nightshiftmodeller

Groundwork in one day!

My friends, what a wonderful and productive day it was yesterday! I managed to apply the basic colors with an airbrush and treat the muddy groundwork with enamels. On top of that, I also painted the wooden sides! 

Let's talk about the wood stain. My first pick - Oak - looked good on paint samples in the store, but didn't look that great when I painted the ground. My mistake was painting the sides first, then masking them, and only then I proceeded to paint the groundwork. As such, ...

I didn't even notice... and the diorama is ready for paints!

My friends! Today (and yesterday afternoon) I managed to do some progress on the diorama and somehow... I just realized it's ready for painting!

After the last post, I laminated the sides with 0.6mm veneer and cut them precisely to show off the contours of the ground. This time I plan to skip the traditional black sides, and instead go for some nice woodstain and varnish. Just to see how it looks like :) 

Then I quickly textured the groundwork with Real Earth from My Garden (...

Early video

32 minutes of painting and weathering, let's gooo! 

Diorama in the making

My friends! Yesterday I finally cleaned my workbench from all the paint bottles and dragged out some pieces of styrofoam from the stash. 

The basic shape of the diorama was going to be simple from the beginning - a muddy, rutted road, and a small embankment with the tank driving up. 

There's going to be a small tree in the background on the left, and a lot of grass. It sort of feels like a trip down memory lane to those days when simple scenic bases were all the rage for...

Proper pictures!

My friends, here are probably the best pictures I've ever taken. I invite you to zoom in and look at the details, and you'll be probably taken aback just as I was, because they even show quite a lot of imperfections in the paint job, something I wasn't aware of until I saw them! For example, some improperly blended rust tones, but also some cool stuff I didn't know I added, such as the subtle earth splashes at the bottom of the main gun barrel :D 

This is also the first time my pic...

Ready for the diorama!

My friends, the Valentine is finished, and I would almost say that fun times are ahead because the next step is the muddy diorama, but I would lie this time - the painting and weathering was SO. MUCH. FUN. 

As I mentioned a few times, the tracks were worrisome because they're plastic click-together functioning tracks, and these are extremely fragile (especially when the enamel thinner softens the pins) but it was just about a different approach. Instead of slapping large amounts of...

It's gotten muddy!

My friends! The most time-consuming step is done! 

This took me longer than I wanted due to some things, but here we are, the sloppy mud is on. And I didn't enjoy it this much in a while... probably because I haven't done a heavily weathered tank in quite some time - I think the last one with this much mud was the AMX-50B. 

So the main problem here was creating enough contrast between the brown camouflage paint and the dry earth tone. For this reason, I mixed Buff with G...

Blue tanker ready!

My friends, I wasn't feeling the muddy vibes yesterday, so I instead painted the tanker sitting in the turret. I'll keep the remaining two figures for the diorama as they're more fundamental to that part of this project. 

This one was a very interesting experience as I was getting familiar with my new AK 3rd Gen. acrylics - and they're amazing for glazes! However, they behave slightly differently when you're brushing them in small, controlled amounts, such as highlights. 

Stowage!

My friends, stowage used to be a phobia, now it's a pleasure! Although this model made it slightly more difficult.

I started with the fuel drum, and I've read somewhere that German drums were mostly left in their natural metal color. I'm no expert, but it offered some nice textures and color combinations, so I went for it. Using some color references, I created the pale oxidized surface with acrylic paints using the sponge method and some wet blending. Then a subtle oil paint treatment ...

The story about rust...

... and how I rediscovered my love for oil paints! 

My friends, I started the rustification process the usual way - using enamel washes. However, I wasn't very satisfied with their behavior. They were spreading way too much over the matt surface, and blending was spreading them even further. In other words, the effect was totally uncontrollable. Even worse, they were drying to a glossy finish if they were applied in larger accumulations over the heavy chips. I powered through this ...

All beaten up and ready for rust!

My friends, I spent the last few days fiddling with tiny brushes and acrylic paints. The first step was highlighting the small details all across the model (and there was a LOT of them!) with two different shades of sandy browns. They look a bit extreme in some places, but everything will get toned down to a reasonable finish with subsequent techniques.

Next I proceeded to the chipping stage, and here I used two different colors just to see what would look better. One mixture was German...

Washed and crispy!

My friends, I have finished the pinwash. It's no secret that this is one of the most satisfying techniques, and it feels extra good when it's the first thing you do after the initial airbrushing. 

It was a bit of a struggle in some areas, for example, the PE hinges on the tool boxes weren't too cooperative, and in these cases, it's often necessary to re-apply the wash multiple times until you're happy with the result. 

The post-shading was also enhanced with this pinwash...

Let the washing commence!

My friends, today I sprayed some of the hard stowage (I'm keeping the wooden boxes for brush painting, and the fuel drum will be also treated with a brush, I just wanted to have a pale base coat for it). 

After that I coated the entire model with VMS Flat Varnish, and started with pin washes. AK Track Wash was the best color from what I have at my disposal, and it also acts as a great universal dirt tone around details and tight corners! It's a tedious process, though, as it bites ...

Posh shadering!

My friends, I'm so sorry for taking my time here! I started editing the build video on Tuesday because on Sunday and Monday (May Day here in Eastern Europe) I had some other duties. So today I finally sat down at the workbench again and gave the mangled Valentine some proper posh-shading treatment! 

 I cleaned the entire model in soapy water, per usual, sprayed the large PE parts with VMS Metal Prep (per usual), and gave everything a generous coat of Mr. Black Surfacer - per u...

Early video

Let the Eastern treatment of Western aid begin! 

