Škoda PA-II Želva

[Maginot]

I bought a mirror from the local op shop this afternoon in anticipation of photographing this stage. Here's the little Skoda assembled with some dry fit preparatory to painting. Apart from a minimal amount of minor cleanup and a wash, she's ready to go. I'm pretty pleased with myself for getting this far in 14 days without forcing it. It was pleasant motivation to progress the model so I could take a few pics to post in the GB to show it coming together.

    

 

 

I found a few bits tricky, like the PE and the braces between the headlight shrouds and hull, but I just took my time and if necessary did one part per sitting. I don't think there's much wrong with this kit @planecrazee. I take full responsibility for my stuffups. I reckon HobbyBoss have produced a nice little kit here, the straightforward nature of which has helped my rapid and largely stress-free experience so far. I'm predicting that painting the 5-colour camo will test me though.

 

Now to wait for a warm day with low to moderate relative humidity to get the first paint on.

[planecrazee]

That's looking fantastic @Maginot - really do love the shape of this little car - so different you can't help but to like it.  Yes, in fairness my BA-10 from Hobby Boss is also a really good kit - just a bit fiddly in places and like I said instructions could sometimes be a bit clearer but not any major issues 👍

 

Yes - can't wait to see you get the paint scheme done - that's when this little car will really come to life.  Good luck with it and I hope it all goes well for you 

 

Kris

[Maginot]

A little bit of filling, a little bit of sanding and polishing, a jolly good wash and dry, a splash of liquid mask and we're ready to paint on the well ventilated and well lit back veranda. But it's all on hold; temp 10.5°C and dropping; relative humidity 75% and rising. I felt a bit guilty when I inspected closely the brush I used to apply the liquid mask. It is a Rembrandt, a quality brush but old and well past its best. Inevitably, I knocked off a tiny component during the wash. Et voilà! There it was on the rim of the plug hole. Lucky!

 

[Stef N.]

It's an odd looking beastie but I like it. Good work, Maginot.👍

[edjbartos]

I really like it, It's so unusual..

 

Ed

[IanC]

I really like this.

 

First model I've seen where I can't tell which way round it is!

[Maginot]

At last the weather came to the party; relative humidity below 50%, temperature about 22°C. First a coat of surface primer, then a green base layer. Waiting for the right painting conditions seems to have paid off. No sign of orange peel. Only one or two tiny foreign bodies stuck in the paint. I'll have a think about laying on anther misting of green, but I might equally just get on with hand painting the five-colour camouflage.

 

 

 

[voozet]

Great work.

Želva means turtle, and this name fits this vehicle perfectly. Amazing car, looks like its own mirror image.

 

1 hour ago, Maginot said:

temperature about 22°C

 

I read this with pain because the first snow has just fallen in my city 😉

 

[Muchmirth]

Lovely work, looks absolutely cracking!

[Maginot]

I'm a bit miffed by the quality of my photography and printing above. The finish on the hull is superb, yet my other pic shows it to disadvantage. Gotta get me a decent camera instead of relying on the phone. It's a phone, Nitwit, not a camera!

 

 

[Trevor L]

Phone cameras can actually be quite good.

Sometimes it's the light that can be better.

I've got a pair of mini studio lights. I only use them to photograph finished models, but they can make a big difference.

[Geo1966]

I brought a camera specially for taking photo of my models, but have never got on with it. I still find i can get better photos with my phone. As Trevor says lighting is very important, i also brought a stand so i can keep my phone still.

 

George

[Ned]

I'm the same. I have a fancy Canon DSLR that hasn't moved from the drawer that I put it in years ago. I find that a phone takes pictures that make my models look better than they actually are, so I'm happy with that.

[Maginot]

So I managed to lay on a second coat of green during a cold, wet week. I don't think the finish is quite as good as the first coat, possibly because the conditions weren't as good for spraying; RH 55% and temp. 19°C. Now I'll be liking higher RH and lower temperatures so that the acrylic paints don't dry so quickly as I brush paint.

