nightshiftmodeller

Early video

Ma frens, here's the final part of the T-55 weathering! 

Decals on, we're ready for weathering!

Ma frens, Somua is ready for oil paints and some subtle rust effects. Tamiya decals are always very nice to work with and with the use of decal setting solutions you can conform them to pretty gnarly surfaces! Especially the rough turret texture or the lifting hook on the rear of the turret.
The only issue is that they're not stencils - which means I couldn't make them worn like the rest of the camouflage. I tried some distressing with a knife, some brush chipping here and there, but it's...

Well, here's the French camouflage

Ma frens, I managed to up my game and finish more work today! All that's left are decals and a final coat of satin varnish. The model will be then ready for oil paints and other kinds of washes 😁

Trying this multi-layered hairspray chipping effect is certainly interesting, but I think it's not really my cup of tea. I feel like brush painting the chips gives you much more control over the result and, surprisingly, would end up in a much sharper looking effect. In other words, I'm not ...

Chipping done, now onto the camouflage

Ma frens, I finished the upper hull chipping and started with the green camouflage patches. I'm purposely going for this bright, happy, vivid look because if French camouflages were so colorful, why don't make the most out of it? 😁 

I found that using an old airbrush needle or something similar is a great help when you're creating these fine chips, especially around sharp edges. You pretty much scrape the paint off and then give the area a quick pass with a paintbrush which will...

Damn, this injury is making me slow!

Ma frens, I finally started working on the Somua revival! As you can already glimpse, I decided to paint it completely using the hairspray chipping method, even though this one is going to have a rather complex camouflage. The T-55 gave me enough confidence to try it out on a less beaten-up tank! 

But I'm still very slow! Much slower compared to my healthy, peak performance. But hey, I'm sure it'll get better. My plan was to get the base coat chipped today, but as you can see, I st...

HD photos

Ma frens, here's the finished T-55! We'll get back to the urban street diorama when I'm more mobile. Somua project is starting today! 

And the next project will be...

A shelf queen from the shelf of doom! Somua from Tamiya in 1/35th scale... a model which I started in 2016 and never finished, however, I never gave up my hopes! Back then I wanted to be super original and edgy so I went with a dull paint job of an Italian captured tank, but I quickly lost interest because it was REALLY boring. It was also my first (poor) attempt at post-shading! 

So what's gonna happen with it? My first plan, for the longest time, was to add a German cupola and pa...

Not much of a difference, but it's done

Ma frens, things are still a little slow because the discomfort makes me kinda... lazy I'd say? 😁 But the fact I had to perform two of the most boring finishing touches on a model didn't help either - polishing the worn metal edges with a graphite stick and making an antenna from stretched sprue... But hey, the T-55 is finished! 

Normally we would now start working on the diorama and a building, but because I can only work with things which are at my arm's reach, I decided to st...

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 r...

HD photos: Nagmachon APC

Sorry for the spam 😁 

Just a quick summary: Hobby Boss kit (very nice kit btw!), Friulmodel tracks for Centurion, Eureka XXL Merkava tow cables and Voyager PE.... and TONS of copper sheet, Evergreen styrene and other materials :) 

SBS: Nagmachon pt. 3

Final part... 177 step-by-step photos in total... And now imagine what level of detail would've been possible with a 3D printer! 

SBS: Nagmachon pt. 2

...continued.... now we're sitting at 121 step-by-step photos... about 50 more to go 😁

SBS: Nagmachon pt.1

My friends, this is my most detailed build ever, and I have so many photos from the building process I'll have to spread it into parts! :) 

THIS is the model which made me rethink my approach to modelling - is it really worth it spending 8 months building a super-detailed model? To a point where it would be shame to paint the thing? And... after some thinking, I came up with the idea to try making a few Youtube videos and see if people will be interested in them... and the rest is ...

Bonus gallery: Object 279

Just a follow-up to the sheet metal guide... I know I posted these photos here a long time ago, but I didn't tag them which means nobody can find them anymore, so here they are, again 😆 

Just a quick kit summary: this is the Object 279 from Takom with Voyager PE and Masterclub metal tracks. I still haven't painted it to this day! 

Bonus: How I metal-cladded the Object 279

Since I didn't post anything the other day and this is a sort of half-build tutorial, here's a simple guide showing how I covered the entire Object 279 hull with pewter foil :) The real tank has a sheet metal "shell" covering the armored cast hull and photos from Kubinka show this shell with lots of dents, imperfections and crude welds. It looked so good I simply had to replicate it! :) 

HD photos: T-34/122

Dragon kit of the T-34/76 Mod. 1939 with resin T-34/122 turret from Wilder (OOP), some Friul tracks and Aber PE. I originally bought a set of Modelkasten working tracks for this model but bastards started falling apart before I even started painting the thing 😆

SBS: T-34/122

Ma frens, here's another trip down memory lane. I started painting this model in October 2015 and finished in January 2017. Why such a long time? Because I was painting this one while following along with Adam's awesome weathering series on Youtube where he was painting a KV-1. It was a nice practice model, trying to replicate his approaches while putting a small personal spin on it. 

