nightshiftmodeller

Base coat done

My friends, this time we're playing with VERY contrasting Panzer Grey! One thing that slightly bugged me on the BMR-3 was the rather dark color of the vehicle, although accurate, but still a bit on the darker side for my taste. So I definitely wanted to avoid that here and went to town with post-shading. As it turns out, German Grey from Tamiya HAS a blue tint! But it only starts to show when you lighten it up a lot 😜 It wasn't my intention as I prefer a more mono-chrome grey, but hey I'm ...

Before & after HD shots

Some proper pictures to immortalize the old Panzer II. I'm awaiting all the "it was better before" jokes 😆

New 3D stuff

MG34 ammo canister and a random rural civilian metal "bowl" or whatever it's called 😁 Already scaled down to 1/35

Happy printing! 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qz8uvCPM9AihsbJxO_t19NvahY4SEPAn?usp=sharing

Aaaand we're ready for paints

My friends, even if this was a simple "upgrade" build, it felt more exhausting than the BMR-3 🥱 Friul tracks for this tank were probably the worst I've assembled yet, as always, each link had to be drilled out but on top of that they're extremely fragile and easy to bend. They also got "warped" sideways when I assembled them, this was easy to fix but it was yet another inconvenience. There weren't too many leftovers so I was only able to assemble 2 spare runs. But hey, I 3D printed the bro...

Great news everyone!

Great success! The paint is gone, and it went without a hitch. Almost! The VMS Clean Slate worked like a dream, I just poured it over the model with a pipette and then attacked the surface with a paintbrush. I had to rinse it with water and reapply the paint stripper several times, but the result was good, almost perfect. There were a few spots where the paint was more sturdy and I quickly wiped it away using lacquer thinner, but as you can see even that wasn't enough in some places! Resin ho...

Early video

Let the pre-weathering begin! 

Let's gooo!

My friends, UVZ (not the Ural Vagon Zavod in Russia, but Uncle's Vagon Zavod in Slovakia 😆) never sleeps. The BMR-3M is officially done and off my desk and this is the best timing ever, the Friul tracks for the Panzer II arrived just an hour ago!  (PSA: seems like Friul is going full direct-to-consumer, which means we might have to order tracks directly from their website and stores won't have them in stock anymore... bummer, but for me personally, the shipping cost from eBay was alwa...

HD photos

Phone pics don't do the model justice, so here are some proper money shots 😁 Enjoy! 

aaaand it's done!

My friends, the end is here! The final touches took forever compared to the initial weathering steps... it's again that weird spot where you spend more time just thinking about what to do and where to do it... and if not that, it's just the overall lack of mojo to push on and get it done. I don't know why, but that's kind of a thing with my projects, the closer the end is, the lazier I get 😆 But the important thing is that it's done! 

The most important step that kinda brought t...

Alright, I think it's almost done

My friends, today I learned something very important. You know how back in one of the final Jagdtiger episodes I talked about hitting a point when you don't know what to add, what's missing and you just spend more time staring at the model and overthinking stuff? Yeah, I'm at that stage right now and I just realized... it's that stage when the model doesn't need anything, and all you do has a very low impact on the overall impression. So as far as there are no obvious mistakes that need fixin...

So here's my 3D stuff for download

Aight, last spam post for tonight, I've setup a google drive folder with all 3D models I did so far. Please tell me the link works! 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Qz8uvCPM9AihsbJxO_t19NvahY4SEPAn?usp=sharing

I'll update it whenever I do something new and post the update here. As with reference photos, it'll be easy to search under the "3D mode...

Some nice references from today's hike

Also my friends, today I found a wicked looking forestry machine with top-class weathering that would make any modeller moist. Not just awesome dry and damp mud effects, but also packed snow in the tread pattern, some exposed oxide primer, heavy chipping and rust, but also weathering over black paint!

I'm taking pictures like this every now and then, sometimes just random nature stuff like rotting wood, weathered concrete, rusting metal or moss growing on stuff, so nice inspiration for ...

Getting closer to the finish line!

My friends, the lower half of the model is finished, at least I think. The tracks are now permanently in place and I'm slowly working my way to the upper portions of the vehicle. So yeah, it's gonna be muddy.

I actually went for a different medium this time, and I tried some VMS pigments mixed with their Enamel Binders and some pigment texture. Stuff works pretty good! Especially for that ultra gritty packed-in mud in the tracks, that worked really well. It gets a little getting used to...

Early video

They see me rollin' 

They hatin' 😁

I did some googling and here are a few ideas

My friends, thank you for all the responses and suggestions for the Panzer II! 

To be honest, I was a bit surprised the original paint scheme didn't get much love, my original idea was to revamp it with current techniques 😁That or a white wash. 

But it made me think about other options. A lot of you suggested DAK camouflage or grey-brown from Polish campaign. When I was looking for references, both of these options come with very specific markings, Polish tanks for ex...

HD pictures

Ok so I dry-assembled the model just for these pictures, and it's starting to look the part 😁Enjoy! 

Some LEDs and possible next project?

Whoa, two posts in a row 😁 I finally bought and installed some RGB strips in the geek corner. They're not very strong though, so I don't know how they'll look combined with studio lights. 

