Project Patton

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Looks like steak for dinner, tonight

[JED]

Great job Mark, and if Scotch works for you then carry on 🍻

[reserve]

Thank you gents

The A2 wearing some dry season Vietnam central highlands dirt and dust, probably a sufficent quantity











The tracks are a bit long; I may be able to tighten them up some on the base. I've elected to not bury this one under sandbags and stowage for a couple of reasons...not all tanks were piled up so, especially Marine tanks that unlike the Army, did not go on extended operations. The other reason is more pragmatic as it's very difficult to find stowage sets these days unless one wants to deal with E-Bay, wait ten weeks, and pay 20-30 bucks shipping. Ain't gonna happen shipping mutts

Regards,
Mark 

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Looks very realistic! We had that red clay everywhere.

[Beekster]

Indeed! More Scotch is a good answer to many things. What do you prefer? I particularly like Talisker 10 year and The Macallan 12 year varieties. And yes, the inquisitive and obstinate bovines really make the scene. Out on the range, they get their way. One wonders: is the tank sitting there for a particular reason and Bessie & Millie came by to check it out, or do they have somewhere to go but the rules say you can't nudge the cows out of the way (bad form to use the siren and cause a stampede, don't you know...). The ambiguity is part of the appeal.

[reserve]

Thanks guys

Never tried the Talisker but I've enjoyed the 12 year Macallan, have one on the booze shelf now. My all time favorite is the 21 year old Glenfiddich which I keep around but don't drink often since it's expensive enough I have a hard time justifying it's purchase. Occasionally I'll pick up some 12 year old Lagavullin when I can find it, very peaty and also salty as they roast the malt on the beach. The varieties are endless.

In my younger years I worked dairy farms and all of them milked the Friesian Holstein. They aren't too smart but they're awfully big and strong so one has to accomodate them to a point since they are, after all, a valued livestock. Their intermittent curiosity can be funny; I remember parking my old Jeep in the cow pastures while woodchuck hunting and more often than not coming back to find the Jeep covered in cow slobber and tounge marks...I guess when they figured out they could not eat it they lost interest and wandered off. So, yes I've witnessed the depicted scene many times.

Regards,
Mark

[Steve Ski]

Wow, that came out great!

[JED]

Looks great Mark, as for whisky, can't drink or smell the stuff without feeling ill thanks to a bottle of Black Bush, Busmills many moons ago, oh how I'll was I!!!'

[rustybaer]

Patton? Somebody say Patton? I'm in, all in.

[ARMORGUY]

I like tho looks of it with the dust on. Well done fella.

[Dukemaddog]

This does look awesome! I'm still trying to find a close enough match to this red clay among my enamels and such. All I have left to do on my Patton is weathering before I finish it up.

[JCON]

May 13, 2021 12:34:21 GMT -6 Dukemaddog said:

This does look awesome! I'm still trying to find a close enough match to this red clay among my enamels and such. All I have left to do on my Patton is weathering before I finish it up.

Look in the art supply section of your local wally world or target and see if they have cheap pastel stick sets, usually there is a redish brown that is a very good match... you just run it over a piece of sandpaper to make a powder and apply it with a brush...  a little thinner touched to it and allow to dry and it sticks pretty well... I have also done a light coat of Testors Dull Coat over it to seal it in before...  try it on a scrap of plastic first to get the amount and look you want... 

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

VMS also sells the Vietnam Era pigment powder if you want to pay more.

[reserve]

Thanks Ski

Jed I am the same way with Tequila

Welcome Russ

Thanks AG you set a pretty high bar with your work which inspires me to improve

Duke for this I used Vallejo flat earth right out of the bottle, thinned about 70% with water and shot at about 25 psi. It took 3 sessions to get to this point, working carefully with light coats until the desired opacity was achieved. If you have some Model Masters military brown it could also work as it has a reddish tone to it. I should note that on the lower hull and the heavier spots on the running gear I used some AK desert sand texture for some volume and hair stick applied flat earth which was also thinned, perhaps 40%. Hope this helps

Regards,
Mark

[tojo72]

Beautiful work and dusting effects,I ended up with the Legends Mantlet cover and spotlight on mine

[reserve]

Thanks T I'd considered trying to obtain a Legends set for this but I did not want to wait an indeterminate period of time for it to show up in the mailbox. Guess I did the instant gratification thing this time.

So now it's base time. 

Being tired of working with wet gloppy stuff for groundwork I instead used air drying clay. Very nice to work with and quite effective as long as one does not mind patching all the cracks that are gonna appear as the stuff dries. Here's a short linear progression on it

Clay down, texture along with tire and track marks, grass installed and a flat black primer/preshade


First and second grass painting and highlight


Third grass highlight


First ground color coat and road dust on the grass


Now it's time for the magic trick which is to ignore it, not look at it for awhile so's I can see it fresh and identify the weaknesses and address them

Regards,
Mark

[JCON]

Nice!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Excellent work Mark that is an amazing step-by-step on the base. Gonna have to save that for future possibilities.

Thanks for the suggestions guys for the color on the Patton. I do have some Military Brown from Testor's so I'll give that a try. I don't plan on going heavy; I just want a moderately light dusting; as if they had just hosed it off and started driving it out after it dried.

I do have some of those pastel sticks somewhere; I'll look for them so I can add some extra dust into the crevices. And no Bruce; I don't want to spend more; I don't have any money to spend as it is. Had to spend my last $500.00; I'm now sitting looking at $36.00 in my bank account and that has to last me until I get more work. That could be anywhere from two weeks from not to nine months from now. So, no: I cannot afford to spend more. Thanks for the suggestion though; I'm thrilled with all the help I got here. Sometime soon, you'll see the first 1/35th scale armor model from me in 50 years.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

We have a lot of skilled and experienced modelers here and I always appreciate good sound advice. ( No matter how expensive it may be:)

[JCON]

I have a good friend on Farcebook that goes really cheap, he uses actual dirt from his yard to dust his models and applied lightly it looks great!!!