AEC Mk.1 Armoured Car in the Grand Operatic Style.

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

After sixty years of intermittently building plastic kits, I'm getting quite bored with the hobby.

 

 

 

I made my latest and probably last aeroplane back in the F-4 GB and while the kit was state of the art, had to build it 'battle damaged' to keep my interest up long enough to finish it. So much for aircraft then.

 

 

I've started a wooden model of HMS Beagle which has stalled at the moment, but will soon be reappearing on the bench.

 

 

But there are a dozen or so AFVs in plastic that I don't want to waste.

 

 

Half of them are associated with the Valentine tank which I'm doing a one-man GB with.

 

 

This is one of that series. It's a Valentine turret on a fast, easy to build, cheap chassis provided by AEC. It carried a lot of armour and was quite a big vehicle. 

 

 

It's a 'wheeled tank' at seven tons. 

 

 

It's a strange shape. 

 

 

The kit was typical of MiniArt; well detailed and with very many small parts.

 

 

I was still bored though. Until I came to paint the engine and threw the 'realism rules' out of my cot.

 

 

A bright blue engine and bright red fuel tanks led to an exterior painted in grisaille style with exaggerated shadows and highlights which was then coloured with inks, not paint, giving splendidly varied hues. Then it was chipped like a supercomputer as though it had been attacked by an army of leprechauns armed with maces. And here's the result which delights and interests me. You may well hate it, but I didn't do it this way for you, so that's irrelevant really. No, I take that last bit back. I'd be very interested in the reactions of those who don't like it. I have a skin as thick at an armoured car so don't hold back.

 

Imagine it on the stage of the Milan opera house behind large ladies and gentlemen dressed for the desert singing about armoured warfare and you will understand this (to me) new way of making my models.

 

🎼 "It's a tank, it's a tank! No it's not, no it's not! Where are the tracks, tracks it must have tracks, I tell you! Rattatat! Bang! You're just as dead, dead, dead without the tracks, the tracks. It has no tracks. We are so dead....."

 

 

Here's the AEC with the Archer and Valentine models both built in a doomed attempt to be 'realistic'. I think turning everything up to 11 is the way I'll be making my music models in the future. 

 

Until I get bored with it...

[ColonelKrypton]

Looks quite nice, Grand Operatic Style and all.  Well done.

 

From close up it may appear a bit too contrasty and over done but I bet from a couple steps back and not so bright lighting it looks just right.

 

cheers, Graham

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Looks quite nice, Grand Operatic Style and all.  Well done.

 

From close up it may appear a bit too contrasty and over done but I bet from a couple steps back and not so bright lighting it looks just right.

 

cheers, Graham

 

 

Nope, fortunately it looks just as startling from the back row of the stalls. 🤣

 

[Maddoxx77]

Just what i thought.... a model of an AFV that looks just like.... a model of an AFV.

 

And i love it! 

We as modelers strive to achieve a look in our models that is as realistic as possible. At least, that's what i strive to. However, in my personal opinion, you have achieved something else. You have shown true skill to make a model that looks like a model of an existing vehicle. 

By exaggerating the shadows and highlights, by making it 'dramatic', by stepping out of the comfortzone you made an excellent representation of the real thing. 

I think this is much harder to achieve because you have to think the other way around. The exagguration is just enough to be convincing without overdoing it. The chips, the tarps, the engine and so on and so on, it's all in that verry narrow window of 'just right' 

 

A job well done Sir! 👍👍👍

[Bertie McBoatface]

7 hours ago, Maddoxx77 said:

Just what i thought.... a model of an AFV that looks just like.... a model of an AFV.

 

And i love it! 

We as modelers strive to achieve a look in our models that is as realistic as possible. At least, that's what i strive to. However, in my personal opinion, you have achieved something else. You have shown true skill to make a model that looks like a model of an existing vehicle. 

