nightshiftmodeller

All finished up!

My friends, it was a tough battle this time, but the Sherman is finished! Except the figures, of course, which I'll paint next and wrap this video up before moving on to the vignette. 

At first, I wanted to very subtly blend the upper hull with the lower portions and keep the weathering to a minimum, but then thought: Why not make it gritty like in the old days? (As in: the Tiger F13, Jagdtiger, T29, Jagdpanther)

So I mixed the Africa Dust Effects with a bit of VMS Coarse Pig...

Lower hull ready

My friends, the tracks, wheels, and the lower hull are all out of the way. For some reason, I started at the end - with the tracks, and then painted the rest accordingly. Maybe I just wanted to see how 3D-printed tracks perform under that heavy enamel treatment :) 

I went for a semi-muddy finish because reference images of King Kong show quite a lot of dark, wet mud in the tracks, and also, when I was searching for color images of dirt roads on Saipan, the best I could find was a m...

Donkey Kong is ready for dirt

My friends, after several sleepless nights and hours of painting, the model has all the rust effects and every detail is finished! I must say that this task was quite exhausting, definitely because some of the details on this model aren't the simplest, but my main suspicion is my lack of muscle memory. The last armor model I've done was the Puma from last summer and since then it was a truck, a huge water mill diorama, and two facades. Damn! I need to up my game! 

For the rust tone...

Tiny sheeps

My friends, the chipping is done, and despite my initial thoughts it turned into a pretty extensive task! I used a mixture of 4x Rotbraun, 1x German Grey, 2x Drying Retarder and 1x tap water. 

We could discuss how extensive the chipping could be on a Sherman, or how the salty ocean climate would affect the paint wear, or how long the field use of this tank was, but hey, I do this technique on every model mainly to make it look more interesting and enhance the battle-worn metal appe...

The greatest moment in this channel's history

My friends, after years of suggestions, hints, requests and other forms of persuasion from the Warhammer community, I finally took the leap of faith and purchased a 40K tank! So you can expect this build at some point this year... hmm, maybe even after King Kong! Although I know that this isn't the right cup of tea for many of you. Trust me, it ain't mine either! But while we're trying new things on the channel, why don't give this popular genre a try, right? It must be popular for a reason, ...

Pin washes

Good late evening, or early morning, my friends, I managed to finish the pin washing stage the other day, and it's already starting to tie the finish together! I used a regular Dark Brown Wash for Green Vehicles because I thought a more subtle approach would be nice for a change. 

Up next are sheeps and rust tones, and although it seemed like a daunting job, there are actually not that many surfaces that could be chipped heavily! So maybe the next update will be with the model read...

Camouflage, decals, and... wood!

My friends, where to begin.... my plan was to get the model ready for pin washes, and just look where it took me! 

I started with the camouflage on the turret. This pattern is nicely visible in two photos, but only on the right side. I went with a dark sandy color, highlighted with Light Earth and Deck Tan. Yup, all of that with a brush! (I guess figure painting has some benefits). Then I gave the entire model a subtle post-post-shade with AK's Black Brown ink applied with an airbr...

Much better now!

My friends, let me present 3 shades of OD! 😁

I decided to play with different tones considering the tank had several components mounted at different times.

For the tank, I used the same OD combo from AK RC, so dark OD and Faded OD, and then lightened it with Tamiya Dark Yellow.

For the water drum, I used the same AK combo, but lightened with Buff. I made it very pale as it came from an older tank (possibly M3 Stuart?)

And for the chimney stacks I used light grey ...

Okay, that didn’t work out 😂

My friends, I wanted to employ the textured base coat from my facades. I went with black color in the shadowed areas and white on the upper parts, then hit the entire model with Ancient Black Ink (TM). It dried to a horrendous finish, so I smoothened it out with an airbrush and more white, and ended up with a very subtle (and thus useless) Black and White method.

Oh well, I wanted to have some gnarly pre-shade there. But you won’t learn if you don’t try something new!

I’ll...

Early video

It's time to get into some monkey business :) 

Now this is unusual!

