I'm back!

Ma frens, today I was finally able to have some bench time after... 3 weeks? And it felt good! Well, at first it was REALLY terrifying, because 3 weeks of not modelling are quite a while, and there's nothing worse than jumping back where you left off with an almost finished model. 

The last time I worked on the T-55 was at my "peak performance" so to say, the model was very close to being finished and I had a good grasp at the techniques I was using. And suddenly, I had to resume right where I left off, but with absolutely no real sense of what I was doing back then or what was my plan onward. I only remembered that I was going to tone down and "tidy" up the dust tones... luckily, I already did these techniques on the lower hull and running gear so I kinda remembered what was done there. 

Well, I don't know if it's the lack of practice or the amount of time I spent not looking at the model, but suddenly it felt pretty much finished to me! Not sure if I gave it my best today, but I don't feel terrible about it... basically, I went over every dust patch with a darker color and the orange-brown moist sand mixture made from Earth and Light Rust Wash... and once these were done, I re-applied some shadows here and there with Sepia and those grimy, glossy oil and fuel stains with Engine Grease oil paints. 

And now... no matter how much I look at it, I feel like the only missing details are the polished metallic edges and an antenna! 

I'm loving the idea of finishing it so soon and finally doing another video, but at the same time, I'm kinda worried about the diorama. Because I'm not really sure if it's possible to make a nice, complex scene with a broken leg - you know how it is with these sceneries, you constantly have to stand up and go grab something. Be it PVA glue, some type of sand or static grass, 3D print some details, etc etc. I'm not abandoning the plan until I give it a try, but MAYBE I'll finish the diorama once I'm standing on both legs and in the meantime, we'll do something different, something I can comfortably do while seated at the workbench with every tool and paint at arm's reach. But again, we'll see!