By exaggerating the shadows and highlights, by making it 'dramatic', by stepping out of the comfortzone you made an excellent representation of the real thing. 

I think this is much harder to achieve because you have to think the other way around. The exagguration is just enough to be convincing without overdoing it. The chips, the tarps, the engine and so on and so on, it's all in that verry narrow window of 'just right' 

 

A job well done Sir! 👍👍👍

 

That is a brilliant way of describing what I did! A model of a model of a tank is exactly the thing. Is it a 1/35 model of a 1/1 model of a 1/1 tank? I suppose so. That was my mental image with the giant stage 'prop' behind the singers at la Scala. 

 

Thanks for the clarification to my thoughts, you incisive devil! 

[echen]

Play it again, Sam....................................

[Maddoxx77]

2 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

That is a brilliant way of describing what I did! A model of a model of a tank is exactly the thing. Is it a 1/35 model of a 1/1 model of a 1/1 tank? I suppose so. That was my mental image with the giant stage 'prop' behind the singers at la Scala. 

 

Thanks for the clarification to my thoughts, you incisive devil! 

Always a pleasure 👍😉

[THEscaleSHOW]

15 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

After sixty years of intermittently building plastic kits, I'm getting quite bored with the hobby.

 

 

 

I made my latest and probably last aeroplane back in the F-4 GB and while the kit was state of the art, had to build it 'battle damaged' to keep my interest up long enough to finish it. So much for aircraft then.

 

 

I've started a wooden model of HMS Beagle which has stalled at the moment, but will soon be reappearing on the bench.

 

 

But there are a dozen or so AFVs in plastic that I don't want to waste.

 

 

Half of them are associated with the Valentine tank which I'm doing a one-man GB with.

 

 

This is one of that series. It's a Valentine turret on a fast, easy to build, cheap chassis provided by AEC. It carried a lot of armour and was quite a big vehicle. 

 

 

It's a 'wheeled tank' at seven tons. 

 

 

It's a strange shape. 

 

 

The kit was typical of MiniArt; well detailed and with very many small parts.

 

 

I was still bored though. Until I came to paint the engine and threw the 'realism rules' out of my cot.

 

 

A bright blue engine and bright red fuel tanks led to an exterior painted in grisaille style with exaggerated shadows and highlights which was then coloured with inks, not paint, giving splendidly varied hues. Then it was chipped like a supercomputer as though it had been attacked by an army of leprechauns armed with maces. And here's the result which delights and interests me. You may well hate it, but I didn't do it this way for you, so that's irrelevant really. Imagine it on the stage of the Milan opera house behind large ladies and gentlemen dressed for the desert singing about armoured warfare and you will understand this (to me) new way of making my models.

 

🎼 "It's a tank, it's a tank! No it's not, no it's not! Where are the tracks, tracks it must have tracks, I tell you! Rattatat! Bang! You're just as dead, dead, dead without the tracks, the tracks. It has no tracks. We are so dead....."

 

 

Here's the AEC with the Archer and Valentine models both built in a doomed attempt to be 'realistic'. I think turning everything up to 11 is the way I'll be making my music models in the future. 

 

Until I get bored with it...

Great model 👍

[FrancisGL]

Hi Bertie,

I think that after 60 years building models I would have been bored too, it happens with everything in life.... I hope you don't give it up completely, because all that experience and acquired skills would be lost before time (we will all stop making models at some point, either due to illness or death)... I feel that this sounds sad or gloomy.

Sharing work with others, in a forum like this one for example, can help make something more enjoyable. Personally it works for me.

As he comments, @Maddoxx77 it is an abstraction of the conception of how to make a model, for my taste, it looks dramatically cool.

Cheers and TC

Francis.👍

Edited October 27, 2022 by FrancisGL

[Bertie McBoatface]

55 minutes ago, FrancisGL said:

I hope you don't give it up completely

 

I don't foresee that. It's important to have hobbies and the way to keep them stimulating, for me at least, is to be constantly trying new genres, new materials, new styles, new subjects. Of course, if a person is happy to build the same genre, material, subject in the same style indefinitely, that's good too.