 

Marking out the camouflage pattern is quite arduous. I'll markup in four sections, I think. Now I have to choose the paints that match the colours on the five-view illustration. Near enough will be good enough. I suspect the recommended colours are approximations anyway. I found a rendering on the web that featured blue and mauve. I found this fanciful and will use the colours recommended in the kit as guide. Today, I lashed out and bought a very expensive paint brush at the art supplies shop in the hope of helping the process.

 

 

The instructions will have you affix the Schwarzlose MGs perpendicular to the mounting embrasures using nasty little fittings that are supposed to allow a bit of up and down movement. But then they stick out in all directions and I didn't like that. I noticed in photos that they were generally aligned fore and aft when in convoy, so after a little modification I went with that. 

[Ned]

Best of luck, from all of us I think

 

 

[Courageous]

Now we come to the interesting bit...painting. 

 

Stuart

[edjbartos]

Paintwork looks brilliant, such a lovely looking model, good luck with the camo...

 

Ed

[planecrazee]

Can't wait to see the camouflage laid down @Maginot - it's going to look amazing 

 

Kris

[Maginot]

😮 The carrion eaters are circling...

 

photo by Dmitri

[Maginot]

Quote

As Trevor says lighting is very important.

Yes. Trevor is right @Geo1966. As Helmut Newton's ex partner Henry Talbot once told me (back in art school days); "Yonny, lighting is everything. Photography is painting with the light. Now put down the model at once!"

 

In this case, though, the way to improve image quality was in the processing, as you can see. Initially, I was too stingy with the pixels.

[Maginot]

Brush painting; experiment I

 

Having a weekend away in the hills with native wildflowers, birds and lots of roos. Very peaceful. Brought my project with me.

 

I laid a coat of primer onto a softdrink bottle, drew up and painted a facsimile Škoda camouflage pattern. Some observations:

• Scanned the web for info on brush painting acrylics. I'm comfortable brushing enamels, but have had limited success with acrylics in the past. There are some good brushing resources on this forum and across the web. I found @PlaStix posts and video particularly interesting, although the Škoda painting challenge is a little different, being an array of small splodges (scuse technical jargon).
• Following Stix's technique, I used a china plate as a palette (finest bone china from the op shop if you don't mind!).
• On this I was able to i) daub a working amount of paint and close the lid on the paint jar immediately (thereby keeping contents in A1 nick); ii) mix paint with a drop of retarder; iii) and by keeping it tilted, pool an amount of distilled water at the other end of the plate ready to mix with the paint for thinning, to stop it drying and to unload the brush of paint.
• Try flat and round head brushes.
• The acrylic paint retarder is from an artist supplies shop. No more than 10% by volume should be added to paint. It helps make a viscous solution, certainly slows down drying and seems to help with leveling. Best to leave the painted work overnight to dry when using this retarder. Some paint was still sticky 6 hours after application.
• Before applying a second coat, leave the work overnight. As you can see from the test piece, I spoiled the finish of the first coat in places by being impatient and applying a second coat before the first was fully dry. The drying time varied between different colours, probably because of insufficient paint mixing and varying the % of retarder.
• Tamiya colours XF-49 Khaki and XF-20 Medium Grey are almost indistinguishable.
• So far, she's looking very rough. Using a translucent plastic bottle allows light through from under the paint, highlighting every imperfection. Getting the painting right on this medium will virtually guarantee a good finish on the model.

 

 

The way ahead:

• Apply second coat now work is fully dry.
• Try very fine rub back with 2500 wet and dry emery paper.
• Draw up and paint another patch of camouflage pattern for practice with brushwork and paint mixing.
• Substitute airbrush flow improver for retarder.

 

Hope this is of some use to others attempting brush painting. Thanks for looking.

 

ps: It's a treat exploring the nooks and crannies of the local artist supplies shop for my painting gubbins.

[planecrazee]

You're really doing your homework with all of this @Maginot - that's how I know the end result is going to be amazing (can't wait!!!!)  

