nightshiftmodeller

HD pics

Yup, the tracks are on baby. Off to the editing room to get the video done and then we're gonna be all about those finishing touches! 

The moment we've been waiting for! ALMOST!

Good late evening my beautiful humans, it's 2 in the morning right now, so pretty standard night shift stuff, and I'm glad to report that I'm almost done with the tracks. There are some tweaks I wanna make tomorrow, mainly add some more dry tones on the inner sides because they turned out quite monotonous, and I also figured a way how to make the mud on the hull more interesting, which I'll keep for later. 

Now I weathered them pretty much the same way as the ones for the Rutscher,...

aaaand it's gone!

That nice effect from earlier? All covered in earth colored goo!

Oh, the ups and downs of weathering 😄

Sorry I wasn't able to do more today and it's not much of a progress, but promise is a promise! The textured earth takes some time to dry when applied in thicker layer and blended with water, and tracks can hold a lot of water!

By the time it was dry it was midnight, and I don't want my grandmother downstairs wake up thinking it's the WW3 when I start banging with that c...

Finally an updayt!

Yaaay, finally! 😄 

I was able to blacken the tracks... well... not really blacken 😁 I used the VMS Black Track Pro system. Do you think I followed the official instructions? Nope, not at all, BUT! I think the result is actually pretty impressive. It even created these small amounts of tan-colored "salt" which wouldn't appear if I proceeded "by the book". To me, it looks like faint remnants of dried mud... pretty cool imo. 

Of course, they'll be completely muddy... ...

Not really an update (I'm sorry)

Hey guys

I'm sorry for being quiet over the weekend. I don't know why, but I had a total creative blackout... But yeah, at least I managed to write down and narrate the next video. Actually I'll do some editing tonight, but I doubt I'll get it done. 

Unfortunately, I need to take my car for an annual check-over/service tomorrow so it'll take several hours from my day, but I'm sure I'll get back to work in the afternoon. Yeah, I know, not cool at all 😒

The only "progr...

Some nice pics

Hey guys, here are some proper photos of the muddy Tiger. 

I feel like it's missing a few more mud tones, but I'll have a better idea when the tracks are on 😊

Early vidyooo

https://youtu.be/2_BXubu_KaY

Shinyyyy

Now I can make the video 😁 Last time I covered the Rutscher in mud, then made a vid, then made another video about the tracks, put them on at the end, and then I had to take them back down again because I didn't polish the metal surfaces on the idler and sprocket. 

This way the wheels look more complete (even though they aren't yet) and once I finish the tracks, I can put them on and they'll stay on 😊

The polished metal was the usual routine, sand the paint down, then p...

Alriiiight

Mud is on! Now I have to paint and attach the tracks before I proceed with any more effects, because adding stuff like grime or some water stains would be pointless without the whole tank assembled. It would be like shooting a gun with closed eyes basically.... oh, that was deep 🤣

So yeah, I'll give it one more look tomorrow to see if there's any spots that might need a bit more, but it seems just enough to me right now. So I guess it's time to put the video together and then do the ...

Finally some real mud!

Heyyyy, so I finally started with the dark mud tones! 

Due to unexpected reasons I didn't have as much time today, so I decided to get the lower hull and wheels done. After all, it's not a bad idea to take it slow as these are gonna be some of the most prominent effects on the finished model! 

One observation I made, and it might be helpful for anyone building a German tank with these steel type wheels: they're a bit trickier to weather than those earlier rubber pad type...

It's getting gnarly

Dust... and dry mud... is done! (well almost, I have to add a little bit on the exhausts)

The smooth airbrushed effects from yesterday are gone, replaced by blended Aqualine dry earth and speckled enamels... I told you the rear of the tank is gonna be intense 😄

Tomorrow I'll start with the dark damp earth tones. I'm saying start and not do, because these might take some time to lay down properly, but who knows, we'll see tomorrow.

One unexpected positive effect the dust h...

Dirtyyyyy

So the Tiger received a round of pre-dusting 😊It's always nice to see the crude textured earth getting blended in with the rest of the tank during this step. 

I also started applying the Aqualine dust, but only managed to lay it down on the wheels and lower hull. Gave it a try on the glacis plate to see how it'll blend over the Zimmerit and well... it's not gonna be easy! The surface tension of the water and the jagged surface = impossible to create any fine dust streaks. But I ...

Back at the bench!

Hey guyyyyys! 

These past days were pretty intense, but I got both videos done and today I finally returned to the Tiger, and it got dirty pretty fast. And ugly... again 🤣

So as you can see I applied and blended the Textured Earth to make the basic shape and outline of the heavy mud layers. I kept it limited to the lowest and rearmost parts of the tank because of its shape and relatively low top speed. The fact there's only one fender at the back offers some interesting po...

A LOT of HD photos

Die Katze is finally in full gear and ready to get dirty! 

(I hope this will be over soon 😅)

P.S. The detail pics at the end of this gallery were shot for the videos, but I'm posting them here so you can take a look at the tracks and exhausts up close 😉

Early video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v37vqjNLjk

Don't get put off by the "missing footage" title at the beginning, I'll be adding it for the official release 😁

We all knew I was going to do it 😄

I think it was obvious that I was going to strip the exhausts and start all over again 😁 And boy am I happy I did it! 

