Nick Naethuijs

Correct. I was afraid it was too light, but in the end I might've even wanted it lighter to begin with. It was my first try at color modulation so I know a bit better how to start of next time. One of the meshes under the turret was meant to be broken so I bent it upward, but forgot the turret had to move over it so it got stuck... I glued it back in place and didn't do too much to it after. Might add a few dents like you say (Y) The camera always seems to be my enemy, but these were the best pictures of the bunch. Got to resize them next time I guess, hides mistakes🙈

Thanks, I like heavy weathering. I'm not an expert at it yet, but there's enough to practise on.

Stepping away from Star Wars for a while and have started the 1/35 Meng King tiger. It's all been a big experiment since I have very little experience doing armour, but I kind've like where it is going. I will be adding a lot of things to the tank, including some ammunition, tools, debris like rocks etc. to give it a more interesting appeal. I wanted te remove the tracks after assembling them, but the rubber o-rings in the wheels is making that impossible since they are stuck now, so painting the tracks, lower hull and wheels didn't go as planned. I do think the colors could be more saturated, but I am massively colorblind (I can see about 30% of what a 'normal' person can see) so that's quite an issue for me. It will also be a piece for a diorama in a very muddy setting. After this one I will do a normal tiger. 76894819_518583038995406_2265199583367790592_n by Nick N, on Flickr Engine deck. 75210213_468381507361688_3048559798061629440_n by Nick N, on Flickr 74649850_712300325938158_3988447321309315072_n by Nick N, on Flickr 70253036_795880904199898_2327155749332975616_n by Nick N, on Flickr Put some stuff on it as a mock-up. Will add more. I made the bricks with the AK mold and added pigment powders for the color. Then I will add a wash and and a varnish, then chipping spray, then white to make it look as if it's got mortar on it alongside a few crumbs and stuff. Spare tracks also need to be done still.

I do still have the problem that, after applying a clear coat to the model, the oil wash is really difficult to clean up. I do use a normal terpentine and not white spirit. The surface also still gets really rough which I think is one of the issues that causes the oil pin wash to clean up badly. Any suggestions for that?

I first did the pre-shading, then added a misting of yellow/grey before adding some black with the airbrush near the edges where it's supposed to be darker. Afterwards I gloss coated it and gave it a thinned down yellow Vallejo wash (desert yellow or something I think it was). Then, I added all the streaks and black with black oil paints. I also added a very light blue wash to some of the panels to give it some variation. bdbdbdbd by Nick N, on Flickr Yes, although the Revell glue is a bit messy to work with. I think I will search for some packs with plastic card, tubes etc. in it so I got some more variation to work with.

Thanks, Thom. Airbrushing is one of the few things i'm confortable with. The rest is still trial and error. Here's a beginning on the weathering. I think i'll put a coin next to it next time for scale. index by Nick N, on Flickr

And some more progress. 20190925_193813 by Nick N, on Flickr Applied the preshading over the black base. I airbrushed every panel individually and tried to go lighter from top to bottom on each panel. I also added some streaks. This is still the grey base. 20190925_193839 by Nick N, on Flickr 20190925_200708 by Nick N, on Flickr Added a misting of a yellowish grey. The real yellow will come after I apply a wash. 20190925_212113 by Nick N, on Flickr To paint the darker grey and red patches, I used Vallejo liquid mask and then sponged on some chipping fluid for the chips (got that from Andy). 20190925_220449 by Nick N, on Flickr I will adress some of the chips to make them smaller.

Added some wiring to the landing gear. A lot of details seem to be missing with the Revell, but it's a good warm-up for something bigger. 20190924_201701 by Nick N, on Flickr 20190924_201711 by Nick N, on Flickr Looks a lot better with some stuff added. 20190924_213706 by Nick N, on Flickr 20190924_233007 by Nick N, on Flickr Cockpit painted. Black primer, some primary colors, brown wash and then some highlights added before giving it a coat of matte. 20190925_002124 by Nick N, on Flickr Black primer added.

I now have three projects running, 2 of which are nearly completed, but I like to have a few things I can work on to prevent getting 'bored'. I couldn't find the Bandai Falcon here in the Netherlands, so I went for the Revell one. I was a bit disappointed by the quality compared to the Bandai ones. Lot's of flash and clean-up to do and not all parts seem to fit that perfectly. It's also massively expensive at €130,- and that price is not justified if you ask me. Since I also see everyone being crafty with scratchbuilding and adding detail, I thought i'd get to it as well. I only have one sheet of styrene and it's a bit too thick and 2 diameters of brass tubing; but it's a start. I did have some issues cutting the brass neatly though since it's so small. Any tips on how to go about that? Also; what glue is best for gluing plastic card? I got superglue, Revell glue and Mr. Hobby glue with a brush, but it's the quick drying version which didn't seem to work well for these small pieces. Revell makes a mess (or I do) and superglue got no room for error. 20190923_185203 by Nick N, on Flickr The box. 20190923_185314 by Nick N, on Flickr Contents. Not many sprues. 20190923_185454 by Nick N, on Flickr Lots of clean-up to do. 20190923_185508 by Nick N, on Flickr More flash. 20190923_185753 by Nick N, on Flickr Really bare cockpit. 20190923_201838 by Nick N, on Flickr After adding some styrene from Evergeen. Looks messy in the pictures but less in real life. Still need some practice with things like this. Also, details might not be completely true to real life, but at least it's not that bare. Also added some brass tubing. 20190923_203922 by Nick N, on Flickr Some more stuff added. Need to get myself some thinner styrene sheets so that they are easier to cut. The thickness of the sheet is the width of rectangles on there. 20190923_212424 by Nick N, on Flickr Added some details to the dish. I didn't have any copper wire so I heated a sprue and used that to make the 'pipes'. 20190923_220829 by Nick N, on Flickr Used copper tubing to replace the barrels. I also don't have any small drills so attaching them wasn't fun. I really need to get some more stuff. That's it for now...

