Simple test for my Hetzer diorama. The tank will be in ambush position behind a crumbled village house.
A good use for scrap models from my scratch building bin (mainly a motorcycle and a badly damaged 75mm german artillery gun).
Of course, it will need a lot of care (and painting) to make it look decent…
More coming soon.
Done!!! My Hetzer is now weathered and varnished. I am ready for a simple diorama base. The main hatch is open, so I can put the tank commander in. I began painting him, but had a lot of troubles with shading and washes… anyway: in the end, I will prevail!!! 🙂
Meanwhile enjoy the pics:
Quick update on my 1/35 Hetzer tank. I’ll be ready to start chipping and dusting with pigments soon! Yeah!
Next project on the workbench, an Academy Model 1/35 “Hetzer”. I’m done with the base paint, so the fun may begin with weathering (yeah!). It is a nice model, but so small for a 1/35 tank: Hetzers were slightly bigger than a minivan… The paint on the photos look a bit greener than it is really. The light “green” is in fact dunkelgelb, which is yellowish beige (slightly green) normally. Anyway, it is just a quick peek: I’ll have better photos for the final model.
Enjoy!
Quick post: I’ve finished the base for my KV-2. Here are the pics:
I tried the hairspray technique to make rust on a few 1/35 oil drums I had lying around.
1/35 oil drums with rust effect and paint chipping. I need to add a wash to these to make deeper shadow areas.
In fact, WWII Russian KV-2 tanks were not really good. And quite ugly. But the first time german troops met them on the battlefield they were shocked to discover that their armour was almost impossible to penetrate at the time. They were slow, top-heavy, prone to engine failure, and their huge turret was difficult to rotate if the tank was not on level ground. Plus, the massive flat turret was a tempting “shoot me here” sign for enemy anti-tank and tankers…
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this model is a Tamiya 1979 model, restored and repainted. It was missing its main gun, handles, tow cables and hooks, and was in a pretty bad shape. The tracks were pretty low quality too, having details just on the outside part (the inside of the tracks was completely smooth). I replaced the original tracks with a set of higher quality vinyl tracks from a KV-1 Trumpeter kit.
I used this restoration as an opportunity to test many different weathering techniques. In retrospective, I think I went too far with chipping and rust, considering the history of this tank, which mostly roamed the battlefields for 2-3 years… Not a lot of time to rust so badly if you think about it, so I am not sure if it’s that realistic. But it sure was a lot of fun, and it conveys the overall feeling that Russian tanks were ‘crude’ but fierce machines, designed to handle punishment.
I am pretty much done with this model. I will make a small display base (very simple roadside like diorama) in a clear plastic presentation box (originally for car models).
Enjoy the pics!
Digging in some old boxes in the basement, I found 1/35 scale tank models I did some decades ago. They are for the most part beyond any hope of restoration, being badly damaged and missing parts. I kept these just for the pieces I could eventually scavenge for scratch-building.
This is the kind of heavily damaged tanks I found. The KV-2 I am currently working on was in a state similar as this poor Panzer IV 😦
A few tanks however are in better shape (barely) and could potentially be restored. This is the case of the WWII Russian KV-2 tank I decided to rescue.
I haven’t done much painting or sculpting since Christmas. But I decided to get back to the workbench and complete a few projects. Spring is so rainy and cold this year, it is a perfect time for model building 🙂
In this post, you will find photos of my (now) completed sci-fi crates.
A bunch of sci-fi crates ready for the gaming table.
Vasquez: “Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are.”
Well, they are here!!! This is my attempt at sculpting a decent Alien egg and a scary facehugger for the gaming table.
Needless to say, these will get replicated >> evil grin <<
MINIONVAULT 