1/48 Suyata Panther A maintenance diorama

[DennisM]

Started work one one of the figures. The detail on these guys is really soft. Had to scribe lines and add some undercuts to some parts. Here is an arm before and after. The head took some work too.

[Tojo72]

Yes,I really like where this is going.

[406 Silverado]

Oct 14, 2023 21:26:24 GMT -5 DennisM said:

Started work one one of the figures. The detail on these guys is really soft. Had to scribe lines and add some undercuts to some parts. Here is an arm before and after. The head tool some work too.

You sure did do alot of clean up work to that guy. Wowsers Dennis. These guys are going to add alot more depth to the whole diorama.

[stikpusher]

Wow! Big improvement to the figure with your clean up and scribing!

[reserve]

Lookin' fine sir.

Tammy figures have been getting better as of late, but some of the older ones are tough.

[Joe Rix]

Really nice work on enhancing the figure Dennis. That effort is going to go a long ways in the over all appearance of your build.

[kyledehart5]

Amazing work. I have no idea how to do anything with a figure.

[stikpusher]

Oct 16, 2023 5:07:53 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Amazing work. I have no idea how to do anything with a figure.

I'm with you there.... I can get the uniforms looking decent enough, but I'm all over the place with faces... 

[reserve]

One of the nicer things about 1/48 figures is you can base paint the face and get away with a wash for shading...which is all you really need since they're so small

[buddho]

Excellent work on the zimm...such a cool build.

[DennisM]

Started gluing the hull halves together. It needs to be clamped since it is a tight fit with the interior. Only have the two clamps so it will take a while.
Also got some resin tracks. I really don't like plastic tracks. Huge source of frustration for me. I decided I am willing to spend a few dollars to avoid frustration. It is a hobby after all, why would I not avoid aggravation.
These are cheap Chinese tracks. They snap together instead of pins. They give you extra but there are a lot of defective pieces and some just break during assembly. I finished with about 10 to spare. The guide horns are super thin and flimsy and easily bend and break. Next time I will order the slightly more expensive Polish ones.

[406 Silverado]

This is coming along well so far Dennis. From what I've seen and heard around the folks that I hang with, 3d printed tracks now seem to be the way to go. Sure there are the cheaper ones as you've pointed out but they're getting better and better all the time. There's a group called Scale Colors 3D that makes some really good 3D printed tracks. Chromdome and I saw them at the Nats and I've gotta say.......those are the guys that I would go with when I get up the gumption to build an armor model.

[Steve Zuleski]

Just catching up, looks great to me!

[406 Silverado]

I was just thinking about this build yesterday while pondering through my stash (since I have one of these in it) and was wondering how this one was coming along Dennis ( DennisM ).

[Tojo72]

Those 3 D tracks should go nicely

[DennisM]

Been awhile since I made an update. Switched out the kit spare tracks with 3D printed ones.
I primed with Stynlrez gray and then painted the whole thing a warm dark brown. I highlighted with a light brown before painting with Tamiya Dark Yellow. Added some deck tan and added some highlights.
Getting closer to at least finishing the tank. The gantry is challenging, but I think I have the hardest part of it done.
Also had to modify the base. It is set up to be removing the turret, not already removed and set to the side.

[deafpanzer]

Beautiful paint job on the Panther! 👍

[406 Silverado]

I'm still trying to grasp the fact that this is all in 1/48 scale Dennis because you sure are putting 1/35 scale detail and work into this little guy. Man.....this one's packing a HUGE punch in the area of attention to detail. Good to see progress on this and even better to see you back.

[Joe Rix]

Excellent effect on the paint job. Your process has yielded some remarkable results.

[DennisM]

Going to try to get as much done this weekend as possible.
Painted the spare tracks with a base coat of a dark brown and then different shades of gray and brown trying to accent the joint helping show it us two different pieces. It will get further treatment with washes later which will tone it down a little.

[406 Silverado]

Still continuing to "wow" along the way Dennis and thank you for explaining the processes involved.

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving buddy.

[handiabled]

Just when I think you can't make this look more amazing for the scale, you do!

[chromdome35]

You are slaying this build. Loving the paint job so far.

[hasenpfeffer]

You're flying now! Everything is coming together very nicely. I still can't get over how good those grates look for 1/48. That 3D interweave is better than the 1/35 scales kits I just built. And spares with pins. Gotta love it.

[Tojo72]

Camo looks great,like that figure also

[DennisM]

Nov 23, 2023 11:30:33 GMT -5 hasenpfeffer said:

You're flying now! Everything is coming together very nicely. I still can't get over how good those grates look for 1/48. That 3D interweave is better than the 1/35 scales kits I just built. And spares with pins. Gotta love it.

Wow, I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out. Impressive.

Thank you everyone for the encouragement.

Small disaster here but it is fixed. Somewhere along the way a roadwheel got knocked off the desk and the dogs found it before I did. Noticed it was missing a couple of days ago and then somehow found it in the garage. Totally beyond repair. Then my wife (who is awesome by the way) says just but another kit. So I start looking around and Squadron had just the tank without the crane on sale for $23 for black Friday. I plan on getting a 3D printer at some point so I will just steal a wheel and print one in the future.

So I am working on the gantry waiting for the new part. Very fiddly. Feels like doing rigging on a shiip model.  Great care must be taken to make sure the string stays movable when gluing parts together that sandwich the string in between. The photoetch chain is terrible. Of course ut is flat, but it also is long and just does not sit naturally. So I got the smallest craft store chain I could find to replace it. It is overscale but still looks better than the PE. It is difficult to photograph, but I am gluing the chain at every contact point with CA glue. I think it will be worth the effort.

Really trying to get this done by end of the group build. It is going to be close

[deafpanzer]

Sorry about the wheels mishap! You can always ask the guys here if they have a spare wheel if 3D printing doesn't work out. I am sure somebody here has like 100 of those...

Definitely a huge improvement using better chains!

[handiabled]

I feel your pain with chewed on parts. One of my Wife's cats like to chew photo etch frets... that usually goes over great. The chain and the gantry look great! Rounded chain is much better than a flat pe one

[kyledehart5]

Sorry about the wheel. I am continually thankful that somehow none of our cats are chewers. If I leave stuff near the edge of the table and they notice then it's definitely getting swatted off but they've yet to eat a part or chew it up. They're really just in it for my boxes. Lol. Also really nice upgrade on the chain. Perhaps it is overscaled but I think it looks just about right on there. The great work continues.

[DennisM]

Not a huge update, but just wanted to show the engine deck. Not normally a huge fan of chipping, but since this is a maintenance setting I thought it would be appropriate. This is just AK wash and I will add some oils to dirty it up some. Got the tracks mostly painted. I will have some pics when they are done.