trickyrich Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 gosh I wish you guts hadn't mentioned EvilBay!!!! I love this build so much I may have to go have a little look, there or the website! Love the finish on the Martian, looks awesome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 21, 2015 Author Share Posted March 21, 2015 Thanks folks, it seems like War of the Worlds touches some kind of common nerve! I blame Jeff Wayne myself... Do they sell the models separately from the box set? Yes, you can get a box of three tanks or a single tank sprue. I think they are a bit cheap and nasty to be honest - I suspect the Flames of War WW1 stuff is rather better - but they also fit decently and are proving quite fun. I like the look of the bigger resin tanks with external jackshaft drive to the sprocket I did a bit of drybrushing last night with green and then buff, and today I've been applying some chips with dark brown and a sponge plus fine brushes. I added a little red-brown inside the bigger chips, and "underlined" some with light green to give a fake 3D effect. I then airbrushed the tracks with a dark grey-brown, working from the back to avoid overspray, and then very carefully from the front with low pressure to get into the inner faces without going all over the sides. I think this has come out quite well - the mist of track colour helps to shadow the insides of the hull sides where the tracks would block the light. I sprayed a wavy line of black down the centre of each track face for more contrast/sharpness and drybrushed them with a mid brown. That looks a bit rough but it's just a base for enamels really. Oh, forgot that I also brush-painted the smokeboxes and MGs black last night as well. So I now have tanks that look like this, and are ready for some enamels once I've added unit markings. While I had the things out this evening I started trying to enliven Sam's finish. I set out spraying a thin mix of Tamiya Clear Blue and Smoke under the helmet but had a difficult time trying to get it to stick - as soon as it was down it blew around on the surface. Even worse on the polished upper surface. I decided to stop fighting this and use the slipperiness to my advantage, and after some clean-up with a cotton bud dipped in X-20A I ran the same mix into all the panel lines and most of the recesses with a fine brush. I liked how it looked, especially against the Pale Burnt Metal so went to extend this to the lower body. There it didn't work well against the steel so I confined it to the tentacles and went back to the original plan of a brown wash on the leg fittings using GW Agrax Earthshade. You can't really see much of this in the photo since the blue reflection off the paper messes it all up. White would be better but then I can't cut it out quickly and the white highlights fight the paper white. Black is just too dark. Maybe a grey background next time? I suspect tomorrow I will be cleaning up fluff and messy washes. It's probably going to be a good idea to add some enamel (dirty) washes and make things grungier than they are now - partly to fit with the tanks a bit more, and partly to give me something to hide behind when I need it Cheers, Will 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Looking good. A little bummed you did the 3 tanks all the same instead of using the other two options that come with them but I think I understand. They are a unit in action so probably more common to all be the same type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Really dig the tanks Will, great work on such small subjects. And nice work with the alclad on the tripods, they look seriously cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks chaps! A little bummed you did the 3 tanks all the same instead of using the other two options that come with them but I think I understand. They are a unit in action so probably more common to all be the same type. Yeah, I wanted to paint them up as a functional game unit and it seemed a good idea to have three of the most common vanilla-flavoured tank - the Mark II. Luckily however, the starter set has six tank sprues so I was going to make a second unit of three Mark IIIs, which have the casemate instead of the top hatch, and sponsons mounting extra guns. I'll probably add some flags or semaphores or something to designate one of those as a command tank. The plastic tanks look ripe for conversion - Alien Dungeon sell a load of specialised variants but most of the changes are simple stuff - add a rack with mines for a minelayer, add flags for a command tank - and would be easy to do with the cheap plastic tanks as a base. Cheers, Will 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I did like the big Land Ironclad but not for that price. I have wanted to build a steamtank ironclad for a while now and actually like the ship style bridge. May borrow that idea if I ever get to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 There's a bit in the rulebook about the Land Ironclads being designed as amphibious and under the Navy's auspices, but not very seaworthy! I thought that using four of the plastic steam tanks, or some other cheap small plastic wargaming tank, would be a good way to get some tread units, then you could build up from that and use model ship parts for details? There are plenty of spare guns on the tank sprues too. There's a great picture in the rulebook of a four-wheeled ubergun thing - the Goliath. I prefer that to the final ironclad which ended up looking a bit plain. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I really am thinking something more along this design. Though I really like this build. Nice build up of the one from the game here. http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=370709 So, Will, are you going to put the finished items in a dio? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 The Meng Tortoise would be a really good starting point for that kind of thing! I was thinking about a diorama at first but I'm going to keep them as playable pieces. Maybe I can make a scenic base they slot into a la Games Workshop's Armies on Parade thing? Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 I varnished the tanks (brushed Klear) and added some scrounged decals - the unit numbers are from a set of after-market Dana decals, and the name is hand-painted. I had some markings on the top as well (US star in circle and a numeral) but they didn't suit and I removed them eventually. I painted the name by laying down two strips of masking tape and filling in the verticals first. Not too hard but I did make some mistakes and cleaned up as you can see. The tank is named for silent movie star Lillian Gish who seemed like an obvious choice - she was working at the time the game depicts the Second Martian War, she would have been *excellent* for morale, and her name is all straight lines The rest is just enamel weathering. I used MIG dark wash (removed with a dry cotton bud because any thinner would take it off the rivets very quickly) plus some AK rust streaks, AK earth and mud, etc. Given that last time I used the AK track wash it was very sticky, I thought I'd mix my own from MIG dark wash and MIG rust effects. Bizarrely, it was also very sticky and isn't dry yet. I added some rusty pigment to try and soak it up, we'll see how it turns out in the morning. The other two are completed to the same standard but they're not really worth photographing until I can get a matt coat on there and get all the work visible again! Cheers, Will 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I like it, and good morale choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Looks really great Will,as a big fan of the original novella these really strike a chord.(and may expunge from my memory that Tom Cruise abomination ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 I've never seen the Tom Cruise one since I assumed it'd be bad! Which is odd because I like most movies Tom Cruise is in. I decided to add some more shading to the tripod with MIG washes and blended those in. (click for bigger) I scuffed the paint on the helmet so turned that into a worn patch with a little bit of oozing Martian fluid, whatever that is. (It's AK Engine Oil). The joints had some of the same, and the tentacle ends are blended with Engine Oil going into Engine Grime. The photographs against white reflect reasonably well what the model looks like in person, unlike the previous lot. But you can see how much the colour shifts just from a change in camera angle! Cheers, Will 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 And that's the detail painting done, just need to finish the base and weather him now: ULLA! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Looking very cool Will Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfingers Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Hey up Will, Simply brilliant! The Tripod really captures the feel of the original HG Wells novel. Bout time someone made a film that was true to the book. You sir, are a scoundrel as I now want to add a set of these to the stash! Look forward to seeing what you do with the base. Regards, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st Century that human affairs would produce a model as good looking as this! Few men even considered the possibility of intelligent life out there in the gulf of the internet, yet modellers with skills immeasurably superior to ours regarded Britmodeller with envious eyes and slowly and surely they built superb models... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Oh you! I keep looking at it and thinking that I should fix the sink mark between the arms, most of the rest of the flaws are less obvioua. I'm not sure that the base is going to be very exciting - I'm torn between brownish or greenish, and I want to pick a colour or theme that works for all the models. I think brown gives better contrast against uniforms and green tanks, but green fits better with most wargaming tables. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madhatter Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 love the "Eye of Sauron" look going on up front - very cool and nicely done. Which coming from your work bench doesn't surprise me Once it's paired with the tanks on a ground display, it'll look quite something Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 Thanks Si! I changed the eye a little bit - thickening and rounding off the pupil, which I think looks a lot weirder: I also worked on the base, it's a bit dull but I want to add a fence and maybe cover it with a mix of green scatter stuff? More interestingly, I got the tanks done: The tracks remained sticky and I cleaned the treads with cotton buds dipped in odourless turpenoid which got rid of most of it. The matt varnish seems to have absorbed or at least hidden the rest. I had to spend an hour or so picking out bits of cotton bud with tweezers and a magnifier though! I'm really pleased with them - all kinds of mould and construction flaws, but they were great to paint. Not bad for a week - well, eight days - of modelling time. I'll finish up any little bits and bobs, take some gallery pictures and then get back to Gertyland. Cheers, Will 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Man that eye looks cool Will, really gives a creepy sense of an organic filling, like an octopus evangelion unit! (minus some legs ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grufsnik Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Simply veeerrryyy cool, yup the eye is dam creepy, realy lovley work right through all the models :thumbsup2: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 lovely job well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Thanks folks! I really like the Evangelion comparison, I hadn't thought of that angle but it's rather appealing. The white glue for fixing the coal has dried up so I can show what that looks like: I like that it adds some sharpness. I did some tests making a tow cable to put on the rear deck but it didn't work that well, I will try it a different way instead. I also finished the tripod base - it looks a bit bland here for some reason, I thought it was attractive in real life. I used alcohol to wet the scatter, and Klear to set it - with a heat gun it was all done and dry enough to varnish in about half an hour - pretty cool. Cheers, Will 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Looking very good Will, cracking job, I think your base is just right, looks the part without going OTT. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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