Valentine in HD

My friends, it's been a while since we had a set of studio pictures on a white background, right?

But these are something special, and if you really zoom in on any of these, you might notice they're a bit smoother and crispier than all the previous ones. That's because I ran each one through an awesome plugin - Topaz Denoise AI, which I've originally bought for my astro photos. It's not just a generic denoise tool which smoothens out the image, nor a generic sharpening software which ju...

And we're ready for paints! And a diorama?

My friends! Things have taken a complicated turn again, just as one would expect with this tank, but I'm proud to announce that it's finally ready for painting, but there's more - you can already glimpse the basic concept of the diorama! 

Stowage on this model was rather complex. I have some beautiful resin fuel drums from Panzer Art, but they have a casting block at the bottom, meaning they can be only used vertically. So I had to use the ancient Tamiya set and do a lot of filling...

Finished and... ready for stowage!

My friends, finally, the last detail has been glued in place. You'll notice that I replaced all the rivets on the fenders with new ones punched from tin foil, and, surprisingly, that was one of the easier tasks! 

All the fine PE on this model is... not easy to get right. The overall complex shape of the tank, especially the fenders, and everything fitting together precisely (or rather, it's required that everything fits perfectly!) don't make it an easy PE job, and definitely not a...

The worst part of this build!

My friends, leave it to the British tank design school to make things as complicated as possible :D These fenders have at least a 100 bends in the oddest places, tons of rivets, and multiple complex fasteners. That would be mostly okay if they didn't have to get damaged according to a real photograph. There were cases where I was bending the fender, and the soldered joints kept breaking. Ew, what a painful journey! Oh, did I mention that superglue refused to do its work on a few occasions?&nb...

The hull is complete

My friends, now the real fun begins - the photo-etched fenders! 

So I finished the running gear where I used the original Tamiya wheels although I considered swapping them for the more detailed Bronco ones, but that, again, would require some modifying, and after all, every road wheel will be packed with mud just like in the historical photographs. Interestingly, even the original wheels had extremely loose fit (no poly caps inside) and they kept falling off all the time. Because t...

Some riveting work on the hull

My friends, today's progress is probably not gonna be very riveting, but a lot of work has been done on the hull! 

Besides the obligatory texturing of the armor plates, although I kept them rather smooth, there's been a lot of sanding, filling, and reworking on the rivets and bolts. 

For example, most of the hinges lack the obligatory details, but I added these with small circles punched from tin foil using a drill bit. The rivets on the engine covers were in the kit, bu...

Finally... a tank!

My friends, it's that beautiful moment of a fresh, new project! And it's finally that Lend-Lease Valentine I promised a few times already. 

This is going to be a proper kitbash of a project, although not the kind most people were requesting. I'm building it from a Tamiya Mk II/IV and a Bronco Mk IX kit. The Tamiya kit is what you'd expect. Very simplified details, but those few parts that I glued together today fit so well you could dry-fit the hull and it would stay together. The ...

Early video!!

My friends, here's the long anticipated WW1 video! :) 

I managed to chop it down to 46 minutes instead of the 51, but still, it's the longest vid I've ever made so far. Enjoy! 

Beautiful barn from a fairy tale

My friends, here's another Easter catch. This wonderful barn sits in my grandmother's brother's garden, and I only noticed it now. At first I thought it would be a nice addition to a diorama, but then I thought a gem like this could be built into its own separate model on a circular base... hmm, maybe one day... :D 

Rural building references

My friends, Easter Monday was a fruitful day, as I was able to snap lots of interesting photos and possible ideas for dioramas. Look at all those textures! More photos in the next post! 

Dramatic photos

My friends, here are the final shots of the Melusine. I chose the black background once again because I think it adds to the dramatic effect of these little vignettes. The only downside - the black sides of the diorama are not very visible, but then again, they're not meant to draw too much (if any) attention! :) 

I have finished the script for this video, and it's gonna be over 50 minutes long. It's gonna take a lot of effort, but I think it'll be totally worth it. It's basically ...

Finish line!

My friends, it's finally over. This project has taken much longer than I expected and wanted, partly due to the Spain trip, and partly due to other duties that had to be done, and also a bit of Springtime lethargy. 

There's not much to explain about the mud effects on the suit, just that the same tones were used as on the ground, and I employed some VMS coarse pigment texture mixed with the enamels - I haven't done this in a while and it reminded me how cool and fun it is! I think ...

Almost there!

My friends, here's the Melusine ready for earth effects. One cool thing about these suits - the weathering is fast! What's more, they really are a blend between armor and figures. You can add lights and shadows like you'd do on a figure, but with weathering effects. 

For example, I used pin washes as heavy shadow filters in some areas. They can be considered to be grime and dirt deposits in some places, in others - shadows. Overall, the pin washing stage on this model was really fu...

Suit painted and diorama finished!

My friends, I finished the diorama and started painting the Melusine. About time, too! 

There are only a few details in the diorama, but the larger scale meant they required more attention and care. I was especially pleased with the shovels, and luckily, I managed to hide the visible print layers on the metal parts with some mud. This also integrated them into the terrain, so it was an absolute win-win! I'm still considering the muddy bottom of the trench, but that will be easier t...

Now for some details...

My friends, I painted the sandbags and the terrain. Let me tell you, my suspicion was correct: sandbags are really hard to paint and post-shade! Even if you use the pre-shading and glazing method, they're not easy because they're just so flat... Maybe that's the only correct approach to them - embrace the flatness and let them look like that! 

The terrain was definitely more enjoyable. It was great to see how it transformed the base and made the greyish weathered wood look just rig...