Post by Dukemaddog on Jun 30, 2020 18:38:51 GMT -6
Thanks Jed! I appreciate that very much. Now here's more for you to peruse...
Well this week I have quite a large update. I gotta say though; it sure felt good to get all this progress done!
I'll start with my two rockets.
First off, I manage to get the exhaust nozzles painted on the Convair Atlas. I started with a flat black:
Afterward I drybrushed both a dark metallic grey and a copper color to give it a burned look:
It does look better in person. Later, after the white on the nose cone had dried sufficiently enough, I masked off the area I wanted to stay white:
Once that was done, I shot a coat of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum over the rest:
This bird is now ready for decals. Hopefully in the next couple days.
While that was drying somewhat and while I was already doing decals on my armor; I also pulled down the Mercury Redstone rocket. First I had removed all the masking covering the areas I'd painted black, and then added another coat of gloss:
Next came the decals:
Now all I have to do is add the photo-etch to the capsule and then paint and detail that. This bird is close to being done, hopefully withing the next few days.
Moving on, I starting feeling a hankering to do an ACE kit. So, since my SoCal AMPS group was doing an online Halftrack Group Build; I decided to pull out a WWII French halftrack artillery tractor. I first started on the tracked running gear and got this far before realizing that the one main drive sprocket was missing:
After searching for awhile that got put aside, but in both confidence and hope that I find it again; I continued to work on this model, building up the chassis and body:
You can see by the rough assembly this is one of ACE's earlier kits before he started the digital design. Lots of cleanup to get that to fit like you see it. I still had some issues, as the steering wheel broke apart and part of it disappeared while trying to clean it up! So, I installed the half steering wheel in the drivers side; thinking that some intrepid mechanic had replaced it with an aircraft yoke when some idiot had messed up the original steering wheel:
Makes for a good story.
Anyway, I still haven't found the drive sprocket so this is as far as I'll be going in this until it turns up:
Moving on, I still wanted to do an ACE kit. So, during a SoCal AMPS ZOOM meeting/build night, I pulled out this little German Type 770 Cabriolet staff car that I'd started some time ago. I has already started the chassis, so I assembled the remaining undercarriage parts, axles and exhaust:
Next I completed all of the seats:
I then closed up the interior; adding any additional parts that were needed:
That's when I realized I should have painted the interior walls since the instructions call for a "wood-grain" type of interior. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound; I completed the rest of the exterior body and engine cover as well as the rear roof section:
After that, while looking through the instructions, it mentions one of the versions is for a restored vehicle in a museum that had been painted a dark green when it was restored. I thought, that would rock; especially since I had already started a different model Cabriolet similar to this one that will be all black. So in the interests of changing things up and having some variety, I shot this one with a lovely green shade:
Don't worry about the roughness; I'll be buffing this and then shooting a nice gloss coat over it.
Moving along from there; it was time to get a few more models across the finish line. I started with my M-109 Paladin which needed a little filler on the sides of the turret mantlet frame:
After that I shot a coat of paint over this:
Later I installed the tracks on this beastie:
The outer road wheels have separate "tire" sections that I decided to put on afterward when the tracks had been installed and painted:
After a shot of glosscoat, I added the decals; which went on exceptionally well:
Then I dullcoated this, added the final detail parts and weathered it.
Now I had finished with the M-109 Paladin and so I moved on to something else. I had been told that the windows for the cab on the M-1070 were green tinted so I tried shooting a Tamiya Clear Green on the windows for the cab and the Dozer. This was the result of the first attempt:
Yep! Way too dark! So, I took some 70% alchohol and a Q-tip and cleaned them off to try again. This is the second attempt:
Still a bit dark for my tastes, but it'll do. I'm moving on.
