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Finally the B-4 howitzer diorama is finished. Both the gun and the crew are Trumpeter kits.        More pictures: https://imgur.com/gallery/BGPx19I Both the gun and crew are outright bad kits. The fit on many large parts is off, which on the crew you can at least fill and sand in most cases, but on the gun the rivets make this very difficult. The rivets make it difficult to clean the mold lines as well. The track links don't connect well and are a bad length to wrap around the suspension, good thing the snow can cover up my crimes. The major assemblies line up very badly and there are no locator holes to line them up, you just kind of have to estimate it and hope for the best. The gun is technically movable, but fits on the trunnions so badly that it will fall off if you don't glue it down. The piston on the right side will also fall off if you move the gun, there is no way to attach its arm so it can rotate as the gun is elevated. The figures are a mixed bag. The details on the bodies are good, but the bags are very bad. The strap for the bag is also very inconsistently done. The faces are distorted and grotesque, while at the same time having very shallow detail. The poses don't match the ones shown on the box and can't actually fit on this model very well. As for the painting, this one was many firsts for me. I've never painted greatcoats, but the gray colour scheme made it quite easy. I also decided to go with a new winter camo scheme using white oil over the green rather than hairspray + white acrylic. It worked amazingly well and chipped realistically, I think I will go with this solution in the future. I also used Vallejo Environment Acrylic Snow for the base, it seems to have worked pretty well.
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Oct 29, 2021 03:17
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Looks good but I feel there should be some snow on the soldiers. Like on the top of their boots, shoulders and helmets. Maybe less so for the ones firing.
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Oct 29, 2021 09:34
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A bottle of Nuln Oil applied to those lads would make a world of difference too.
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Oct 29, 2021 14:37
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Anyone have any really good tips for wire trees? I'm working on a dio right now and the tree part has me stumped (no pun intended). I'm happy with shaping the wire, but adding bark and foliage in a way that is convincing is currently eluding me.
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Oct 29, 2021 16:12
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I lost one of the wheel insert bits for one of my 1/24 Tamiya kits. I know I can email Tamiya about it, but anyone got any clever replacement part ideas outside of that? I stole one out of another kit I've got, but I'm still under the delusion that I'll build all my kits one day. Pic below for what I'm missing...
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Oct 29, 2021 17:03
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It'll be easier just to email Tamiya about it, but you could muck about with getting some plastic rod of appropriate diametre and drilling it out.
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Oct 29, 2021 17:32
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Gewehr 43 posted:Anyone have any really good tips for wire trees? I'm working on a dio right now and the tree part has me stumped (no pun intended). I'm happy with shaping the wire, but adding bark and foliage in a way that is convincing is currently eluding me. Last time I did trees I slapped some Liquitex Artist's Paste over the wire and that made for an okay base. Once it dries out a bit you can start to shape the bark. Then I dumped snow all over it and hid all the detail, so you can really just skip the middleman and do that.
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Oct 29, 2021 17:38
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nitsuga posted:I lost one of the wheel insert bits for one of my 1/24 Tamiya kits. I know I can email Tamiya about it, but anyone got any clever replacement part ideas outside of that? I stole one out of another kit I've got, but I'm still under the delusion that I'll build all my kits one day. Pic below for what I'm missing... You might be able to find some bushings like that in a hardware store. I was surprised to find some #0 O-rings for my airbrush for just pennies each. Other than that, you don't happen to have a metalworking lathe, by chance?
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Oct 30, 2021 02:18
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SkunkDuster posted:You might be able to find some bushings like that in a hardware store. I was surprised to find some #0 O-rings for my airbrush for just pennies each. I’ll have to check out the local hardware store, but sadly no lathe. That’d be pretty cool though.
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Oct 30, 2021 03:18
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nitsuga posted:I’ll have to check out the local hardware store, but sadly no lathe. That’d be pretty cool though. Don't happen to live in AZ do you? Because I happen to have a small lathe and milling machine.
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Oct 30, 2021 05:28
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The Locator posted:Don't happen to live in AZ do you? Because I happen to have a small lathe and milling machine. No, but I’d be willing to pay a fair sum for a few replacements if you are.
