KonaDawg

At the moment...

Good point! Maybe they value their heads more than their view of the battle... 😊 I went with some piccies from late war Sherman's and they seemed to have sandbags covering as much of the tank as possible. Periscope would probably have cleared the sandbags. Possibly.

Result. Cheers!

Thanks for all the kind and useful comments. I got some Windsor and Newton Acrylic Matt. Worked perfectly.

Thanks bullbasket! I'll have a look for some in my local art store.

Hi all, Finished this last night but still working in the base. It's a great kit of my favourite WW2 tank. Happy with most of it apart from the sandbags which started off a really nice dusty sand Matt but after weathering and highlights, went glossy 🙁 Tried several Matt varnishes including micro and Tamiya. Neither worked. Will try some others later. Will work in the poor photography and display.

That's a really sweet finish. You can just make out the move toward the 458 and 488 in the 360 I always think. Quite a few years between them but to my eye at least, it's there.

That's a fine bug.

Really nice finish! Great colour also.

Needs some 20"rims to fill those huuge wells 😊

Started on the diorama base and got to here I haven't built a military diorama for a ling time so need to spend some time looking at the excellent builds in here for inspiration.

Had a go at making some tarpaulins. Came out OK I think.

Fantastic. What a build.

Had a go at making some tarpaulins. Came out OK I think.

Apologies for the lack of progress but managed to find some time to work on this. Still a lot to do on it but getting there 😊 Added some ..... Things that look a bit like sandbags. Made them from Daz air drying clay. Paint will follow. Think the diorama is going to be outskirts of Berlin so need lots of stowage which I'm also trying to fashion. As always, if anyone has tips to help me improve, they will be greatly appreciated. Cheers for now.

This could be the start of something awesome

I guess its down to costs. They probably pay a significant license fee to the manufacturer and what with the cost of tooling, packing etc its probably a fine line if they make money or break even. I agree, its sad to see the best model company trickling kits onto the market in place of a steady roll out. We do have aoshima and now nunu/platz but they seem to be producing lower quality mouldings. GT3 and F1 are my main interests so its good from that perspective that at least there is a manufacturer prepared to invest. Its odd about Tamiya though. They seem confident enough to release new paints, tools, airbrushes etc but models, not so much. Still, we do have a lot of great kits to build overall

Hey srkirad, The Gravity painted part was undercoated in MrSurfacer light grey 1500. I will do a test over black primer as well. I agree, it might add a bit of extra depth. Not convinced it needs a matt coat as they recommend though. The paint on the real car is closer to a semi-matt/satin than pure matt finish.

Images now working...

Just a small update. I don't think the Zero green has the right tone even after 8 coats. The pic below shows the result with an additional flat top coat. The pic below is a test piece sprayed with Gravity Colours version of the green To my eye at least, this is closer to the minty green on the 1/1 car. The zero green is really nice and will be used on another project but I think the gravity is the one to use this time.

Yeah, they are not too bad by comparison. Just felt they were a little too thin.

From my own experience, preparation is key. Get rid of possible contaminants, put your surface primer down smoothly and over a few thin coats. If you can get your hands on mr color 1500 surface primer, that's a really good start. I don't do much sanding but when you see the results, it can be worth the extra work. I've ruined a couple of paint jobs as well 😊 It happens.

That's really nice. Very convincing colour.

Nice one!

Hi Ollie, My personal favorite at the moment is Mr Color GX112 UV cut thinned with Mr color leveling thinners. I'm also always learning and currently trying various base coats and clear coats on one of my builds. I'd say buy a couple and experiment to really get the feel for them. Lots of people love 2K but I'm wary of it as its pretty nasty stuff apparently. More experienced people will clarify I'm sure. Best of luck!