Spence builds a vehicle! Yay!

[Spence]

Hello everyone! After my rather protracted period of aircraft building this year, I thought that it might be a good idea to build another vehicle. As you can see I've assembled Tamiya's lovely Blitz kit and stowed it up with all manner of junk. The completed model will form part of a vignette entitled 'Ruckmarsch!' and as such, will be towing a 20 mm flak 38, as well as carrying all of those fuel cans and drums. I hope that you like it..!

Spence

[daz greenwood]

I love it Spence!

Did you use magic sculpt for the tarp mate?

[T-Tango]

Yeh! what did you use for the Tarp, Spence. Lovely build by the way, well done mate.

[Okdoky]

Hi there Spence

I know you will probably hate this comment, the only crit I would put is that even in a hurry, I get the feeling them good ole Gerries would have taken the time to stack the Gerry cans in line so as to keep them from bouncing around (especially when empty) and if full to make sure they would not leak all over the place.

I love the look of these Blitz's and saw a really nice 1/24 scale towing a dolly axled trailer at perth model show. Nearly bought one just to add to the must build some time!

Looking forward to seeing how this ends up.

all the best

nige

[Spence]

Hi there Spence

I know you will probably hate this comment, the only crit I would put is that even in a hurry, I get the feeling them good ole Gerries would have taken the time to stack the Gerry cans in line so as to keep them from bouncing around (especially when empty) and if full to make sure they would not leak all over the place.

I love the look of these Blitz's and saw a really nice 1/24 scale towing a dolly axled trailer at perth model show. Nearly bought one just to add to the must build some time!

Looking forward to seeing how this ends up.

all the best

nige

Morning everyone - thanks for the comments! Nigel - one of the points that has been made on this, and another site, is that the cans are not placed in a particularly German way; this is absolutely intentional! As this model will appear on a 'Ruckmarsch!' (Retreat!) vignette, I wanted to reinforce the idea of a vehicle that has been quickly stowed-up ready to move - most likely under fire. Also, it was based on a picture from After The Battle's 'Ruckmarsch!' book that showed an Einheits trucks loaded with jerrycans in just such a way - no neatly stowed items there! As such, I felt that I had to push the haphazard look a little further than the norm to get the point across - and leave the viewer in no doubt as to the story behind the model. Sometimes, you just can't be 'too' subtle...

As for the stowage itself, the 'soft' items are made from Milliput, rolled out using ideas culled from my late friend Derek Holmes. This involves rolling out a ball of Milliput using lots of talc, a ceramic tile - using a large diameter plastic tube in much the same way that you'd rolled out pastry using a rolling pin. Once thin enough, the thin sheet is cut into rectangular shapes and then either rolled and draped onto the model, additional creases and folds being added using sculpting tools and soft brushes. I hope that this helps!

Thanks once again and have a great day!

All the best, Spence

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi Spence - not being a vehicle or AFV builder - I'm always intrigued by stuff like this - the rolled tarps look very good ( have you thought of a second career as a pastry chef BTW!!).

One question - I often see models of vehicles and tanks unpainted - with everything in place - like your blitz. Do you take all this stuff off to paint it, or leave it all on and paint in situ? ( I suspect the latter)

It seems like a very different building method to that of aircraft, and I just wondered if you could explain why.

Cheers

JonKT

[zeke]

Hey Spence...that looks pretty neat to me...but I've got to echo John's comments there...do you paint it all in-situ?

[Spence]

Hi everyone - here's a little update on one of the Blitz trucks that I'm building at the moment. As you can see, the model is now camouflaged and work has begun on weathering it, ready to have the stowage seen in an earlier posting, fixed back in place. The camo is based on a drawing in a Concord book and is quite distinctive I think. I hope that you like it!

All the best, Spence

[Dr_Fester]

Looks bloody awesome to me mate! Really sweet photography also.

Cheers

Doc

[AnonymousA667]

Gadzooks!

peebeep

[AnonymousDFB1]

Real nice Spence. I'm waiting to see this one finished

Edited May 23, 2008 by Mish

[daz greenwood]

Very nice Spence.

Nice camo scheme too.

[bexwh773]

Ow do Spence, even though they havent got wings, they look pretty good to me matey

Bexy

[Muller]

That's just too good! The weathering is fantastic! This'll be one to watch.

[Spence]

Afternoon everyone! Thanks once again for the comments - I'm glad that you like the model an what I've done to it.

Here's the latest progress shots revealing some of the weathering on the cab - it's by no means complete, but gives a a fair idea of where I'm going with it and how the metal cab looks in comparison with the wooden truck body...

All the best, Spence

[BadCop]

Spence, the paint chips and scratches and rust effects are great - any tips on your techniques?

Trent