Bandsaw Steve

Don’t tempt me down that path!!! That is the path to despair and excessively feathered edges!

What reckless path of madness are you trying to send me down?

I’m worried she’ll get detention for wearing a dress that short!

Paint it Black In my view the best thing the Rolling Stones ever wrote was 'Paint it Black'. Although @Gimme Shelter is a close contender. As per the title in this update the PZH gets a whole lot of black paint thrown at it. TBH there's probably not really enough content in this particular post to warrant an update but as I am sick today and have spent the day off work and am sitting around doing not a lot I thought I would write this anyway. The first thing to get 'painted black’ is the applique armour. Which - unsurprisingly - after I squirted two coats of Tamiya rattle can black all over it, turned black. Following a re-think, for various reasons, the previous green hull got another layer of primer, so now it’s grey again and with one of the several panels of armour in place the whole thing looked like this. Here is the pattern that I'm going to try to achieve. As mentioned before, when airbrushing my preferred paint is now SMS (Scale Model Supplies) Premium. In this case ‘auscam black’ which I’m guessing is essentially identical to ‘NATO black’. This stuff really flatters even my very limited airbrushing skills. Beyond a vigorous shake, It requires no preparation at all. Just pour it into your airbrush and off you go. it has extremely fine pigmentation and shows no sign whatsoever of drying on the tip or clogging. As this is a lacquer paint it is extra important to wear a proper a face mask when painting with it because - although I'm no chemist - I'm pretty sure that this solvent going into your lungs would be a very bad thing. Even without masking, just painting 'by eye' this is not looking too bad. Here's the result so far. Looks a bit like a zebra with a green head. I've intentionally painted the black areas slightly larger than strictly required because from here I'm probably going to mask them out anyway just to give the really tightly controlled fine edges that I'm looking for. Hopefully I'll be over this cold by the weekend and will make some more progress on the green and brown. Best Regards, Steve

Just wanted to say that when I need a mojo boost this is one of the RFI’s I seek out. I know I’ve already commented but I’ll say it again; this is really inspiring.

Welcome aboard Jimmy!

Welcome aboard Jimmy!

Yeah… why not. It’s a diorama.

At last I have found my true purpose!

Finished yet @AdrianMF ?

Well Adrian at every turn on this project I’ve been thinking “hmmm”… Now I’m about to start airbrushing in earnest - which I always find frightening so…. “hmmmm”…

Very true. I never thought that this project would be simple but I definitely underestimated just how much work was involved and especially just how many visible external details there are and how long they would take to model. I’m hoping the SS Xantho will prove simpler but somehow I think it won’t be.

Dimitriy = Bad, bad man!* * Well, not really. Just more observant than me.

Hmmmm… Yeah - just massive external door hinges. I hadn’t thought of that as I generally think of hinges as interior fittings. Unfortunately it means my ones are completely wrong because mine don’t even touch the doors. Damn - more work!

Hi Dimiriy, From the little I can see in various photos I think these things may be hinged independently of the doors but do not appear to be removable. I’m struggling to think what they might be used for but suspect they might be something to do with ammunition replenishment. If anyone knows for sure, or has a better guess, I’m all ears.

Finished...except My mum used to greatly enjoy embroidery and spend many pleasant hours working at this admirable craft. Unfortunately she developed the habit of completing her work sessions by holding her work up proudly and loudly declaring 'FINISHED.... except for the red' or 'FINISHED.... except for the trees' and so forth. For this, I regret to say, she was frequently lampooned by other members of the family. Now as this project drags on far beyond any reasonable timescale I am eager to get this thing 'FINISHED' and find myself declaring 'FINISHED...except' at the end of every minor step forward. The covers over the tracks at the front of the hull need to be built. These are constructed in a very similar way to the ones at the rear using this plastic 90 degree corner template and sheet polystyrene. This is the last major structural feature in the entire project so I can now declare the project 'FINISHED... except for a few details at the rear.' At the rear of the hull there are variety of details that are not well represented in the drawings as they are in recessed positions and can only be seen in the direct rear view. For these parts I need to reference photographs and other scale models. I'm not sure what the things I am about to build actually are but there are two of them, they are complex shapes and one sits beside each of the rear doors. I fear that these would be too fragile if built from plastic so I'm using brass sheet. Brass is really good to work with. Just mark up the shapes you want. Drill out the corners for the interior shapes. use a 'piercing saw' AKA a 'jewelers saw' to cut out the negative shapes. Cut and file and sand and polish to get the final shape / finish. and stick them in place with two-part epoxy. These are the final details that are an attached inherent part of the vehicle so.... 'FINISHED... except for some primer.' Now I spray the rear with primer. This is the last primer to go onto the vehicle proper... So 'FINISHED... except for a few little things' Here is the 'FINISHED' product. 'FINISHED... except....' for: - The camouflage pattern, - Various detachable tools, - Various detachable pieces of military equipment, (a machine gun, camouflage nets and aerials and so forth), - National markings - in this case a small Ukrainian flag, - Weathering, - A scenic base, - A label At the rate I'm going who knows how long all that's going to take... Best Regards, Bandsaw Steve

That’s a great bit of scratchbuilding! Congratulations on this fine bit of work. Am looking forward to seeing it painted.

Sooooooo cool…. Very pleased you have chosen BRG, this is going to look awesome!

What a great project. A colourful, fun subject expertly handled. Quite inspiring.

It looks the biz mate!

Indeed!

Welcome aboard Mozzi.

Fantastic bunch of photos. Terrific variety of aircraft. I especially love the Skyhawk (I’m a kiwi after all) and the historical Swedish jets! Thanks for sharing these photos here.

Ok… here’s an idea you might completely hate but… Why not paint the historical side exclusively in black and white shades and the modern side in full colour? You could still perhaps divide the two sides with Perspex - or whatever- but then it would not have to provide any kind of optical filtering.

True enough.