This video turned out longer than I expected, but that's not a bad thing, right?
As I'm making this post, the video quality is still processing and it takes longer than usual. But I'm gonna post it here because I'm off to bed, and it might take a bit longer until it's ready in 4K :) Sorry for that!
2023-01-14 22:39:42 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the early video is ready and uploading. It'll take a few hours until it's ready and processed in a watchable resolution, and I'll drop it here for you ASAP! :)
2023-01-14 15:21:07 +0000 UTC View Post
(Patreon was broken and wouldn't upload pictures, but seems to be working now)
My friends, here's my attempt at the hastily applied DAK Yellow Brown. The historical photo shows how roughly it was painted, and it wasn't easy to figure out the best approach. After multiple tests, I decided that a mottled, semi-translucent coverage would nicely capture the essence of it, yet remain interesting to look at. After all, painting something to look crappy on purpose isn't easy! You can either bo...
2023-01-13 16:01:41 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, may I present to you: not Panzer Grey, not Panzer Denim Blue, but Panzer... Dust? 🤔
This is the result of many hours of spraying because the model is too large... when I compared it with the Panzer 2 I did a while ago, spraying that little tank took one evening. Interestingly, it's also much easier to imagine the final result and adjust your work process towards the end goal when you're working on a small model. With a monster like this, I was sometimes left wonderi...
2023-01-12 10:51:00 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's some slow progress. Slow because everything takes way too long on such a large and complex model... except priming! You see, I decided to live dangerously again and used black Mr. Surfacer in a rattle can. Well, two of them! The model consumed one entire can and then some more.
What you see in these pictures is a base coat and a partial layer of the first highlight. The darkest layer is a mixture of German Grey and a bit of Buff with a good amount of clear varni...
2023-01-09 19:55:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Whoah, I didn't narrate in a while... 3 or 4 weeks! Anyway, let the basic modelling skills begin!
2023-01-06 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Alright, proper photos and everything, but please note that the table where I take those has a slightly "curvy" surface... and the Karl Mortar is so long that it sort of levitates on that table :)
2023-01-06 10:25:13 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, after much gluing, sanding, and scraping off those ever-present seam lines, the Morser Karl is ready for the fun stuff!
I kept the hand rails until the very end, and they were surprisingly easy to clean up and assemble. I just had to add small bolts punched from tin foil.
The extra interior detail of the hull is very simplified because barely anything will be visible. You can hardly see it now when it's snow white! :D But it would be a shame to omit those d...
2023-01-04 13:38:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy new year everyone! Please watch or at least listen to the first few minutes of this video to know what's up and how we'll proceed from this point onward... or watch/listen to the entire thing to know the reasons behind all of it.
Either way, I'm excited for the future! :)
2023-01-02 12:48:37 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's some progress from yesterday. Holidays went pretty smoothly so I had more energy than usual for modelling - also, I missed the workbench! :)
Again, just like any other part of this kit that's not the main hull, it seems like a quick job - snap the parts out, do some sanding, glue them together, done. However, the loading tray was once again riddled with ejector marks, heavy flash, and crooked details. It's an old Trumpeter model, so it's kinda understandable, bu...
2022-12-28 09:06:15 +0000 UTC View PostMy friends, the last video of this year will be about anything you'd like to know, so post your questions here!
2022-12-28 07:36:12 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends! Oh, how naive I was to think that I'll assemble the mortar on Tuesday, the cradle on Wednesday, the loading tray on Thursday, and finish the walkways today!
The cradle is as large as a regular 1/35 tank and it has LOTS of tiny and fragile parts. And it seems that Trumpeter decided to put all the flash they could in this area. What's worse, there are ejector pins in visible places, but they're ridiculously hard to remove. Forget about filling and sanding, your only bet ...
2022-12-23 16:43:23 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the main character of this anime is ready to blow! Holding the individual components, such as the mortar, or the cradle underneath, in your hand lets you really appreciate the term "super heavy mortar". Especially when we consider how a 1/35 scale Toyota Land Cruiser would pretty much fit into the cradle!
Now, I'm seriously impressed by how accurate and detailed this model is. And we're talking about a kit from 2003 and the early days of Trumpeter! The mortar actually ...
