nightshiftmodeller

Figure time!

My friends, after another busy weekend I managed to do some progress and steer the diorama more towards the finish line. Last night I painted the concrete light pole and glued it to the ground. Today was about figures...

Well, these are originally SS Tank Mechanics from Panzer Art, but I figured they can be presented in a more civilian look just by painting them differently. I started with the usual black primer, but the highlights were sprayed with deck tan instead of white. 

The power of acrylics and enamels!

My friends, concrete made from cork is the real deal because you can safely weather it with enamels - styrofoam concrete would get destroyed with enamels!

Compared to the previous post, I added the highlighted texture to every slab with medium grey from AK, sprayed the basic dirt color with Buff, and proceeded with enamel washes - Earth and Winter Streaking Grime.  

So this is the groundwork pretty much finished as far as textures and weathering effects go. I'll add some moss...

Let there be concrete!

My friends, the demolition and pipework on my bathroom is over and next are the tiles... in other news, I planted the grass, and started painting the concrete slabs. I didn't have enough energy today to finish all of them to the same standard as the last five in the back, but even that isn't the final result. 

I wasn't sure if this was the right approach, but it seems like the results are gonna be pretty nice and interesting. So once again, a warm base coat is important - in this c...

Industrial lamp

Because making lamps in 3D is pretty fun! This one even comes with a light bulb inside. Again, in 1/35 scale. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1Qz8uvCPM9AihsbJxO_t19NvahY4SEPAn

Diorama, let's go!

My friends, after a fruitful weekend and today spent listening to the soothing sounds of electric hammers I have the basic shape of the diorama. 

I actually started by something relaxing and off-camera: assembling the welding rig from Miniart, printing a few more welding bottles, dry-fitting the concrete pole from RT Diorama and scratchprinting a new industrial lamp for it, because the original one was kinda bulky. 

The next evening I started preparing the concrete slabs...

Welding bottles

3D printable welding bottles of different sizes... because gluing and sanding the Miniart ones is too tedious! 

PS: these are modeled in 1/35 scale

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1Qz8uvCPM9AihsbJxO_t19NvahY4SEPAn

Early video

Windows 98 and roofs that are on fire 🔥

Youtube has been delaying the processing rate of videos on my private channel, while on my main channel, the video is ready in 4K as soon as it's uploaded. I need to start uploading these early releases a few hours sooner 😕 My apologies, it won't happen again. 

HD photos

Some proper pics before the warehouse is glued to the ground, my friends! 

Some extra old building references!

I managed to snap a few more pictures of old warehouses while I was buying grain for my grandpa's chickens, and now I have the strongest urge to build another one :D 

Ready for the diorama!

My friends, I finished the building and it was a very tight time schedule! 

Luckily, the corrugated roof went much smoother than the gable because I used pewter foil instead of copper, and made a simple bending jig/press from styrene sheets and rods. Everything will be shown on video! As for painting, it was again sprayed with AK 3rd gen Silver, and the rust stains were applied with an airbrush. It's Tamiya Flat Yellow with a drop of Hull Red, and the process was endless fun! Of co...

This was tough!

My friends, one part of the roof is finished, and it wasn't as easy as it might seem! The whole thing is made from copper sheet. I first had to fabricate a template from plastic which I then used to bend and cut the individual sheets to shape. Everything was then glued together, I added the bolts and washers, and it was ready for painting. 

That was the usual ordeal: metal primer, black primer, and then, very unusually, AK 3rd gen. Silver! A coat of flat varnish gave it a duller lo...

Windows 98

My friends, a lot went down since the last update. Last week, before putting the video together, I quickly made a couple of metal fixtures for the front wall. Because I was too lazy to order some U profiles, I glued them from Evergreen plastic strips. These were quickly painted and I wrapped it all up in a video about carving the foam, sculpting, and painting the walls. 

In the meantime I fell sick with some minor cold, resulting in fatique and me not being able to do much - the cr...

Early video

My friends, I'm sorry for the delay. As mentioned in the previous post, I had to upload it on a mobile internet, so it took forever. As I'm posting this, the video quality is still being processed, but it should be available in full resolution soon enough! 

HD photos

My friends, here are proper pictures of the styrofoam warehouse before I start adding plastic, metal, and 3D printed details.

Also, today's early video might be a little delayed due to technical difficulties. I had no internet connection during the night, hoping I'd simply start uploading it in the morning, but no luck so I'm currently uploading it through mobile internet. The internet might be up already, but I'm not gonna risk it now :D Crossing my fingers it'll be up in time!  2022-09-23 12:58:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Paints, paints, paints

Just acrylic paints because enamels would melt your styrofoam building! 

