M3A1 BY ILOVE KITS IN 1/35 SCALE LEND LEASE DIORAMA

[JR]

No photos , but all those figures and a few more have been assembled.
Sprayed the tracks with a mixture light rust and darker one.
Looking fwd to tomorrow show .
John .

 

[JR]

Mike is kindly sending me some more track parts.
Meanwhile applied some filler to the 11 strong tank riders .

JOHN.

 

[JR]

Evening all .
Made a start on the base.


Xps base with a section of white on top .Shaped with a saw to allow for a coat of light weight filler . Will use Sculpty Mould om the top .

Half of the tank will be in the water, various members of the riders still on board with the others watching to see how it goes .


The water should come up over the front drive sprocket.

John.

 

[minitnkr]

Very cool.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Lovely John, another cracking dio!!

 

[Jim R]

Ambitious and a great idea. Right up your street.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Wow John that's looking great!
If I may make a suggestion regarding the water? With that much tank in whatever water product you decide upon, it's all around the wheels and tracks where you are going to trap air bubbles. I would recommend pre painting the product all over those areas to build up a smooth blob around them, possibly in stages, and letting it set first. After that the bulk of the water should be relatively straightforward . I imagine you will need some kind of masking, possibly plasticine,to define the water level where it goes inside those nasty areas. It will be tricky but well worth it.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Oops I forgot to say great work on the surgery!

 

[JR]

Very cool.

Thanks Paul, just hope the air in the cave remains cool when I start the pour !

 

[JR]

Lovely John, another cracking dio!!

I do hope so Bob, last time I used" water " I managed to loose it all due to a leak .

 

[JR]

Ambitious and a great idea. Right up your street.

Thanks Jim, plenty of things I want to include in this .

 

[JR]

Wow John that's looking great!
If I may make a suggestion regarding the water? With that much tank in whatever water product you decide upon, it's all around the wheels and tracks where you are going to trap air bubbles. I would recommend pre painting the product all over those areas to build up a smooth blob around them, possibly in stages, and letting it set first. After that the bulk of the water should be relatively straightforward . I imagine you will need some kind of masking, possibly plasticine,to define the water level where it goes inside those nasty areas. It will be tricky but well worth it.

Hi Neal. I've got to seal the area first , etc. Great ideas there , will definitely follow your suggestions. Could you expand on the use of the plasticine please by PM.I'm not quite sure what you mean.Im left handed you know !!

Oops I forgot to say great work on the surgery!

Thank you, various body parts have be used, some I actually drilled out , wired and fixed. Now of course the cleaning up.
I've had notification that some black primer is arriving later today , some plenty to do .Such fun .

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neal. I've got to seal the area first , etc. Great ideas there , will definitely follow your suggestions. Could you expand on the use of the plasticine please by PM.I'm not quite sure what you mean.Im left handed you know !!

Hi John,
with regard to the use of Plastcine, I mean you will need to create a 3-dimensional mask in the space above the waterline on the tank (behind the wheels) so that it's vaguely consistent with the water level of the river. That said, I'm sure there would be actual bubbles and disturbance there because it's moving so maybe it's not quite so critical.

blimey, one eye AND left -handed- what a combo! you clearly are a man of exceptional talents

 

[JR]

Hi John,
with regard to the use of Plastcine, I mean you will need to create a 3-dimensional mask in the space above the waterline on the tank (behind the wheels) so that it's vaguely consistent with the water level of the river. That said, I'm sure there would be actual bubbles and disturbance there because it's moving so maybe it's not quite so critical.

blimey, one eye AND left -handed- what a combo! you clearly are a man of exceptional talents

Thanks Neil , before I start the "water " I'm waiting for a reply from Deluxe Materials. At least a bottle of Mr Hobby aqueous black primer has turned up, seems to be thin in the ground. There was none at the show and John is out as well .

 

[JR]

Having searched the web I now have a much better idea of what to look for in resins. There are resins that produce low temperatures when curing, some produce very few bubbles. A multitude of do and don'ts. Makes like craft resins that are produced that can go to to depths of over 70mm in one pour instead of having layer. That alone increases the time as each layer has to cure fully. More research will follow.

 

[JR]

Still wet, had used tamiya grey putty to stipple the cast part of the hull.Allowed to dry and gave a light sand.
Figures.

Sprayed with Mr Hobby Aquariuses, even for got to wash before and it took the paint perfectly.

JR

 

[Strenko J]

everything is coming together and looking brilliant my friend

 

[JR]

everything is coming together and looking brilliant my friend

Thanks Joe, appreciate you looking in

 

[JR]

Since last Fridays much has been happening here at the Towers.

The base has had yet another layer of Mod Podge applied, followed by some garden soil , and a layer spray of IPA to allow the glues to spread more easily .



Now dry after a night next to the heater , all glue marks have gone, so painting can start.

Painting has also started on the figures, very thin coats of uniform colour.


Building up the colour in light coats. Once that is done the rest of the kit can be tackled.


These have dried a lot darker, more true to uniform tankies.



Thanks for looking in, comments welcome.

JR

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Ooh , warming up now......