2022-12-21 22:42:28 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, I apologize for the delayed update, but I've been busy getting ready for the holidays, and most of the workload on the Karl was gluing details to the hull.
Interestingly, pretty much everything in the kit looks in scale, so it would become a very accurate model even if you'd build it straight from the box (except the really bad rubber tracks). And when this is the case, you spend most of the time cleaning up parts and gluing them to the model. No brutal modifications a...
2022-12-19 10:38:07 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the hull is slowly growing. It comes along pretty quickly when you're just snapping parts out of the sprue and gluing them together! However, when it comes to filling, sanding, texturing, and welding, things slow down significantly.
The most crucial part was gluing the hull together and getting rid of the visible gaps between parts. This is important because welds won't hide them. The real hull actually has corner welds, and I replicated them by slicing small grooves i...
2022-12-14 22:00:38 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, I started the build by getting the boring parts out of the way ASAP :)
There's a lot of wheels to clean and assemble. Because of this, I employed an AC drill for the first time. You lock the wheel into the drill's jaw, put a sanding sponge or a hobby knife below it, add RPM and you've got your own portable lathe!
The kit is very well researched and the details are impressive. The only serious blunder Trumpeter made is in the instructions. As you might know,...
2022-12-12 18:14:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Country roads
Take me home
Anyway, this is the last video of this year, although you'll get the early release of the next video right before New Year's :)
2022-12-09 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Boom, it's a long boi!
I bought Masterclub metal tracks for it as well as some rudimentary PE from Eduard - that's all I could find in the aftermarket department!
This is a model I always wanted to build as a kid. I almost made that dream come true when I built a painted the Dragon kit but never finished it, and it eventually ended in the bin. Redemption time!
2022-12-09 09:34:51 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, painting the figures took longer than I expected. My plan was to paint them in one day but I was finishing them until yesterday afternoon, but the important thing is - the diorama is now complete and I'm pretty happy with the outcome!
I even changed the composition a little, something that's not very advisable because making changes during the construction or painting stages often leads to detrimental results, but I think the scene looks more balanced and natural when ...
2022-12-09 08:28:11 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, today was a productive day and the terrain is now ready!
Most of the heavy lifting was done with acrylics. A base coat of Flat Earth followed by a mid-tone of Buff, and finally some highlights with Deck tan, all Tamiya paints applied with an airbrush. This gave the ground a very nice, dry, dusty appearance, so I could just pick out the individual stones with Vallejo acrylics ranging from Old Wood to Orange Brown using a paintbrush. This was the most time-consuming yet ...
2022-12-06 20:26:07 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's a simple base for the technical truck. A mountain road somewhere in Afghanistan.
Although I wanted to put the car in a more suitable setting somewhere in Africa, it was the lack of suitable figures that made me look for something else. These Afghan rebels are pretty well done figures. The one standing in the flatbed is from Stalingrad, while the one on the ground from Black Dog. I just don't know what they were thinking when they placed a casting sprue right on ...
2022-12-05 18:20:15 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's the finished technical, and it was plagued by some, ahem, technical difficulties along the way 😂
I haven't tried oils for dust effects before, but I've seen some awesome results by other modelers, so I wanted to try them out. Enamels are ready to use, but here you have to wait for roughly 4 hours before the linseed oil drains on a cardboard palette. It's a matter of preparing them in advance, or a nuisance, depending on your point of view. Blending is very similar ...
2022-12-01 19:52:51 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, painting all the details and stowage took longer than painting the entire car, including the chipping and rust tones 🥲 😅
I started by highlighting the surface details on the pickup itself - hinges, locks, knobs and buttons on the dashboard, seats, ammo belt on the machine gun, etc.
Then it was stowage time. As usual, I base coated everything with Vallejo Black Brown and then painted each element in its respective color. Most of the time I used 3 layers - a ...
2022-11-28 21:26:54 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's the technical with pin washes, chipping, and rust effects. Just like with the VW Beetle, the weathering goes by pretty swiftly. One reason is definitely the small size of the model, the other might be its shape... those smooth surfaces and not so many intricate surface details are very good canvas for blending enamels!
Despite my initial intentions to keep it in rather good condition, reference images convinced me otherwise. Rust tones just look way too good on ...
2022-11-24 20:05:56 +0000 UTC View Post
