More Minerva

It's a tad difficult modelling here in the UK at the moment due to the high temperatures which quite frankly we are not used to. An english summer usually has plenty of the wet stuff but we've had no significant rain for some time now. So painting is pretty much out as the paint dries far too quickly & I've had to pick my moments to get some modelling done on the minerva as it's like a bloody oven in the cave!

So only a very small update but the chassis is on it's wheels. The spokes look great, very similar to the lanchester and the rest of the suspension has also been added. Next will be some painting when I can manage it.

  

Minerva Armoured Car Engine

A little more progress on the model and some detailing of the engine. Just some ignition wiring and a few extra bits of pipework added here to the already lovely looking engine. Next I'll work on the axles and wheels.

 

Minerva Armoured Car Build Begins

Finally cracked the box last night and made a start on the model. As usual the detail is exceptional and the parts fit perfectly. So far the chassis is done and work has started on the engine.  

M114 Paint Part 2

I've now got some different paint for the model, Hataka's rather nice set for MASSTER & Duel Tex schemes. These are acrylics and the colours look really good. So once the model was re-primed today I sprayed the sand colour using these paints. I did find that it was a bit thick but the paint sprayed fine. Afterwards I discovered that it was not airbrush ready paint and should have been thinned.

However the end result looks very good indeed, much better than the original colour I used plus it dries to a really nice matt finish. So next will be the camo pattern again using the hataka colours earth red, forest green & night black. Fingers crossed it goes better this time.

Copper State Models Minerva Armoured Car

Next on the bench is the superb CSM Minerva armoured car. This is my build for the upcoming plastic & steel model show in Belgium in October. As you know I always like to try and build something used by the Belgian armed forces when we attend the show and this is a perfect choice.  Not too complicated and something different from my normal builds and it's a CSM kit so it should look superb once finished.

M114 Camo Woes

I've been having some issues with the camo on the model, namely I was just not happy with the colours and the amount of coats I was applying to get a decent colour saturation. So after looking at it, researching and asking the MASSTER guru that is Brian I decided to strip the paint and start again.  

VMS clear slate as ever does the business here and now I've got a bare plastic model again. A slight delay now while I wait for more suitable paint to arrive, I'm determined to crack it second time around!

 

RFM Puma Finished

The Puma is now finally finished and on it's base. A quick bit of painting for the base followed by a light dusting of the model with tamiya XF 57 buff and XF 55 deck tan added just enough dust to the lower hull. This has been a long build mostly due to other things getting in the way. But it's been great fun and the Puma is such a cool looking vehicle as well.  

RFM Puma Base Work

Not much painting going on at the moment due to the high temperatures here in the UK and in the cave. It's particularly annoying as I'm really into the painting of the M114 but the acrylics are drying far too quickly even with some retarder added.

However I have managed to get the groundwork done for the puma and gave it a quick blast of black paint. With the heat due to drop hopefully I can get the base finished during the weekend.