nightshiftmodeller

Welds!

My friends, the textures on the turret are now complete, and I don't know what to do next! :D

I might add the few remaining details from the kit such as the periscopes and hatches (dry-fitted, of course), and move on to the hull. I find it easier to have the basic outline of the model in front of me before I start with...

A hefty boi

My friends, I started working on the turret yesterday. Keeping things relaxed as I'm also working on that little surprise I promised you earlier :)

All the weld lines are rescribed with a chisel, the flame cuts are finished according to the real Maus turret (I used a needle file, a hobby blade, and a Tamiya scriber). I ...

New model

My friends! With the Panther diorama finished, I'm ready to slow things down before Christmas and then take my usual week off during the holidays.

But that doesn't mean I won't be building models - quite the opposite! I bought this E-100 a couple of weeks ago as my next project, and it's gonna be different. Probably the...

Early video!

Good morning, my friends! Here it is! :)))

Let me know what you think about the little surprise!

p.s.: The link for the surprise is in the description if you open the video on Youtube

Sweet photos

My friends, here are studio pictures of the finished scene. I decided to call it "Courtesy of U.S. Air Force" :)

I'm halfway there with the video, and I think it'll be finished later tonight. I'll start uploading it immediately and once it's online, I'll post it here for your viewing pleasure!

And the finished diorama!

My friends, with the figures glued in place, it's time to say that this year was a success because somehow I managed to finish every project I planned for it! :)

I'm currently working hard on the video. I just finished editing the voiceover and tomorrow I'll put it all together. Although there are two live entries that...

Figures done!

My friends, these have to be the most difficult figures I've ever painted! It's not that the sculpts are bad or anything, these are Alpine figures, after all, but I just find US soldiers difficult. I noticed this even when I was painting that single paratrooper for the watermill diorama. The more gear, pouches, backpacks and ...

Just the figures remain!

My friends, I finished the terrain and integrated the tank into it.

The base was first post-shaded with greyish earth tones (Tamiya Flat Earth and Buff + German Grey) and then flooded with enamel earth washes - the same tones and principles I applied to the tank. A bit of dry-brushing with Rainmarks Effects was employe...

Tank is ready!

My friends, it's time to paint the groundwork so I can glue the tank in place and make the final adjustments and effects.

The rest of the weathering was carried out in the same fashion, a combination of brush application, blending, and speckling - sometimes with thicker, sometimes with more diluted paint.

The po...

It's finally on the right track!

My friends, these were some of the scariest weathering steps I've done, but I think the almost-finished side of the running gear shows some promising results in the end.

An overturned tank showing its belly is a completely different weathering subject than we're normally used to, as the part that stays completely out o...

It took me a while, but...

... it's now ready for earth effects and other tasty weathering!

My friends, it took me a few days to get it to this stage, because as it turns out, there was a lot of stuff to sort out! My weekend was two birthday parties in two days, in other words, it was quite horrible, but I got back to work on Monday.

The ...

Chipping underway

My friends, I applied the washes, highlighted the small details, did all the steel chips and now I'm applying the rust tones with oil paints. This process is much more fun than I remember! Of course, more chipping will follow once the rust tones are in place - chipped weld beads and Zimmerit!

Just a quick update before...

Some colors

My friends, I finished the airbrushing! This was my first experience with the new lacquer AK Real Colors on a camouflage. So far, I have only used them for some base coating, and I really like how well they flow. There's almost no dry paint build-up on the needle. Just the oxide primer areas were sprayed with a mixture of Tam...

Early video

It's a bit shorter, but it's here :)

3D bricks

My friends, thank you so much for all the nice messages you left me after the last post. Here are some 3D printable bricks I designed some time ago. They all come pre-supported and in convenient "packages". I did some test printing and they came out perfectly! They are all measured in real life and scaled down to 1/35 scale. ...

HD photos

My friends, thank you for all the nice messages you left me under the previous post! The video is ready for later today, and here are some photos of the unpainted scene!

It's ready for paints

My friends, I finished the construction stage of the diorama. Laminating with veneer was extra painful because of the size of this base. I don't have a large enough sheet to wrap the entire base with the woodgrain going vertical - which is the easiest way to wrap a round diorama with veneer. With horizontal woodgrain, it's mu...

Tank done!

My friends, all the PE is in place and I also did some extra adjustments on the Zimmerit with putty.

I don’t know what happened, but 4 or 5 years ago when I was building the Tiger, PE clamps were a breeze. Now they were pure agony! Either the PE quality is worse or I’ve just become rusty.

It made me search t...

This Zimm ain't no time-saver!

My friends, the Zimmerit is finally in place, and I gotta say something about it. For someone who doesn't feel like sculpting their own Zimmerit - it's a great choice. The detail is crisp and the texture is beautiful! But the amount of time you'll spend matching the individual sheets, trimming them to fit perfectly, thinning ...

Takin’ shape

My friends, unfortunately I couldn’t spend too many hours on it today, but the tracks are on and some details have been added. I figured out a neat way of integrating the resin Zimmerit into the surface so I’ll film the process on the front plate or somewhere.

Also, if you find the lack of PE on the back plate dist...

Wheels and tracks

My friends, this took several hours of my life!

The Panzer Art damaged wheels are real life savers in this situation. I even managed to bend one of them in hot water. It’s interesting how you can “compose” a scene even with missing wheels and their placement.

The Panzerwerk tracks are absolutely beautiful ...

First steps

My friends, the Panther show is officially on the road, and here's the initial construction and a basic layout of the diorama!

It didn't take me long to choose a circular base for the scene. The worst thing was deciding the diameter! :D The scene is 19cm across and the Panther might or might not protrude ever so slightl...

Early video

Finally, at last! This video was a metric ton of work, pretty much non-stop since Monday until yesterday evening, but it's long, it's colorful, and it's here! :)

The first "just for fun" evening project

My friends, here are a couple of figures I painted with my girlfriend last weekend. It took us two evenings, and it was really fun! Of course, this was all done off-camera. Just some quality time at the workbench.

This has all started when I got rid of my old Anycubic Photon Mono SE and bought the brand-spanking-new El...

New project!

My friends, it's time for the final project from this year's bucket list! After this one, I'll create a new list and spice it up with a bunch of new ideas for projects :)

The concept is simple - a Panther that's been flipped upside down by a nearby bomb explosion in Normandy. Two GIs will be walking past and inspecting...

HD photos

We didn't have a photo montage in a while, although this one is pretty subtle. I actually used the Google Street view of the real location as the background in the title photo :D

Enjoy the pictures!

Finished, at last!

My friends, this diorama is heading to the display cabinet. The DEF Model figure was pretty fun to paint, with very crisp details and everything - and good figures are always easier to paint. This time I tried a slightly different skin tone with less contrast. When I'm painting military figures, the facial features are often ...

Just the figures now!

My friends, the groundwork is finished. Well, that was quick! I don't know what was behind it, but probably the fact that the buildings were so much more fun and I just subconsciously gave more effort into their painting and aging. The base was just the standard procedure, although I spiced it up with lots of dried, trampled ...

Building finished

My friends, this is for real! The architectural part of the diorama is finally ready. Now I understand why facades are so much fun - because you're spending all that effort on a limited area, but when you take the same approach to an entire building (or two), you might go crazy!

I might do some additional adjustments wh...

More wood effects

My friends, I'm just dropping you a quick update on the barn door. THIS IS THE MOST FUN PART OF THE ENTIRE PROJECT!

I still have those 3 plywood pieces on the right side to finish, but I don't want to rush them and I'm already tired today. Oh, and yes, that shredded, pink-colored piece of plywood is in the reference im...