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Oct 30, 2021 11:52
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I'm getting back into building models after not really having done it since my early teens. I was never any good at brushing paint so I think I'd prefer an airbrush. Mostly feel like I'm doing a pretty good job on tool research and picked out an iwata revolution and kinda waffling over how much I want to spend on a compressor but that's not important it'll be whichever as-186 clone has the least bad reviews for the money. mostly picked out a respirator system and working on a hood to take the fumes outside. what I'm trying to point out here is I've been doing plenty of research and have found answers for most things but I'm not really sure how to even ask for what I'm looking for. basically a solid primer, probably better if it's video for something like this, on mixing paint for colors, how to prep the paint to spray, basic simple poo poo that I never picked up from art classes. I helped my dad paint some cars forever ago but was never a big fan of the smell so didn't hang around to learn these lessons while I'm pretty set on how to maintain a sprayer and lay down paint this seems like it'll trip me up fastest. getting a cheap gunpla as a first attempt but I'm probably still a good month out from having everything I need to start anyways.
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Oct 30, 2021 12:51
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nitsuga posted:No, but I’d be willing to pay a fair sum for a few replacements if you are. They look pretty simple, just a cylinder with a hole in them, right? I'm headed out the door for a trip and will probably be out for a couple weeks, but if you want to send me the exact dimensions I could probably turn a few of those out of brass without much of a problem. I probably have the brass stock to do it, if not it's pretty easy to get. I assume the material isn't terribly important and a metal piece would work instead of whatever type of plastic that is? Shoot me a PM with the dimensions and when I get back from the trip I'll see what I've got that I can make some out of.
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Oct 30, 2021 16:31
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The Locator posted:They look pretty simple, just a cylinder with a hole in them, right? I'm headed out the door for a trip and will probably be out for a couple weeks, but if you want to send me the exact dimensions I could probably turn a few of those out of brass without much of a problem. I probably have the brass stock to do it, if not it's pretty easy to get. Thanks! Will do.
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Oct 30, 2021 16:55
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This isn't exactly plastic models. Just a perspective to look like that. Still thought it would be fun to share for inspiration for anyone. https://mymodernmet.com/tetris-challenge-ognyan-stefanov/
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Oct 30, 2021 21:43
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the paradigm shift posted:I'm getting back into building models after not really having done it since my early teens. I was never any good at brushing paint so I think I'd prefer an airbrush. Mostly feel like I'm doing a pretty good job on tool research and picked out an iwata revolution and kinda waffling over how much I want to spend on a compressor but that's not important it'll be whichever as-186 clone has the least bad reviews for the money. mostly picked out a respirator system and working on a hood to take the fumes outside. There is a fair chance Paul Budzik has anticipated whatever questions you may have as far as the minutiae of airbrushing, along with other useful hobby stuff. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9UUZIFvHRQPfDoCP-bTB7A/playlists Some of what you're asking about will come down to the paints you're using. Do you know if you're going to go with acrylics or enamels?
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Oct 31, 2021 00:28
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grassy gnoll posted:There is a fair chance Paul Budzik has anticipated whatever questions you may have as far as the minutiae of airbrushing, along with other useful hobby stuff. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9UUZIFvHRQPfDoCP-bTB7A/playlists thanks for the channel I'll definitely be checking it out thoroughly, to answer your question though, I don't know. that's part of the problem for me is I really have very little first hand knowledge of the difference. why would I choose one over the other kind of stuff just makes me freeze because I spent so long just running away from learning anything about paint. ed: i wanted to add that mostly i'll be interested in building car and bike models other than playing around with gunpla kits but again i really don't know if this makes a difference in paints to use at this point vs tanks, planes, and miniatures the paradigm shift fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Oct 31, 2021 |
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Oct 31, 2021 00:39
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nitsuga posted:I lost one of the wheel insert bits for one of my 1/24 Tamiya kits. I know I can email Tamiya about it, but anyone got any clever replacement part ideas outside of that? I stole one out of another kit I've got, but I'm still under the delusion that I'll build all my kits one day. Pic below for what I'm missing... If you're not concerned about rotating wheels though you can just fill the gap with some putty and glue the shaft in.
