Cromm Cruac

That's always my concern before I start weathering. But on the other hand weathering and 'ageing' is the part I like the most.

They were indeed stored flat, usually on the racks but I wanted to make them more visible and to create this more disorderly look of the scene. True, but I couldn't find the crew figures in lighter clothes that would fit the scene. They're from the Airfix set more suited for UK based bombers. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers...

Finished the diorama More photos in the following thread:

Used Easter to finish the second diorama from the Pacific (after Kawasaki Hien). Here are some photos: And some un-photoshopped ones As always, thanks for viewing. Comments welcome

Super-clever concept and amazing execution. Boys poses and expressions are superb

@Muchmirth, I've tried to make flowers myself from coloured shredded paper or woodchips but I wasn't satisfied. Eventually I've bought the mini flock flower set from WWScenics and sprinkled them over multilayered static grass.

@spruecutter96, yeah, I kinda thought about it and even made a dent but miscalculated and it was in a wrong place. The scenario was that the plane rolled almost to a stop and the damaged wing and undercarriage gave up then it fell into the ravine. Does it sound believable?

Finally managed to finish the whole diorama - after 4 years! More pictures of the whole thing including Il-2 & half-track in this thread

Finally managed to finish the whole diorama - after 4 years! More pictures of the whole thing including Il-2 & Pather in this thread

Inspired by Sabaton song I've started this diorama some time ago. Just realised that it was actually over 4 years, so long time overdue. Finally had some time to finish it so here it is. Diorama consists Half-track (from Dragon), Il-2 & Panther Ausf. D (from Academy 2 piece set) + some figures from various sets. Trees are made of Miliput, wire & turfs. And some un-photoshopped ones As always, thanks for viewing. Comments welcome

Another one from a Pacific theatre after my Kawasaki Hien. Went for heavily weathered look like in these photos: Struggled a bit with the main sea blue colour. Recommended VA Glossy Sea Blue was a bit too dark and grey-ish to my liking so coated it lightly with diluted VA Medium Blue. It gave a blue-gray-ish colour from the photos I was looking for. As a side effect it gave a nice colour modulation as well. After decals the model was postshaded and weathered with silver painted chips, + dark & light washes and pastels. A little disaster struck almost at the end - when removing the masking tape during the weathering the starboard number peeled off completely. I've managed to salvage the decal from the tape in pieces, except the pilot name at the bottom. Took me some time to put it back together but I'm pretty pleased with it. And after weathering it's hard to tell it happened. Working on a diorama right now but here is the model: Thanks for viewing, comments welcome

So finally got some time to do the chipping tests. I'm posting the results in case someone has similar problem. All the layers were sprayed in at least 24h intervals to allow curing. After all has been cured I've wetted the areas and started chipping. 1. Klear protective coat: chipping was easy and quite detailed but after a while of soft scrubbing the Klear layer gave up and chipping medium started to eat the gray undercoat showing the primer. 2. No protective coat: chipping medium went through the gray undercoat layer immediately in wider areas 3. Matt acrylic varnish coat: top layer was immediately dissolved and chipping was very crude and flaky. Then it went through the undercoat layer. 4. Lacquer protective layer: best results, very detailed and I had to scratch hard to damage the undercoat gray paint. Soft scrubbing didn't damage the gray layer.

I've seen some tutorials on YT and also read some. That's why I use a coat of Klear because I've read that having some 'sealing' layer helps with the issue I have. Some recommend gloss layer, some matt but I couldn't find if this need to be the same type of paint or other - like using enamels for weathering if paint is water based acrylic. To answer some your questions @Ade H, the chipping medium I use is 73.214. I spray MA paint in about 50/50 ratio of paint to Ultimate Thinner. I find that applying more light coats of diluted paint works better for me. I do the chipping with water only as this what Vallejo (and tutorials) recommend. I'm gonna prepare another test and will wait at least 24h after each coat. Also with different seal layers (and without).

I'm trying to master the chipping technique using the chipping medium. I know it could be done with hairspray but I've chosen Vallejo Chipping Medium. I've had initial problems with spraying this as it comes from the bottle - its gelatine consistence just makes an airbrush clog and spurt big droplets. However, I've managed to overcame them with diluting using some Ultimate Thinner. It sprays more nicely with thin coat. I've followed these steps - with 24h to cure between steps - except 4-5 where I've waited about 6h and 5-6 maybe an hour: 1. prime with Ultimate Primer 2. spraying base coat of Vallejo Model Air 3. sealing with coat of Klear 4. spraying Vallejo Chipping Medium layer 5. applying top layer of Vallejo Model Air 6. Applying some water and started scrubbing and chipping All goes well but then despite having a protective coat or Klear, the chipping medium start to eat through base layer down to a primer. I can see that even if I just scrub gently the base coat is being dissolved, colouring the top coat. What am I doing wrong? Could it be Klear coat that reacts with chipping medium making it stronger? Should this protective coat be any particular type, maybe not water based, maybe it should be like enamel or lacquer - what should it be? Should I wait 24h to cure all layers including top layer? Please help!

I've made brass side skirts on my Panther. I've simply degreased them with alcohol and then followed the normal procedure for plastic - Vallejo primer, Vallejo paints, weathering etc.