neil5208

I did have a nice flat piece of styrofoam that I was going to use but as I was looking how to attach the moulded rocks I realised it wouldn't be very secure so I started to look for a different base material and by chance on Monday I found a styrofoam packing piece from a washing machine or dryer in the skip at work so I nabbed that and back to my workshop. After staring at it for 10 mins I decided which section I wanted but didn't want my workshop covered in styrofoam balls so resorted to hot slicing with a heated saw blade although the fumes where bad (had to ventilate for a few hours after) and was left with this. This angled section was added for more vertical stability, this was glued together using Aradilte Rapid 2 part epoxy resin glue, I also added a base of 3mm Hard board. The following day I took a large file to the angled back piece so the moulded rock would fit better and all the edges to clean up the Araldilte excess before trimming the plaster rocks with a medium wood saw blade and bonding these on with the same Araldite glue. I'm not to worried about the edges as these will all be covered with the 3mm hardboard later. A quick trip round to the local DIY store and a box of the cheapest wall filler was selected so I could the cover the remaining styrofaom surface. I have been surprised just how quick this has been so far, realistically I spent 40mins on Monday and an hour yesterday so it not as bad as I was expecting. The filler was liberally applied using a wet spoon from the work place kitchen. I stuck an off cut from the paster rock in the corner after I'd applied the filler. I leave this to harden for a few days as when I cut the moulded rocks they where still quite damp in the centre, I presume this is due to the fact the filler is meant to be applied to small thin areas and not as thickly as I have done. I also need to go to the Range for some cheap acrylic paint as I don't want to use my expensive model paints on the base.

Nice work, I have the Revell Redbox in the stash so will follow

Strange, I changed the settings as advised by Mike and had no problems since

Done some pre-shading on the AT-AT today and tried zenital shading on the neck section. Zenital shading (if I got that right) is used by the war gamers to create light/shade on their game figure by highlight the top facing parts with white, so the neck was shade black from beneath and white from above. I'll see how it looks once the blend coat go's on. Most of the work went into the body.

Can a Mod please delete

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A first attempt at a diorama base for any model, I'm going to give a snow covered base for my Bandai 1/144 AT-AT a go. I picked up some Woodland Scenic's snow powder and some hair spray to fix, watched a couple of video's on Youtube and yesterday tried make some plaster rocks using tin foil and polyfiller. AT-AT is currently disassembled in the paining stage and the base supplied is no where near large enough for it. Tin foil was 5 layer bonded with PVA and folded/scrunched for surface effect. Left this to dry for 8 hours yesterday before removing tin foil. Changed the lighting angle slightly. This is about 250gms of polyfiller so it was still a bit damp when I pulled the foil off so its now in the airing cupboard to dry out completely before I can do anything with it. The remaining filler has been made up and poured into the same piece of foil but has been reshaped so I will still how that one looks today.

Last night I committed to the colour change and sprayed the canards first, left one compared against right. I was happy with this so did the whole airframe. I would normally stick it in the airing cupboard to help the paint harden this time of year but I currently have some plaster rock for the AT-AT's base drying in there ATM.

I would love to be able to do that kit but it's just to big for my display case

Done some more spray test with various greens. All test cards marked up. Top row have been discounted for being to dark, H304 and H426 are better with more yellow in the mix but still to dark compared to pictures of the Viggen. XF81 is better but appears to have some white in the mix resulting a slight paleness, this could be a good choice for the weathered look. The H330 looks good if a little darker in the picture than in real It doesn't have the black/grey tinge to the top row has so this will be my choice. The H422 and H340 are to light to be used for the dark green but I think the H422 will be a good choice for the light green

Have done, just got sucked down a Viggen rabbit hole.

After seeing the dark green on the kit for a few days I don't think Special Hobby got the paint colours right, the Tan and under side colours are fine but the two greens are not so good. This being H58 and H309 The H309 has to much grey/black in it and looks to dark so I got out some other colours from my paint rack and sprayed some plastic card. The first 2, XF58 and XF26 have less grey/black but are still to dark. H340 and H422 are much closer possibly a bit light. And this hideous colour is meant to be the light green. I will spray some more test colours later from the remaining green I have.

