No Modelling Just Fishing

I've done bugger all at the bench since the last post, I think I'm slightly burnt out so have taken a break and indulged in my second love, coarse fishing.  I've been fishing on Devizes angling associations Crookwood lake which is a real haven for wildlife and very relaxing and peaceful. As a bonus I've also caught a fair few fish including two cracking tench yesterday. 

It's really helping me to recharge the batteries and get out more after the lockdown which was very tedious at times. No doubt the modelling mojo will return but meanwhile I'm enjoying doing something totally different.

AMX & Abrams Matt Coat

It seems the mojo is starting to come back and I've been adding filters & washes to both models. The AMX also had some oil dot fading to add some subtle streaking and wear to the paintwork. After a coat of VMS matt varnish all the shiny bits and lights have been sorted and added. 

I'm happy with the results and will now let them cure for a couple of days before adding final pigments.

M1 Abrams More Progress.

Well I was only saying yesterday that the old mojo was lacking and here's another update already! Tracks and wheels are now fixed in place and I've also sloshed a bit of tamiya smoke on the insides of the clear hub caps. these will go on after matt varnish along with all the other shiney bits.

The spare track links & fuel can are also now on & the rear exhaust vent was attacked with some dark grey & dark rust using a sponge to start the weathering of this area. So it's all ready for washes & filters along with the AMX-10 which I will do at the same time.

M1 Abrams Progress

I'm still battling a distinct lack of modelling mojo at the moment but have started working on the abrams again. Some very subtle fading was added to the base colour using this mixed with tamiya flat flesh which helped break up the monotone look of the model. This was followed by a round of detail painting and track painting.

I've added no chipping at all as I want to show a new vehicle recently arrived in Germany and on it's first exercise. Decals went on next and here I had to find suitable vehicle codes in my spares stash as there are none in the kit. I'll be fixing the wheels and tracks next instead of my usual practice of after weathering. This means I can weather the skirts and upper hull all in one instead of several pieces. 

  

AMX-10 Figure

Not much going on at the bench lately as I'm just not in the groove at the moment. However I've been looking at the Djiti figures I have and decided to just add one to the commanders hatch. At least with a figure on the model you can get a sense of the size of the vehicle and he actually looks pretty good there too. 

Warrior Glazing

Back to the warrior now and I've found some suitable clear plastic to make the glass for the turret optics. Using a plastic screen protector for an iphone which is the perfect thickness. After carefully cutting out the panels they were fixed in place with some glue & glaze. All the periscopes and rear lights where also painted too. So the model is now ready for final weathering with pigments.  

M1 Abrams Painting

The abrams has now been sprayed in it's forest green paintwork. Gunze H309 was used here for that particular colour. Some light fading will be added next.