Hi folks- many, many apologies to those who have been following for my lack of attention to this thread. I have not been ignorant to the time you've given to looking and commenting, but- simply by way of explanation- life has handed my wife and me a most serious challenge that has consumed the last 4 months. In short, the time had come for my parents, who had been living alone in their home of 30+ years, to relocate to an assisted living facility. Along the way there were hospital stays, consultations with caregivers, state and facility administrators, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and decisions on how to dispose of my parents' property- including the house. It has taken up most of our lives outside of work but now mom and dad are safe and in good care, and we've gotten a good handle on the house and it's contents. It's not over, but many major hurdles have been put behind us.
Anyway, that was the personal side of things- or most of it, anyway. Going back to July, I had been out of full-time work since Nov. 2010- a frustrating situation and one I know some here have unfortunately experienced for themselves. In mid-July I was offered a full-time job shuttling cars for Avis/Budget (nothing to do with my actual skillset or education, but it was time to take what I could get). That turned out to be 50-60 hours a week, and I liked everyone I worked with. When you combine this with the fact that my incredible wife had not only agreed to let me go to the IPMS Nationals in Hampton VA this year, but to accompany me, my building time on this project was severely cut. My wife's expectation was that I'd enter something; she was very proud of the work I was putting in on this model and she wanted me to show it off. BTW, I had never been to a Nationals before this year.
Fast forward to August 1, the day before we were to leave for Hampton. This build was in major subassemblies, and a week prior I could see that I was not going to have it finished to a standard that I found acceptable for the Nationals by August 2. I put on a black pre-shade, then put down the olive drab base coat. I assembled everything so that I had chassis/fender, engine, cab, body/crane, and wheel/tire subassemblies when I left. I took my tookbox, a selection of paints, both enamel (MM) and acrylic (Windsor and Newton), and a bottle of mineral spirits.
I had read that finishing a build for the Nationals in a motel room was absolutely not a preferred approach, but here I was, doing what I thought I'd never be doing. My wife, by the way, has earned Modeler's Support System/Widow of the Year and certainly has to be considered a candidate for sainthood after this escapade. The upshot is, to answer your question BarrettDuke, this build was finished on August 7- for all intents and purposes (at least for the Nationals).
In detail, after I sprayed the black preshade and proceeded to the olive drab, after a few light coats of that color I noticed the paint had a mossy-like appearance. Uh-oh.....it was two days before I was to leave for VA- and 4 am. After thinking about this the next day, the 4 am bit was my problem: I was tired and had been spraying too far off the model. I took a toothbrush and rubbed off the 'mossy' OD, revealing the black underneath. The OD came off in very fine particles, not big splotches, so this was working to my advantage. It really was looking like chipped paint. When I proceeded with washes and filters of raw and burnt umber, brown, and white (rain streaks), things began to come together.
Now mind you, I'm a novice at these finishing techniques but I was doing the best I could- having read everything I could find, which of course included the fine work done on these forums. I think I pulled things off well enough not to embarrass myself at the Nats, but alas I didn't win anything. The wife was pleased that I actually entered, and as you'll see from the photos below, there are still some bits and bobs that need adjusting/correcting- which I'm in the process of doing. And yes, after I got back home I noticed the major gaffe of the tow hook cable on the driver's side not run through the sheave hole, but rather over top of it.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to provide an explanation to those who might be wondering. Thank you as always for the kind words Mike, BarrettDuke (I hope your Accurate Armour Ward LaFrance is coming along- with all that resin it must be a big project!), Pawel, and Steve. Without further ado, here she is as she was after base paint, and as she appeared at the Nats:
Oh- one last comment on the tires: I sprayed the tread area with flat black, and the sidewall area with U.S. Army Helo Gray- both MM enamel. I then misted a very thinned tan to blend the two together; it looks like it came out ok.
Thanks again for looking, and comments/critique always welcome.
Dave