PlaStix Posted May 9, 2022 Author Share Posted May 9, 2022 Hi @edjbartos, @Corsairfoxfouruncle, @Hewy, @Retired Bob and @Bertie Psmith. Thank you all very much for your kind comments. @Retired Bob- it does sound like your Firefly 1c will be an interesting project. Over the past week and weekend I have mostly been working on the base and a little side project. I'll start with what I have been doing on the base. As was seen in my last post, this is how the base started. Expanded polystyrene on a thin MDF board: Once set, over this I applied some household filler: This was then painted with some thinned Revell Earth Brown: Once dry, I used some thinned PVA woodglue to apply some Woodland Scenics Blended Turf: You can see from the above photo that I decided to include the telegraph pole from the Tamiya signs set. With the Blended Turf fully set in place I added some Woodlands Scenics Light Green Foliage in a range of areas: I prefer to use the foliage version rather than the coarse turf as I find I have more control over how I want the rougher areas to look. Now you may have noticed that there is a lower, recessed area in the base. It's pretty much @Bertie Psmith's fault as to why it's there. Once Bertie started mentioning his Entropy GB proposal, I started thinking about what I would make. Then it occured to me that I knew I had an un-built, spare, 1/48 Sherman Turret somewhere, which was from a HobbyBoss kit. A hunt throught the spares box paid off!! I thought a bit of experimentation might be in order....so - Turret built and some damage added: Humbrol 155, Olive Drab, applied followed by my usual weathering: I found a suitable decal in the spares box too: I then started work with a range of paints - Anthracite, Gunship Grey, Light Grey, Light Rust, Gunmetal plus a little Vallejo Rust Tersture here-n-there. The photos show a slow development of adding colours and then muting them or highlighting some others. Most were stippled on very thinnly and built up slowly. I used a range of photos of actual burnt out vehicles and pictures of other models to try and get the effects. It's not a perfect result but I'm reasonably happy with the overall effect: Some additional parts added to the rear: Then, with the foliage on the base dry, I started adding a variety of tufts from the Army Painter range. The burnt out turret is fixed in place, as is the telegraph pole, but the Firefly is just placed there to show how it might look eventually: I've still got more green stuff I want to add to a variety of locations, including on the burnt out turret, and some other tank parts to add to the ground works. Hopefully I will have this close to the finish line next weekend. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 Now that is economical story telling. Brilliant. "My big brother will get you, you bully!" 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 2 hours ago, PlaStix said: Now you may have noticed that there is a lower, recessed area in the base. It's pretty much @Bertie Psmith's fault as to why it's there. Once Bertie started mentioning his Entropy GB proposal, I started thinking about what I would make. Then it occured to me that I knew I had an un-built, spare, 1/48 Sherman Turret somewhere, which was from a HobbyBoss kit. A hunt throught the spares box paid off!! I thought a bit of experimentation might be in order....so - Drat!....I was thinking that from photos of the Normandy area there were a lot of dead cows, but a turret works as well. The problem with telegraph poles is, do you bother with the telegraph wires? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 14 minutes ago, Retired Bob said: The problem with telegraph poles is, do you bother with the telegraph wires? All cut by the resistance on June 5th. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 That looks absolutely amazing Stix, I very much like the step by step that you have done for the base and the materials that you have used in the process, that is really interesting. It's all come together really well, just a fabulous piece of work... Ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 Well as usual you've done another great display. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 Looking excellent so far. The terrain is very convincing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muchmirth Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 Oh man that burnt out turret looks mint! The damage and colours are perfect and gives the figures some focus in the scene which adds a nice bit of story to it all. Great work. 👌 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Very ukraine-esque with the turret, a wonderfull scene , great job stix 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEscaleSHOW Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 On 09/05/2022 at 15:50, PlaStix said: Hi @edjbartos, @Corsairfoxfouruncle, @Hewy, @Retired Bob and @Bertie Psmith. Thank you all very much for your kind comments. @Retired Bob- it does sound like your Firefly 1c will be an interesting project. Over the past week and weekend I have mostly been working on the base and a little side project. I'll start with what I have been doing on the base. As was seen in my last post, this is how the base started. Expanded polystyrene on a thin MDF board: Once set, over this I applied some household filler: This was then painted with some thinned Revell Earth Brown: Once dry, I used some thinned PVA woodglue to apply some Woodland Scenics Blended Turf: You can see from the above photo that I decided to include the telegraph pole from the Tamiya signs set. With the Blended Turf fully set in place I added some Woodlands Scenics Light Green Foliage in a range of areas: I prefer to use the foliage version rather than the coarse turf as I find I have more control over how I want the rougher areas to look. Now you may have noticed that there is a lower, recessed area in the base. It's pretty much @Bertie Psmith's fault as to why it's there. Once Bertie started mentioning his Entropy GB proposal, I started thinking