nightshiftmodeller

Ready for weathering & new gun

My friends, I finally got it all done and sealed under a layer of varnish. 

Decals were okay, but they had a noticeable "step" around the decal film. I tried dealing with it by spraying the area under the decal with gloss to protect the MMP base against decal setting solution, then spraying the decal again with Tamiya gloss and sanding it with a micro fine sponge and water. I wasn't able to sand it as much as I wanted because the MMP started to peel off, while the Tamiya brown and ...

Freckles!

Hey friends, just a quick update while I'm waiting for the green dots to dry so I can continue working 😁 

Now the JT looks like a proper ambush hunter. I tried to replicate some of the dots - their placement, shape and size - according to photos, but you can't see that much in them honestly, but I suppose this is how it looked back in 1945, more or less of course... I can't wait to start putting some weathering effects on this camo, it's gonna be so fun! 

So when the ...

It was a tough fight!

And I tried my best! The result is, well.. I think it's good enough. I decided to wait until the whole camo was airbrushed before posting any updates, because with just the green applied, well, it looked kinda weird 😁The process was quite tough, I suppose this type of camouflage isn't the best choice for airbrushing beginners like me, but I decided to stay strong and overall I'm quite happy with it.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried, I wasn't able to get consistent results ou...

My friends, it's show time

Hope you're had a great weekend my friends! It was probably the last warm day of the year here on Saturday, but I did some work on Sunday and also, today. 

So the JT is primed (Ammo one shot white primer), the lower parts are sprayed with MMP oxide red, as the real 331 had exposed primer where side skirts were, and also the entire lower hull was left in oxide color except the area right behind the wheels, which was brush-painted in factory before the running gear was assembled. Thi...

Fantastic news everyone!

My friends! Today was all about testing. I sorted the photos from the final result back to the initial attempts, so in reverse order 😊 But I'll talk about them chronologically, so here goes.

No matter what I tried, I just couldn't spray the MMP colors the way I wanted (i.e. normal smooth transitions). They're also extremely transparent and it takes like 10 layers to build them up properly, which is a total nightmare with this amount of sputtering. Also, is it just me, or are these co...

Patreon Q&A

Here we go my friends, I think we could do this more often 😊😊😊

Thanks for your support in the last post!

Thank you for your nice words my friends, I appreciate them a lot! 

I don't want to take a week off yet, I did it last year during winter holidays and that seems like a perfect time for everyone. I just enjoy modelling too much and I want to do it all the time 😊The reason for skipping one video is simply because the other things I need to take care of will make the progress slower, and I don't want to get stressed because I might start running out of videos to post. Simple as th...

Damn boy he not thicc anymore!

My friends, sorry for the delayed update! 

Build video took a bit longer but it'll be that much worth it, and I've been experimenting with Mission Models paints that I received some time ago. I figured this might be a good model to try them out, and of course since they're acrylics and I'm used to work with lacquers, they need some getting used to. After initial experiments which were terrible I feel like I'm getting the hang of them, but I need to do some more proper "final" tests...

Patreon exclusive video poll

My friends, I think I might take a 1-week video break, aka I'd skip one week of posting. Some things have piled up and I've been postponing them for the longest time, and getting them sorted out will take me some time. But of course, I don't want to rush things and make a bad model or bad videos, and skipping one week would help me a lot. 

But because you've been promised one week early videos, I'd like to compensate you somehow, so what would you like more? 

- Patreon o...

DAMN BOY HE THICC

My friends, final photos before paint are here and the JT is truly massive! I photographed it without the styrofoam base, so a few of the roadwheels are levitating in the air as they're positioned to sit on the uneven terrain. 

Also, an important thing - I think I might take a 1-week video break, aka I'd skip one week of posting. Some things have piled up and I've been postponing them for the longest time, and getting them sorted out will take me some time. But of ...

My friends, it's done

Great news everyone! The big cat is ready for painting! 

The tracks were the usual bad Friulmodel quality, EVERYTHING had to be drilled out, but hey it's a straight-forward task, I spent about 2 hours doing it, just slumped back in my chair, feet on my workbench, listening to a podcast, so it wasn't the worst thing ever... and then the assembly was a matter of about 45 minutes for each track. 

Takom provides you with this black colored jig where you insert the sprocket a...

Bling continues

Hello my friends! This week we're working over the weekend as well 😊

I haven't done a single thing on Thursday, because I spent the entire day filming and editing a quick video which will come out next week. I've been postponing it because I wanted to start building the JT right after the Crusader was done, so it was done in the last moment. 

But now being back on track, the JT is almost done - all the PE is in place, I just spent like 2 hours trying to attach the tow cabl...

Surprise video

Surprise! 😃 

I spent the whole day filming and editing this, and let me tell you, filming each model on a rotating base was not the most immersive task ever! 

Hope you'll like it - it's quite long, so maybe it'll be ideal to listen to while you're modelling 😊

The bling must go on

Hello my friends! 

Well, it's been again quite productive day. In fact, I have almost all of the PE done! The tool and cable clamps are not so horrible, I think the Tiger 1 was a good practice and now I know the subtle tricks how to assemble them without too much fuss, while of course some are still quite annoying! 

