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Meng Models SS-003 Achzarit Early Heavy APC - now with photos!


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1 hour ago, Gremlin56 said:

Watch out you don't end up buying all the different products or you'll end up with a workbench full of different washes, primers, filters, pigments etc.:coolio:

Yeah... it's not as if I don't have a drawer full of tools, paint and stuff already! Good job my workbench is downstairs and we have a concrete floor! :wink:

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Etched brass dealt with - other than gluing on the side armour, which will happen after I've done the first coat of paint. Tow-ropes are under way. Hopefully get a few 'w-i-p' photos taken and posted later on tonight.

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So, here's the hull, ready for primer. Tow-ropes are still underway - milliput filler drying on the ends.

 

Achzarit1_1.jpg

 

Achzarit2.jpg

 

Airbrush, compressor, and spray booth all checked out and ready to go.

 

 

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On 27/04/2017 at 11:58 AM, Gremlin56 said:

Watch out you don't end up buying all the different products or you'll end up with a workbench full of different washes, primers, filters, pigments etc.:coolio:

 

And we wouldn't want that would we? 😱

 

That is looking very nice!

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I haven't been very well, and then I got busy and then the weather got nice, so being out in the countryside with my camera seemed important...

 

And I'm waiting for an eBay purchase of primer and paint, so progress has slowed to a crawl.

 

Today is nice again, and I shall probably go out, but in the meantime, I'm doing a bit. I have acquired a stack of resin stowage items. Usually, in the 'good old days', I would just remove the casting blocks from things as and when I needed them. But I hate removing casting blocks; it's a pain where the sun shineth not (not to mention scattering resin dust and mess everywhere and giving me sore fingers). So, I have decided...

 

I'm removing the casting blocks and cleaning up every item. Get all the pain and mess over in one go. And then, any time I need a fuel can, or a backpack or whatever, I can just get it out of the box and use it.

Edited by PhilHendry
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Thank you.

 

Yesterday I assembled and primed the Meng crew figures, which I intend to paint, along with the stowage, over the next few days... I'm still waiting for Mr eBay to deliver the primer and paint I need for the vehicle itself.

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It's so long since I did this, and thought this way, and I'm modelling a new army - for instance, if it was British WW2, I'd know what colours to use on crew uniforms. As it is, I'm struggling...

 

I've looked at the paint colours suggested on the Meng figure box, and I'm left thinking 'if I use those colours, these figures will look nothing like the photos I've seen and downloaded.' So I'm grubbing around, trying to find colours (and shades and highlights) which 'work' and about match the references. Ho-hum. Progress is frustratingly slow. I wish the primer and paint for the vehicle would hurry up and get here too.

 

If anyone's painted IDF figures from the past few years and has colour suggestions - preferably Vallejo model Color - I'd be most interested to hear them!

 

Sorry, forgot to take or post photos!

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Painted various bits and pieces yesterday, waiting for the primer and paint for the vehicle to arrive.

 

Bits_1.jpg

 

I need to finish the oil can and the figures and then that's the stowage mostly dealt with for now. The primer has arrived, so I can wheel out the airbrush and have a go...

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Well, I've squirted primer at it all. I toyed with the idea, for about a millisecond (or less), of pre-shading and decided that, after at least six years since the last time I used the airbrush, that managing to get a nice clean, even, coat of primer was asking enough of me!

 

(it has to be six years at least because I clearly haven't used it since we had the kitchen refurbished - I struggled to find somewhere suitable to put my airbrush holder - the worktops don't overhang as much as the old ones. And yes, i am using it in the kitchen - my portable spray booth is very, very, good - I've never had any overspray anywhere or 'dust' - heck I even gave up using a dust mask and don't get coloured snot!)

 

Airbrush all cleaned and put away. Heck, I like this Iwata Eclipse - it's so easy to use and (more importantly) clean and maintain compared to the Badgers I had before. And I can use it with a paint-cup (as today) or a bottle, so it's the best of both worlds.

 

Now to wait for the primer to dry...

 

{I need a 'twiddling thumbs' emoticon} :wink:

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:poop:I've cleaned everything up and of course, I now discover that I forgot to prime the brass 'Toga' armour. :swear: Next session I shall have to prime it first, before I put the top-coat on everything else, and then top-coat it last... That should work.

