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Nigel Builds Two Bases


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I heard of a good airbrush technique which involved "scribbling" on the surface of the first coat with a slightly darkened and/or lightened and very dilute shade of the first coat. You scribble at varying distances and the effect is to produce an uneven texture. I've been using it on my planes and its quite effective

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Like the way you've done the contacts for the Dalek, very interesting idea. Consider it borrowed for my future use!

I was quite pleased that simple brass pads seemed to work so well electrically without a fancy silver or even gold coating. Hopefully they will continue to give good service.

Thanks BD, and a good spot on the clothes pegs which as I am sure you will have found out are very good.

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I posted a bit about my concrete here, might be useful? Sponges and stipping are definitely good. Real concrete gets surprisingly blotchy and varied after even a short time.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948566-tupolev-tu-160-finished/page-3

I was going for something which had a definite grain to it - the runways at Engels 2. Maybe it was a brushed surface?

11393248545_5c8dea545e_c.jpg

HTH,

Will

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now the Komet is finished, its back to finishing off the base for my Flying Banana. I have been giving this a bit of thought and with everyone's ideas decided that the airbrush was the right tool for the job. First I cut out squares of some clear sticky backed plastic that I had and masked alternate concrete pads:

P1070539_zps0c21d7ed.jpg

On the wet and dry this stuff barely sticks but I think it will be good enough.

Here it is ready for the first airbrushing session:

P1070540_zps4b80c3a5.jpg

I mixed up both a light and dark version of the concrete paint and applied them like this:

P1070541_zps17bfe8a1.jpg

One problem was that the dark version looked quite light in colour until it dried as I think you can see above.

Here it is with the masking removed:

P1070542_zpse83546f6.jpg

I reused the masks and gave the alternate pads the same treatment, I also applied some weathering powders with a stiff brush and got this result:

P1070543_zps0343d63f.jpg

My thinking is that this is not a million miles away from where I would like it.

I am still cogitating about KT's idea of tyre tracks. I have plenty of spare wheels that I could have a go with. I don't think I will be adding any weeds though, that seems a little unlikely to me on a well used military helipad.

The main thing I have to think about next is the helipad markings. I think decals would be a nightmare to apply on this rough surface so masking and painting seems to be the best way forward.

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NIce start to the concrete sections; looks very good. Need at least one token weed. Nature always finds a way to intrude into man-made area no matter how hard the attempt to keep it out.

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Today I started on the helipad markings by making a paper template just to make sure I was happy with the positioning of it in relation to the models:

P1070545_zps1f4d9109.jpg

The only change I decided to make was to increase the width of the dashed border.

I did a test of the masking on an off cut of the wet and dry to see if a pre coat of Klear helped prevent paint bleed:

P1070544_zpsccbec168.jpg

Both seemed to work well but I decided to use the Klear as an extra insurance policy.

I then spent a good hour masking up the markings:

P1070546_zpsd5c5eb5d.jpg

After an airbrushing session and unmasking this is what I got:

P1070547_zps439b9c99.jpg

Clearly there are a few areas of paint bleed that need to be retouched.

I had kept samples of both the light and dark concrete colours I mixed in some spare tinlets

P1070548_zpsdc0dee3c.jpg

I just used the dark colour for the retouching which came out like this:

P1070549_zps2055a46f.jpg

I have also added some weeds along the edge of the grass to keep g-usa happy.

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Many thanks.

To give KT's idea on the tyre tracks a go I cleaned up spare wheels from the Airfix and Hasegawa GMC kits and using a smear of black oil paint got these effects:

P1070550_zpsdba47d7c.jpg

Hmm, not sure - the Airfix wheel gave the better effect but I think it could go a bit pear shaped. Any thoughts appreciated.

I set up the models to work out where the hole for the wires should go:

P1070551_zps39e4a710.jpg

I also included milktrip's figures - I'm still not sure about them either.

