SD.Kfz.181 WIP Dragon - FINAL UPDATE!

[afvfan]

Thanks Andy! The zim is still pretty defined, though I don't know how many paint coats it'll take before it starts filling in. I'm thinking along the lines of doing this a straight dunkelgelb without the camo, but I may change my mind. I've got a couple days now to decide.

It was either the Batmobile or the name "Toothless" (for all the "How to Tame your Dragon" fans)

[bbd468]

I think the black loos pretty damn cool myself! Is that the Michael Keaton Early, George Clooney Mid or Christian Bale Late Version of the Tank? ;D ;D

Gary

[Deleted]

Bat Tiger ? Cool

[406 Silverado]

Looking forward to the paint up date Bob

[afvfan]

Dec 22, 2012 23:32:01 GMT -5 bbd468 said:

I think the black loos pretty damn cool myself! Is that the Michael Keaton Early, George Clooney Mid or Christian Bale Late Version of the Tank? ;D ;D
Gary

Gary, actually it's the special Robert Lowery edition (he was Batman in the 1943 serial). I like the black myself.

Carl - Anything to break up the mundane, right?

Rob - I'd send it up for you to do the paint, but I don't think it's destroyed enough for you. ;D

[TRM]

Got lost in the mix a bit...sorry bout that Bob!! This is looking fantastic!!! LOL...love the Bat Kat!!! Keep up the great work!! All fun from here on out!!

[wbill76]

Nice to see this one progressing to the paint stage!

[afvfan]

T - the fun part? Naw, I can build them all day long. The paint work is where I start having the nightmares! Every time I get into painting, I keep wondering why I haven't picked up a good gravity fed AB. It would make modulation so much easier.

Dicky - I use a black primer from Floquil that I decant from an aerosol. I love the way it covers, even though it has a tendency to clog my AB at times (I never take the time to strain it, and I should).

Colour-i-fi-who?? ;D ;D

Bill - As much as don't like hitting the paint stage, it does mean I'm that much closer to finishing....and that's always a good thing! This one's been on the bench long enough.

[danb.]

Very cool indeed love it mate

Dan B

[afvfan]

Thanks for looking Dan.

Being Christmas Eve I decided to spread a little joy with my airbrush. Gone is the bling. Gone is the batmobile. Here comes the tank..... at least the first base coat.









I want to left this dry and shoot a clear coat over it before moving on. It'll be a couple days before the next update on this one.

Happy Holidays!!

[wing_nut]

Looks real nice so far. But Andy's 1st line was the 1st thing i thought too.

[wbill76]

Nice little dose of Christmas Eve painting never hurt anyone! Nice work on the base coat.

[afvfan]

Thanks Wing-nut and Bill!

Not much change. This round was just building up the base color a bit more. Here's a couple shots.

[deafpanzer]

Great job with the base coat!!! Looking real good... I will always remember the batmobile.

[afvfan]

Laid down the green for the camo pattern today.

[M1Carbine]

afvfan - looks awsome mate.

Bob

[wouter]

Nice progress mate, love the basecoat and the camoscheme is one which stands out as well, neat stuff!!

Cheers

[afvfan]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the comments!

I was kind of upset with way the green came out. Part way through the process my fine needled, dual action AB screwed up, and I finished it out with a single action one set up with a medium needle. If I can get the dual back up and running, I'll hopefully be able to lay in the final color today.

[bbd468]

Looks great to me AF! Nicely done fella.

Gary

[bullardino]

Great paintjob afvfan

Very clean and tidy.

[wbill76]

Always hate it when the AB decides to go kaput in the middle of a scheme application but looks like you've recovered just fine with the backup. Nice job on the green!

[afvfan]

Gary, Luigi, and Bill - Again, thanks for the comments.

After checking into it, I've found a bent needle to be the culprit. No idea how it happened. I tried straightening it out to no avail, so I'll pick up another at the store tomorrow.

I really like my Badger ABs, but the metal in their fine needles seems to be just too soft.

The bright side is that it has given me time to work on a couple other projects on the bench. ;D

[deafpanzer]

Great job spraying camo job! You have changed my mind... I have been thinking about selling two of my Eduard Zimm sets on eBay but after looking at your work it came out just great.

[afvfan]

Dec 30, 2012 13:05:42 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Great job spraying camo job! You have changed my mind... I have been thinking about selling two of my Eduard Zimm sets on eBay but after looking at your work it came out just great.

Thanks Andy.

The Eduard stuff works fine as long as you're airbrushing. Some of what's on the tank has four coats on it and the pattern is still holding up nicely. I don't know if it would do as well if it were painted with a brush, unless you used very thinned paints and built it up in layers.

It's a bit thicker than resin zim but annealing takes care of places where it needs to be formed around curves. The other thing is you have to go around each piece to make sure no gaps are showing on the edges and to feather putty on some of the edges to smooth the transition between plastic and zim.

[afvfan]

Well, I was up late last night and antsy to do something. I went "old school", got the brushes out, and laid down the last color in the camo pattern. I've stiil got to go back and clean it all up (overspray corrections, etc...) but this is going to be the final pattern before weathering starts. The wheels were just put in place for the pics.





Got a question though.... and you can be as honest as you want to be 'cause I take all criticism in stride.... Does the mix of hard and soft edged lines bother you? My thoughts were that this could be a field applied paint job, with one guy using a sprayer, and a couple others with brushes trying to get it done a quickly as possible to get the tank back in service. Let me know what you think.

[deafpanzer]

Nice job on the camo! Anything is possible out there on the field. I personally haven't seen both soft and hard edged camo but I won't be surprised if they did.

[reserve]

Can't see a thing wrong with it, me. Good lookin' PT there brother

Regards,
Mark

[afvfan]

Jan 1, 2013 5:34:06 GMT -5 @spacepacker said:

I think the guys would work on an area away from the the guy with the spray gun
So, the the hard edge cammo would be all in one area, also I think the brushed on paint would dry a slightly different shade.

Hi Kenny, thanks for sharing your experiences. I was thinking along the lines that the guy spraying the green did his pattern and then just moved on to the next vehicle, while the brush guys took over and finished with the red.
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Thanks for chiming in Andy. You echoed my thoughts exactly.
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Thanks Mark.

[TRM]

Some nice looking paint work there Bob!!! Love the Camo!!

[afvfan]

Jan 1, 2013 12:16:38 GMT -5 @dickyf said:

I really like yer camo mix.........

I'm sure somebody produces a figure set of German crew painting .....a couple with brushes and one with a spray gun and comp.....be a great dio

Dicky, I know exactly what you're talking about with the camo schemes. I try to strike a balance between keeping it interesting and being realistically workable.... though I've seen a few pretty outrageous real examples in some of the books I have.

Oh no..."me" and "dioramas" don't fit in the same sentence, ;D though that is a good idea for someone.

Some nice looking paint work there Bob!!! Love the Camo!!

Thanks T. Now, I've almost gotten to the hard part.