Greek AMX-30 Final Weathering & Base Work

I've now finished the final weathering on the model. This consisted of a bit of tamiya flat earth heavily thinned sprayed on the lower portion of the model then an application of various pigments, not too much but just enough for a dusty look. As I worked further up the model I reduced the amount of pigments used so as not to cover up all the previous detail painting and effects.

Lastly the tracks and side skirts went on and a carbon fibre antenna was added to the turret. The figures were also fitted and they look really good in place. The base has had some treatment as well today after adding the plaster and some sand and fine gravel yesterday. I've also added a small tree which reminds me of the very tall poplars seen in the Mediterranean and Greece.

Next up will be the painting of the base and adding pigments which shouldn't take too long.

Wilkie The Cat

Just had to show you how daft our moggie is. Yesterday I was sorting out my dad's laptop on the dining table, well I went to watch a bit of tv whilst stuff was updating and Wilkie decided that the laptop bag would make an ideal bed! He's obviously a bit of a laptop cat LOL!

Here he is having another of his mad moments in the garden I swear this cat thinks he's a dog as he will follow you around said garden just to be sure he's not missing out on anything.

 

And looking cute.....

Belgian Bulldog Crew

I've now turned my attention to the crew figures for the bulldog and after a rummage in the spares box I came up with a couple of very old verlinden surrendering Iraqis. After a bit of surgery with a saw I whipped the heads and arms off and cut the torsos down slightly. A couple of suitable warrior American heads were selected and the holes in the helmets filled. Some spare arms from the box went on next. 

The figures parker's will work well for the period modelled I think and the helmets are very similar to that worn at the time. From what I can gather two types were worn, one type was very similar to the old WW2 American helmet and the other I think was a French version. The half figure will go in the driver's hatch and the other in the commanders.

I've a bit more work on them before painting or even priming for that matter but it's nice to get them sorted and out of the way now and not as is my usual method of right at the end of a build!

Tamiya Somua Complete

The Somua is now all finished finally, it's taken a while but we got there in the end. I finished off the weathering with some heavily thinned tamiya buff built up on the lower areas of the model and then added a small amount of pigments here and there. The base had a good amount of pigment dry brushed on then wiped off with a cloth and finally a wipe over with a damp finger to remove the excess from the tops of the cobbles.

Finally the figure was squeezed into place and the model fixed to the base. Rather pleased with the final result which I think with the simple base really shows off the model.

Belgian M41 Bulldog Part 2

Flipping stellar progress on the model at the moment, it's damn near building itself! It does help that I haven't had to add much in the way of extras or do any major modifications which is making this a very pleasant build.

As my replacement tracks arrived today I went on and got them made up. They are really nicely detailed and went together with no issues at all. As the M41 had a live track no sag should be seen so it worked out at 73 links per side to get the tight look needed.

The rest of the model is now almost done with just turret hatches, .50 cal and then some texture on the turret still to be done.

Somua Base Work

I've been working on the base over the last few days and here I've used the small plastic base from tamiya and some of their new diorama sheet material. The base was primed first then I simply cut a section of the sheet to fit and fixed to the base using spray mount. Once cured a shot of matt black was sprayed on followed by a gloss coat.

Today I've picked out the cobbles using various vallejo colours of grey, green, sand, brown & black. The cobbles are slightly raised so it's easy to pick them out with a brush. I like the effect especially the fan shape. 

  
I'll give it a coat of matt varnish next to seal it then attack with pigments to finish it off.

Belgian M41 Bulldog

The model is progressing very well and I've even added a few enhancements along the way. The rubber mantlet cover worked really well and glued down a treat with superglue. It had a bit of a mold seam on it but by carefully brushing this with Tamiya extra thin cement I was able to remove it.

Greek AMX 30 Crew Complete And Next On The Bench

The crew figures are now all done and very nice they look too I think. I've also been prepping a picture frame as a base for the model.

Onto the latest project for the bench now and with the AMX & Somua builds winding down I've started on my build for the IPMS Belgium show, plastic & steel which is held in October. Like last year I'm going to build a Belgian vehicle and this time it's an M41 Bulldog. I'm using the old Skybow kit for this with some spade ace metal tracks and that's about it! Very little in the way of Belgian specific mods needs to be done. 

A start has been made today and I don't think this one will take long to build.