Showing posts with label diorama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diorama. Show all posts

Monday, 19 October 2015

7TP in September Campaign - 3rd Diorama in Life

Quite some times ago ( probably back in 2013 ), I sent my good friend and a very talented modeller Thanos [check out his Youtube channel] two copies ( or was it one? I cannot remember well) of extra weathering magazines I had lying around. Thanos was starting into weathering and I sent him the books so as to help him with weathering.

It was a very small gesture but Thanos was over-whelmed by it and he sent me a back a rather unique tank model. I call it unique because it's a kind of vehicle I would never buy by myself.

Thanos sent me a 1/35 Polish 7TP light tank with the twin turret from Mirage Hobby. I admit I am not into light tanks but since Thanos was kind enough to send me this, I decided to give this my best and decided to make a diorama out of it.

Yes, this is one of the last few models I finished before I had to leave the UK and return to this god forsaken country called Burma which I am still stuck even until now as I am figuring out my next move as in where to go and how to go so ( go as in migrate ).

This quite old yet lovely model was painted by a variety of paints and paint brands. I cannot remember exactly which paint exactly but here is a break down as much as I can remember, 
I used Olive Green mixed with a very small amount of tan to get a very light olive green. I also put on thin clear green on top once dried for some tonal variety. 
I used Red brown but I mixed with something which I cannot remember to get a different tone from the German three tone.
For the dark yellow base, I used Dark yellow BUT i put on a layer of thin Clear Yellow on top to give it more richness and make the colours more yellow.

For the weathering, I tried my best to keep with the summer period of Europe, a dry and dusty look with grasses and flowers. The dio idea is that the 7TP is coming up on an embankment to a forest road/path. I don't know if that even looks like that LOL. 


This is one of the few kits that I am absolutely happy with what I did. I did have to nitpick about some boo-boos but the enjoyment and seeing it finished far weight the boo-boos
It's time for the photos - 
(Just click on the smaller ones and they will pop out )







Some close ups on the vehicle itself -






Some close ups on the ground work -





And as usual, my show case photos from various angles -

 








Since this is a vehicle with two turrents and two guns, I cannot do my signature Gary Wintin shot ... how sad :(.....

The vehicle itself just looks lovely and I'm really happy with how this turns out. The only thing I am not happy about this build is the lack of track marks on the ground. I tried to make track marks but subsequent ground works and stuffs has rendered my works on the track marks null. I need to practice more.

 This is another milestone in my skills, especially in  making diorama and bases. 

This is one baby I will be proud to have on my shelf as this is a dear gift from Thanos and I will never sell any gift kits from my friends. Plus, this is one of the few kits I managed to finished before leaving the United Kingdom so this baby hold a special meaning to my heart. 

If you guys see anything that I need to improve with my diorama building skills, Please do leave some C&C. Thank you very much. 

Until next time. 

Read more >>

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

'' Stubborn Emil resting '' - Trumpeter 1:35 Sturer Emil

Greeting my beloved readers ...

I feel good today. As you all know, I have a dissertation to write and I need to write at least 18000 words. Today, I have got up to 19087 words so, I'm actually feeling good. I just need to write a final conclusion, fix some words and sentences and some more touch ups and I should be ready to submit by the 11th of September. Therefore, I have decided to celebrate by finishing the photo shoot, editing the photos and launch another finished kit.  

I have been working for this kit for quite some time now, it just got pushed back and back and finally managed to finished it. 

This is the one and only kit of the Sturer Emil avaiable in 1/35 and quite a lot of extensive reviews have been done when it comes out so I will not be wasting any time saying how is the kit. 

I painted the entire thing in VMA German Grey. Since it was a mono-tone vehicle, I had a great time playing with the highlights and shadows. I used Black and Nato Black (from VMA) and Deck Tan, buff and Wodden Deck Tan (Tamiya) to get the darkened and lighted colours of the German Grey.

The kit is build out of the box with the exception of the metal barrel, which was sourced from RB Model. It was a right decision to upgrade with the metal barrel as the kit's barrel is shorter than it actually supposed to be. 

I bought a set of SPG rider crew from Mini-art and fixed the poses accordingly to fit on my Sturer Emil. Unwilling to pose the figures in any kind of action pose, I decided to make them relaxed and fooling around on their vehicle between the fighting. The figures are painted with an assortment of colour; VMC, Tamiya, Panzer Aces and Citidal. 

For the weathering, I wanted to show it used well enough but not entirely beat up so much from the Offensive during Operation Babarossa. I decided to go heavy on the dried mud and accumulated soils as well as a moderate bit of dusts collected on the upper surfaces due to the dusty summer of Russia. 

It's time for the photos - 
(Just click on the smaller ones and they will pop out ) 






The running gears -

The dust and numerous chippings from severe usage -






The exhaust and the rusts on the spare tracks -

The on-board tools -

The Crew -



And as usual, my show case photos from various angles -











And as usual from me  ( taking a Gary Wintin Shot with the gun locked like this is kinda silly but meh :P ) 




Well, that's all I can say about this. In retrospect, I regretted not going for the After-market Indi-tracks (doesn't matter which one) but since they would cost me a further substantial amount ( Posted ), I just opted out of it. I do regret that decision as the indi-tracks would have look much better than the vinyl I used out of the box.


I also totally forgot to put on the cover tarp at the back of the superstructure. I totally forgot about it until I read AFV Modeller issue 69 again today which have a very nice build article of this same vehicle. 

Another thing I have forgotten to put on was the little box/bracket for the jerry cans as described by the same articles and some references photos. Oh well....... 

Another think I have noticed and greatly unhappy about is that I have totally messed up the shoulders on the figure. I did a poor job with them and now, their uniforms are not flush and looks totally horrible.

The fifth point that I am not happy about is the spare tracks. I have my doubts about the state of rusts I put them in. Maybe I should have just keep them dark metallic colour instead of all rust. I think it looks silly. I don't know.

Apart from these five points, I am really happy with this baby. The vehicles look just lovely and this is a milestone in my skills in applying streakins and chippings.  This is one baby I will be proud to have on my shelf or another one shelf should anybody would buy it as I have plans to sell it ).

Speaking of selling, I am selling some of my built models so if any of you are interested, shoot me an offer on ebay -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/romance6688
Internationals are welcomed as well but most likely have to be communicated via email and paypal as I did not turn on international shipping on ebay. So shoot me an offer on ebay or from email if anybody's interested.

Thank you guys for always supporting me. Thank you dear readers for your patronage as well.

Until the next post. 
Read more >>