Also, I was thinking about this Pz II as the next project. I kinda want to do another restoration/revival of an older model and although this one is pretty decent considering it's more than 10 years old, one track run got damaged. I already ordered Friulmodel replacements and was thinking abou...

Ready for DIRT!

Although it already looks kinda finished? 🤣 Is that the power of pre-shading and pre-dusting? Who knows! 

Anyway, my friends, of course the chipping didn't take just one day, why would it? But really, I had to do a bunch of other stuff so I didn't have that much time to sit down, but let's be fair, two days? For a large modern vehicle? I'm not dissatisfied at all! And of course, I didn't stop at the "very subtly chipped" stage, of course I went all in. But still, when you look a...

Details, washes, some chipping...

My friends, we're almost ready for dust and mud effects! I did quite a lot of work on the BMR, although I must admit I wasn't as "progressive" with the order of techniques like on those mine rollers. It's just easier to experiment on something that's faded, beaten and rusty 😁But anyway...

I started by painting all the details like cables, lights, periscopes, vision slots, MG belt and pouch, etc. This was, as usual, done mostly with just tones of grey. Tamiya clear paints were used on...

Both sides are ready!

Not as much work has been done on Friday my friends, but yesterday I finished the second mine roller. It's not as fun when you're doing the same thing twice 😆 So I tried to make it slightly different with more chipping and rust in some places.

Now it's time to put them aside for a while and focus on the BMR-3! Then, once the BMR is caught up, I'll be able to start weathering them with earth tones. 

Also, this last thing is aimed more towards 10$ Patrons but I don't want to...

Early video

Basic modelling tools on a budget! 

Holy crap, this video was a nightmare to film!!! I spent about 2 hours setting lights, mic and camera and still couldn't get a clear image. I was so frustrated... I gave up and kicked everything into the corner. After taking a smoke break and watching some tutorials on Youtube, I set it up again and suddenly boom, the footage came out better than I expected! This video has a proper Night Shift feel to it 😁 I'm tempted to buy a couple of RGB LE...

Some quick weathering

My friends, the basic tools video turned out beautifully! I probably spent more time setting up the lights and camera than filming, needless to say it's a true night shift episode because I filmed it at 8 in the evening and it was all done at around 1 after midnight. 

I did some work yesterday but was really tired in the evening to post (maybe because I slept for 5 hours? 😆), so here's some progress.

I worked on one roller and went a rather untraditional way. First I dealt...

Uh-oh

Well, I just prepared all the stuff I consider to be the most basic - including some things which are similar, but each might suit someone else, and it's a lot of stuff to talk about! 

You left me lots of amazing suggestions in the previous post and I noted them down for further video ideas! 

My original plan kinda crumbled because right after I saw this pile of tools on my desk, considering I want to talk about each one in detail, the video would be at least an hour lon...

Video idea

My friends, so I finished the BMR-3 painting video and I'm going to film the next video about modelling tools.

The idea is this: do it as a "basic tools every modeller should have" but breaking it into categories: the most fundamental tools which are also budget-friendly (the bare minimum to build a model, also ideal for beginners) and then go into the more "advanced" stuff which isn't necessary for everyone, but people might find it useful if they're into more detailing work etc.

HD photos, again 😆

I'm marking this into my calendar (no I'm not lol): first attempt at pre-weathering, or in other words, not starting the painting process with a clean model that gets progressively more and more dirty and weathered with subsequent techniques, but rather creating the whole concept from the beginning. 

I feel like what we have here kinda works for this subject, as the BMR-3 is supposed to be in a relatively good condition while the mine rollers are older. This is nothing unseen since...

HD photos

I'll be damned, I completely forgot to upload large pictures of the unpainted BMR! 🤦‍♂️

Pre-dusting on another level!

My friends, the next step wasn't detail painting after all. I decided to take a similar route like with the T-90 where I laid out the basic dust tones at the very beginning. Just with one small difference - chipping fluid, and of course, the scale plays a huge role. 

I think this might be an amazing way not only to create interesting effects, but most importantly to save time. I mean, some details already look like they're finished - the mine roller wheels, the rear plate of the BM...

More colors

My friends, I think the base coat is done. I kept adding lighter and lighter layers of green, first few were a mixture of Modern russian green and dark yellow and the last two were the previous mixture lightened with deck tan. 

Then I grabbed random Lifecolor paints and added them as glazes over the reactive armor bricks, some hatches, fuel tanks etc. I also highlighted every bolt with them. Oh yes, some of the bricks look nasty because of how the paint dried. Not sure if it's just...

Early video

Some unbiased opinions about paints, thinners, primers and what goes together and what doesn't 😁

Happy new year!

2020 is finally behind us. How many of you were staring at the clock expecting it to continue past 23:59:59 as if this cursed year would never end? 😂

Anyway, I added some extra colors on the mine rollers and sprayed a shadow/grime layer over the entire BMR. This is an extremely diluted mixture of black and brown. Thankfully this was the most time consuming part because as you can imagine, outlining every nook and cranny takes a few hours! The next layers will be lighter and lighter, ...