My friends, just dropping you a quick update from my phone because we don’t see my models in grey primer too often. Or at all! 😂

I’m gonna try a different painting method this time, just wanted to show you that clean, 3D render-like look with Mr. Surfacer 1200 😊

HD photos

At last, giant photos! Can't wait to tear this baby down and start painting! 

I'll be back later today with some initial airbrushing work :) 

And we're finally ready for paints!

My friends, I finished the King Kong over the weekend. After many years I went to a local model show, and it was a wonderful experience! I didn't enter the competition, just brought a few dioramas for display, and met lots of people from back in the day. 

I added a bit of stowage to the rear  of the tank, and piling it around the water drum seemed like the best option. I didn't want to create a huge pile that's tied with rope because that's more often seen in Europe, but not a...

Turret and the rest are ready!

My friends, I finished the turret and did an unexpected swap of the tracks! 

First, let's talk about the tracks. I contemplated these 3D printed tracks from Panzerwerk but when I had them in my shopping cart, I thought they'd arrive too late, so I decided to go with the rubber bands for reasons I mentioned previously. But then Panzerwerk reached out and after a couple of messages, the tracks were on their way and arrived yesterday! But it wasn't just the fast service, th...

Plywood megachonkster

My friends, I think the hull is finished, although there are a couple of small details that I'll add as I'll be working on the turret. And then there's also some stowage and maybe a few sandbags which are visible in historical images. 

But all the main elements are now in place! And boy, the wooden planks and plywood were fun to construct. I've been recreating wood from actual wood for a few years now, be it balsa or oak veneer. But if you haven't tried making wood out of plastic, ...

My friends, we’re in business

As the title says, King Kong is starting to look serious!

First of all, I want to sincerely thank you for your help with the waterproofing. There are two pictures at the end showing how over the top and hideous it could actually look! I took some artistic license here and combined strips of cloth with asbestos paste to seal the stacks and engine compartment. Something that will be fun to paint but won’t overpower the rest of the model. I also believe that most of this substance was r...

Detail overload

My friends, the last three days were quite eventful. Sherman might seem like a very simple tank, but the small details can be a rather laborous task.

There are still some missing parts, namely all the tools and the wading gear. The biggest highlight of the updated Tarawa kit from Dragon are IMO the 3D printed headlight and rear light covers. So much more convenient and prettier than PE!

I also managed to find an unused 30 cal barrel for the bow machine gun. I still need to make ...

Rubber tracks?!

My friends, before you grab your pitchforks, hear me out 😂

Today I assembled the running gear and kept everything movable, including the suspension - for diorama purposes.

Now, as far as tracks go, the updated M4A2 Tarawa comes with Magic Tracks, but they have pin marks on each link. And they’re not functional.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think Dragon Styrene tracks are perfectly fine in terms of detail. IMO they’re the best, most detailed “rubber”...

Another building-related 3D detail

My friends, I almost forgot to upload the second 3D model I created for the last facade! This bakelite lamp mount is commonly used on houses around here. There should be a ball-shaped glass cover that goes into the thread, and, of course, a bulb, but more often than not I see them in this state. For painting on the facade, I base-coated it with Rotbraun, and gave it a quick wash with Ancient Black Ink (TM)

You'll find it in the Google folder under the name Lamp Base.stl

2024-01-19 16:47:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Some heavy welding

My friends, thank you so much for all the references you’ve sent me!

The Sherman sure is an interesting subject for welding. Some shapes are quite exotic, and the thickness of some welds and their texture resemble the heaviest Soviet tanks 😁

My first session was done with a mixture of Green Stuff and Tamiya Epoxy Quick Type - the yellowish welds. But my Tamiya putty is old and almost completely dried out. It’s not fun mixing it together anymore, so I did the rest with Gree...

Chiseling session

My friends, the Sherman build has officially started by gluing a few pieces together on Friday evening. These are mostly focused on the lower hull and lower rear plate. Also, the cast transmission cover has been treated before the additional parts were glued in place. 

