Granted By Dazzled....FULFILLED

[Titan]

Yes beer time, more important I think. Have a good time

Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

Have a great time Darryl. Personally, I don't often put modelling before a good slurp - especially yummy continental lager

[Dazzled]

Have a great time Darryl. Personally, I don't often put modelling before a good slurp - especially yummy continental lager

It is extremely yummy.

Doesn't do much for personal verticality though

[Dazzled]

Well, it's been a while. First studying got in the way. Then an enforced trip to Belgium distracted me. Finally work and an appalling head cold conspired to keep me away from the bench. But today I returned.....to find that the water in my brush cleaning pot has dried out .

So, after a brief visit to the tap it was on with the Grant.

And things have been happening, yes siree! The tracks were being treated to a coat of Tamiya XF-56 and dunked in my own special blend of seven herbs and spices chalk pastels to give them a better appearance than the glossy rubber band plastic. So Seventies

I got the wheels and suspension finished and got the tracks on double quick using the recommended method of burning myself with a screwdriver tip (something Mr Tamiya learned during the war, no doubt ).

Then, with a flourish, some superglue and a modicum of bad language, the sand shields were coaxed into place.





And that wouldn't be bad progress but wait, to quote Jimmy Cricket, there's more.


I've wanted to try a bit of salt weathering for a while but, to be honest, I don't build a lot of armour. When I do build military vehicles I'm more inclined towards soft skins so the opportunity hasn't really presented itself until now. A desert scheme tank appeared to be the ideal subject.

So, first a base colour. I had some Tamiya XF-81 RAF Dark Green (2) ready thinned and it seemed close enough so the model was given a quick blast over. Before doing this I made sure to mask off the running gear by means of a little card "boat" taped around the bottom of the vehicle.




Then I put some clean water, out of my drinking glass (fortunately I didn't mix it up with the wine glass ), into the airbrush and gave the model a good soaking, starting with the turret. While this was wet I sprinkled over some good rock salt, manfully resisting the urge to add pepper and a hint of rosemary . I repeated the process for the hull then, with probably not enough drying time, loaded the Aztek with XF-59 and started applying the top coat. I had to do this pretty gently at first to avoid blowing the salt grains away, then building up the paint in layers.

Now I did mention the foreshortened drying time brought on by impatience and Merlot. Well this seems to have had a fortuitous effect. I've done some building modelling in the past where I've achieved distressed effects by inducing a reaction between varnishes, stains and paints and here I seem to have achieved something very similar. The salty residue appears to have reacted with the acrylic paint and produced a very nice weathering effect. Not only this but (and I can't capture this in a picture) it's given the model "texture". It's weird and unplanned but I'm pretty pleased with it.

After the painting, which took less than 1 1/2 hours start to finish, I added some scratches and ground pastel weathering before cleaning up the surface with cotton buds and kitchen towel. This is where it's at now.









There are still a few things to do but todays few hours at the bench have been highly pleasing and a real stress reliever

[iggie]

That looks really good and very authentic!

[Old_Tonto]

It looks awesome Darryl, very realistic. You obviously need to drink more.

[TobyC]

What a great result. Merlot motivated modelling is clearly the way forward.

[ShaunW]

Excellent weathering effects, I like that a lot. Obviously wine refreshes the parts other drinks cannot reach

[Molly-new]

That does look good, I am definitely going to remember that tip, and drink more wine.

[jssel]

Darryl, that is some truly fine weathering. It looks so real.

[Dazzled]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Much appreciated .

I've snuck in a couple of hours at the bench today along with my lovely assistant, Famous Grouse. It was the only way to relieve the stress of the threat of a visit to my mother-in-law hanging over me .

I did some decalling, giving them a dose of weathering immediately after application. The overcoat of matt varnish was a big help in absorbing the streaks and stains I applied although the decals were pretty reluctant to come away from the backing paper. I did wonder if I'd get them on before the new year.

Apart from that, there were the towing shackles, coaxial MG and external tools to paint up and add. I went for a mix of finishes with these using Humbrol Metalcote polished steel as an undercoat where appropriate. Polishing any overpainted areas then gave nice metallic worn edges. Then I added an aerial wire and decided to call it done.

And here it is.


















Next!

[Kitaholic]

Really nice work, got to love the Grant/Lee design

[jssel]

Famous Grouse? I keep that right next to my Glenlivet. Good call.

Most beautiful work.

[Clashcityrocker]

Looks suitably desertised.

Nigel

[ShaunW]

This looks great Darryl, you've got the desert weathering spot on to me.