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'FACE OFF' CONTINUED....


Badder

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Hello Badder,

 

it's a very nice Sherman for sure !!

 

I've just one question (sorry, I didn't read the whole topic ^_^) : how do you make the steel plates raw edges ?

 

Cheers, E

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On 02/03/2018 at 2:17 PM, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. I am well thank you and I am glad you are too. I am really to sorry to hear about old Ned and the effect it had on Rosie. Condolences to both you and your wife.

I'm also not in work today due to the weather so I look forward to seeing some of your progress later or over the weekend.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix,

I'm missing Ned, he was a silly old fool.

Unfortunately, little progress was made this weekend as I spent 2 days in the snow trying to change the brake pads on my wife's car! grrrr. The job was made 10 times harder with frozen nuts. I mean bolts. Got the beggars loosened eventually, put new pads in and then the car wouldnt start. Think the starter motor siezed or something like that. Bump start got it going again.

Since then I've been messing about trying to make a tow cable using various threads and wires with unsatisfactory results (in my eyes at least) stole one off my old Tiger but that was too big, and have currently side-lined that project. I've also messed around with copper foil, making a tarp for covering the stowage, and that's been successful. Only I am now disinclined to use it as it obviously covers up all that nice stowage! I could use it to cover 'false' stowage on the enigine grills, but again I don't really want to cover those up either!

 

I have made a start on the figures though.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

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On 04/03/2018 at 1:07 PM, Etienne said:

Hello Badder,

 

it's a very nice Sherman for sure !!

 

I've just one question (sorry, I didn't read the whole topic ^_^) : how do you make the steel plates raw edges ?

 

Cheers, E

Hi Etienne,

Thanks. Glad you like it.

I just used a scalpel, scoring the cut marks into the plates by hand. I got them as close together and as neat as I could and and afterwards sanded the flat surfaces (with the stars on).so that all the 'cuts' had sharp square edges with no burrs.

 

Rearguards

Badder

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This is the commander figure from the kit. As you can see, I'm having to tidy him up a bit. There's an odd 'flap' on the back of his neck which could almost be part of a collar, only the rest is missing leaving a gap between it and the cheek guard.

 

Also, the commander is supposed to be draped over his cupola, head down, talking into a mic, so Tamiya gouged out his armpit so that it fitted snuggly over the edge while his other hand gripped the edge further back. Could I get him to fit as per the photo and instructions? No. Not unless i removed the internal support he's supposed to be stuck to anyway.

 

But this turned out to be immateriall as I've decded to use a different figure for the commander. This figure will end up as the bow gunner. I think.

 

CarvXsF.jpg

 

 

Here he is where I think he might go:

YDbP7gb.jpg

 

Also note the 'underwear bag' I made the bottom of it look wet/damp by brush-applying black and dark earth weathering powders dissolved in extra thin poly.

GtYLKb2.jpg

 

Work will continue on this figure.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

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On 06/03/2018 at 7:15 PM, beefy66 said:

Looking great so far like the figure:yes:

 

beefy  

 

On 07/03/2018 at 2:09 PM, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. Hope you are well. Looking forward to seeing what you are going to do with your figures.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

On 08/03/2018 at 7:56 PM, FrancisGL said:

A great touch about the figures ...:popcorn:

Cheers Badder :yes:

 

 

Thanks chaps.

Progress has been slow due to life getting in the way, but I am in the process of constructing the figures as far as is possible prior to painting. I prefer to leave certain arms and legs off if they obstruct detail painting, whilst I don't mind fitting the heads pre-painting if they are fully accessible'

 

I have filled the commander's armpit, and have extended the 'tab' on the back of his neck to make a full collar. (assuming that's what the tab was meant to be)

 

I have 5 Hornet heads, unhelmeted 'european hairstyles' and I was considering using those for a couple of the figures, but they seem slightly over-scale to me. There's one that I might be able to use, but only if I slice his crown off and bung a helmet on him.