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Oct 31, 2021 06:06
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the paradigm shift posted:thanks for the channel I'll definitely be checking it out thoroughly, to answer your question though, I don't know. that's part of the problem for me is I really have very little first hand knowledge of the difference. why would I choose one over the other kind of stuff just makes me freeze because I spent so long just running away from learning anything about paint. For the compressor, I would highly recommend a regular air compressor with a tank from home depot or wherever over an "airbrush compressor". The only exception is if you are in an apartment where noise is a concern. For paints, enamels give the best gloss, but you will need a ventilated spray booth. You can get one for under $150 on amazon. I do about 90% lacquer, 9% acrylics, and 1% enamels in my work (military stuff) so I don't have a good recommendation for which is the best enamel. I'd recommend a lacquer based primer such as Mr. Hobby - Mr Surfacer 1000, but again, you'll need that spray booth. The nice thing about lacquers is that they are impervious to enamel thinners and acrylics, so you can top coat it with anything without worrying about dissolving the primer.
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Oct 31, 2021 06:24
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SkunkDuster posted:For the compressor, I would highly recommend a regular air compressor with a tank from home depot or wherever over an "airbrush compressor". The only exception is if you are in an apartment where noise is a concern. yeah noise is a concern and booth is already planned for sure since I knew I'd need it for the primer. thanks for the quick rundown I guess I'll just search art channels until I find a good tutorial on mixing paint to get the right color.
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Oct 31, 2021 10:49
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SkunkDuster posted:The only exception is if you are in an apartment where noise is a concern. Either way, the tank is the important thing, you want it for constant pressure, especially if you're doing detail work. Also a spray booth and a mask for organic vapors (you'll get one anyway after the first time you sneeze blue).
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Oct 31, 2021 11:09
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yeah I intend to have all of that. no offense but this was the part of the conversation I was trying to avoid by pointing out I'm familiar with the mechanical side of painting just on an automotive scale. what I'm really unfamiliar with and is worrying to me is the actual how is babby formed of mixing paint and not having it come out looking like rear end. is this just a practice makes perfect thing?
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Oct 31, 2021 11:24
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the paradigm shift posted:is this just a practice makes perfect thing?
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Oct 31, 2021 11:35
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Pierzak posted:Mostly. Also, don't get a super-expensive airbrush as your first one, you'll be afraid to gently caress it up with a random mistake. Get a decent but cheapish one, learn the basics, then get a detail one and use the cheap one for priming/varnishing. snagged the $96 iwata revolution because it seemed like a good first choice and wasn't that much more than I could find a neo for
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Oct 31, 2021 11:43
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Priming and mixing paint really isn't daunting once you actually get it in front of you. Some plastic shot cups and an eye dropper/pipette and something to stir it with like a toothpick and you're golden. If a certain paint requires 40% thinner then bam, you just stick say 20 drops of paint in a cup and 8 drops of thinner.
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Oct 31, 2021 11:53
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glad to hear I'm probably just overthinking it. I'll probably get everything else together over the next month and hopefully by the new year I'll have stuff to post. thanks again
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Oct 31, 2021 14:01
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If noise is a concern, try a CO2 tank. Absolutely silent except for the hiss of the airbrush. The tanks can be bought at a gas supply place, they sell them to restaurants for carbonation. Refills are pretty cheap, and as long as you don't run it 24/7, they last a long time. I got a portable set of tanks used for pneumatic tools. They're small and hold maybe a half liter of liquid CO2. For my rare needs it works out well, and I get my refills at a sports store. They also get used for airsoft and paintball guns, so that's another option. You just need a small fitting to connect the line, I got mine at the same big box hardware place I got my tanks.
