My friends, here's some basic airbrushing. I decided to go with the paint scheme from the box art because I found some pretty nice reference images for faded, rusty, blue Land Cruisers. That was actually bothering me a lot! Was the body made from alloy or steel? Photos show it was clearly steel as there's a ton of rust on aba...
2022-11-22 07:45:32 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the technical is ready for painting! I think the stowage really transformed this model from a bland pick-up truck to a more elaborate and interesting piece. It even allowed me to hide the ill-fitting tailgate! (although, from what I've seen, other modellers didn't have this problem, so it could've been my error) 2022-11-18 07:25:12 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, I have the basic construction completed. The kit has some fit issues resulting in pretty large gaps between crucial parts, such as the hood and the rest of the body :( Also, there are ejector pin marks in visible places, but luckily, they're easy to scrape off with a curved hobby blade. The gaps were filled with d...
2022-11-17 08:32:37 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's some initial progress on the Toyota FJ43 technical from AK Interactive. So far it seems like a very nice, well thought-out kit! They give you two wheel options, of course, I went for the more aggressive pattern. You also have the option to steer the front axle in both directions or keep it straight. 2022-11-15 07:47:15 +0000 UTC View Post
This was a fun evening 3D project, I took the dimensions from AK's Toyota Technical kit, while the rest was drawn according to pictures of the real thing. You might want to scale it up or down in the slicer software to match the ones on your model - I've seen their size vary from kit to kit!
It ain't a perfect rep...
2022-11-14 08:07:54 +0000 UTC View Post
If I do sound a bit sleepy, it's because I narrated the video almost at midnight :D
2022-11-11 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's another diorama headed for the display case. I barely managed to finish it in time!
The snow gave me a lot of trouble and I'm not entirely happy with the result, but it's one of those moments when you just take what you learned and apply it on another model, leaving this one the way it is. The b...
2022-11-11 10:39:52 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, I gotta choose my "quick, simple projects" more wisely from now on! Now I'm just wondering how much of this is gonna get covered in snow :D
I started with the chimney, and this was done the usual way - filling the mortar lines with Bergswerk acrylic putty and adding the weathering effects with acrylics...
2022-11-09 17:58:57 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the base is ready to be painted as a one, single unit - this means everything is glued in place. Well, except the chimney, the debris is built up around it.
My original plan was to use cable spools from Plusmodel (you can see one sadly skulking in the background) but they were too large for the scene. ...
2022-11-08 09:49:21 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, I spent a few hours on a Friday evening with the KV-2 and a few slabs of styrofoam in my kitchen, sitting and meditating, figuring out what the diorama should look like. This was one of those models where I had no idea about the setting, story, or composition!
Well, the setting should be Leningrad duri...
2022-11-06 08:40:46 +0000 UTC View Post
German troops beware, the Defender of Leningrad is coming!
2022-11-04 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, luck was at my side yesterday as I managed to finish the KV-2. All it needs now is a scenic base and those small resin figures!
I've done snow on a tank 4 times so far. My first two attempts were with a mixture of white pigment and baking soda, applied dry, and fixed with Tamiya X-20A thinner. The seco...
2022-11-03 16:07:17 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the model is finally reaching its final form. With those few details painted and pre-dusting applied, it's ready for enamel weathering and some snow sprinkling!
Regarding details, I tried a new method for painting the headlight. A very basic, some might say beginner-level, coat of silver, followed by a...
2022-11-02 11:24:20 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the most time consuming task is done, and now it's all the details, tracks and wheels that have to be painted!
When we think about it, this tank survived in active service until 1943, a true veteran! Did it get repainted at some point, maybe when it received the additional armor package? Probably... But that...
2022-10-31 08:59:36 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, yesterday I finished the basic winter coat with a round of pin washes and mapping. Today I edited the video and I'm ready to continue tomorrow with chipping and rust effects!
The washes used were Winter Streaking Grime and Wash For Interiors, both from AK. I planned a similar approach as on the Pz 38 -...
2022-10-27 19:51:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Base colors are ready, and now we can proceed with weathering effects! This tank's shape will now forever remind me of its Toon Tank version and I hate Meng for ruining one of the coolest Soviet war machines for me!!!
2022-10-27 19:40:15 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the whitewash is on. Turns out a lot of the post-shaded 4BO remains visible, as the tank was apparently camouflaged, well, just partially, as seen in the reference photo.
I tried some kind of post-shading in the white as well. I sprayed it in a random mottled pattern, then chipped it down. This, as exp...
2022-10-25 14:41:39 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, here's a quick progress from Friday evening. And yes, it's a really quick progress because this whole post-shading work went super smooth and fast!
The parcel I ordered last Monday arrived today, which is really unfortunate because I'm used to wait 3 days tops... and it was even more unfortunate, as I ...
2022-10-24 09:17:14 +0000 UTC View Post
This week we're dialling things down a notch with this laid-back build, my friends :)
2022-10-21 16:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Off to the painting booth! As I was setting up the white background, I noticed a rather thick film of fine dust all over it. The contractor left a lot of mess when he was cutting the bathroom tiles in the hallway!
2022-10-21 09:24:30 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the model is ready for painting. The real tank is captured on video just from the left side showing only two mudguard sections still intact. The other side is a complete mystery, so I went with the no-mudguard option because a KV tank without fenders just looks so... different. It suddenly changes from a very bulk...
2022-10-20 16:15:35 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, a KV-2 is a tank that's mostly about steel textures - be it the stippled putty or weld beads. However, most of them are quite subtle!
Something I want to praise is the mixture of Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type and Green Stuff. I like both for different reasons, and each one is lacking the best propertie...
2022-10-19 08:42:51 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, after finishing the large diorama I knew two things, and as it seems, some of you were reading my mind! The next project should be something laid back, small - preferably Tamiya in 1/48th scale, and something from WW2 again.
The best candidate was this KV-2 I bought two years ago. Initially I wanted to...
2022-10-17 12:44:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Just in time, and it's one of the longer videos!
2022-10-14 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, this unexpected and unexpectedly large project has finally reached its conclusion. If there's anything to be learned from this diorama, it's being smart when choosing your projects. If your life is busy, a complicated project might take you forever to finish - or you might slowly lose your mind if you want to fini...
2022-10-14 00:14:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to the Chop Shop, where tanks go to die, or to be reborn again thanks to volunteers :D
2022-10-14 00:09:12 +0000 UTC View Post
My friends, the results ain't perfect, but it's honest work! :D
Due to time constraints, I had to finish the other mechanic "out of the box", and that means some visible printing texture on his back and the WW2-style dog tag around his neck along with some other imperfections on the surface. If nothing else, this ...
2022-10-12 07:34:19 +0000 UTC View Post
