Wow, that's soooooooooooooo cool Mongoose!!!

if you're reading this, i know what you're thinking, how involved can making a wave be? Haha well I'm complicating it some more :-) the above pics are with heavy gel medium so it'll keep it's shape as it dries to clear. Then I'll go over it with white to create the spray from the water. A little water effects to create some pools along the sand and it should be all set. I had an area up top in red that just didn't match the rest. The resin just dried on me too fast. So i added some heavy gel to it. That'll take a week to dry now as it's a thick area. 
next up is the lightning for the end of the curl and painting sand on the leading edge where the spyplane is entering so it matches the base. Frogs will be very last. Should be done next weekend.

Again, that looks soooooo cool. I'd have had no idea where to begin on building something like this. 

Boy that's comin' together, Mongoose! Great job! 

OK guys I finally got an update! Now I know there aren't too many of us here but everybody who is here gets a vote, yay! Yep you guessed it, i need some opinions...I've started placing the frogs to see what it will look like. I put a few down in the sand, but just a few. Some frogs will be going into the waves and some coming out, maybe a few surfers too. 
take alook and are there too many frogs. Are they taking over the dio?

Chris

edit - another thought, should they only be coming out of the breaking waves? Open to any and all ideas here gang :-)

Mongoose,

Holy gazowee!  

I think the frogs on the sand are perfect.  The ones riding the tops of the surf seem a bit much - unless you are combining the Habu's flight with one of the Plagues of Egypt!  Perhaps place a couple at the front of the diorama for the viewer's pleasure.

Uh... Huh-huh, I said "viewer's pleasure"!  Huh-huh.  Huh-huh-huh-huh-hun-huh...

Hey Butthead, check it out!!!  There's frogs everywhere!  Boiiiiinnnnngggg!

Huh-huh, settle down Beavis, this is like, a seriously cool diorama!

A...  A what, Butthead?

No, you dumb-wipe, a DIORAMA.  Pay attention Beavis!

G you're hilarious! Brought back some funny memories with that show. So with you and my wife's input I think this is all figured out :-)

Definitely down the home stretch. The outside looked too different from the rest now that it's all coming together. Originally I planned to seal and stain it but looking at it now that won't look right. I primed it tonight and will extend the water colors around the sides later this week. Look for another update in a few days...

Fantastic!   Where did you get the little frogs?

keavdog

Fantastic!   Where did you get the little frogs?

 

I bought an stl file to 3d print them :-)

I had searched everywhere trying to find some little toy frogs and nothing was small enough. The whole 3-D printing thing really was what finished this off and completed the concept. I painted some different colored spots on them to break up the print layers that showed and they were all set.

Sorry I've been AWOL, guys! You're doing an excellent job, Mongoose! Great frogs! 

That looks fantastic Mongoose!!! The 'water' looks perfect! 

Looking forward to seeing you get the SR-71 fared in there.  

Hey Guys this ones DONE - Snoopy vs The Red Sea! Posting up my favorites of the finished pics now. This was a crazy one for sure. I've decided to take it out to the IPMS NATS this month. At the very least i think alot of people will enjoy seeing it!

John as you can probably tell I think this was an exciting group build. A great idea you had to drive some creativity! I'm looking forward to watching everyone's builds come together for sure. Lots of good stuff happening here.

Mor pics here on my Scalemates page if you'd like to see the whole build:

https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=17812&p=albums&album=81592#73 

Till next time Gents!

Holy bazonga, Mongoose, that is just cra~zy!  

Good luck at the Nats!  I can't go this year, but will be rooting for you!

Whoa, whoa, WHOA Mongoose- that's FRIGGIN' AWESOME!!! 

WOW, OH WOW!!!! 

Thanks, Mongoose! Impressive work! You did a great job, and I'm so glad to hear that you're taking it to Nationals! Boy, I wish I could attend one of those events! I'll root for you as well! 

Which photo would you like as your trophy pic/roster photo?

My progress unfortunately is pitiful...especially compared to Mongoose. But at least the pre shade is done. Now I have to figure out how to airbrush the colors. I kinda started playing around with the silly putty to see if I could give it a decent (and somewhat accurate to the plans) mask, but the thing is SO TINY. Who knows, maybe I should be sacrificing more  accuracy in the pattern. I may  possibly do some freehand airbrushing for it, but I expect I'd need a very fine nozzle for my airbrush to keep the pattern controlled...hmm. 

So, for right now, I'll turn back to the diorama and see if I can't prep the pond for resin.

Hey John let's use the 1st poc.

Dang that tank is timy. Didn't have a sense for it till i looked at the paint bottles in the background. I bet you need a 20 thousandths needle for that fine work. Looking forward to the dio!

Looks good to me John! Did you try Silly-Putty? It's the only way I can do French camo. 

