The tools were painted to look like wood.. hard to tell in this pic.. the flash was a little too bright.
Next up..weathering the lower hull.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Panzer III - Weathering
Finally the fun stuff. Making the model look used. Desert tanks took a lot of abuse from the elements. I've seen reference where a lot of the paint is worn off. This might look like overkill, but it's actually not too bad.. this is all done with Vallejo acrylic paint and a little paint brush.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Panzer III - base coat
Not much of an update, but I painted the base coat and most of the markings this weekend. Also added a little weathering to the tracks with Mig pigments. Next step, put the grills on and weathering begins!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Panzer III.. ready for paint
I added the front track holder, more tool detail, rear rack, glued in the cannon, weld seams on the turret, some metal grab handles, commander's cupola, soldered some wires inside that had broken off, and made an external (fake) antenna that rotates up and down like the real one..
upper hull is ready for paint.
upper hull is ready for paint.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Panzer III.. getting into detail..
So, when I first began this paint/detail project, I decided I wasn't going to take it too far. A few minor things and paint and that'd be it.. well, i'm already taking it farther than I intended, but i'm still limiting myself.
This update has a few little details. They seem small, but they were time consuming.
First off is weld beads made from epoxy putty. (green stuff) I think this is one of those simple additions that adds a lot of character to a tank model. Only the front is pictured here, but it goes all the way around most of the hull panels. I didn't do everything in the spirit of 'not taking it too far' but I think i'm getting all the major parts.
You can see a few more welds on the rear deck here, but what is most obvious is the clamps and rear rack. I was originally just going to use the kit tow cables, but started thinking how much cooler an Afrika Korps tank would look with a rack full of jerry cans, so bought some resin jerry cans and I made a rack out of styrene loosely based on some reference photos. Now since there's a rack with supplies, which will probably include a tarp on at least part of the rear deck, I decided to relocate the tow cables. I've got some framing wire that'll make that handy, although i'm going to have to create the eyelet parts somehow. I don't want to spend any more money to buy pre-built cables... it's been an expensive month already with my Hooben T55 purchase, brakes for my truck, parking ticket, partying all night last weekend.. ugh..
As I mentioned above, i'm relocating the tow cables, so now that means the rear deck is empty. There should be clamps and hooks for the cables. So I made some out of styrene and some brass that was leftovers from old photoetch parts.
This update has a few little details. They seem small, but they were time consuming.
First off is weld beads made from epoxy putty. (green stuff) I think this is one of those simple additions that adds a lot of character to a tank model. Only the front is pictured here, but it goes all the way around most of the hull panels. I didn't do everything in the spirit of 'not taking it too far' but I think i'm getting all the major parts.
You can see a few more welds on the rear deck here, but what is most obvious is the clamps and rear rack. I was originally just going to use the kit tow cables, but started thinking how much cooler an Afrika Korps tank would look with a rack full of jerry cans, so bought some resin jerry cans and I made a rack out of styrene loosely based on some reference photos. Now since there's a rack with supplies, which will probably include a tarp on at least part of the rear deck, I decided to relocate the tow cables. I've got some framing wire that'll make that handy, although i'm going to have to create the eyelet parts somehow. I don't want to spend any more money to buy pre-built cables... it's been an expensive month already with my Hooben T55 purchase, brakes for my truck, parking ticket, partying all night last weekend.. ugh..
As I mentioned above, i'm relocating the tow cables, so now that means the rear deck is empty. There should be clamps and hooks for the cables. So I made some out of styrene and some brass that was leftovers from old photoetch parts.
Last, but not least for this update is tool clamps. I have some Aber PE tool clamps, but they're so complicated, I just didn't want to use them for this build.. so I made some fake non-working ones. I think they look ok.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Big Scale T-55
I've always wanted a big 1/16 RC Tamiya tank kit, but never really could afford one since they're all close to $1k even without a radio... or didn't want to spend that much on a "toy" anyway. Plus, with the lower priced Heng Long tanks as an alternative, I figured i'd be ok with that.
A couple years ago, a Chinese company called Hooben released a kit for a 1/16 RC Russian T55 tank. It's a "modern" tank, which is more rare in the RC world since WWII tanks seem to be preferred by the manufacturers. I've always loved the design of the T55, a tank that was the most produced tank of all time, is still in service in many countries around the world. Needless to say I wanted one, but because of the price, I didn't think much of it... until recently, when someone on one of the RC tank forums brought it up again.. next thing you know, my brain is failing me and i'm spending some major cash to get one. Not as much as a Tamiya kit, but probably still more than I should have.. oh well, you only live once eh?
So I'm not going to start building it for a while. I still have my Panzer to finish (there has been progress, just not enough for a new post), and I want to finish the other projects i've started, but I did take it out and look at it. Here are a couple pics of it with my 1/35 T55 that I built a few years ago for scale reference. It's going to be so cool!
-laters
bhop
A couple years ago, a Chinese company called Hooben released a kit for a 1/16 RC Russian T55 tank. It's a "modern" tank, which is more rare in the RC world since WWII tanks seem to be preferred by the manufacturers. I've always loved the design of the T55, a tank that was the most produced tank of all time, is still in service in many countries around the world. Needless to say I wanted one, but because of the price, I didn't think much of it... until recently, when someone on one of the RC tank forums brought it up again.. next thing you know, my brain is failing me and i'm spending some major cash to get one. Not as much as a Tamiya kit, but probably still more than I should have.. oh well, you only live once eh?
So I'm not going to start building it for a while. I still have my Panzer to finish (there has been progress, just not enough for a new post), and I want to finish the other projects i've started, but I did take it out and look at it. Here are a couple pics of it with my 1/35 T55 that I built a few years ago for scale reference. It's going to be so cool!
-laters
bhop
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