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Oct 31, 2021 18:46
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the paradigm shift posted:glad to hear I'm probably just overthinking it. I'll probably get everything else together over the next month and hopefully by the new year I'll have stuff to post. thanks again I think you're overthinking it -- buy a simple kit of a subject you like, and follow their paint color recommendations. Every model you build will be imperfect in some way, so learn from it and move on. Color mixing might be common for the elite modelers out there, but for those of us in the rank and file, we either just buy what the kit instructions recommend or follow online references. E.g., a Spitfire kit might call out dark earth and dark green, and many paint manufacturers will have those colors. Tamiya paints are the line that while easy to work with, are the most limited in color selection, but there are plenty of online references that tell you what the closest match would be or a simple formula to create something close. Also, I got the impression that while some folks paint Gundam kits, they are meant to be perfectly presentable without painting, and in fact painting might interfere with the fit and movement of the joints, so maybe not something for a beginner to start with.
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Oct 31, 2021 20:00
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Wait, people don't colourmix?
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Oct 31, 2021 21:52
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MrUnderbridge posted:If noise is a concern, try a CO2 tank. Absolutely silent except for the hiss of the airbrush. That's basically what my brother does. He has a good size tank with regulator that he lugs to work and charges on one of their compressors.
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Oct 31, 2021 22:07
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Arquinsiel posted:Wait, people don't colourmix? Unless I really care and the available colors are way off I just go straight factory.
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Oct 31, 2021 22:34
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I don't color mix, and can't imagine I ever would. I get why some people do, and know accuracy is sort of the whole point of the hobby for them, but with as many paint colors as there are out there, I can always find one close enough for my purposes. If I wanted to justify my laziness, I'd point out all the difficulties in actually matching paint to real life vehicles anyway, like inaccurate records, inconsistent real world paint standards, the inherent differences in how you perceive paint colors at scale, lighting, sheen, etc, etc. Slugworth fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Nov 1, 2021 |
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Nov 1, 2021 01:42
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:A clay wash is basically colored clay, held in a suspension of water and a few other minor liquids, all non-toxic. You basically slop it on, and then when it "dries", you just use a damp cloth to wipe off the excess wash. The remaining clay stays in the panel lines, and it's a dead simple way of doing panel lines on larger surfaces. It's not any better or worse than oils, just another way to to do it. It's one real advantage is if you have to do a ton of panels lines, you can "slop" it on. Saves lots of time over using oils to run minute bits of paint down each panel line. I really wish I'd seen this before I gave up on the oil washes and started adding decals. Hasegawa did really terrible panel lines on this kit; I even stripped the wings and repainted them in case I'd put too much paint on. Nope. So this is what I ended up with.  Add some clay wash and let it dry.  Wipe it off with a damp paper towel and holy poo poo, night and day difference. This stuff is incredibly fine, there is no sensation of grit while wiping it off, it feels soft and mushy through the paper towel.  I placed an order direct to Flory in the UK, and it got cancelled, so I hit up a domestic supplier, https://www.highaltitudehobbies.com/ Their price is was $7.95 a bottle, and I got them Friday after placing an order last weekend. Amazing stuff, I think I'm giving up on the oil washes altogether.
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Nov 1, 2021 02:49
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working on the Pegasus Nautilus model. It's really good!  are there any good kits for rechargable battery powered LEDs? Im hoping to give this a little USB charger to top off the battery every now and then.
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Nov 1, 2021 02:52
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punishedkissinger posted:working on the Pegasus Nautilus model. It's really good! I bought this kit from VoodooFX. It comes with a simple 9v snap connection for power, but you could presumably alter that for rechargeables.
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Nov 1, 2021 03:05
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Arquinsiel posted:Wait, people don't colourmix? I generally don't try and mix my own colours since I'm colourblind and so it's just a recipe for disaster. I used to hunt out suggested Tamiya mixing formulas online for the multitude of aircraft standard colours they don't produce but eventually just switched to Mr Color lacquers for aircraft as their range is pretty comprehensive, and Sovereign Hobbies enamels for naval subjects.
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Nov 2, 2021 00:46
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I've color mixed a few times with pretty good success but it was mainly because it was late at night and I couldn't just head over to the local hobby store and get the color I needed. I've mixed up various Tamiya acrylics to make a perfect tan leather color for the interior of a Ferrari before. One thing I learned is to mix up a lot more than I think I need because I'll never be able to get those ratios right to reproduce the color exactly should I need more in the future.