So this brings me to my three Abrams tanks. To start with, I decided to add all the tracks and roadwheels to these tanks. Both Tiger Models and Flyhawk have some unique and interesting ways of getting tracks on their tanks. On the Flyhawk models which are the two SEP tanks; here is the process. First you add the rear roadwheels to the lower hull. They already have the top run of tracks attached. Then you put the outer road wheels on which have the bottom run already attached. You can see one side here installed and the other one that goes on the other side:
Once that is done, you add the drive sprocket and idler wheel with the indy links and small runs; filling out the rest and completing the track. And here it is with the tracks already completed:
The next thing I did was to detail out the mine roller on the other SEP tank. Flyhawk gives you this tiny chain that you have to thread through four parts before you fasten it on each side to the anchor points underneath. Here is a shot of the chain installed with the extra that I had to cut off so you can see how tiny this chain is. Also, in this shot, the mine plow is down for use:
And in this shot, the mine plow is locked up in the travel position:
You can also see the control cable that Flyhawk gives in the kit as well.
Now, since I'd been putting the tracks on the Flyhawk Abrams; I also did the same with this Tiger Models kit. In this kit; they have the tracks already molded together in shape; but cut in half lengthwise. One length has the teeth, the other does not. Here's how they are installed. First, you add the rear roadwheels:
Then you add the rear track section; the one with the teeth over those road wheels. I painted my roadwheels after I added the track run:
After that, you add the outer road wheels:
Followed by the outer track run:
Pop in the drive sprocket and you are done! Cool!
After that it was time to camouflage this tank. I started by covering the green with the Silly Putty:
Then I shot the brown color over this:
Then I added more Silly Putty to cover the brown and then shot the 'lightened' black:
After that I removed all the Silly Putty to check out the pattern:
After that; the instructions call for painting all the TUSK I additions in a tan color so that is what I did:
I really love the look of this tank in this paint scheme! It looks so cool!
Later, after I glossed this and added the decals; I added all the final detail parts to all the Abrams, especially this SEP TUSK tank. Check out the green windows:
Finally, I added all the machine guns and other additional delicate parts. Here are all three of these Abrams before I touched up the paint, shot a dullcoat and then weathered these:
These three Abrams and the Paladin will be posted in the competed Armor Forums so feel free to go check them out there after I get them posted. Until the next update, I want to express my appreciation for your support, motivation, comments and compliments.
Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.
I'll start with my two rockets.
First off, I manage to get the exhaust nozzles painted on the Convair Atlas. I started with a flat black:
Afterward I drybrushed both a dark metallic grey and a copper color to give it a burned look:
It does look better in person. Later, after the white on the nose cone had dried sufficiently enough, I masked off the area I wanted to stay white:
Once that was done, I shot a coat of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum over the rest:
This bird is now ready for decals. Hopefully in the next couple days.
While that was drying somewhat and while I was already doing decals on my armor; I also pulled down the Mercury Redstone rocket. First I had removed all the masking covering the areas I'd painted black, and then added another coat of gloss:
Next came the decals:
Now all I have to do is add the photo-etch to the capsule and then paint and detail that. This bird is close to being done, hopefully withing the next few days.
Moving on, I starting feeling a hankering to do an ACE kit. So, since my SoCal AMPS group was doing an online Halftrack Group Build; I decided to pull out a WWII French halftrack artillery tractor. I first started on the tracked running gear and got this far before realizing that the one main drive sprocket was missing:
After searching for awhile that got put aside, but in both confidence and hope that I find it again; I continued to work on this model, building up the chassis and body:
You can see by the rough assembly this is one of ACE's earlier kits before he started the digital design. Lots of cleanup to get that to fit like you see it. I still had some issues, as the steering wheel broke apart and part of it disappeared while trying to clean it up! So, I installed the half steering wheel in the drivers side; thinking that some intrepid mechanic had replaced it with an aircraft yoke when some idiot had messed up the original steering wheel:
Makes for a good story.