 

55 minutes ago, FrancisGL said:

Sharing work with others, in a forum like this one for example, can help make something more enjoyable.

 

That is so true! Being here has raised my game in so many ways and the support of you guys has been brilliant. Thanks everyone!

[echen]

First impressionist models and now operatic ones! Can't go wrong - great ideas! 

Edited October 27, 2022 by echen

[Bullbasket]

IMO, this is probably the best of your "exaltation" series. You've done a cracking job on it. Don't give up building AFV's Bertie. We need nutters people like you in these threads.

Good luck with the floaty thing.

 

John.

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Bullbasket said:

IMO, this is probably the best of your "exaltation" series. You've done a cracking job on it. Don't give up building AFV's Bertie. We need nutters people like you in these threads.

Good luck with the floaty thing.

 

John.

 

The Exaltation Series. Cool! Proud to be a Nutter. 

 

I shall be building Beagle (flam)buoyantly too!

 

3 hours ago, echen said:

First impressionist models and now operatic ones! Can't go wrong - great ideas! 

 

Thanks Echen!

[Buzby061]

C'mon Bertie. Give us a song!

 

Pete

 

PS Very nice!

[sardaukar]

Just saw this it looks great, you seem to have either been inspired by fantasy/scifi miniature painters as those techniques aren't out of place in the wahammer 40k world. Just an idea but you might fancy trying your hand at a Warhammer 40k tank and really go wild.

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Buzby061 said:

C'mon Bertie. Give us a song!

 

Pete

 

PS Very nice!

 

Thanks Pete

 

44 minutes ago, sardaukar said:

Just saw this it looks great, you seem to have either been inspired by fantasy/scifi miniature painters as those techniques aren't out of place in the wahammer 40k world. Just an idea but you might fancy trying your hand at a Warhammer 40k tank and really go wild.

 

Thanks. I have indeed drawn on fantasy figure painting ideas and as for Warhammer AFVs, been there, done that. 😁

 

[Milan Mynar]

Absolutely excellent built model. Great paintwork.

[Bertie McBoatface]

41 minutes ago, Milan Mynar said:

Absolutely excellent built model. Great paintwork.

 

Thanks Milan

 

1 hour ago, sardaukar said:

Just saw this it looks great, you seem to have either been inspired by fantasy/scifi miniature painters as those techniques aren't out of place in the wahammer 40k world. Just an idea but you might fancy trying your hand at a Warhammer 40k tank and really go wild.

 

I couldn't find photos of the Warhammer APC that I did but here's one of my figures 

 

  

[Maginot]

It's interesting the path that modelling has led you down. Do I remember you finding it a tad challenging getting hold of this kit? Ever since you started the project I've fancied one. Over the months, I've found it difficult to locate an affordable one. But today, one popped up on the universal etrading platform (in country, too) so I grabbed it. Can't rely on Santa, you know? Thanks for the inspiration.

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 minute ago, Maginot said:

It's interesting the path that modelling has led you down. Do I remember you finding it a tad challenging getting hold of the MiniArt AEC Mk.I armoured car? Ever since you started the project I've fancied one. Over the months, I've found it difficult to locate an affordable one, too. But today, one popped up on the universal etrading platform (in country, too) so I grabbed it. Can't rely on Santa, you know? Thanks for the inspiration.

 

No, I don't recall any difficulty finding one. I don't think I was even aware of the armoured car or the model until I stumbled across one. Probably on line? I think it's a bit too rarified a subject for the local market trader who sometimes tempts me. I remember recognising the shape of the turret as a Valentine and only then looking it up so that suggests it was an on-line discovery. It was a fun build with few frustrations. I don't think there's anything I need to warn you about.

 

The build thread is here.