Today I started preparing the upper hull for texturing and welding, and this meant removing all the plastic weld beads and scribing new weld lines with a variety of tools. Sherman is quite complex when it comes to th...

Early video

My friends, this video was struck by 3 disasters... :D 

The first one was during the photo session when the breeze knocked the wall over and all the shutters got broken. 

The second disaster happened yesterday, and it's the most frustrating one. When I went out to film the live intro and outro at the location of that old inn that sparked my inspiration for this project, my wired external microphone picked up some static from a bad connection or something. It happened in ...

Ah, the smell of a fresh new project!

My friends, the M4A2 King Kong is officially starting today!

I spent an entire day cleaning my studio, workbenches, and tools. I haven’t cleaned up since the watermill diorama!

I’ll probably glue a few pieces together today because it’s already pretty late, and dig fully into it on Monday because it’s gonna be a busy weekend full of obligatory visits and celebrations 😪

Can’t wait to do some welding! It’s been a long time since I did it (the Valentine, for e...

HD photos

My friends, here are a few proper shots under strong sunlight for those sharp, realistic shadows. I tried to position the facade so that I'd be able to capture the blue sky and nothing else, but it wasn't possible with the setup I used. In fact, this shooting session was struck by two disasters when the slightest breeze flipped the whole facade over and all the shutters got broken. So what you see is a permanent setup with the shutters just barely holding onto their hinges 😂 

I ...

Finished!

My friends, this facade is done. Some of my original plans got changed during the process, but that's just part of the workflow. For example, I decided against those large painted advertisements on the stucco because it felt like the facade would become too cluttered, and I wasn't sure how good they'd look on this darker, decomposed stucco. 

I didn't do anything fancy with the glass in the windows either. Just a light misting with flat varnish and a controlled black ink wash. They ...

Happy New Year!

My friends, I hope you had great holidays. I ended up with flu and high fever on Christmas Eve, and the 25th wasn't about visiting family, but the emergency because it was really bad :( I was sick the entire time, even on New Year's Eve. I feel better now, and when I compare it to my quick Covid at the start of December, that was a total walk in the park compared to this hell. 

So there was no Christmas spirit, family visits, and also no modelling. This week I managed to start catc...

Sending you lots of love, my friends

My friends, although completely exhausted, I'm finally ready for the holidays. House cleaned, decorations in place, presents wrapped  under the tree (although the one I gave to myself didn't quite fit, so at least it received a small ribbon). 

I want to sincerely thank every one of you for your support this year, and the amazing journey we had together. There wouldn't be any Night Shift without you, and I can't even express how grateful I am for this amazing community.  2023-12-23 18:03:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Old stucco is no joke!

My friends, sculpting the stucco might be one of the fastest and easiest tasks, but painting it is a whole different story! 

Just as before, I primed the entire facade with Tamiya Deck Tan. This time I skipped the white primer altogether. The generous treatment with black ink was definitely the most satisfying part of the process! 

The base color of the stucco was created completely with sponges using Graphite, Medium Sea Grey, Deck Tan and some Neutral Grey. Lots of fun...

New 3D model

My friends, here's a very useful accessory for miniature buildings, a retro-style electric junction. I believe this one is specific to Eastern Europe, but they all look kinda similar, so IMHO it will be usable for any type of architecture :) It's modeled in 1/35th scale but it's kinda small. Luckily, they come in bigger sizes too, so don't be afraid to scale it up to 150%.

You'll find it in the Google folder under the name Electric Junction.stl 

2023-12-18 23:36:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Quick weekend build and the next armor project

My friends, I decided that for the next project, I want to remove one box from the stash. A Pacific Sherman seemed like a very exciting build, and I had the M4A2 Late PTO from Dragon for several years collecting dust. I decided to build the famous M4A2 "King Kong" from Saipan because it's armored with thick wooden planks and plywood :) But disaster struck when I realized that I needed a different kit, an M4A2 Tarawa from Dragon. So I ordered it, the kit arrived today, and I also ordered some ...