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1 hour ago, PhilHendry said:

Airbrush all cleaned and put away. Heck, I like this Iwata Eclipse - it's so easy to use and (more importantly) clean and maintain compared to the Badgers I had before. And I can use it with a paint-cup (as today) or a bottle, so it's the best of both worlds.

Great isn't it? I've had one for about eight years now and wouldn't swap, although I did buy one of the trigger action Neo Iwatas as well. And as you say, so much easier to clean than the old Badgers.

 

John.

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It's superb - a purchase with which to feel pleased. Painting, it has to be said, isn't my favourite part of modelling, but the Eclipse takes the worst of the pain out of it. I prefer researching and making things, and I like the finished model - it's that bit in the middle - getting from bare material to finished model - which I don't really enjoy. I'm sort of hoping that all the 'new' (to me at least) materials - such as good acrylic paints, washes, pigments and so on, I can make a reasonably attractive job without it all getting too painful.

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Right, that's squirted 'Sinai Grey' at the thing. All mess cleaned up, and waiting for the paint to dry, then I can get on to painting details and doing the weathering.

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So, most of the latest progress - except that I forgot to photograph the tracks which are, in essence, finished - maybe tomorrow.

I haven't, yet, painted the eyes on the figures - that's taking some plucking up of courage - the detail is a little 'soft' and I'm not confident of my ability in this area at the moment.

 

AchzaritBits.jpg

 

And here is the beast itself, as it stands this evening. Airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Sinai Grey a couple of days ago; this afternoon I got out my oil paints and mixed up a highlight colour, which I carefully scrubbed into the panels, and incredibly lightly drybrushed onto the raised details. I forget, until I start, just how much I love oil paint - its texture, and the way it works, is sublime. I really ought to go back to using it for figures. The only drawback is the drying time. But I've got a busy few days coming up. I should be ready to carry on when it's dry enough to carry on.

 

AchzaritPaint.jpg

 

Yes, the rubber tyres are part-painted.

Next up will be detail painting. Then decals and weathering. I'm only going to use three out of the four figures - not sure why I painted the fourth!

Edited by PhilHendry
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Here are the wheels with the rubber finished, and the tracks which I forgot to photograph yesterday - they look much less bright and shiny in real life - who says the camera never lies?

 

AchzaritWampT.jpg

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Thanks!

 

Today I've fitted the decals; the decal sheet is short by one number-plate decal for each variant - there should be five, but there are four, so I had to resort to hand-painting the etched brass plate. I've also done most of the detail painting - at least of the things which can be 'mucky' - things like MGs will get paint after the weathering process. I'm beginning to think it's going to look pretty reasonable. A photo may follow tomorrow, but I need to tidy up the workbench first.

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I've been distracted by the weather, and by helping some refugees...

But I've done a lot of pin-washing, and today I did some chipping. Matt varnish next... Today would be ideal for that, because it's warm and dry, but it's also windy. 

After that we're on to dust and sandy muck.

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A small update - vehicle done with first lot of sandy muck, after all sorts of pin-washing, chipping and the like. One more, lighter-coloured, applcation of dust to selected areas, plus some metal (including metal detail-painting - such as MGs) and it'll be about done.

 

AchzaritWashed.jpg

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Applied another dusty wash to certain areas this morning. Once that dried I painted various metal bits. Just now I added grease marks on some wheel hubs, and stains from spilt fuel around the fuel fillers... 

 

The latter two were done in oil paint, so there will be a delay while it dries...

 

It's getting perilously close to finished!

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I can't photograph it now - my usual lighting rig is designed for macrophotography, and this is too big - it'll have to wait for daylight. But it's almost finished - wheels, and tracks fitted... WOW - it looks like an Achzarit - really exciting. 

 

It'll be, I think, the first kit I've built this millennium... I 'went digital', where photography was concerned, early in 2000AD; I have no digital photos of finished models, ergo, I assume I must have stopped modelling before that?

 

Still to do - painting the periscopes (whoops - I forgot about masking them before the painting process started!); fitting an antenna (why do the white antennae have 'random' black bands?); fitting crew and stowage.

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