I stripped a length of perdu's wire and X marks the spot for the hole:

P1070552_zps8c97ff9e.jpg

I then soldered on the wires to the brass rod threaded through the fuel pump like this:

P1070553_zps423c0cab.jpg

Threaded through the "fuel hose" looks like this:

P1070554_zps94cc8552.jpg

This is now ready for connecting to the battery box (that still needs to be mounted under the base) but first I think I should give the base a coat of matt varnish. Before that I need to decide whether to go for the tyre marks. I will have a think about it all while I make my dinner.

Bye for now,

Nigel

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I wonder if there should perhaps be a slightly more greyish and/or brownish tone in the tyre tracks? Also there should probably be some more track marks than just those left by the vehicles we see. And some other discolouration to white H-marking. I think you know what I mean. I'm sort of glad it's not me doing this, I think these things are quite difficult. This is looking very promising, keep going. :thumbsup2:

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The base is looking good but I have a question regarding the tire tracks. What are you trying to depict with them?

If it is the movement of muddy tires from the servicing vehicles, then I can see it. But while you normal apron is going to get dirty, very seldom are you going to see actual tire tracks.

Here are some commercial bases to give an idea of what I see more often on a tarmac.

http://www.scaleplasticandrail.com/kaboom/index.php/all-other-subjects/all-things-diorama-and-groundwork/70-148-items/1322-148-aircraft-diorama-bases-from-noys-miniatures

I think some slight smudging and you will have a better look, but that is just my opinion.

Looking forward to what you end up with.

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I can't actually see the tyre track picture for some reason.....I'd only use them if you are going for a partially wet finish to the base, as if the truck had splashed through a puddle before pulling up. Here's a He.177 that demonstrates the idea rather well: http://hsfeatures.com/features04/he177jm_1.htm

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Reposting the tyre track attempts, I hope you can see it now:

P1070550_zpsdba47d7c.jpg

Frankly, while the snow effect on this diorama are amazing I thought the tyre tracks here were decidedly iffy:

IMG_0441.jpg

I do agree with Jorgen that the helipad white markings do need toning down weathering in some way.

Thanks for all the input.

Nigel

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The base is looking good but I have a question regarding the tire tracks. What are you trying to depict with them?

If it is the movement of muddy tires from the servicing vehicles, then I can see it. But while you normal apron is going to get dirty, very seldom are you going to see actual tire tracks.

I'm kinda with Philp on this. It's a helipad, not a landing strip for aircraft. I doubt whether there would be any tire tracks unless it had just rained and you don't seem to be going for that. I would think the white landing markings would have some smudges and discoloration, maybe even some pieces missing where the paint has either come up or worn off. I would imagine if a commercial helicopter carting executives around lands hard enough to leave tire tracks, the pilot will not be around too long.

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I have to concur on this, I was never that happy with the tyre tracks idea. I only want the base to be a background and not the main event. I want my models to be that so I would like to keep the base fairly neutral. Thanks for all the input, much appreciated as ever.

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The varied tones look good, particularly after the weathering powder. If it were me I'd try to tone down the white markings with sandpaper, I think a bit of sharpness wouldn't go amiss given that the airbrushed concrete is quite cloudy?

My 2p.

W

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I have added some smudges to the white markings using dark grey and black pastel chalks, added a few oil stains and coated it with matt varnish so I guess this surface is finished now:

P1070557_zps31e78a93.jpg

I fixed in the battery holder using cut down screws (the base is only about 4mm thick here) and five minute epoxy as well as making the electrical connections:

P1070558_zpsabc9f4ab.jpg

Up-top I soldered on the plug and connected it all up - wah hey it worked first time (see light inside helicopter):

P1070559_zps5c684033.jpg

Here is the fuel nozzle, I added a small piece of heat shrink tubing to neaten it up a little:

P1070560_zps4f1c9952.jpg

I think I will have to glue down the fuel hose to get it to drape convincingly:

P1070561_zps60dec324.jpg

After a coat of Alclad black primer I applied some satin black to the nozzle:

P1070562_zpsdee92b16.jpg

I unmasked the edge and stuck on the felt:

P1070563_zps56ad1e46.jpg

This is nearly finished, I think all I have to do is sort out the fuel hoses. I am trying to avoid gluing on the models but I might have to glue on the tanker truck. Oh, and there are the figures still to think about.

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