That does look good. I also won't go with black for the Falcon that I got now, but with grey and then do a pre-shade with black. Also, Andy; how do you apply washes? Oil or acrylic, and are they pin washes or all-over washes?

Thanks Andrés, but I can't help but think that everything should have been more subtle. I tend to go too heavy with a lot of things. Compared to yours it all looks so rough instead of smooth. When I look at it I don't think it's bad, but I do want go a step beyond and see if I can do better. Perhaps the Snowspeeder is up next or the 1:144 Falcon. I guess i'll go with another primer, do the pre-shading heavier with an airbrush instead of with oils in the end and do the chipping by hand instead of with chipping fluid (or with a sponge like you do).

Here's a rather large update. While I intended on following Andy's steps to do this AT-AT as well, I ended up experimenting but a lot of things went wrong, starting with the primer. I had a bottle of Vallejo black but it was very old and had the consistency of peanut butter, so I added acrylic thinner to be still able to use it. I then airbrushed it on, but it was like dust on the model... Since I didn't have anything else, I figured I would just go over it with a clearcoat in the end to seal it, but the rough texture remains and it can be seen in all of the pictures. 20 by Nick N This is with the pre-shading for the darker color to be seen through the lighter grey using chipping fluid. But, because of the rough texture, it almost looked like it got sanded. Not the effect I wanted and won't be doing it like this next time. 19 by Nick N Very rough and the effect is way too much. in the end I went over it again with some grey to tone it down. 18 by Nick N Same here. Rough texture from basecoat is very visible. 19 by Nick N, on Flickr The oil paint wash also didn't behave like I wanted because of the texture, even after the gloss coat. It was difficult to clean up. index by Nick N And then I forgot to take pictures and here it is nearing the end result. Not quite what I wanted, but i'll do it completely different next time, using different techniques and a good basecoat (got a new bottle now). 11 by Nick N, on Flickr 10 by Nick N, on Flickr Effect on the yellow plates is too heavy and I wanted to get it done fast since my patience ran out since the result wasn't what I wanted,. 9 by Nick N, on Flickr Again, using oils, I blended it to add contrast, but way too heavy. Next time I will do it with the preshading and masking for a more subtle effect. 8 by Nick N, on Flickr 4 by Nick N, on Flickr You can see how the texture affected the chipping fluid when removing the top layer. It also catches light and affected every other technique I did afterwards. And on to the AT-ST. 3 by Nick N, on Flickr Added some roots from weeds to the diorama. Glued them with wood glue. 12 by Nick N, on Flickr Added some noch leaves. Next time I will get different ones. Didn't realise these were from a real tree and look a bit odd. Should also wear gloves. 13 by Nick N, on Flickr Added soms ground texture to the top of the roots to simulate mud. Will paint it when it's dry, add a wash to the roots and ground and finish it with a matte coat. 13 by Nick N, on Flickr Also added soms twigs and ferns under the foot to make it look as if it was standing on vegetating and branches. 14 by Nick N, on Flickr Added some leaves on the model as well.

I'd like to post some pictures, but I am not sure where I can upload them to resize them? Photobucket and websites like that all seem to have vanished. I now send them to my Facebook chat and copy the link from there but then the images are too heavy for here. Any ideas?

This is next level. If you make more of these models you can set up your own exposition. I am amazed how you get all the measurements right and get everything to fit so perfectly. Must be a lot of planning.

Thanks, Andy. I like the chipping effect, did it with AK Chipping fluid, but I do notice that it is hard to get it the same with diffierent colors and paint brands, so it's a hit or mis. I think I will add some splinter camo to the AT-AT as well, but with the AT-ST, even though I primed it, the paint came off during masking and I don't want that to happen again...

After not having touched a plastic model for years, I decided to pick it back up after breaking my back during a supermoto race. Since racing won't be an option for quite a while, modeling will be a great way to pass the time (and then some). I started with the Bandai AT-ST but rushed into it. Although I like it, it's rough in quite a few places and I hope to fix these issues with the AT-AT I am building now. The AT-ST also isn't finished yet, but nearing completion. For the AT-AT I am going to cheat a bit and look at AndyRM101's models as a reference. Won't be able to beat that, but I am sure I can learn a thing or two from him (hope he doesn't mind). With a diorama. Also not completely finished as it needs some tree roots on the right slope and some more foliage and stuff. I tried to add some yellow to break up the grey a bit. Not really true to its source, but I like the look of it. All the chipping has been done with chipping fluid, but I forgot to it for the grey camo as well, so it looks more like a winter wash which wasn't the idea. The brown shadow near the round thing has been done with cheap Action oils. It should be black, but it looks very brownish. Side view. Rear view. The black exhaust ports didn't come out too well... Starting the AT-AT. Just like AndyRM101, I tried to close the seam on the neck. And here on the bottom without any work done. Got to find me some putty or filler since I haven't got much stuff yet. I thought I could remove the neck unit later on, so i'll have to figure out how to paint it properly with it attached. And what I got so far for the AT-AT. Hopefully I can make some more progress tonight.