Imperial AT-AT

[sithman]

WOW again!!

 

Seeing your AT-ST  I realize it was yours I saw first in 2015 and was amazed and actually let me know about these kits and started on my journey to buy each one of them!

 

"the circle is now complete" 

(but you are still the  Master)

[The Chief Smeg]

I cracked and ordered one - Amazon uk had some on offer with prime delivery for tomorrow so I splashed out. Before I can do any building though I have major remodelling of my garage hobby area to do (as in strip everything out and start from scratch with a new setup) so my stash is not going to see the light of day for weeks.  It all came to a head last weekend when I came to rub down some primer and had to spend an hour sorting out a space to work in. Dead jealous of your paint rack Andy 

Edited May 12, 2017 by The Chief Smeg

[Andy Moore]

Thanks guys,

 

I've spent the last day or so working on the blue grey panels on the hull and head. I wanted to try to replicate the faded and chipped look I'd done on the original illustration I'm working from. Doing that on an illustration in photoshop is relatively easy, but getting the same look on the model is a little trickier.

I started off by base coating the panels in Tamiya XF-50 Field Blue, then they got an over-spray with AMMO 062 French Blue, leaving some of the Field Blue as a shade colour on the lower edges of the panels. AMMO 063 Pale Grey was then added to the French Blue, and some fading and streaks applied to the upper areas

 

 

My original intention from here was to use the same masking fluid chipping process I used on the black areas of the hull, but in the end I decided to use a different method on the blue sections. The chipping fluid method works well, but it doesn't leave much variation in tone, and can look a bit flat and boring.

To get more tonal variety into the finish, I sponged varying light and dark tones over the previously painted blue panels, and also added some shading/highlighting around details like the hatches with a brush. Some of this was done with  mixes of the previous colours, and some with blue acrylic washes from Vallejo and Citadel

 

 

 

It looked quite patchy after all that, so I gave the panels an over-spray with Vallejo Blue grey wash to act as a filter, and tone down the previous chipping effects. I still felt there wasn't enough fading on the upper areas though, so I mixed up a pale grey from Vallejo Wolf Grey with a little of the AMMO French Blue added, thinned it heavily, and sprayed it in mottled patterns over the upper areas of the panels. Once the masking had been removed, I also sprayed some of it over the upper areas of the black sections

 

 

 

That'll be pretty much it for the paint work on the panels. The rest of the fading and chipping will be done during the weathering stages. I'm relatively pleased with the way it's come out. It doesn't have the subtle variation that you see in the illustration, but it's got a bit of life to it. Next up I'll be masking off the main hatches as they'll be sprayed red, then I've got to sort out some markings. I've got a few Imperial emblems on the decal sheet that came with the AT-ST, but I'll need to cut some masks for the aurebesh.

 

Andy

Edited May 14, 2017 by AndyRM101

[BrotherMole]

Masterful - it looks superb.  Looking forward to seeing the next stages. 

[Nigel Heath]

Fantastic weathering and that paint rack looks great.

[Dermo245]

More great stuff Andy 

Your work-in-progress photos really add to it too...terrific.

 

Dermot

[Portaler]

Looking great as always Andy ! It's the detail that really takes it to that next level and then some :-)

 

One question. How did you achieve the streaking in the top picture on the left body panel ? Simply with the airbrush ? I guess you must have it closed off almost shut to get thin streaks like that ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GazB]

That's a gorgeous blue colour.

 

Gaz

[Hunter Rose]

Very nice!

[Will Vale]

Always nice to see how you approach your surfaces, the shading looks great especially with the blue tones.

 

I wonder if the chips might benefit from another layer that's almost microscopic, or perhaps some very fine scratches, to help sell the scale?

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

[salshred]

This is so cool! I love seeing all your WIP stuff. Its always so well done! Very inspiring to watch and learn from!

[Andy Moore]

Thanks guys

 

On 2017-5-14 at 13:40, Portaler said:

One question. How did you achieve the streaking in the top picture on the left body panel ? Simply with the airbrush ? I guess you must have it closed off almost shut to get thin streaks like that ?

 Yes, the streaks were airbrushed. Thin paint and a relatively low air pressure (about 15psi), then build the streaks up slowly with several passes. Most of the streaking got covered by the subsequent fading coats, but bits of it show through here and there

 

On 2017-5-14 at 14:35, GazB said:

That's a gorgeous blue colour.

Thanks Gaz. One of the peculiarities of colour. Against white or a pale neutral you need quite a vibrant shade, or the colour just looks washed out, but against black you can use a muted shade and it still looks quite rich.

 

13 hours ago, Will Vale said:

I wonder if the chips might benefit from another layer that's almost microscopic, or perhaps some very fine scratches, to help sell the scale?

Yes, it could do with some tiny chips to give a better sense of scale. That's one of the reasons I switched from using the masking fluid, as the chips from that method tend to be quite big and blobby. I'm hoping I'll be able to get something finer on it when I get onto the weathering stages.

 

 

Only a small update. I was hoping to get more done yesterday but other things kept cropping up that took me away from the bench. I did manage to get the red panels done though. I wanted to get a faded red look to them, and that's always hard to do without ending up with a pink tone.

