Hey folks! Pete has not made it back over to the new site yet. I wanted to salvage a few of his progress reports leading up to his completion on this one as he is entered in the July MoM.
Enjoy
The models have now had a selection of earth tones sprayed on the lower
portions and a matt varnish. I've then picked out all the glass and
lights using tamiya clear colours and some lenses for the tank
headlights. I've also added the glazing to the landy. I can now get busy
with a shed load of pigments! Still a long way to go I think before
it's all finished, I was hoping to get it done for the Salisbury show
next Saturday but I'm not going to rush it. Besides I still have a base
to sort out as well!
I've also painted up some laser cut leaves in various tones to add to
the rear deck and anywhere else that they might collect. You can see a
couple added to one side at the moment. I'm trying not to swamp the main
colours but rather give an indication of mud and dust coverage over the
vehicle. In the pictures the chieftains are absolutely covered in mud,
even the turrets but I think If I tried that it would look too
un-realistic so I'm going for somewhere in between. The tracks have
also had a good going over with pigments but will need more added later.
It's now had the crew added and I think it looks the dogs dangly bits!!
It
will probably get a little more on the pigment front around the tracks
but that's for when the base is done. The crew really fit well and my
favourite is definitely the driver, just love that tash
I've been playing about with the base the last few days getting the
balance looking right. The front right corner looked a little bare so I
made up some small trees for that area from wire coated with thin
plaster. They will be replicating a hawthorn hedge, something very
common around here. Of course with the dio set in winter I don't have to
worry about leaves on the branches!
I'll also be adding a few
bits of rusty cans etc to that area later on when the groundwork is made
up. The tank crossing poles were made up from suitable bits of wood
then capped with plastic card to replicate the metal caps seen on the
real things. Now I've got it all pretty much how I want I can start
adding the groundwork.
Ok here's the base pretty much done I think. I added leaf litter around
the bushes using some dried mixed herbs then painted up a couple of beer
cans. A castlemaine & heiniken seemed most fitting for this late
eighties scene. I also made up a nice rusty can. The crossing posts had a
good application of raw umber oils for the wood and then some fading
again using oils for the painted metal caps. I also added some bird poo
and metallic chipping.
As said in my last post the wet look
didn't come out how I liked and to me looked awful so I went back over
the base with a little matt varnish. Looks better now. I will add a few
damp patches once the models are in place to tie it all together.
And here's a few pics of the test placement of the models,
...My experience of the 'Monkeys',was that they strapped everyferkinthing on,just'so's they couldn't be criticised by us mere mortals!!! 
that would make for an amusing dio that's for sure!
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