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Nov 2, 2021 07:44
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I colour mix and brush paint frequently tbh. Just today I had to mix up some dark blue because the decals that came with the kit cracked in the middle of the panel and didn’t cover the edges at all. I was pretty close to spot on and under the clear they shouldn’t be noticeable. For most of my bodywork though I either use the given ts spray straight from the can or get a zero paints colour matched set of paints. Even now my collection of Tamiya acrylics isn’t extensive because I tend to make do with what I have and try and match the colour if I don’t have it. Years of painting war hammer minis might colour my approach massively though cause back then I didn’t have an airbrush and everything was brush painted.
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Nov 2, 2021 09:03
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1/100 Zvezda tanks, as part of my continuing build of Shermans, with special guest star Kliment Voroshilov.   These are kinda weird. Conservation of detail is pretty scattershot - the KV 2 upper hull is nice and greebly, while the Sherman's bogeys are deep and detailed and the hull MG has vent holes. On the flip side, there's a vent array sculpted on the underside of the Sherman you'll never see, the KV-2 barrel is multipiece, and the detailed and independently-scuplted tow cable on the M4A2 is right next to a blank tab that's supposed to be the entire headlight assembly. Odder still is their construction. These are snap kits meant for use with their wargame, along with a 1/72 infantry range and 1/144 fighters. Most of the snap kits I'm used to have fairly obvious plug-and-socket arrangements along major components; these work more like a Gundam, where there's a central frame you stick stuff on, to varying degrees of success. The frame itself is sort of a noodly, 3D-scuplted peg system, like a crazy straw that decided to take a structural engineering course. On the upside, especially for wargame pieces, this means the model is pretty structurally sound. On the downside, it means there's seams all along the Sherman hull and KV turret, and because the interior post system is a little springy, the components like to pop apart. If you see the gaps in the Sherman hull and the KV turret, those opened up after I hit them with cement and putty. So that kinda sucks! Their 1/144 I-16 was a little bit better in terms of construction.  This also has some weird slices in its construction to allow for better detail, but since there are fewer parts overall it was less of a thing. The only real sticking points in the building were getting the seam behind the pilot's head to stay closed, which I clearly couldn't manage. Other than that, everything clicks together pretty cleanly and the surface detail's actually quite nice. It's nowhere near as crisp as my Sweet or AFV Club 1/144s, but it's also half that price. I decided to try my own clay wash on this guy after mllaneza mentioned the Flory washes. According to the internet, Flory posted his recipe once upon a time, and it's just earth pigment, water, and a surfactant. I bought a ton of earth pigments for weathering for cheap back when, so I already had those sitting around. My ratio was about one part burnt ochre to 5 parts black. Then I added about the same volume of distilled water, and a drop of flow improver. The results were pretty decent, with some use caveats.     For starters, I wish I'd added more ochre to my mix, since it came out pretty much just black anyway. I also think this would have worked better on a larger model with deeper detail. It's definitely faster than an oil wash. The whole process took maybe five minutes from grabbing ingredients to cleaning out my brush. Application really is as simple as slathering the wash all over, letting it dry out for a few minutes, and then wiping with a paper towel. You've got more control over the general tone level than I expected - it'll take a couple of swipes with your blotter to totally remove the wash, so you can set up a gradient if you're careful. Downside is that even scrubbing with a detail brush couldn't fully remove the overall tone, so go brighter on your underpainting than you might do otherwise. The other issue I ran into is that I left the wash to dry out fully for about half an hour, which wasn't enough. Some of the spots reactivated when I varnished the model, which is where the blotches on the upper surface came from. Drying time might ultimately be closer to an oil wash than I'd hoped. Overall it's an interesting tool, but I'll probably stick with oil washes for the most part, because I feel like I have more control in that context. I think this is a great technique for tanks, of some use for planes, and absolutely nothing I would ever put on a car.
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Nov 2, 2021 16:41
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You got spectacular results out of those. IIRC the KV-2 is one of their earliest kits in the line, so it's a bit mediocre. The Pz.38(t) from that era has no side detail on the turret at all though, so it could be worse...
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Nov 2, 2021 18:15
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