 35 psi and the texture began to smooth out. neither the gloss nor matte varnishes were thinned.

Conclusion: the perceived color will change with a gloss coat and the psi must be increased with heavier mediums like varnish. Thinning the varnish will allow application at a lower air pressure. Perhaps if I had a smooth gloss coat to start with one or two matte coats would have restored the paint to its original color. The gloss coat is only needed to provide a smooth surface for decals. If the finish coat of paint is smooth enough it may not be necessary to have a gloss coat.

Harold

Robert, Harold, Piers, and Jack: Those look great guys, please keep us updated! 

Lost, good going with the Achillies.  The overall darkness should decrease once a flat coat is applied.  The paint underneath does not specifically change, but it's the amount of light that reflects back to the eye depending on the surface finish.

--------------------------

The photo etch company I'm dealing with is in Scotland:

https://www.ppdltd.com/

I sent my artwork in vector format.  You can just send in drawings of what you want and have them do the vector work, but the costs would balloon.   I shudder at the thought of what the final price would have been had I gone that route. 

Started working on my PE project mid-July, and sent it in beginning of October.  They quote a turn around of a minumum 2 weeks or up to 6 weeks to get the finished product sent back to you.  Also they quote prices on a minimum size of 150 x 300mm,   so was researching a lot of extra subjects to fill out those dimensions.

Here's what the whole project looks like:

regards,

Jack

lostagain

Harold,

Your colour mix looks good on the Matador. For my Achilles, Tamiya suggested XF 61 straight and I reckon it looks dark:

I did do lighter coloured highlights on the horizontal surfaces before adding the decals. But the use of a gloss coat also made the scheme darker all round, which was frustrating.

 

 

By the way, which clear coat product did you use? I normally use Vallejo gloss and matt varnish regardless of which acrylic paint I use.

Harold

Robert,

the Challenger came together really quickly. If it was a one night effort, it must have gone together really well?

Jack,

Do you get the photo etch done by someone - you just send the artwork?

Harold,

Your colour mix looks good on the Matador. For my Achilles, Tamiya suggested XF 61 straight and I reckon it looks dark:

I did do lighter coloured highlights on the horizontal surfaces before adding the decals. But the use of a gloss coat also made the scheme darker all round, which was frustrating.

Robert, nice work, that was quick.

Harold, that is an interesting quote from the veteran Sherman driver.   It could be his first Sherman had some major work on it to prepare for Normandy, such that it required a repaint in SCC.15.   Another possibilty is a different Olive drab paint applied at the factory.  Either way, the vet would not be able to answer this, as his vehicle would have been delivered to the unit ready to go. 

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Yes, that vehicle pictured in the foreground is exactly what I'm building.

Paint looks really good on the Matador.

 

regards,

Jack

 

I received a reply from Mike Starmer regarding the paint mix we have been working on, that you and other members might find interesting.

Yes, that vehicle pictured in the foreground is exactly what I'm building.

Paint looks really good on the Matador.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Harold, looking forward to seeing that paint on your Matador.

---------------------

At long last got news that the photo-etch I had designed for my Humber Scout has finally been shipped.   So another 2 weeks or so and can continue my build. 

Here is a sample of the artwork without frets before it is switched to what is used as the 'photo tool':

Black reprensents the solid brass, white is full etch, red half etch front, and blue is half etch backside.

 

regards,

Jack

 

I started painting the finish coat tonight and it feels good to have a paint color selected that I know is historically accurate. I just got the first coat on one side of the major subassemblies.

Harold

Harold, looking forward to seeing that paint on your Matador.

---------------------

At long last got news that the photo-etch I had designed for my Humber Scout has finally been shipped.   So another 2 weeks or so and can continue my build. 

Here is a sample of the artwork without frets before it is switched to what is used as the 'photo tool':

Black reprensents the solid brass, white is full etch, red half etch front, and blue is half etch backside.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

I like the second sample better because it is lighter, but both still look like they are the same colour - which is good.  Once you get Mike's book you can compare directly, but it doesn't need to be an exact match. I've read paint standards could vary as much as 10% and still considered acceptable.

 

regards,

Jack

 

Harold

While waiting for the paint to cure on another build, I cracked open the Challenger 2.  All of these subassemblies were basically done in one sitting:

And everything all mocked up:

The way this is falling together, I will probably spend more time going back and browsing the past builds of this GB than building.  That's ok, the painting and finishing will slow me down since I am a brush painter.

I like the second sample better because it is lighter, but both still look like they are the same colour - which is good.  Once you get Mike's book you can compare directly, but it doesn't need to be an exact match. I've read paint standards could vary as much as 10% and still considered acceptable.

regards,

Jack

I sent Mike Starmer a photograph and let him know how the mixture he suggested turned out. Mike asked me to try increasing the XF-3 just a little and add one-part neutral grey. I did not have neutral grey, so using a pipette I put 100 drops (5-parts) of Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green, 40 drops (2-parts) of XF-62 Olive Drab, 50 drops (2.5-parts) of XF-3 Flat Yellow and 20 drops (1-part) XF-66 Light Grey in a mixing bottle. Below is the result compared to my original mixture. What do you think?

Harold

Sorry i am not getting involved but i don't really have anything to add. Some great information going up here, nice to see WW2 British colours getting some discussion.

Thanks Jack! 

I may give XF-21 Sky a shot when highlighting the upper surfaces of the Conqueror. 

Hello Cliff, yes Tamiya's Buff is another option.  The results, at least digitally, would be the same as using XF-21 Sky.  The Buff does give a bit more yellow overtones the more it grows in percentage.

regards,

Jack