Churchill Mk.III AVRE COMPLETED 3/6/11

The base colors were all laid down today.  Actually the dirt colored knoll was painted the other day using Apple Barrel Nutmeg Brown.  Everything else was done today.  The road was painted with Vallejo Basalt Grey 869. The outside of the building was done up with Vallejo Azure 902 and, the inside with Pale Sand 837.  The debris was airbrushed with Tamiya Medium Grey XF-20.  

After these thoroughly dry, then I'll start with the washes, highlights and such.

Cheers

Dave

  Some very excellent work here. 

Maybe a few small dusty specks of BLUE wall rubble scattered randomly to hint at the exterior wall color?

Dave, this has been a great toot how to make a diomara.  I plan to make one later this year.  At first I wasn't sure why you had to use hull red paint as base coat and now I can see why.  Outstanding!  Looking forward to next update... thanks for doing this.

DM,

Thank you for the compliment and the suggestion. Blue and Pale sand color flecks are on the agenda with some other debris details.  I got the flowers and grass clumps on the knoll today.  I'll get pics up later as I do not have access to the camera right now.

Andy,

You are most welcome.  To do a dio just dive in.  The color I used is similar to what Bill Plunk uses to base coat his armor with only, I used a mixture of Tamiya paints.  It gives a lovely undercoat to give some shading so you are not obliged to paint every single piece of rubble. Thus, not giving the rubble/debris a homogeneous appearance.  There will be an update later today when I get access to the camera.

Cheers

Dave

Very NICE work!  Will be waiting for more.

Looking sharp Dave, really starting to come alive!

Rob,

Thank you very much for the compliment.  I am looking forward to getting more done.  The landscaping was actually done on Saturday but, I did not have access to the camera until today.  There will be a blend of static grass applied to the areas between the flowers and clump grass which, by the way, are a NOCH product. That WILL get done this week.

Bill,

Thank you again for having the patience to follow along on this build which, is coming up on the seven month mark.  That will be a record for me for the longest build yet. Thank you also for the compliments.

Cheers

Dave

This is gonna be nice.

Just a thought though.

With all that rubble and destruction......... dust and cast-off might figure into the brightness of the vegetation since it's so close to the "action".

  It could be a tough call to get the right balance.

I have to agree with DM.  But in some way I thought it was cool to show two different sides... flowers could meant for something such as the war is near its end.  It depends on what you are going to name the diomara.  Very interesting... I better buy flowers for my wife soon.

Andy,

Do you mean about toning down the colors of the flowers?  If so, there will be a bit of artistic license at work in that regard.  The flowers at the top of the knoll will be untinted (untainted? Hmmmmm). Whereas, the ones closest to the road will be rather heavily tinted but, still standing (interpret that as you will ).  I suppose the flowers could represent a hope of better days to come. 

You can NEVER go wrong with flowers for your wife.  Even if just because.

Cheers

Dave

It is your diomara... I will love it either way!  I do like the idea of applying more dust to the flowers closer to the ruins.  You should call the diomara 'Grass is greener on the other side'... that's what I was trying to think of earlier.  Outstanding work... looking forward to your next update.

Andy,

Thank you so very much sir for the compliments.  I haven't decided on a title yet.  Nothing done at the bench today as I am recovering from working my stretch of night shifts.  I am planning on getting the static grass on tomorrow, along with a few chunks of debris that got blown into the grass.

Cheers

Dave

The static grass is on!  I had to do an on the fly repair of the static grass applicator.  The wire mesh got all boogered up.  It's working fine now.  I'll let this dry tonight and, then tomorrow. I'll start with the washes and highlights.  She's coming down to the wire.  Woo Hoo! Once I get the road finished then the AVRE will get its final dusting to tie it to the base.  

Cheers

Dave

Grass and flowers provide the perfect contrast to the rubble on the other side Dave, beautiful work!

Bill,

Thank you again for the idea and the compliment.  The roadside vegetation got "dusted" this am. The vegetation right by the roadside is just about the same color as the debris.  I've been on enough logging roads around this area during the summer to see that effect..  It's funny to see vegetation not all that far in from the road look fairly pristine.  I'll be doing some detail painting on the building.  Then, I'll start the washes and highlights.  The pics will be posted later today. 