My friends, as mentioned in the previous post, I'm tackling this building in sections - first painting the cinderblocks, then the plastered wall, next are some metal fixtures on the walls, then the windows, roof, etc. 

So, to start things off, I painted the cinderblocks in different shades of grey. Then the cement was added with lightweight acrylic putty (wall repair putty) using a flat silicone bru...

New building in the process

My friends, the last time we made a styrofoam building was almost a year ago! This time it's going to be an old warehouse right next to the rusty Conqueror. You might've noticed some similarity with one of the buildings I posted recently - in real life, it's a warehouse from an old collective farm in a neighboring village. 

I didn't have a styrofoam block large enough for the entire building, so I had to glue two pieces together. Luckily, the glued joint will be hidden under a laye...

Early video

... and we're ready to start another diorama! 

P.S. I need to sort out the studio lighting. I was wondering why HD photos and the final 360 shots looked so odd... the answer: weird light angles! 

HD photos

An exercise in finishing a rusted-out tank as quickly as possible :D 

Some old building references

Because we didn't have these in a while! I'll need some of those for the Conqueror diorama, so maybe some of you will find them handy as well :) 

Finish line!

My friends, this project was... well, one of the biggest tanks I've ever painted, and one of the fastest projects at the same time! 

Quantity is a quality all its own, or something like that, right? I could make the model more exciting with additional grime effects, or fire damage on the turret as seen in one reference picture, but on the other hand, I'm quite satisfied! It means I can start working on the diorama, and I have a pretty nice idea about it already. 

The mod...

Properly rustified

My friends, I added the enamel rust effects. As expected, only some chipped areas were suitable for them, mainly the worn edges and chipped green paint. However, considering the size of this model, the process took hours! 

Also, I really need to buy a new bottle of streaking rust because the one I have tends to dry into a glossy finish in random places and it's really annoying. Nothing a quick blast with flat varnish wouldn't solve, but why add the extra work? 

Onto the ...

Wash and drybrush

My friends, what a difference can two techniques make! Taking the worn base coat from last week, I gave the entire model a meticulous pinwash made from Winter Streaking Grime. This color was also blended over the cast texture in selected areas where the surface imperfections were very deep. Again, a huge model makes every step take forever, and this was no exception! 

The second stage was drybrushing. Unlike the traditional approach with a lighter color, I grabbed Dark Rust from Va...

Early video

Rustification process! 

Ready for weathering

My friends, I added the scrapyard markings, post-shaded the surface, sealed it with a final flat coat, and blackened the tracks. Time to put the airbrush away and switch to enamels (mostly)! 

One specific Conqueror wreck in my references has a large inscription on the rear plate saying "Mondo's Banger" and I was totally going to add something like that on my model. The color is the same - light blue - but mine will be called Dead Meat :D 

Ammo shaders didn't treat me wel...

HD pictures

Dead Meat in full resolution! 

Base colors

My friends, the hairspray chipping and basic coloring was a tedious task! Applying two layers of chipped paint on a VW Beetle is not the same as doing the same on a heavy cold war tank, that's for sure! 

I started with the grey primer, this was mixed from German Grey and Deck Tan. Two coats of Heavy Chipping Fluid, then spraying the random patterns according to reference images, and hours of chipping. A layer of flat varnish from VMS and it was ready for the next layer. 

Rustify!

My friends, I'm back with a rusty base coat, and a finished bedroom! I wasn't able to paint during the last 3 days because I was working on some drywalls with my uncle/contractor. 

But drywall aside, I sprayed the Conqueror with some basic rust tones. The base was, of course, Mr. Mahogany Primer. The darkest color was Hull Red from Tamiya and the subsequent layers were highlighted with Flat Yellow. I tried adding some color variation by spraying the sheet metal components in a diff...

Early video

Shelf queen finishing/restoration/deconstruction :) 

Ready for paints!

My friends, the Conqueror is ready! Although finishing was mostly about adding some remaining PE and tubes for wiring made from 0.4mm copper wire. 

I also made some junk for the potential scenic base. Leftover track links, exhausts, commander's hatch with drilled-out bolts, side skirts, that kind of stuff. I have an idea about the base, a sort of military junkyard as seen in photos, but I'm still undecided because the tank is so massive. But we'll see, I think once painted, it will...

HD photos

I also made some junk for the potential scenic base, and now it's all ready for painting!