Universal Carrier MK ll

[junobeach]

Good day Muchmirth, yes the nets are scratch made. I use cheese cloth sold in the grocery stores here in Canada. I cut out a square larger than the helmet, paint it a tan colour and then start gluing it to the underside a little at a time. As the first glued edge dries , I start to cut it an shape it to fit. I have also started to put a pressure bandage as seen under most of the nets, a small square canvas looking in colour. I use a small piece of packing foam cut and shaped, painted then put under the net as I am gluing. 
As for the gun stocks, I first take a fine file an puts some light groves in the plastic to represent the gain. Then using Vallejo 73-601 grey primer, put on a very diluted coat.

Next Vallejo 71-077 wood again a very dilute coat, followed by an even more dilute and random coat of 70-846 mahogany. Then a dilute wash of Vallejo 76-505 light rust followed by a light touch of Vallejo 76-513 brown wash just to settle in the file or sanded in grooves to simulate the grain look.

You can take a sprue and file/ sand in some marks and practice on them to get it how you would like it to look.

cheers Dennis

[Muchmirth]

13 hours ago, noelh said:

@Muchmirth I don't know what the OP used but I long ago found that a piece of ladies tights or panti hose make a very realistic helmet net. Particularly if they're tan coloured.

 

For heaven sake don't raid your significant other's drawer and ruin what might be a very expensive pair. Usually there's already a laddered pair you can use. But if you have to there are plenty of cheap ones available. 

Well never thought of that but...hey what ever works. Cheers

[Muchmirth]

11 hours ago, junobeach said:

Good day Muchmirth, yes the nets are scratch made. I use cheese cloth sold in the grocery stores here in Canada. I cut out a square larger than the helmet, paint it a tan colour and then start gluing it to the underside a little at a time. As the first glued edge dries , I start to cut it an shape it to fit. I have also started to put a pressure bandage as seen under most of the nets, a small square canvas looking in colour. I use a small piece of packing foam cut and shaped, painted then put under the net as I am gluing. 
As for the gun stocks, I first take a fine file an puts some light groves in the plastic to represent the gain. Then using Vallejo 73-601 grey primer, put on a very diluted coat.

Next Vallejo 71-077 wood again a very dilute coat, followed by an even more dilute and random coat of 70-846 mahogany. Then a dilute wash of Vallejo 76-505 light rust followed by a light touch of Vallejo 76-513 brown wash just to settle in the file or sanded in grooves to simulate the grain look.

You can take a sprue and file/ sand in some marks and practice on them to get it how you would like it to look.

cheers Dennis

Well Denis, greetings from northern Ireland, that's a serious amount of patients, inventiveness and precision. Great idea on the cloth, bandage and texturing the wooden stocks prior to painting. I'll defo take this advice and will practice on some sprue first. Thank you very much for the colour tips too. Hard to get it right. I'm in the middle of doing this exact model and using yours as ref. 

[junobeach]

Well it took me about 10 - 11 months for the carrier.

I did a lot of practicing on spures and bought a piece of plain sheet styrene to test painting colours and ideas.

That was the first build since I was 13 yrs. old and that build was a 1:48 scale spitfire.

Basically a quick glue, a quick two colour paint and done. No concern for anything just slap it together and move on. It was somewhat of a right of passage for early teens to build a few things then move on to some other activities.

So 52yrs. later retired, I decided to get into the hobby properly and try my hand at a serious build.

My key is lots of research on the build for accuracy and lots of planning an dry fits before gluing. If you are building the same kit , with figures note that the driver and Bren gunner have to go in before you attach the front amour plate . Takes a bit of fiddling because the steering wheel and Bren gun also have to be fixed in position before also.

cheers Dennis

[NIK122]

Fantastic job. Just added this 'to build'