Today I've been adding a little bit more to the FT-17 base in the form of some posts and barbed wire. The posts are just coffee stirrers & the barbed wire is verlinden etched stuff. Must say thanks to Brian who popped over yesterday for some modelling related chat and dropped off some he had spare. I think it gives the base that little bit more interest and should look good once painted up. A coat of primer and the base is now all ready for it's eventual main colours.
The Dragonfly cockpit has now had a bit of pin wash added then dry brushed and finally matt varnished. I just need to pick out the belt buckles then I can close up the fuselage halves.
The FT-17 has now had it's main colour coat and for this I used a mix of tamiya desert yellow & buff. I will be going back over the model with straight buff heavily thinned just to lighten the shade slightly and create some highlights.
The base is next and I have added some MIG wet mud mixture to enhance the texture on the base and cover the sides. I love this stuff it's very easy to produce excellent mud effects and get that churned up earth look. It also helps to blend the sandbags & planks to the base. Although it looks like a deformed chocolate cake now! Thanks to Brian I now also have some barbed wire so a few posts will be added on the base so I can festoon them with wire.
The stug has also had a bit of attention in the form of a matt coat. Quite pleased with the fading and colour variation on this so far. I'll let it dry for a few days then attack with pigments.
A rather busy one this but hey I'm in the zone at the moment so here goes. First up is the FT-17 now all primed up. As you can see the primer really pops all those rivets.
The Dragonfly next and again this has been primed and now sprayed with the base colours. I used Gunze H317 for the cockpit, side walls and seats. The exhausts were sprayed with Allclad jet exhaust & the front intake fans chrome. I've also glued the wings together and am now working my way around them sanding down the seams. Next up will be some detail painting and washes for the cockpit assemblies.
And lastly that occasional shelf queen that is the Tamiya stug B. After loosing interest in the build and loosing a flipping hatch I put this yet again in the pile of doom. However after a bit of a clean up on the bench and a bit of a search for the missing hatch I bit the bullet and got the plastic card out and made up a new one. Primed & painted I can now progress again with this build. I'll add a couple more filters I think using the Wilder stuff to see how it looks as I'm not that happy with the weathering at the moment.
I reckon that lot should keep me busy until Christmas!
Today saw Stonehenge Modellers attend our last show of the year. After a quick drive down the road from my house we set up in record time and then enjoyed the obligatory bacon buttie before the show opened to the public. We were quite busy for the first couple of hours but then by noon it went completely dead. It seemed that in the afternoon there were very few visitors. This year saw no competition being hosted and I wonder if this was a factor. However to be fair this year I have noticed that a lot of shows seem to be struggling to attract the crowds of visitors that were so prevalent a few years back. Perhaps it's because there are so many shows now here in the UK. A case of saturation point perhaps? Anyway we did enjoy the day however and it was great to meet new people and old friends alike. Also there were some real quality models on display by the various clubs in attendance. Here's a selection of the models on display.
Well that didn't take long! Just finished up the construction of the tank. I'm very impressed with this kit its relatively easy to build and is packed with detail.
The dio base has also been built up and very nice it looks too. I particularly like the elevated position of the tank which gives you a great view of all those superb details. I will enhance the base slightly and add some texture to the mud. Some posts, barbed wire and a figure ( on the way from the states) should work nicely. Having the base included in the kit is a great idea and reminds me of all those matchbox kits I built as a lad.