So my "working from home" day was cancelled so I didn't get much done before receiving the annoying call into work, but I did get one side sprayed with gloss black. This highlighted 2 things, one this is too a big plane to spray in one sitting and second, that my bench is not a big as it once was (blame the wife for this) and thirdly that I need more Gloss Black. Once sprayed several areas that will need some more sanding with 1000 and 3000 pads. Unfortunately I don't think that I will be able to finish before Sunday.

This morning I did the re-scribing and fitted the vertical planes top and bottom. Hope to get the gloss black on tonight as I'm "working from home" tomorrow so should be able to get some work done then.

Another 1 1/2hrs of masking and the viggen was ready for the third colour Mr Hobby C309, this time I have sprayed the whole aircraft rather than just patches. I'm going to put this aside for the next week to try and finish the YB49 for the Prototypes GP which ends in 7 days.

Been neglecting this one while concentrating on the Viggen's paint scheme but spent some time over the last few days finishing of the sanding, fitted the flap and started masking the clear parts. Unfortunately some sanding dust has got under the canopy. I need to re-scibe some panel lines but fortunately they are 90% straight lines. Not sure if I can finish in 7 days but I'll try my best.

Anyone want to know what 6 hours of taping, cutting and reapplying looks like... Left side has one more panel to go and the right has 4-5 panel left to be made but I've had enough for the morning.

Very nice

Finally finished masking the tan area, this included the first of many that transition from the main fuselage onto the forward canards. After fitting the canards flaps the second colour of Tamiya XF69 NATO Black was sprayed on. These have been placed in to the airing cupboard to dry before the second round of masking can continue.

Made a start on the masking today, a bit of experimentation of method but I worked out an easy way to make each section relatively quickly but it still going to be a slow process. First off I go round each section with the 1/2" masking tape. Then I used the 2" painters masking tape over the top and pressed around the edge with a toothpick. After going around the panel with a new razor blade and steel ruler the excess tape peeled off. The resulting mask was fitted to the kit. Left side is almost complete as are the main wings but I noticed I missed a few small areas with the tan paint so I have had to this spray again. Now that I know how the make the masks I don't think it will be as difficult as first thought.

Still waiting on parts for 0.2mm needle for the airbrush so I've fitted the 0.4mm for the time being. Managed to get to my local model shop for the last of the colours that I need which was Mr Hobby Colour H58 and Tamiya XF59 NATO Black, I went for the NATO black instead of XF1 for a faded look. I've just sprayed where the tan with a large enough over spray to allow masking. Next colour to go on will be the black.

The new seals for the airbrush arrived on Wednesday but I have found the 0.2 nozzle has a crack at the tip so I have had to order one of those as well. So no real progress on the AT-AT but another Star Wars kit that I've had on order since Boxing Day finally arrived yesterday, here is the Bandai Millenium Falcon in 1/144. It is beautifully detailed, with the option to be have its landing gear and boarding ramp up or down and the option to fit a lighting kit, it even has 4 crew figures. I won't start this one until I have clear at least 3 of my build draws and will do a proper wip.

From memory MK1 had no NBC pack door on r/h side, no stowage bins on roof or l/h side, some had Bedford MJ exhaust boxes but these where often removed. Takom has moulded to many antenna bases as well, enough for the Royal Signals 438 variant, standard 432 and 434 repair variant radio fit of 2 Clansman used the front two antenna, command 433 and Medic 437 variant had 3 Clansman so used front 2 and 1 of the rear bases. MK1 also didn't have the tuam box behind the commander's hatch or the cam pole holders.

To try and make the masking process a bit easier I photocopied the paint scheme and increased the size to 161%of the original so it is the same as the kit and then laminated it so I can make the masks on the laminate before fitting the the kit, First colour on will be the light brown C310 followed by the black as these are the smallest blocks of colour, I may spray the number 12 as well depending how well the rest goes.

Been have a bit of a mare with the0.2mm needle in the airbrush but have a new seal on the way and had to fit the 0.4mm needle set so I can get some painting done, I don't know how but I tend to end up with multiple models reaching the paint stage simultaneously on a regular basis, this time its the AT-AT, Viggen, Tempest and Blenheim. Viggen has been primed and had the underside sprayed with Mr Hobby colour C308, now its dried I think it a bit dark so may do some post shading. So some post shading before I can move onto the camo pattern.