nightshiftmodeller

Early video

My friends, please enjoy this venture into a slightly different alley of our hobby :) 

New 3D model

My friends, I uploaded a new, reworked rain gutter to our shared Google Drive folder. 

This one has thicker walls and is 12 cm long, so you can trim it to your liking (I couldn't print anything longer than that on my Mono SE lol)

The previous model had very thin (although accurately thin) walls. But they made...

HD photos

My friends, figuring out how to photograph this facade was a real head scratcher! :D 

But then, out of nowhere, sun peeked out after more than a month of constant clouds. I just knew that natural harsh shadows cast by sunlight would make the overall viewing experience much more pleasant compared to artificial studi...

The deed is done

My friends, I just finished the factory facade!

Well, all that was left to do on the model was paint the roof and make the gutters. Here I tried a few new things. For the corrugated metal roof, I tried brush-painting a layer of grey over chipping fluid. After all, a thicker layer of paint would lead to larger chips whic...

Some ideas from today’s walk

My friends, here are a few pictures of old facades I snapped today in a nearby village. Some interesting details for diorama purposes, or simply as a reference for a miniature facade 😊

Almost finished!

My friends, Covid is pretty much gone, and I finished the metal gate. 

This was a very refreshing experience because, apart from an enamel pin wash and standard HS chipping, every technique was new to me. I did the initial base coat in two layers, each chipped with VMS chipping medium, just to get the basic outline...

Some modelling with Covid…

My friends, it turned out that my man-flu was actually Covid… again, after more than a year 😪 So I spent 3 days on the couch and in bed because I wanted to get better ASAP. At least I had time to catch up on some TV shows!

Today I feel better so I did some modelling, tackling the least appealing part od the facade...

It’s starting to resemble the original

My friends, I love that tidy, clean look of painted bricks without mortar, but we know that the real fun begins once we start the aging process.

Once again, I tried following the reference image as closely as possible. Mortar was done with Bergswerk foam putty, but this time I also used a soft round brush to stipple a ...

Some paints!

My friends, I was struck by man flu, so you can imagine the suffering I'm currently going through! But despite this tragedy, I managed to slap some paints on the factory facade. 

I started with the concrete because this is the only "sloppy" part of the paint job. Sponges are heavily involved in this process, and ba...

Primer coat on

My friends, this time I took a completely different approach! Instead of a dark primer, I went with white. I also added a thin coat of Deck Tan to establish the basic tone of the concrete. Then I flooded the entire surface with black ink which has amazing blending properties!

It was pure hell on the bricks as it wouldn...

Ready for painting!

My friends, I think that the facade is just about ready to receive a coat of primer. After all, the remaining details are easier to add once the painting is finished because they’d stand in the way. For example, the concrete and stucco will be painted with a sponge, and adding the mortar lines requires a large silicone brus...

New 3D model

My gosh, it's been a year since I made another worthy 3D detail, my friends! 

Let's fix it right now with this round air vent that you can use on miniature buildings, preferably something industrial :) 

It's located in the Google drive folder, as usual, under the name "Air Vent"

In 1/35th scale, ea...

More industrial decay

My friends, I've found some time over the weekend to work on the remaining brick segments. Today was quite productive and most of the other important elements are done! 

The air vent is 3D printed and designed by yours truly, and I'll upload the file in a moment :) 

Creating the board-formed concrete fra...

Early video

My friends, this almost-movie is here! It was definitely the most difficult video to produce, but getting it done was extra satisfying. I feel like the occasional live entry filmed outside might be a nice touch if I can find a good filming location.

Fun fact: I traveled for about 45 minutes to the real water mill at the...

New project!

My friends, it's time to start a new model. And this one is going to be VERY different, yet somehow similar to what we've already done before. In simplest terms, it's going to be another styrofoam building, but... 

This time I'm making just one wall. Full of interesting textures and details. It's not going into a d...