 

A quick question for you please.  Are you using the store bought retarder with the Tamiya Acrylics and does it seem to be working ok?  The reason I ask is that Tamiya do their own acrylic retarder for their paints but it's difficult to get hold of in the UK without paying a fortune for it to be delivered.  If you're having no problem using other brand retarder then I may give that a go 👍

 

Best wishes

 

Kris

[Maginot]

Hello @planecrazee aka Kris. The acrylic retarder is by Atelier, an Australian company. So far, it works fine with Tamiya acrylics. I'll be trying it with other acrylic brands, such as the apparently fussy Lifecolor. I tried Atelier after reading that a modeller in the UK was using Winsor & Newton retarder that worked well with modellers acrylics, so I think it's worth experimenting with other brands, too. It's an economical way to go. For twice the price, you get 6 times the retarder, though this may be a false economy considering the tiny amount used in each application. I've got my eye on other products from the artist suppliers to try, including clear varnishes in rattle cans used for sealing artworks. These come in glossy, satin and matt.

[Maginot]

Brush painting; experiment 2

 

Back down from the hills, I continue with: i) a second camouflage pattern with larger splodges (scuse technical jargon) that more accurately mimic the size of most of the splodges on the Škoda; ii) applying the second coat of paint and dark line to the first camouflage pattern. Some observations:

• I achieved a more even spread of paint with hardly any brush marks on the larger splodges with a flat head paintbrush rather than a pointed head.
• Applying a second coat evens out the colour density, disappears most brush marks but will require careful rubbing back in places.
• Mixing retarder into the paint makes for a more workable paint viscosity than: i) straight paint; ii) paint mixed with airbrush flow improver; iii) paint mixed with iso-propyl alcohol (which just works as a thinning agent like distilled water). Adding a single drop of retarder from the pipette to enough paint to load 6-7 brushes (3 large and 4 small splodges worth with reserve) makes a viscose solution that applies similarly to enamel paint. Adding a small amount of distilled water as you work will prevent the paint mix from drying on the palette, but not too much.
• I must have got the % retarder more consistent this time and a better mix out of the paint pot. The paint dried quickly and more evenly.
• A black permanent marker pen of 0.7mm was used for the dark line around the splodges. This worked well, but the colour given in the instructions is brown violet (XF-51 Khaki drab in the Tamiya chart; see below), so I'll have to hunt down a pen with that or similar colour.
• "Tamiya colours XF-49 Khaki and XF-20 Medium Grey are almost indistinguishable." That's because you used XF-49 Khaki for both splodges, you nong (see below).

   

 

Of interest, at least to me, is the manufacturer of the uni pin permanent marker I used for the dark line; Mitsubishi Pencil Co., Ltd. Founded in Tokyo in 1887, as far as I can tell there is no connection to the mob that brought us the famous A6M Type '0'.

 

 

[Maginot]

Thought I'd better check in with progress lest you thought I'd gone AWOL. Getting there, but ever so slowly. For some reason, drawing up and painting this multicolour camo pattern is doing my head in. The kit illustration is inconsistent through the different views, converting 2D to 3D and going over the same colour patches to rub back and apply another coat is mentally exhausting. I'm only able to paint section by section. Just as well I'm doing short, sharp sessions because the weather is not exactly suitable for hand painting acrylics; 38°C and low humidity today, meaning rapid drying and sweaty body parts (I don't like using air conditioning). It didn't help that the fighting compartment lid fell off during the process and I glued it back on 180° out so that the colours didn't match with those on the hull (stupid!). Still, progress is apparent and I'll get a bit more done today while listening on the wireless to the Aussies thrash South Africa in the Boxing Day test here at the MCG (gagging for a close match that goes into the 5th day; Labuschagne run out at the bowler's end... Yeah!).

 

 

I hope Santa brought you something cool. I got a Gecko Daimler scout car that no one else wanted, hence 40% off. Season's Greetings everyone.