Cheers

Dave

I was actually able to get done what I had wanted to do plus a wee extra.  The wife saw it and liked it with the exception of the building.  "It's too clean", she said. Nevermind that it was blown up.  She clarified, "there are no bullet or shell strikes".  "Aaaahhh", says I.  Nothing a 0.5mm and 1 mm drill bit, flicks of a #11 blade and some Vallejo paint won't cure.  Next stop. Dusting up the AVRE and securing it to the base. Right after I get some touch ups done to the sides of the base.

The vegetation dusted with Tamiya Medium Gray.

Building improvements done.

The cozy look of the interior "remodel"

Cheers

Dave

The shell strikes and small arms damage...........

                Definitely give her credit!

THAT idea was absolutely perfect.     I can't believe I missed it.

Now don't forget the blue flecks. * ^ @ " <

Disatermaster,

Oh you can bet she gets FULL credit for that one.  Heck, I was so focused on the minutia that, I didn't even see it.  Believe it or not, there are some blue flecks present. One is staring right at the camera.  There aren't too many flat surfaces that the blue would look proper on.  I may add more but, I don't want it ending up looking like a blue easter egg hunt.  I added some pale sand flecks for the interior.  Thank you for following this build and the compliments.

Cheers

Dave

wow the entire build is looking outstanding. I like your attention to every detail for realism 

Yep you've got a handle on it for sure bud. Reminds of some of those Mississippi roads in my younger years.

Looking good

Tony lee

WOW!  Looking great!  Tony got that right... reminds me of those cornstalks by the gravel roads here in Indiana when it is very dry and hot.

SprueOne,

Thank you for the compliments.  There were a couple of details that jumped out at me when, I was processing the pics for upload.  The tension adjusting mechanism on the front left needs some attention. I realized that I did not even weather that part.  . One of the wing nuts for the flimsies is MIA. .  All in all I am pretty pleased with how this turned out.  A lot of different learning curves due to experimenting with different mediums.

Tony,

Thank you so very much for stopping by. Not to mention the compliment.  I have been following your Dicker Max build.  I'm loving the headlight assembly you went with.  Your SPGs are always a treat to follow. There are some logging roads I've ridden/driven where you come across 2-3"+ quarry rock and the finer rock just hasn't  covered it.  Ouch.

Andy,

Thank you for the compliment.  I was going for a summer (ish) feel on this one.  At some point I want to do another winter dio.  Or perhaps a wet fall, early spring one instead.

Well gentlemen, aside from a couple of details that need my attention, I am calling this one completed.  And just under the seven month mark no less.  This one gets the award for bench hog just for that alone.

I shot a fair number of pics for this one, as I was playing with some new lighting at the bench.  Two side lights and a couple of homemade diffusers.  They seemed to work fairly well.  Comments and constructive criticisms are always  welcome. 

Loaded for "Bunker"

After I shot this pic and saw it on a bigger screen a couple of possible titles came to me. "The Hope of Something better", or "After the Job is Done..."

Thank you for following along on this stop and start, three steps forward two back build.

Sincerely

Dave

Wow Dave, 7 months, it went by fast! Definitely worth the wait and enjoyed every minute of watching this one come to life.

Bill,

As always, thank you for your compliments and suggestions.  I realized it was seven months when, as I was posting this update that the first pics for this build were in August.  

Cheers

Dave

  Impeccably exquis.

Délicat, excellent, parfait dans son genre.

Sorry I went french on 'ya there......  Wow.

  You obviously understand the rewards of patience as displayed here with this talented, skillful work of ability and perfection.

      This is so totally First Rate!

Dave,

It must be a great feeling to have such a big project completed, my compliments, the tank looks very good, to match the excellent base. The vegetation was a very nice final touch here. Overall, a pleasure to watch. Any plans for a next one? Good luck and have a nice day

Paweł

Dave,

Your project came out awesome. I always appreciate looking at a master at work. The details on your dio are almost too much to take in. Thank you for sharing your build with us!