For the panels I worked in reverse, starting with a pale grey as a base coat, as I thought that would mute the red tones more than a white base. I then mixed some Tamiya flesh into the grey, and sprayed that in a mottled pattern over the panels. After that I added small amounts of red to the grey/flesh mix and started to build up the colour over several coats. I added increasing amounts of red each time, but decreased the area I was covering, concentrating mainly on the lower half of the panel and around the raised detail. The final coat had some hull red and a touch of black added, and that was used as a shade around the edges

 

 

After that I added some sponged chips in lighter tones, then gave the whole area a misted coat of the medium red tone I'd used while building up the original shading (I mixed all the different red tones separately, so I could switch back and forth between them). I also added some very light shading around the raised details with a mix of Vallejo red and purple inks, although it doesn't show up that well in the photo

 

 

I'm hoping to get the masks cut for the markings tonight, then I can get them sprayed and start on the weathering.

 

Andy

[GazB]

Got some great contrasts going on there

 

Also, is that part of a Tiger/Panther etc exhaust assembly in the lower left? I'm not massively familiar with German armour but it looks remarkably similar to that little cowling they have where the pipe exits the hull, heh.

 

Gaz

[Andy Moore]

27 minutes ago, GazB said:

Also, is that part of a Tiger/Panther etc exhaust assembly in the lower left? I'm not massively familiar with German armour but it looks remarkably similar to that little cowling they have where the pipe exits the hull, heh.

 

Thanks Gaz,

 

Yes, it's an exhaust shroud. Off a T-34 though

 

 

Andy

[Hunter Rose]

Love the red panel, its so cool seeing something different done with an at at

[GazB]

3 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

 

Thanks Gaz,

 

Yes, it's an exhaust shroud. Off a T-34 though

 

 

Andy

 

Got the period right at least, hehe

 

Gaz

[Gimme Shelter]

this AT-AT is looking amazing - I feel inferior...

[Hockeyboy76]

19 hours ago, salshred said:

This is so cool! I love seeing all your WIP stuff. Its always so well done! Very inspiring to watch and learn from!

Definitely wot he said!! 

[Andy Moore]

Thanks guys,

 

Little bit of progress over the last couple of evenings. The markings on the hull have been added. I've differed them slightly from the original illustration, mainly to cut down on the amount of masking I needed to do. The aurebesh 'A' was printed on a piece of paper, which was then used as a template to cut a mask. I only cut one, so I had to be a little careful when removing it from one side to reattach to the other (the markings are the same on each side of the hull). The Imperial emblem came from the decal sheet included with the Bandai AT-ST

 

 

I also added a smaller emblem to the sides of the cockpit. The cockpit itself has had a bit more weathering, and has been built up and attached to the neck now

 

 

 

And lastly, the legs have been finished and painted. I was intending to leave them articulated, but I didn't want the joints to move after painting and reveal bits of unpainted and unweathered plastic, so in the end I've glued then in a fixed position. At the moment they're just in the base coat with some Vallejo washes sponged over to break up the finish

 

 

 

Next up I'll be getting some weathering on the hull and legs, then I can start on the final assembly.

 

Andy

[Portaler]

Always an excellent and informative read ! Amazing Andy.

 

Did you get the scratched and weathered look of the Aurebesh by a bit of masking fluid under the white, and simply lighter airbrush paint application at the top ? Looks great.

 

They are the little details to me that make the difference. 

[Will Vale]

That's looking marvellous, the markings are really crisp and I like the white against the red. Have you done all the weathering with the Vallejo washes, or are there enamels in there as well?

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Andy Moore]

26 minutes ago, Portaler said:

Did you get the scratched and weathered look of the Aurebesh by a bit of masking fluid under the white, and simply lighter airbrush paint application at the top ? Looks great.

 

Thanks mate,

 

Yes, I sponged on a bit of masking fluid before spraying the white. The first coat of white was kept very light, especially at the top, to give a faded look. I then rubbed the masking fluid away and gave it another light coat of white so the chips from the masking fluid wouldn't be too stark.

I probably could have done it with hairspray, but it seemed a lot of trouble to go to. I also couldn't fade the white markings too much, as they needed to blend in with the emblem decal, which was pure white. I did stipple on some dark grey over the emblems though, to add some chipping, and I'll tone them down with some filters during the weathering.

 

Andy

[Andy Moore]

Just now, Will Vale said:

That's looking marvellous, the markings are really crisp and I like the white against the red. Have you done all the weathering with the Vallejo washes, or are there enamels in there as well?

 

Cheers Will,

 

The cockpit initially had the same sponged Vallejo washes as the legs, but it's since had some enamel washes to add more contrast (possibly too much contrast, given the scale?). I did add some very small brush-painted chips in a pale grey to the cockpit too, in line with your suggestion of adding more fine detail, but they don't show up well in the photos

 

Andy

[Gimme Shelter]

this just keeps on getting better and better every posting Andy

 

Keep it Calm and "Walker" On

 

[Mike]

Looking great Andy - how have you resisted the urge to put the bits together already?