Andy Moore

Fantastic conversion Tiking. I never really liked the concept of the tread speeder, but you've managed to turn it into something that looks far more Star Wars than the original. Andy

Thanks chaps So, as mentioned above, I've added a few brush painted chips here and there where the masking fluid had left an edge that looked too rounded and artificial. That was done with both the pale base colour and the darker chipping colour, albeit mixed from Vallejo rather than the Tamiya and Gunze paints I used for the main painting. The shades I mixed weren't an exact match, but close enough that you don't really see any difference amongst the visual noise of the chipping. I've also added the black areas that are present on the studio model. I don't know what these were ori

Thanks all, It's nothing fancy, just a thick layer of epoxy adhesive along the underside of the seam. It does a good job of adding some strength and structure to the joint though. Speaking of epoxy, the rivnuts that will be used to mount the model have been glued into place with the same adhesive. It is a bit, but some of it is still visible now the main chipping layer is on. That process started with the masking, which took the best part of a day to build up. I'd got various photos of the studio mode

Yes, the black panels will get some further toning down. Once everything's painted I'll go over the whole model with some general weathering to tie everything together. So, I've finally made a start on the upper hull, the first stage of which was to spray some white along the spine and down the sides of the cockpit. I then sponged on some masking along the spine for the handful of white chips that appear on that section. The cockpit sides have white pinstripes running along the edge of the canopy. The stripes are supplied as decals with the Boba boxing of S

Thanks Tristan, Yeah, I'd say this one is generally better than my old one. There's not a huge amount in it, the chipping is pretty much the same, allowing for the semi-random nature of the technique. I did pay more attention to getting the pink areas more accurate on this one, my old one doesn't have quite enough pink chips in certain areas. Also, the red is a little better on the new one, and a closer match to the box car red on the studio model. I used the same paint on both, but I think some of the filters and weathering I added to the old one gave it a slightly purplish tint.

Copper State Models have just put up a road map for their planned 1/35 armoured car releases for the next couple of years on their FB page. Some very intersting choices, and some gaps in the list still to be revealed. On top of that, they've also announced a new 1/72 line for ACs starting with the Lancia 1ZM. Hopefully we'll see the Lanchester and Romfell in that scale too. 1/35 Line 35007 Italian Armoured Car 1ZM WW2 service 35008 Garford Putilov Armoured Truck 35009 Erhard Armoured truck 35010 Krupp-Schuman Armoured mobile guns, model 1899 w/57mm 35011 Italian Armoured

Thanks everyone. So, the moment of truth when the masking fluid is rubber off. However carefully you apply it, you never really know what you're going to get when you use this method, so I'm always a little nervous when removing the masking. As far as it goes, I think it turned out reasonably well, and fairly close to my old build. There were a couple of clunky areas where the masking left a rather unnatural looking edge, and I slightly underdid the amount chips on the pink layer. Both of those can easily be rectified with some additional brush painted chipping though.

Thanks chaps So, I managed to get the rest of the skirt painted last night as planned. It was a bit of a marathon job, as it really needs to be done in one extended sitting, since I don't like to leave the masking fluid on the model for too long or it can become hard to remove. The grey bands at the front and rear were masked off, then the first layer of Gunze Neo applied. This was mainly done with a sponge and a tooth pick, although some of the larger patches were done with the brush attached to the lid of the bottle. Once the masking was dry, I sprayed th

Finally found some time to get a little more done on S1. I'm starting the main upper body painting with the skirt, and the first step with that are the dark grey stripes at the front and back. I masked off the edges of the stripes with Tam tape, then blocked off the surrounding area with paper. The masking fluid was sponged on and that was followed by a base grey coat mixed from Tam rubber black and ocean grey. I added a little more rubber black into the mix and sprayed some shading, then added some sky grey and sprayed some mottled highlights. With the ta

It's looking fantastic so far. The original studio model was a very pale grey, probably Floquil reefer white. My favoirite colour for those grey-but-almost-white Star Wars ships is Gunze FS 36622 USAF Grey. You can get it in the lacquer range as C-311, and in the Aqueous range as H-311. It's the perfect pale grey/off white shade to my eye, and very close to reefer white. Given the size of the model though, it may be better to get the Archive X reefer white, which comes in larger 30ml bottles. Those paints are quite expensive though, so a few bottles of Gunze would still work our cheaper.

I've not made a start on the main paint job on the hull and skirt yet as, with all the multiple paint layers and chipping involved, I need to have have a few full days clear to dedicate to it. Hopefully, I should get started on that next week but, in the mean time, I've got the wings and underside finished off and ready to be installed on the skirt once it's painted. The wings have had a little more weathering, mainly with oils and acrylics, but there's also some dry pigments brushed on here and there. They were then slotted onto the support struts ready to be attached to the mount

I know what you mean about getting the right texture on the sponge. A lot of people recommend makeup sponges, but I find them to be too dense. I normally use upholstery foam, which you can get in quite large blocks from ebay. You probably want the medium or soft type, as the firm stuff is generally too dense again. If you want an even cheaper solution, the sponge on the back of pound shop scouring pads works well. Andy

I'm definitely up for this one. Sign me up. Andy

The Mk.II with the 6 pounder, although I wouldn't mind picking up a Mk.I as well. I think the Valentine turret on the early ones looks a lot more graceful then the big clunky boxes on the II's and III's. Andy

Only just spotted this one, and I do love an AC build, so sign me up. I've had a MiniArt AEC patiently sitting in the stash for way too long that should fit the bill nicely. Andy