Cromm Cruac

UPDATE: KT primed with Ammo A-Stand lacquer primer. Again the drying time on this is just unbelievable. After a month it was still a bit tacky to touch. I wonder what I did wrong. Anyway, decided to go further and hand painted the Zimmerit with off-white acrylic paint. Sealed everything with lacquer matt varnish. I've masked the bigger areas of missing Zimmerit with latex mask (to make the chipping process faster) and applied the base coat to both tanks. Also pre-assembled the skirts in preparation for camo painting.

UPDATE Finally had some time to continue. Prepared the photo etched parts on the KT. Some is still not glued as I've decided to paint them separately and glue them after I do the camo on the hull and turret. The reason is that I don't want to knock them out while masking and painting. I've struggled a little with original tracks from the kit. They are a little bit too short and after stretching them, there is no sagging at all. Also I was worried about painting them after I had so much trouble with my previous build where I used the rubber tracks. So I've ordered resin 3D printed tracks made for that particular kit. The detail on them is amazing and they are already in a desired shape so they fit perfectly. They even attached the spare track links which I'm gonna use and replace the kit's original ones.

UPDATE: Zimmerit applied. I'm rather pleased how it turned out 😁

UPDATE: Sherman re-primed with Ammo A-Stand red oxide primer. It took 8 days to completely dry off so it wasn't sticky anymore 😴. Definitely the longest drying time I've ever experienced 😐 Sealed with lacquer Alclad Matt varnish - to additionally secure the surface for my airbrush cleaner chipping method. KT prepared for Zimmerit application. I've roughly masked the areas where the Zimmerit will be chipped off

UPDATE Tiger pre-assembled. Removed all details in preparation for applying Zimmerit and photo-etched parts. Added some battle scars & wounds - 2 fatal using that technique Tried some Zimmerit techniques. First using Tamiya putty and tool above. Too thick for my liking. Good maybe for 1/35 scale but not for 1/72. Second attempt using old Mr. Surfacer which thickened up. The results is IMO better. Applied Mr. Surfacer and then waited 1-2h so it thickens up, making it workable for a quite long time. And I can always soften it a bit or even remove with Mr. Color levelling thinner. Meanwhile, major setback with Sherman. I've sprayed it with acrylic Ammo One-Shot primer but quickly figured that it doesn't stick to metal parts at all, peeling with the slightest touch. I've cleaned the model with washing liquid, alcohol and whatnot, so it wasn't a grease that caused it. So, I had to carefully scrub the paint with the airbrush cleaner, trying not to damage the glued metal parts. 😅 I've done some tests on spare metal parts and lacquer Ammo A-Stand red oxide primer works best. It sticks pretty well, I need quite a sharp tool to scratch it from the metal surface. When covered with lacquer matt varnish it's even better. Downside is that this lacquer primer dries for a very long time. On the bottle it says 24h but in fact it's about 3-5days before it does not feel sticky. I'm gonna re-prime soon.

UPDATE Sherman pre-assembled and photo-etched parts applied. It's the first time I've applied them but after some practising I'm pretty happy with the results. I've struggled a bit with hull hatches. I wanted to make them open but they didn't fit the shape of the photo-etched parts. So fixed them with thin stripes of styrene. Also removed the side fender supports - they were solid plastic triangles at first. Replaced them with styrene strips but wasn't happy with this. So ripped them off and made them from 0.25mm brass sheet. Finally added some iron casting texture and welding seams on the turret and the hull using Mr Surfacer and hard brush. Here are some pics

Got this idea for the new diorama: destroyed/damaged Tiger II in a ditch and passing Sherman. Plus some marching American troops and some German POWs. I wanted to share the progress this time. So, first part is King Tiger I was slightly misled by the cover illustration and thought it's a version with Zimmerit, but after opening the box I've realised that it's not. But hey, I can make it. I've seen some tutorials, did some tests and it looks promising. I've also got a photo etched details for that kit. It's my first time when I'll be working with photo etched parts so wish me luck. Sherman 'Easy eight' Second part, Sherman 'Easy eight'. I've got this 'Korean War' kit but since this version was in production since '44 I can use is for WWII scene. And it looks like good old 'Fury' Got photo etched part for this one too. Unfortunately I couldn't find it for this kit so I've got the one that fit's Revell kit. Hope I can use most of it. Right now I'm gathering and studying the reference photos, so stay tuned And here is one of my attempts to make Zimmerit using Tamiya putty and this tool I've found on eBay. I need to practice a little more but looks pretty decent to me and I'm happy with it

Thanks for all your comments, guys. Really appreciate that ☺️

I present you Panzer IV Aufs G. It's a Hasegawa Aufs F1 kit with a gun barrel taken from Armourfast kit with some adjustments. Tracks are not original - I've found them somewhere on eBay. Good level of detail on them but they were really hard to paint as they were made from some kind of rubber that couldn't hold the paint. I had to paint them 2 times as the first time paint all peeled off when installing them. Second time I had to be very careful putting them on. Accessories are mixed. Some resin, some made of wood, wire, brass and what not, by me. Painted with acrylics. Chipping done by coating primer with lacquer layer and then scrapping top acrylic layer using airbrush cleaner to soften it up. Here are some photos: Thanks for watching. Comments are very welcome

UPDATE: a diorama featuring Crusader III and Flak 88 Click here for more photos

UPDATE: a diorama featuring Crusader III and Flak 88 Click here for more photos

I've built Crusader III & Flak 88 previously and combined them into one dio to make some battle scene. Here are the photos And some not photoshopped ones: Thanks for viewing 😉

Well done pixel camo. Great model. Слава Україні!

Another one from North Africa. This time Afrika Korps Flak 88. I've used the same chipping method as with my previous Crusader III: painted the dark primer and sealed it with Alclad lacquer. After quite long curing sprayed the main yellow sand coat and brown camo. Then dampened the paint with airbrush cleaner and carefully scraped the top coats till the primer layer has been revealed. Alclad lacquer acted here as a buffer which the airbrush cleaner couldn't penetrate so the base layer stayed intact. I found this method much better - more precise - for such a small scale than normal hairspray chipping. The rest of the weathing process is pretty much standard: washes, some pigments etc. Here are some pictures: Thank for viewing, comments welcome

Wow, thanks! To remind you a master is a real privilege ☺️