The model has a long history as well. It's one of those early T-34/76 kits from Dragon which I bou...

HD photos: IS-7

Stronk winter tank, enjoy! 😁 

Trumpeter 1/35 kit finished in 2016

IS-7 Step by Step

My friends, it's time for another one from a few years ago, this time from 2016! Trumpeter's IS-7 in 1/35th scale with Voyager photoetch and scratchbuilt side bins from brass sheets - these look like PE, but it's hard scratch work 😁 Back then I didn't know about the benefits of copper which is softer, easier to work with and looks prettier - and most importantly, people won't mistake your hard work for some pre-made photo etched set 😁 

This model is a strong departure from th...

HD photos - Caterpillar D9R

Meng 1/35 kit, finished in early 2014 😊

SBS - Caterpillar D9R

My friends, it's time for another model from the past. This is the Meng 1/35 kit which I finished as a USMC dozer with field-made protective cage (constructed from HESCO barriers in real life). I started building it in late 2013 and finished around April 2014. 

Still heavily influenced by Mike Rinaldi's style and in this particular case his take on the subject, but still long before his books came out, so I was only taking clues from finished photos of his work. 

Two thi...

HD pictures - 3in Gun Carrier

I remember this one being very difficult to photograph because the basic paint job was super glossy and it reflected the 3 IKEA lamps all over the place 😁

3in Gun Carrier SBS

My friends, here's another one, probably my personal favorite :) Finished in 2018

HD Photos - Alkett Minenräumer

So again my friends, MENG kit in 1/35 scale, no aftermarket, very good model, would definitely build it again 😁 This was done in 2012

Aight, I'm gonna show you some models from the past

My friends, after today's visit at the doctor, my movement will be impaired for a little longer (a few days, hopefully - they weren't able to remove my stitches yet). In the meantime, I decided to supply you with "daily" updates from my older projects in form of step-by-step photos, because hey, it's pretty much the same thing, right? 😊I have plenty of models to share! 

NS Workers will get SBS pictures, which aren't shot with a phone, I know, but they still show the progress, wh...

Best way of adding mortar lines?

My friends, I'm starting to feel much better, but my mobility is still quite limited. But I figured I'd share something every now and then and here's an older "experiment" I did several weeks ago. 

Instead of creating mortar lines between bricks using plaster (the usual "smear it all over the surface and wipe off the excess"), how about using very fine sand mixed with plaster, applied dry and glued with Gravel and Sand Fixer? 

The advantage is more texture, but also you ...

Finally home and much better!

My frens, it's ya boi again, back at it with another banger! 

I was released from the hospital the other day, but my painkillers quickly wore out and it was... interesting to say the least haha. Today I'm much, much better! Thank you for all your nice comments, although I won't be able to reply to all of you, I've read through all of them and they helped me a lot! 

So, to answer the most important question: yes, the bike is fine, not a single paint chip! 😁 I knew what...

Some good news

Ma frens, thank you so much for all your positive vibes and well wishes! You must've made a difference on my state because the good doc said I might be released into home therapy tomorrow morning or the day after. And I might be able to walk on my own after only 6 weeks! 

My ankle was pretty much bone dust after the crash, but some nails and pieces of stainless steel patched it up real quick and will aid in a much faster healing process. 

I also have some footage of the ...

Not the greatest news

My friends, I don't have great news for you today. On Saturday, I had a crash on my bike and broke my ankle. I had to be airlifted to the hospital (because paramedics on wheels wouldn't be able to reach me!). Yesterday I had a surgery, because as it turned out, I snapped both bones right above my ankle. Today they took me off painkillers and other anti-biotic IV's, and as it seems, the surgery was a great success. My hopes are they'll let me go home tomorrow, but I'll have to wait and see wha...

Rubble!

My friends, here's the finished debris and rubble. Now I can go over the tank with enamels and oil paints and refine/adjust all the dust tones, restore lost contrast, etc. 

My phone has been possessed by a potato demon and took really crappy pictures. I don't know if the lens was greasy or something, but they look really bad and I'm sorry for that! 

Anyway, the process was as follows: I prepared a bunch of fine gravel in 0.5, 1 and 2 mm sizes and crushed those 3D printed...