But what's more annoying is how oversized some of those Voyager details are... no matter how I look at them, they just seem like 1/32 scale, or even bigger. ...

Bling bling

Hey friends, 

well, I was too sleepy for an update last night 😆 but today it's that more worth it. I already got all the PE done on the rear plate and the engine deck... it's actually so relaxing compared to the excessive clean-up on the plastic parts! 

I also added the shell impacts according to photos of the real 331. The real tank is photographed with one extra impact directly between the mantlet and gun barrel, but that was the shot which destroyed the gun and mad...

Post weekend update

Hey friends,

remember how I said "we'll see what Friday brings us" last time? Well, nothing much to be honest, a bunch of stuff came up and I didn't have too much time unfortunately. I've been catching up over the weekend though...

So all the small parts are out of the way, and all of them are "welded" in place. Some details had ridiculous flash which I remember from old Russian kits like Eastern Express etc. Just cleaning up and assembling the large rear door took over 2 hours......

Early video

23 minutes of diorama! 😊

HD photos

My Foreman friends, I almost forgot!

Here are cool pix of all the weld and texture details! 

Hmmmmmm

A figure? Hmmm... maybe! I had this Alpine fellow in my stash for a long time so today I glued him together and seems like he might fit in just fine. I'll definitely try painting him 😁If the result is crap, eh, I'll just close the hatch. 

In other news, today was productive af. I kicked it off by carving the basic shape of the base, making it as compact as possible without making it cramped like the Sherman vignette (I guess this kind of experience will haunt you forever so you'...

Some good (and some bad) news

Well, my friends, the video is finished, and so are all the parts required for the running gear. There was a lot of flash on the wheels and torsion arms - not fun 🥱So why isn't the running gear already glued together?

Well, it's because the vignette is going to happen, it can be done in a reasonable size so I need to make a basic cutout of the styrofoam to get a basic shape of the terrain (the tank will sit on a slight slope). Then I'll be able to form the running gear over the small...

Welding = finished (for now)

Hey friends, so all the main welds are in place and the model is ready for the next stage, which is... gluing more details in place? 

I'm keeping the running gear for later, because I want to do a simple layout of the vignette, just a block of styrofoam cut to size with the basic shape of the terrain. This is so I can form the suspension accordingly, but also the more important thing - to decide if a vignette is going to be an option with this model, because it's seriously big, and...

My friends... welds!

Edit: I'm so sorry for the photos, they're again turned sideways once they're clicked on. Guess I have to write another e-mail to Patreon support... 😑

Hello my friends, hope you have a fantastic weekend behind you! 

I moved my weekend one day back, so I was out there riding on Friday and yesterday, but then I kept working today, so here are the results so far. 

The flame cut texture is finished, and man some of those cuts are rough on the real thing! And I start...

Early vidyo

Is this the beginning of a new "Build & Paint" series? 

At last, texture!

Hello friends, well the armor texture is in place! As you can observe on some pictures I already started adding the flame cut marks but I have to render credits into tomorrow's video so I'll go for a ride in the meantime and finish them later. 

The texture is done in two steps this time - first stippling with a really tough brush and modelling glue, and the second is the traditional application of diluted Tamiya putty. Everything was then sanded down with a fine sanding sponge as u...

Some more scribing

Hello my friends, the model is now completely rescribed and ready for texturing, flame cutting and welding! (Except the rear plate where I still need to sand those styrene blocks). 

Now there were some real "gems" like the underside that goes above the tracks. This part where the lower hull meets the upper hull just didn't fit whatsoever, and I can understand large parts can warp which leads to issues like this, but it was pretty bad, so I had to hold these 2 main parts together wi...

New project!

Hello my friends, today we're officially starting a new build 😁

So the model is obviously huge, and it's gonna take some time until it's finished!

And the kit itself isn't as good as I was expecting. The fit has been mediocre at best so far, the front plate of the superstructure didn't fit at all so there was some surgery involved, and I honestly can't give any advice to someone wanting to buy this kit and build it as a simple relaxing project... because it can't be built clean...

Good news!

Hooray friends, photos seem to be working again! 

Also, I think I found the perfect material for our next model! What do you think? I got so excited about it I couldn't fall asleep last night, I kept searching for photos, ideas, inspiration... and I have it all figured out - camouflage, battle damage, even a base! 

Because here's the thing... I wanted to paint the Object, but I also want to make another scenic base. Unfortunately I built that model way before Youtube, an...

Early video

Final Crusader episode! Let's take a look at that desert weathering.

Here's a temporary fix for pictures

A quick video showing how you can still view and save pictures in full resolution despite the ongoing problem. I hope this gets resolved ASAP! 

Also, sorry for the low audio! 

Ok, one more try

This time I’m uploading through mobile

EDIT3: Right clicking the image and opening it in a new tab shows the full resolution. At least something?

EDIT: still no luck, sorry for bothering you with my spam posts! :( 

EDIT2: Support replied to me, apparently it's not an issue on their side but the question was forwarded to their tech team. Unfortunately there's no exact timeline on when it will be fixed. How are we going to exist here without full resolution photos? :(&n...