I need to get some photos up of my car. The wheels are on and I'm getting close to being done. Mostly working on the surf boards now. 

This may seem odd Gamera but I'm excited to see the car! The shape of that thing is just so odd and unique  perfect find for the GB

TheMongoose

Hey John let's use the 1st poc.

Dang that tank is timy. Didn't have a sense for it till i looked at the paint bottles in the background. I bet you need a 20 thousandths needle for that fine work. Looking forward to the dio!

 

I'll get that pic right up! Congrats on the first to finish! 

As to my micro tank...why do I like "flea" tanks when they come back to bite me this way?! Lol 

Gamera

Looks good to me John! Did you try Silly-Putty? It's the only way I can do French camo. 

I need to get some photos up of my car. The wheels are on and I'm getting close to being done. Mostly working on the surf boards now. 

 

I tried playing with the putty--trying to mask a pattern like the instructions show. It just seemed way hard, but maybe I was trying to follow the instructions too closely for accuracy and making it more difficult for myself? 

I'll be looking for your car pics, too; gotta see what all you've done!   

Also, in question, would any of y'all be interested in another Models, Inc. build in 2024? 

Thanks guys. I need to get the photos of the car/trike thing up. The wheels are on at least. Think I'm about 75% of the way done. It shouldn't be much longer. 

Good luck with the camo John. Silly-Putty works for me but your tank is so small it might not work that well. 

And lemme see on another of these. I want to get this one done first. Then I'll think about more... 

2024's pretty far out anyway, and one or two projects is enough to tackle at a time! We'll see later on.

Congrats on getting the wheels on! I've always had a distaste for wheels--too round for painting!

And thanks for your advice and well-wishes! I do hope things work out with the camo--especially since it looks like I'll be working on another camo-scheme tank next year, too!

I would do it again. 2024 is out there a bit so i think like everyone it will depend on what's on the bench at the time. I loved the concept. If i could offer one suggestion it would be to go with a title along the lines of your original explanation related to "Chopped" for plastic models with the cooking show 3 ngrdient theme. It might bring in more modelers. Or itmight just be that this group of us now are the crazy ones on the site?

Hmm. I could do that; but I'm not sure what title would work. I'm not actually "Chopping" anyone.....or am I?.... Lol 

With a rename and a second round, we'll find out if we're the crazy ones or not. Either way, I'm cool with crazy! Mwahahaha! 

So, I've continued my work on the diorama:

Using ultra-thin copper wire to simulate small branches, I am slowly but surely expanding the frame of my model tree. Much more must yet be done, but I'm off to a decent start.

Then, there's the pond bed. I added stones and a few boulders to the pond...

And what is a pond without cattails? Using pine needles and small rolls of clay, I have engaged in the endeavor to make a small plethora of these water-side reeds to bridge pond and shore. I still have to add green and brown paint to the stalks and seed clusters respectively, of course.

Lastly, and perhaps most notably, I finally bit the bullet and got down to business with the R-35 tank. So, originally, I was gonna try freehand, but for some inexplicable reason, my airbrush would NOT work with the .25mm spray pattern parts which I was wanting to use for it. (I've contacted Paasche to get replacement parts.)

Apparently, silly putty was just meant to be! (Looking at you, Gamera! Lol ) And, though, yes, it took effort and still needs touch-ups, I think it turned out all right! Praise the Lord Jesus!

I used MM Dark Green all over, then started working with the silly putty to add Testors Flat Green, Rustoleum Camouflage Khaki, Testors Flat Rust, and lastly my own mixed concoction to replicate the "Sky" color the directions called for. (I used MM Neutral Gray, Testors Flat Gray, Testors Flat Sky Blue, and Testors Flat Green) Now, I must decide how to add the thin black lines between colors. I had been thinking sharpie; but after what I've done, I'm not sure. There are apparently some places on the tank that it might be hard for a sharpie to reach...at least hard for it to reach without risk that is.

And here's a teaser photo... 

John that's gonna be sharp aas you pull it all together! Tree is awesome but those cattails will knock it outta the park. Cool idea with the pine needles. Will look natural.

for thin black lines what i did was cut down a brush to just 3 to 4 bristles. A longer bristle brush works a tad better for holding paint. It takes alot of strokes to do anything but you get good control this way. maybe an 1/8" to 1/4" long stroke at most before the paint runs out. Also clean and wet brush often. I did Snoopy's doghouse using this method. I think it would work for your black lines between colors.

Thank you, Mongoose! And, yes, today I picked up some Model Color Black paint, and brand new paint brushes for the job. Looking in my local HL, I additionally found a wonderful surprise....resin mushrooms for 50% off! Yeah, so of course I got those, too.....

John: That looks cool! Glad the Silly Putty worked out. I've used a black Sharpie for the black lines but I've heard that you shouldn't. Seems they can bleed but I've never had that issue myself. You're probably better off with the paint.