about what I would make. Then it occured to me that I knew I had an un-built, spare, 1/48 Sherman Turret somewhere, which was from a HobbyBoss kit. A hunt throught the spares box paid off!! I thought a bit of experimentation might be in order....so - Turret built and some damage added: Humbrol 155, Olive Drab, applied followed by my usual weathering: I found a suitable decal in the spares box too: I then started work with a range of paints - Anthracite, Gunship Grey, Light Grey, Light Rust, Gunmetal plus a little Vallejo Rust Tersture here-n-there. The photos show a slow development of adding colours and then muting them or highlighting some others. Most were stippled on very thinnly and built up slowly. I used a range of photos of actual burnt out vehicles and pictures of other models to try and get the effects. It's not a perfect result but I'm reasonably happy with the overall effect: Some additional parts added to the rear: Then, with the foliage on the base dry, I started adding a variety of tufts from the Army Painter range. The burnt out turret is fixed in place, as is the telegraph pole, but the Firefly is just placed there to show how it might look eventually: I've still got more green stuff I want to add to a variety of locations, including on the burnt out turret, and some other tank parts to add to the ground works. Hopefully I will have this close to the finish line next weekend. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix Hey Stix As always very nice model and a good idea with the knocked out turret 👍 The painting again very well done! MD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_W Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I'm late to the party, but the bench is clear and totally dedicated to matters M4. Great build Stix and interesting setting. The usual high quality work. Nice indeed and 1/48. Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Blimey! It’s 1/48. I thought it was 1/35. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted May 14, 2022 Share Posted May 14, 2022 Gosh I hadnt realised I'd missed so much! Outstanding, just outstanding, another masterpiece Stix. The burnt out turret is amazing as is the simple but brilliantly executed base, that and the superb Firefly with its stowage what's not to like! Amazed, as ever! Darryl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullac2001 Posted May 14, 2022 Share Posted May 14, 2022 Can only echo everyone else , i"m dumbfounded! Absolutely amazing work.. Love a firefly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 Hi @Bertie Psmith, @Retired Bob, @edjbartos, @Corsairfoxfouruncle, @Calum, @Muchmirth, @Hewy, @THEscaleSHOW, @Ray_W, @Jasper dog and @mullac2001. Thank you all for all your comments. You are all far too kind. And thank you to those who have been commenting throughout my build. Over last weekend I managed to get this to. what I decided, was its finished state. I have, as usual, taken lots of photos and they can be found spread between the Armour RFI section, the Diorama/Vignette RFI section and the Gallery. After my last post above, with the ground works basically sorted, I added the figures, a few extra, scattered tank parts and the cut telephone wires, which I made from 0.2mm lead wire. A few photos here to show the finished project: Thank you again to everyone who took the time to comment or make suggestions in this thread. I have thoroughly enjoyed this build. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 I have missed your absolutely awesome work! This is terrific! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 That’s amazing Stix, absolutely amazing, I’ve enjoyed watching this build up from the start and the end result is just stunning. well done...👍 Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanC Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 There's little I can add. Great modelling and a very nicely composed diorama. Nice one Stix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 Coo! And here I was, thinking that you were just administering the GB when all the time you were building a masterwork! It's a great idea for a diorama. I class it as such, rather than a vignette, because there's a story happening here. We see the soldiers' reactions to the dead tank and imagine their internal narratives. Sure, there's not much intereaction between the figures but that is an important part of that story. You see something like that and it makes you think... "I thought these things were supposed to protect us. They can't even protect themselves." "We'll be alright if we get the first shot in, I hope." And so on. The figure painting is very good. You kept it restrained and thank goodness avoided the google-eyed look. The tanks both of them, are excellent. I like that the serviceable one is lighter in tone to the dead 'un. It's a spring/winter effect, life and death. Good groundwork, simple theme done in a realistically complicated way. It doesn't distract from the main events. And the cut telephone wires are excellent, lead wire was exactly the right material. So yeah, nice one Stix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 And again I have to remind myself that it's 1/48!!! Those figures with the thoughtful faces are tiny! Yours, Astonished of Staffordshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 Absolutely superb Stix, that looks very realistic. Sorry I have not updated my Sherman thread but I am away from my home for a couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planecrazee Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 Absolutely fantastic work as always Stix - completely faultless as always and your painting skills will forever leave me picking my jaw up from the floor Well done Stix Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 I’ve been remiss and not checked in here for a while! Great work, the finished Sherman looks awesome and I really like the base you’ve created for it. Top stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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