1:35 RC M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

[Guest]

Thanks guys, I'm gonna try my best to keep to good work up, and hopefully it will look good when its done. Im gonna do a bit of weathering o an old piece of plastic now and take photos on the way.. might even be able to get that on today for ya

[Guest]

Ok well I have some photos from last night of the hull, bit grubbier than before. I also removed the small windows and put some new ones in because they had lost their shine and had all kinds of paint on them. As you can see they are painted a pinky red colour, which is painted inside the hull to try to replicate the windows seen on the real thing. They have a kind of perlesant effect to the which I couldn't get as close as I would have liked but it give the idea and maintains the shine on the window.

This was also to conceal whats going on inside as I think a huge battery pack might be quite unsightly.

Cheers,

Bill.

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[Guest]

Coming along well, Bill. I think I'll take pics as I go on my next build coz I took some of my Jagdtiger just after the paint & some weathering was done but now it's nearly finished it looks completely different! If you've never seen the MIG Productions DVD then it's well worth buying or I think it's posted on You-Tube somewhere. It gives alot of good info about weathering & various techniques.

Patrick

[spanner570]

It's all coming together nicely Bill. Have you thought about some dust, maybe using pastels or MIG pigments? I think that would be appropriate, considering the theatres that the tank would have/been serving in. I need someone to do a dusty model to show me how to do it for my next build!Patrick

Bill, although I havn't contributed to your thread I have been watching progress and it does look well.

If you are contemplating a dusty tank I have used the following method for ages on all my builds, be they tanks or figures and it never fails.

It might be of use to you Patrick as well.

People tend to f**t around when it comes to dusting but nature does'nt work like that.....

When the model is finished, decals and all, and you do need to be brave here, get some polyfilla in a suitable container, arm yourself with a largish paint brush, then upend the model above the filla and coat it all.

then gently flick the residue off. This way dust will naturally gather in the nooks and crannies....Job done.

Depending on which theater of ops. you can add a very small amount of colouring powder but its not neccesary as the paint colour comes through anyway.

To simulate wind just dust off a bit more on the model front...Obviously!!

Although this method sounds 'Heath Robinson' it leaves a perfect dust finish.....Have faith, brother!!

Ron

[Guest]

thanks very much guys, im certainly gonna look up that DVD, and the polyfiller idea sounds cool, although a little scary.. might give it a go on some practice stuff first. I have been using some pastals this morning which I sanded down to dust and applied it to my tracks, seems to have done a good job so far, but im willing to try a few methods.

Cheers again guys,

Bill.

[spanner570]

My method does sound a bit brutal Bill, but when I started my modelling, weathering pigments ect. were almost unheard of, so I had to look at what was available and polyfilla was all there was!!

I am not knocking modern methods but I have in the past seen models ruined by too much fiddling regards to weathering and generally 'roughing up' ending up with what I call 'squeaky clean' weathering.

Just take a look at military archive photos and footage and just look at the state of some of the vehicles and troops!

O.K. soap box kicked away.

I'm sure whatever method of finish you choose the end result will look good.

:cheers:

Ron

[Guest]

Ron, can't we say 'fart' on here then? :nono: As Bill said, I'll test that on something I haven't spent days working on to see how it turns out-but then I bet the guy who won Euro-Militaire with his then-wacky idea about using hairspray was probably told the same thing! :thumbs-up

Patrick

[Guest]

I didn't see your last post Ron-when you started modelling? Didn't you have keep an eye out for the dinosaurs? hehe only kidding! I meant the Vikings!

Patrick

[spanner570]

I didn't see your last post Ron-when you started modelling? Didn't you have keep an eye out for the dinosaurs? hehe only kidding! I meant the Vikings!Patrick

Sorry to go off thread Bill, but I've just been clouted by a gauntlet!!!!

Now listen 'young' Patrick, I have just worked out when I started making models proper like.....Airfix Bismark,1960, back of a dormobile, touring Scotland with mum/dad...promptly sick down dad's driving seat through bending doing model!!!!

So let's have some respect for your elders, squirt!!

:wheelchai Oh, while I'm at it, I will probably be off line for a while with a royal hang over. The present Mrs. Ron is having a surprise birthday party on Sat. so we will be boogying the night away, much to the disgust of our two nearly 40yr.old sons.

More beer!!!!!

Thanks for your patience, Bill. No more, honest!

:beer:

Ron

[Guest]

lmao, not a problem ron, just found a tutorial on the mig pigments on youtube, and decided to give that idea a quick blast, but using powdered pastels instead. To be honest I didn't know how it was going to turn out, but its looking pretty good at the mo. Once I have dusted it down a little and got it right i'll post some pics.

Cheers,

Bill.

[yak face]

Ok well I have some photos from last night of the hull, bit grubbier than before. I also removed the small windows and put some new ones in because they had lost their shine and had all kinds of paint on them. As you can see they are painted a pinky red colour, which is painted inside the hull to try to replicate the windows seen on the real thing. They have a kind of perlesant effect to the which I couldn't get as close as I would have liked but it give the idea and maintains the shine on the window.This was also to conceal whats going on inside as I think a huge battery pack might be quite unsightly.

Cheers,

Bill.

looking great now,bill,keep it up.Something that might be useful for your windows is holographic confetti.Check out the entry on the unconventional materials thread (i think its on page 1) cheers tony

[Guest]

I'll crave your indulgence as well Bill while I apologise to Ron for being disrespectful! Grovel grovel! Have a good night tomorrow Ron! Looking forward to seeing the new pics Bill, I'm doing the same as you, using pastels to see what effects they have. Patrick

[Guest]

well guys, have some new photos for ya, just need to sort them out. I love the pastel effect, as it would seem that varying thicknesses of the material give different effects. I imagine mixing it with pva will also add a shine to create wet mud effect, but that is yet to be explored.

With my hull, i simply mixed varying colour pastels into a wash and covered all the parts I wanted to be dusty. Then, when dry, using a stiff brush first to remove the heavy build up, and then a soft brush to blend it a little. Repeat as desired.

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[Guest]

Hey tony, just realised you posted.. Think thats a great idea about the holographic confetti, i might very well give that a go today.. anything has got to look better than red paint

[yak face]

no probs bill,make sure you get the see through type though.Usually its in shapes like bells or hearts,just get the largest size shapes you can and cut bits out of it.I thinkl i got mine from a birthday card shop. cheers tony