 

Work will advance today, after I've changed the brakes on my wife's car's other rear wheel. At least there's no snow now.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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At the moment I'm painting up 4 figure 'candidates' for the sherman crew, some or all of which will be used. 2 are Tamiya figures: the kit's commander figure, and the commander from Tamiya's US Army Tank Crew Set. (The middle two) The other two are from MiniArt's US Tank Crew NW Europe Set.

NWvfU4u.jpg

 

I think the MiniArt guy far right is 'doing the twist'. Don't worry. If I use him, he'll only be visible from the waist up in one of the hatches.
 

con3dPL.jpg

 

Here's the kit's commander after a spray with Tamiya Dark Yellow base coat. I used very thinned paint and  once dry cleaned up any blemishes, missed seam lines, dust etc before spraying again.

qvlJx0x.jpg

 

The MiniArt figures suffer from a bit of flash and could have been posed a bit better IMHO. And their details are poorly defined in places, but I do like their headgear. Having made the Tamiya Tank Crew set before I know that their headgear is a bit of a pain to construct and paint 'off the model' and last time I had to fix them in place first before painting. Not ideal if you've just done a lovely job on painting the faces, and even worse if you're leaving the faces until last. However, I'm progressing. I'm going to make a 5th figure, again the from the Tamiya set, and then pick which ones to use.

 

TFL

Badder

 

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Pfffft.

The two MiniArt figures have been consigned to the spares box.

 

It didn't help that the box art labels a part of the 'doing the twist' figure's headgear as D9, when D9 is in fact part of the collar. i only realised this after the part pinged off into the great beyond. And as this part was part of the collar, it left me to wonder which part was the headgear supposed to be made with? It turns out that there IS a part for that, but is overlooked by the labelling. Anyway, it was immaterial. There's no way I can scratch a replacement for the collar, so that's that for that figure.

And that got me to thinking about the second MiniArt figure. I had a look at its collar and headgear (baseball helmet) Ah, a part for the collar is missing from the sprue, snapped off and also lost to the great beyond. So forget about that figure too.

 

I did use the two figures to test oil paints though and that was fairly successful.

 

I will now be using the Tamiya figures only.

 

TFL

Badder



 

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On 17/03/2018 at 7:26 AM, Ozzy said:

Just catching up Badder, those figures look nice and detailed.

Hi Ozzy,

Those figures are now all in the spares box, minus various body-parts which are in the bin, along with their heads and poxy helmets.

 

Grrrrrr!

 

Hope you are well.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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TO THOSE WHO USE OIL PAINTS SUCCESSFULLY. I ADMIRE YOUR PATIENCE!

 

My 'not too bad a job' face-painting might have survived if the bloomin' stuff had dried properly after 4 days. And I know now to fit the poxy 3-part helmets BEFORE painting the faces WITH ANYTHING AT ALL.

 

I tried reverting to acrylics and enamels but after problems with the the removal of the oil residue and a poor bonding of the base coats, I had a hissy fit and binned the lot of 'em.

 

So there'll be no figures for this Sherman in this GB, nor a diorama.

Sometimes life sucks.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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I'm good thanks Badder, hope your well.

 

ive never used oils so can't feel your pain,  but I have messed a good number of figures. SoI know how frustrating it can be when they go wrong, for that I can feel your pain.

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Ah, sorry to hear that Badder :(

Oil paints do take an age to dry (at least, mine do - over a month for me in this weather) - and they can be too glossy for modelling.

 

Do you use umber (burnt or raw) at all?  It is *supposed* to help with drying of used as a base coat or as a siccative (drier).  The other thing that I've found does help is artists' quality turprntine (but still too slow for a GB).

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8 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

I'm good thanks Badder, hope your well.

 

ive never used oils so can't feel your pain,  but I have messed a good number of figures. SoI know how frustrating it can be when they go wrong, for that I can feel your pain.

 

3 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Ah, sorry to hear that Badder :(

Oil paints do take an age to dry (at least, mine do - over a month for me in this weather) - and they can be too glossy for modelling.

