Trumpeter USMC LAV-AT - COMPLETED 8/30/14

[Leon]

WOW!!!!camo looks great Doogs and I like the desert sand for the wheels.

[wbill76]

Sounds like the resin wheels may be necessary Doogs if you can't get the kit ones to hold onto their paint. The sand hubs definitely provides some nice contrast to the NATO scheme...part of me wonders why they would paint the hubs and not the rest but then odd things happen all the time in the US military when it comes to ODS and the painting!

[doogsatx/]

Bill - I have no idea either, but one of the reference photos I have clearly shows overpainted hubs...so I'm going with it...

[wbill76]

Jul 28, 2014 13:20:09 GMT -5 doogsatx/ said:

Bill - I have no idea either, but one of the reference photos I have clearly shows overpainted hubs...so I'm going with it...

Don't get me wrong, I like it! I bet a sergeant somewhere got an order and a stock of paint with the direction of painting the wheel hubs (and it didn't specify anything else) so voila! Sand hubs indeed!

[doogsatx/]

Resin wheels have been primed, painted and chipped.



Next up - the tires, which will be handpainted w/ Vallejo.

[doogsatx/]

Wheels painted. Mix of Vallejo Dark Rubber and Black with a dash of Track Primer thrown in.

[pantherf..-Email Not Valid]

I like everything about it!  I could never get paint to stick, so that's why I go resin. 

That and they look more realistic. 








Jeff

[doogsatx/]

Aug 7, 2014 9:27:52 GMT -5 pantherf..-Email Not Valid said:

I like everything about it!  I could never get paint to stick, so that's why I go resin. 

That and they look more realistic. 

The vinyl kit tires actually look really good. But the fact that they flex and then all the paint cracks and flakes was a dealbreaker.

[pantherf..-Email Not Valid]

I think we would be better off if they molded a 2 piece (or even like the Tamiya Gamma Goat kit) styrene parts and let us deal with the seam. 

Better than vinyl. 


But anyway, your camo scheme turned out fantastic!    I like it!








Jeff

[doogsatx/]

More tedium...er...I mean wheelwork last night. One characteristic of a tire moving through sand is that sand tends to accumulated on the tread lugs alone. I've always had trouble getting this with pigments because they like the recessed places. So I figured this time I'd help things along by "pre-shading" the tread lugs. For this I used MM enamel US Army/Marines Sand, thinned with AK White Spirits



The resin wheels fit very loosely into the kit's axles, so this shot is precarious!

[rbaer]

I like!

[deafpanzer]

Missed last couple of updates while I was in Canada!!! Camo and wheels look lovely!!!

[wbill76]

Now there's a neat trick with the wheel tread pattern. Look forward to seeing how that turns out in the following steps.

[doogsatx/]

It was humid and gross last night, so I had to abandon my plan to prime the rest of the Skyhawk. Instead, I knocked out the stencil decals on the LAV-AT.







I also got a start prepping the windows for the AR coatings. The instructions on the AFV Club sheet call for painting them silver, but that seems troublesome to me. I'm going to have to pull off some pieces of the film to test first, I think, but for now I've done the windows in black artist pen.

[mrt51]

Looking pretty slick!

Terry

[deafpanzer]

No humidity or very low here in Indiana... feel free to come over but be sure to bring your stash not your kids, OK buddy?

Looking good... don't think I will ever get tired of looking at its camo.

[doogsatx/]

Had to box up an eBay sell last night and even that minimal exertion had me dripping with sweat. Ready for autumn.

[doogsatx/]

Did a few things to the LAV-AT last night. First...a general coat of Vallejo Gray Wash. I find this stuff great as a very faint filter to give everything a very slight unifying fade.

Next, some of what Rinaldi calls "Oil Paint Rendering" in TankArt 3. To me it kinda felt like oil dot filtering, only skipping the whole thinner part. Need to play around with it more on a more appropriate subject.

Finally, some initial dusting with a heavily thinned Tamiya Desert Yellow/Deck Tan mix. This will provide a base for further sand and dust that will be built up in various other ways (mostly pigment).

[wbill76]

Looks like a solid foundation for the weathering to come Doogs. Looking forward to the next round (and all 8 wheels) getting the treatment.

[deafpanzer]

Looks spot on once again!!!

[rbaer]

What he ^ said!
And what was with the humidity Tuesday night? I stepped outside for a bid and thought I was melting.

[doogsatx/]

Getting closer! Really hoping to wrap this one up by the end of August. Somewhere along the way I forgot that this was meant as a nice, light build to try a few new things on. Perspective regained, onward!

Flat coated on Sunday. Last night I added the AFV Club anti-reflective coatings. Love them on the hull glass, not so sure about them on the Hammerhead turret windows. The things are just too big and it comes off a bit fake-looking. Trumpeter really should have done these as clear inserts. Same for the various light lenses. These I think are the weakest areas on the kit.

Also began adding some heavier weathering. Started pigments on the lower portions and installed the wheels (finally!).

[dupes]

From what I can see, I like the looks of those AFV Club coatings. Going to have to try to round a couple of those up. Looks great!

[doogsatx/]

Dupes - definitely look into them. They're great. The fault with the Hammerhead turret windows is entirely with the kit - the windows are poorly defined and more shallow depressions than anything else. Everywhere else, these things are the business.

Looking forward to trying out some of their new AR-coated canopies as well. Selection's pretty limited, but I've got one for the Hobby Boss A-10 and it looks gorgeous.

[doogsatx/]

Pushing ahead. More work on the pigments, more work on the various lights. Most of last night's bench time, however, was spent on getting the base up and going.

I'm planning to bake-cure the celluclay by leaving it out in direct sun all day. We're supposed to break 100, so it'll be plenty of heat.

[deafpanzer]

Looking better and better every time... you are almost there!

[wbill76]

Sounds like you fell into a trap we all do at some point or another Doogs regarding 'quick-light-fun' projects! Nice to see this one moving along and getting pretty close to the finish. Sounds like your solar baking plan is dead-on...if only you didn't also have the humidity to go with it.

[doogsatx/]

Aug 27, 2014 12:26:47 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Sounds like you fell into a trap we all do at some point or another Doogs regarding 'quick-light-fun' projects! Nice to see this one moving along and getting pretty close to the finish. Sounds like your solar baking plan is dead-on...if only you didn't also have the humidity to go with it.

During the day it's generally too hot for humidity! Though it sweeps in like nobody's business after the sun goes down. That hour right around sunset, though, dang that's nice. Or nice for Texas in August!

[doogsatx/]

GAH! The f-ing frame warped in the heat and the celluclay popped up and warped too. Think I can salvage it...it was on glass so gluing it flat is an option I guess. But ugh, I always have the absolute worst luck with bases.

[deafpanzer]

I am afraid if you got picture of it... must be so hot in your garage this time of year?