Tamiya T-55 Enigma - Done & on the base 8/6

Painting note.... Just used an airbrush for the 1st time since November. WOW was that weird. And almost disastrous.

Marc, you have to remember to point the end with the needle at the model!

But I was using a Badger... the needle stick out of both ends.  OH WHAT TO DO

In case Earth had been hit by a comet and shifted on its axis making the Middle East the Middle North... the Iraqis would have been ready with their winter camo.

wing_nut

In case Earth had been hit by a comet and shifted on its axis making th.......

disastermaster

wing_nut

In case Earth had been hit by a comet and shifted on its axis making th.......

In case the Forum had been hit by a comet (again) and shifted on its axis making th.......

nyuk, nyuk, nyuk

Marc: Ooooooo...painting has begun!  Why do you go with white as a primer?  Is that the Tamiya primer?

Steve  I went with white because I was thinking trying  the very interesting technique at the link below.   Most of the weathering is done in B&W and show up through very thin color coats.   This is pre-shading to the extreme.

i did however just order the Vallejo set used on the Enigma on the cover of the Apr/12 Military Illustrated Modeller.   May end up being a combo of the 2.  The primer is Mr. Base  or Mr. Primer or Mr. First Coat  or Mr. Spray This Before The Color Coats.... or whatever it's called

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1338681011/Tamiya%B4s+Enigma.

I am glad you're trying out that link, Marc.... should work very well !!!

Looks cool !

tread

We'll see ttread.  The 8 months of not using an airbrush was nearly disastrous and I was just painting sollid white.  i think I need some practice before I tackle that one.

Thanks for posting that link Marc, that's an awesome looking technique and by the way what was the near disaster with your AB?

The paint mix was WAY too thin.  Looked right but may have been partly due to using a paint I had never used before.  But I didn't bother to do a test spray.  Had I done that I would have realized immediately that the needle was wide open and the pressure cranked up, probably from the last cleaning in November.  When I spray the bottom of the hull, cuz that's where I always start... like I knew that one day that would be a good thing ... and a soupy white blast hits the hull at what appeared to be near light speed and starts to run down and drip into my hand.   It drained pretty well and a quick wipe, a lot of sweatin’ and swearin’, and I got lucky.

Marc:  That technique in the link is AWESOME!!!...but I am skeptical about how easy he makes it seem.   There's a lot of work not shown in the progression of pic's...lots of drybrushing not depicted.    I specifically noticed this on those "blocks" mounted near the front fender...the worn corners jump from white to worn metal.

BUT, definately COOL and worth a try...

Nope, does not look easy at all.  but he sure does get good results.

Here are a couple morte links to his stuff.  One is for the "finished' Enigma and the others is for the same thing done to a Tiger. 

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1339627936/Enigma+Finished%21+....+at+last%21

Tiger links

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/message/1340558411/Tiger+I.+SbS+B%26amp%3BW+base+color+paint

http://www.network54.com/Forum/527528/message/1340404728/GB.+Tiger+I.+Part+2.+Painting+the+B%26amp%3BW+base

http://www.network54.com/Forum/527528/message/1340548966/GB.+Tiger+I.+Part+III.+Weathering+the+B%26amp%3BW+base

Marc:  Thanks for the links...UNBELIEVABLE!!!  The finished results sure justify the means...WOW!!!

I have to see the next step on the Tiger...

Did you decide to give this technique a try or wait until you get the "feel" back of the airbrush?

Steve I was planning on doing some of that but more as a pre-shade than an entire procedure.  I will be using a Vallejo modulation set of about 6 colors so I am wondering how much of that will show through.

A little do over on the commander’s search light.  With the help of some pics sent to me by a guy on Armorama I reversed a backwards pivot arm, did the linkage over and added the wiring.

One of the pics had this little cap over the antenna holder with a ring to a tether.  To give an idea of size... the ring is made from a wire wrapped around a #76 bit and the wire is from an ear bud that's about 0.002"

Wow. Almost a shame to paint this one.......

but I look forward to seeing it with paint.

Are you kidding me ? difficult to comprehend the scale .

RBaer, shellback... thks guys

Shell, while I appreciate the glass.... I gotta pass on that one.  The clicking of the keyboard is like thunder in my ears  To give you an idea of the size... the brass tube between the nut and spring is about 3/16"

Ok , i'll take back the glass of wine ...............i cant drink that stuff very often anyway . Besides , its time for coffee now anyway...................

I phrased my post wrong . What i was wanting to say is that due to your fine detail work the subject looks more like 1:1 scale rather the 1/35th ..........complement is where i am headed .

Hope you get rid of the headache.

Marc,

This is excellent, the level of detail is great.

I hear that Miniarms AA gun is very good, if you are considering a replacement.

Very Best Regards

Johan

Marc,

Don't try to fool us with this supposed "hiatus" you were on.  You've actually been working on ANOTHER real tank haven't you??  Those are 1/1 scale photos and you've been rebuilding a full size T-55 Enigma in your garage.....

Shell, and it was a little bit foggy around here this morning. But I but there is a nice breeze on the deck, and got a good cigar going to and on my 3rd glass of red. Funny how clear it all is now.

Johan, the kit mv us pretty nice but I plan to check that one out.

Ernest, my breathing got a little rapid at the thought of a real estate 55 in my garage.

Marc , what ever it takes , glad your got things "cleared" up  .

Some things fell into place recently... the paint set, Desert War-Zenith Transformation Set, I ordered arrived... and I found time to actually use them.

The set has a bottle of primer, satin varnish and Glaze medium and 6 colors… 1st & 2nd shadow, Base, 1st & 2nd Light and Bright. Step by step instructions guide you through the procedure. The idea is to get a finish that looks like the vehicle is exposed to the desert sun… needless to say. To help in the visualization of the “zenith” idea, when applying the “1 & 2 light colors, they suggest putting a real light the model to give you an idea of where the lighter areas will fall.

Here are the 2 shadow and base stages of the painting. . In the first I did a little more in the way of pre-shading that they do not mention. So far it does show though the added layers, more than in the photos, and has a nice look.

Very cool Marc, nice to see this one with paint on!

The set sounds like it must have a lot of potential for variations in the shades . Look good .

Bill, Carl... thanks guys.  So far getting lucky with new paints, The set is from Vallejo,  and new mixing and dilutions.  Out of my comfort zone so the end result is way up in the air.

Looks great Marc, love the scratch built items.  Paint is coming along well, can't wait to see what's next.

Zerk.