 

Do you use umber (burnt or raw) at all?  It is *supposed* to help with drying of used as a base coat or as a siccative (drier).  The other thing that I've found does help is artists' quality turprntine (but still too slow for a GB).

Hi chaps,

Thanks for feeling my pain ^_^

I used a white acrylic base coat with acrylic flesh over the top, then used Winsor and Newton Oils. I used burnt umber a raw sienna and a bit of cadmium red, blobbed onto a cardboard palette to soak up the excess linseed oil before use. It went on a treat and looked pretty good to the naked eye, but still wasn't dry after 4 days. I REALLY can't be bottomed to wait more than that for face-painting.  I have used it on AFVs, but time isn't so much of an issue there.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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44 minutes ago, Badder said:

Hi chaps,

Thanks for feeling my pain ^_^

I used a white acrylic base coat with acrylic flesh over the top, then used Winsor and Newton Oils. I used burnt umber a raw sienna and a bit of cadmium red, blobbed onto a cardboard palette to soak up the excess linseed oil before use. It went on a treat and looked pretty good to the naked eye, but still wasn't dry after 4 days. I REALLY can't be bottomed to wait more than that for face-painting.  I have used it on AFVs, but time isn't so much of an issue there.

 

Nothing wrong with that approach, just too slow drying :(

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3 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. I am sorry to hear about your figure painting woes. Not good. :swear:

Kind regards,

Stix

 

3 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

Nothing wrong with that approach, just too slow drying :(

I best get my figure painting sorted out because I have Tamiya's 8 Ton Semi-track with full passenger crew, AND the 88mm flak with gun crew! in the stash!

:hmmm:

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

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7 hours ago, Badder said:

I best get my figure painting sorted out because I have Tamiya's 8 Ton Semi-track with full passenger crew, AND the 88mm flak with gun crew! in the stash!

:hmmm:

 

Rearguards,

Badder

OT: I built their 8.8 cm years  ago, it was a nice easy build back then ...

As to the figures, it depends which edition of the 88 you have - the first two editions had travel bogies (?)  which would look cool towed behind your 1/2 track ... making a nice vingette and allow you to send some of the figures for the spares box.

 

 

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On 19/03/2018 at 7:06 AM, Hewy said:

I've been in the same boat badder concerning the figure painting, i struggle here too, I'm sure you'll crack it though, it'll be worth it 

 

On 19/03/2018 at 7:06 AM, Hewy said:

I've been in the same boat badder concerning the figure painting, i struggle here too, I'm sure you'll crack it though, it'll be worth it 

 

 

On 19/03/2018 at 8:54 AM, Robert Stuart said:

OT: I built their 8.8 cm years  ago, it was a nice easy build back then ...

As to the figures, it depends which edition of the 88 you have - the first two editions had travel bogies (?)  which would look cool towed behind your 1/2 track ... making a nice vingette and allow you to send some of the figures for the spares box.

 

 

Hi chaps,

Stuart, Not sure which edition of the 88mm I have but I do know it comes with the bogies. It will definitely be towed behind the semi. I had no intention of showing it set up for firing.

 

Meaniwhile, I've spent a week basically arsing about trying to make a tow cable from various threads/wires and then scratching the eyes at the ends with bits of paper clip, copper sheet and solder. I had one finished to a fairly good standard, but the cable was just too thin I decided. I've just purchased some plastic coated wire from Hobbycraft, and will be trying to make a cable by twisting 3 lengths together. Oh, and just by pure luck they happened to have ONE box of these on the shelf!

 

(The box on the right)

li71HKA.jpg

 

So, I'll be having another crack at those!

This will be my THIRD attempt at these figures. Hopefully I've learned from past mistakes!

 

 

 

Hope you are both well,

Rearguards,

Badder

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17 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

PM sent

Apologies for calling you Stuart, Robert. :blush:

Thanks for the info on the tow cable. PM replied to.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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