Anyway, I still haven't found the drive sprocket so this is as far as I'll be going in this until it turns up:
Moving on, I still wanted to do an ACE kit. So, during a SoCal AMPS ZOOM meeting/build night, I pulled out this little German Type 770 Cabriolet staff car that I'd started some time ago. I has already started the chassis, so I assembled the remaining undercarriage parts, axles and exhaust:
Next I completed all of the seats:
I then closed up the interior; adding any additional parts that were needed:
That's when I realized I should have painted the interior walls since the instructions call for a "wood-grain" type of interior. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound; I completed the rest of the exterior body and engine cover as well as the rear roof section:
After that, while looking through the instructions, it mentions one of the versions is for a restored vehicle in a museum that had been painted a dark green when it was restored. I thought, that would rock; especially since I had already started a different model Cabriolet similar to this one that will be all black. So in the interests of changing things up and having some variety, I shot this one with a lovely green shade:
Don't worry about the roughness; I'll be buffing this and then shooting a nice gloss coat over it.
Moving along from there; it was time to get a few more models across the finish line. I started with my M-109 Paladin which needed a little filler on the sides of the turret mantlet frame:
After that I shot a coat of paint over this:
Later I installed the tracks on this beastie:
The outer road wheels have separate "tire" sections that I decided to put on afterward when the tracks had been installed and painted:
After a shot of glosscoat, I added the decals; which went on exceptionally well:
Then I dullcoated this, added the final detail parts and weathered it.
Now I had finished with the M-109 Paladin and so I moved on to something else. I had been told that the windows for the cab on the M-1070 were green tinted so I tried shooting a Tamiya Clear Green on the windows for the cab and the Dozer. This was the result of the first attempt:
Yep! Way too dark! So, I took some 70% alchohol and a Q-tip and cleaned them off to try again. This is the second attempt:
Still a bit dark for my tastes, but it'll do. I'm moving on.
So this brings me to my three Abrams tanks. To start with, I decided to add all the tracks and roadwheels to these tanks. Both Tiger Models and Flyhawk have some unique and interesting ways of getting tracks on their tanks. On the Flyhawk models which are the two SEP tanks; here is the process. First you add the rear roadwheels to the lower hull. They already have the top run of tracks attached. Then you put the outer road wheels on which have the bottom run already attached. You can see one side here installed and the other one that goes on the other side:
Once that is done, you add the drive sprocket and idler wheel with the indy links and small runs; filling out the rest and completing the track. And here it is with the tracks already completed:
The next thing I did was to detail out the mine roller on the other SEP tank. Flyhawk gives you this tiny chain that you have to thread through four parts before you fasten it on each side to the anchor points underneath. Here is a shot of the chain installed with the extra that I had to cut off so you can see how tiny this chain is. Also, in this shot, the mine plow is down for use:
And in this shot, the mine plow is locked up in the travel position:
You can also see the control cable that Flyhawk gives in the kit as well.
Now, since I'd been putting the tracks on the Flyhawk Abrams; I also did the same with this Tiger Models kit. In this kit; they have the tracks already molded together in shape; but cut in half lengthwise. One length has the teeth, the other does not. Here's how they are installed. First, you add the rear roadwheels:
Then you add the rear track section; the one with the teeth over those road wheels. I painted my roadwheels after I added the track run:
After that, you add the outer road wheels:
Followed by the outer track run:
Pop in the drive sprocket and you are done! Cool!
After that it was time to camouflage this tank. I started by covering the green with the Silly Putty:
Then I shot the brown color over this:
Then I added more Silly Putty to cover the brown and then shot the 'lightened' black:
After that I removed all the Silly Putty to check out the pattern:
After that; the instructions call for painting all the TUSK I additions in a tan color so that is what I did:
I really love the look of this tank in this paint scheme! It looks so cool!
Later, after I glossed this and added the decals; I added all the final detail parts to all the Abrams, especially this SEP TUSK tank. Check out the green windows:
Finally, I added all the machine guns and other additional delicate parts. Here are all three of these Abrams before I touched up the paint, shot a dullcoat and then weathered these:
These three Abrams and the Paladin will be posted in the competed Armor Forums so feel free to go check them out there after I get them posted. Until the next update, I want to express my appreciation for your support, motivation, comments and compliments.
Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome.