Let me tell you that painting these fat pipes isn't easy! There are literally no color references on the internet for Tiger 1 exhausts. Also there's pretty much no surface detail which usually helps with creating contrast between different parts of the exhaust. Like I said yesterday, the "interesting" part got hidden behind the armored covers, so the mission was...

Welcome to meh city

Hey guys, so today was kinda funny. 

I painted the exhausts the usual way (light grey base coat, dark brown chipping, remnants of dark yellow, then several rust washes and speckling) and didn't like the result as it seemed too vivid to me. 

So I repainted them, following a few pics of KT exhausts, trying to make the rust effect more subdued, and ended up with something I like even less 🤦‍♂️What sucks is that the most interesting part is hidden behind the armored...

More 3D printing misadventures

Here are some fruits of todays 3D labor. 

Did 4 sets of test prints at different settings, ranging from 0.01 to 0.025 layer thicknesses, also tried 2x anti-aliasing. I honestly can't see any difference in quality between the different layer settings, and as someone pointed out on reddit, there's no point making the Z height lower than the XY resolution (1 pixel on the Photon is 0.043mm if I remember correctly). Kinda makes sense if you ask me... The anti-aliasing improved the overa...

Tracks R ready!

Well I think they make the Tiger look much heavier and more metal! 

One thing though: I decided to deviate from the historical photos, as the tracks on the turret were sprayed with the olive green paint just as the rest of the tank. I thought it would be too much WTF for one model, and I wouldn't be able to make a video about them 😄

The only thing left are the exhausts and we can start with the weathering! 

Here's an extra spare track painting tutorial for you folks

Hope someone will find it useful! It's the only other time I remember painting spare tracks, and like I said in the previous post, they look quite different 😁It's an unpublished part of the 3 inch gun carrier article, so I guess it's exclusive for you!

And how about a nice ol' box of Hawkins grenades?

Here's a thing I modelled last night and printed today 😁 It's a 1/48 scale British WWII box for anti tank Hawkins grenades. I was thinking about building the Tamiya Crusader next, and I want to add some stowage, and these were pretty common in Africa. 

TBH the prints aren't perfect. There are a few issues that are starting to annoy me so I'll be looking more into the printer's settings. 

Also, gonna chill for tonight, watch a movie, and probably model a British "flims...

Anyone got a few tracks to spare?

Hiya there good folks, TLDR inbound...

I got the spare tracks finished, at least those on the hull 😊 Now that I know the procedure, painting those on the turret will be a simple task! And I'm also painting the exhausts simultaneously... Please note the second photo, I'll talk about it in the second paragraph.

I wanna talk a bit about that "now that I know the procedure" part. Turns out, I haven't painted any type of spare tracks in years... and my last, and probably first ones ...

Some impactful pictures

What's up my beautiful humans!

Here are some proper detail and impact photos 😁

Got the narration for the video done, hopefully I'll be able to export the finished vid tomorrow and start painting those spare tracks and exhausts! 

Early Videyo

Enjoy! 

https://youtu.be/qMCJ3umIIP0

The endless struggle is over!

Oh my gawd, these details take forever! It might seem like just a bunch of rods, but there was a ton of other tiny details that I missed.. a few chips here, some wash over there... ugh... But the tank is now ready for dust and mud, well, except the spare tracks, which will be part of another video, both the ones on the turret and those on the hull, so we'll take a look at painting them glued to the model, and separately as well 😁And then of course the exhaust. I'll try filming them in one ...

3D vs PE

Not bad methinks 🤔

One thing I quickly realized is that when dealing with delicate parts such as this, it might be useful to actually exaggerate some of the details. After comparing the printed part with a detailed photo of the real thing (this is a ring that goes around the gun barrel) I made the bolt heads and the raised inner part 0.1mm taller. Let's just hope the next print won't fail again 😅

A quick note: yes the 3D part has smaller inner diameter than the PE. That's be...

Acne done! And not only that...

Hey guys, 

so I got the shell impacts painted, the last thing they're missing is some polishing with graphite, but that needs to be done after the weathering as enamel thinner would dissolve the graphite. 

I also started painting all the details and... I don't know if it's the pandemic outside, or just the sheer amount of different paints one has to use in order to paint all those tiny bastards, but... I dunno, I just feel slow, like I really need to force myself to grab...

First print & Tiger acne

Wooo, first print came out better than expected! Unfortunately they sent me 2 types of resin - clear and white, both which make seeing or photographing details rather difficult! 

Initial observations: holes can be printed, but when they're smaller, especially surrounded with a thin wall, the printer will skip a few layers which will create this "open mouth" shape. Making the flange wall thicker might help with this (and I can drill it out manually) or I can make it solid with a sma...

Update from the future

Yoo, this is Uncle NS and I come from the future 🤣 

First test print should be done in 3 hours! A bunch of small stuff for the Kondensator - I suppose it'll make a good test print since I want to test out how it'll handle these tiny thingies. I'm not getting my hopes up though, it's a first print after all 😊

Welds and Zimmerit!

Hello survivors!

There's been finally some decent progress! The weld beads are chipped (Tamiya Chrome Silver + a light pass of Ammo Wash for dark yellow) and I also managed to chip the Zimmerit. Here's where things got a bit tricky.

First of all, I was looking forward to this step because I've seen how amazing the large light tan remnants of the pattern can look. Unfortunately, this seems to work only in conjunction with the standard red oxide primer... it just looked horrible on ...