HD photos

My friends, here's a large package of proper studio pictures! The first one is only a video thumbnail and it's rather small, but the rest is... you know, the usual deal :) 

This diorama was even difficult in terms of photography. When I'm editing photos, I usually just set the color balance, add lens corrections, p...

Finished, at last!

My friends, it is with great pleasure to inform you that this gigantic diorama is finished. Funny thing is, it's smaller than the Cats And Dogs diorama from Normandy I did a couple years ago, but it's much more complex. Also, the amount of various features and details makes it incomparably bigger in terms of the overall workl...

Just the figures remain!

My friends, the resin pour was an absolute success. 

Taping the sides was the easiest task from all of my epoxy adventures so far as the "dams" are very small and simple in shape. Then I sealed the bottom of the creek with a reasonably thick layer of Still Water because the terrain was extremely porous. So much so ...

My friends, we’re getting there

As the title says, I’m pretty much ready to add the epoxy water 😊

Painting this base was quite whimsical because it started with basic airbrush work where I tried to establish a visible color gradient. Basically, keeping the darker and more vivid tones around the moat and the mill because that’s where all the moi...

All the accessories are done!

My friends, painting these additional watermill components was probably more tedious than the huge building itself!

To give RT proper credit, they sent me a replacement for the damaged floodgate, commenting that mine was a pre-production prototype with some kinks that had to be ironed out. They actually sent me this di...

Big boi finished

My friends, after much effort and struggle, the mill is ready 😊

Some parts turned out great, others looked different in my mind, but I’m happy with the overall look.

I found the rocks to be more difficult to paint when compared to those I made from styrofoam on my previous projects. Especially the lines betw...

Oh, this wasn’t easy!

My friends, the roof gave me some trouble! Generally speaking, roofs are my weak spot and I always struggle with their painting.

Here I went in with the wrong approach and ended up repainting the whole thing. Luckily, I always make a test piece whenever possible so I only had to rework the smaller roof. But still, indi...

Moar textures!

My friends, half of the mill is painted. Bricks were done in the same way as the pier, but I had to be very restrained with the moss effects. In fact, nost weathering effects had to be subdued, especially towards the attic. Painting them all in individual tones was definitely boring, but the rest was awesome!

The plast...

First piece of puzzle

My friends, here’s the first part of the diorama painted 😁 The pier for the water wheel. It was a great starting point because it’s small yet contains most textures found on the mill.

I was a bit skeptical about the rusted metal on top of it bud real life references show these parts as boring, brown surfaces, so...

All the textures! And a sneaky reveal

My friends, the much requested tattoo reveal is here, although it’s nothing insane and quite nerdy (nope, it’s nothing philosophical, purely mathematical 😂).

Also, I almost cut off the tip of my finger when I was cutting the veneer so I had to take a two-day medical break because it kept bleeding a LOT.

I...

Moat is ready

My friends, yesterday was a tough day because I went to get my first tattoo 😓😂 But I managed to lay down all the important details in the creek.

This was honestly so much stupid fun because every section is full of exciting textures, and I can’t wait to start painting this part and see how the rocks are gonna l...

New base

My friends, all the large sub-components of this diorama finally have their place! 😊 The new styrofoam base is smaller, lighter, and taller than the heavy plaster slab. Of course, the original part could’ve been elevated with a block of foam underneath, but it was the weight and size that was bothering me.

I repli...

Water wheel

My friends, the water wheel is dope! And the assembly is very simple. Definitely unique and fun detail.

The floodgate, however, has some issues. Some of the parts are slightly bent, and one od the clockwork wheels wasn’t printed properly. There’s little I can do about it, but I have a few ideas on how to conceal th...

It’s taking shape

My friends, the mill is almost complete. This is my progress from Friday, and most of the time was spent on the roof. It’s made from black cardboard and although the tiles come in rows, it still takes time to get it right! Luckily, once soaked with PVA and left to dry, the paper turns rock hard, becoming very easy to cut an...

Early video

As expected, it turned into one of the longer ones. Enjoy!