With some serious bench time under my belt I've now finished off all three of my builds with plenty of time before the Belgian show next week. First up is the AIFV milan. I'm very pleased with how this turned out, especially with my experiment with the netting which I think really sets the model in its context of a stealthy tank hunter. As ever a big thank you must go to my Belgian friends, Guy for supplying the extremely rare and hard to come by Verlinden figures and Marc Mercier for his expert knowledge yet again regarding the modern Belgian army.
Next to be finished was the Meng Leopard 2A4 which I built for a group build on the modellers haven online forum. I really enjoyed the kit and it was nice to paint the three colour scheme after a very long gap. It's certainly got me thinking of further Bundeswehr models I have in the stash. The miniart crew was also a nice relatively cheap addition which makes all the difference to the finished build.
And finally tamiya's superb new M3 Stuart late production. This as you know became a bit of a speed build as it is in my opinion so good. I'm really impressed with the finesse of this kit, it just ticks all the right boxes for me. It's simple to build and has great detail. I finished off the base and the model with a misting of good old tamiya buff and that's it.
So I can now relax for a while and do a serious bit of bench cleaning and admin which will probably take a week judging by the state of the man cave right now!
Work is progressing nicely on the three bases with just some more pigments to add and some corn plants to go on the back of the Leopard base. They are nothing fancy as I don't have the time to muck about. I also need to dust the stuart with some buff to finish off the weathering. Here are the bases with the models in position to show you how they will look once finished.
This post today also marks 1000 posts on the blog, a real milestone of modelling bollocks, personal crisis and general nonsense! The blog has grown from a place for my occasional updates to now almost daily ones and I have really enjoyed sharing my work with you all. Along the way I've made some good friends who have helped me on various projects with their knowledge on different subjects. With my early retirement looming on the horizon, 3 working days to be exact, I'm expecting to get in loads more bench time & I have some cracking projects planned over the winter. I also plan a total revamp of the man cave in the spring which will give me some much needed bench space as well as better storage options. So plenty to look forward to and to the next 1000 posts!
After a couple more slightly darker pin washes around the details and a bit of oil dot fading & streaking the model is now in it's matt varnish. At this stage I've also fixed the hull and turret guns in place but still have the upper and lower hulls loose. I'm really pleased with the variations in tone of the main colour and the washes etc which have really defined and enhanced the details on it. Final weathering I think will just consist of a light dusting of tamiya buff and a tiny amount of pigments on the upper hull, I just don't want to hide all that lovely detail. I've also sorted the groundwork for the Leo & AIFV bases, as I only had a small amount of VMS smart mud left I used this on the leopard base as I have a cunning plan for the final display. The AIFV base was the usual mix of plaster powder, white glue and some colouring. A small tamiya base for the stuart has also been prepped which is curing after a coat of lacquer over some black primer on the sides of the base. Still with a couple of weeks until Belgium I'm well on course to have them all finished and clean up the bench for the next project as well!
Back at the stuart for a bit and I've added a first filter and pin wash to the model using MIG neutral wash and some black oil paint. This first application is heavily thinned, it's almost a glaze at this stage but it helps me determine if I need to darken the next pin wash to pop the details. I'll assess it once dry but so far it's really helping to enhance all those lovely rivets.
The leopard is now all finished after adding the crew and antennas. Very pleased with this one, it's been quite a while since I last built a Bundeswehr vehicle and I really do have a thing for the 2A4, must be that big slab of a turret.
I think I'm almost finished with the pigments now on the model. I've used them dry and only used a brush dampened with water to feather in areas and add some vertical streaks. Perhaps some mud spatters or similar will be added to the lower hull and a small amount of fuel staining too. Of course it's very easy at this stage to go mad with the pigments so restraint is called for, at least by me. Less is more in this case.
