1/72 Takom Russian Tractors. Special Delivery

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Cheers Paul.

It was one of those moments, I'd had it in my head for so long but when it finally came together I wasn't so sure :smiling5:

Now there's just the dio to finish and 4 vehicles to weather. Piece of cake. Probably Christmas cake.....
 
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Definitely bitten off more than I can chew here! Having a brain that's wired slightly differently to the norm means that I can focus intently on one thing, but add too many other elements and processes and it quickly becomes too much to process. Multi-tasking doesn't mix well with the Autistic traits in me :upside:

So I thought I'd focus just on the wheels today. Even then there's 24 to go at (40 if you include the trailer that only needed minor tweaks), with virtually all of them needing their angle and/or height setting. I think I've pulled it off, even though the bulbous nature of the tyres and their shadows make some look a bit iffy.

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Of course now I need to move everything to finish the gardening, but at least I know all the wheels touch the ground when in the right place so with a bit of sinkage into the scenery it should look ok.

But then there's that corner. With everything placed where I want it it's unbalanced, so I agree with all of you that said it needs to go! Can't decide where to lop it off though. I want to avoid an angle that would have the wrecked truck parallel to it, so I can either go roughly along the course of the river (green line), or cut further back along the red line.

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Personally I think the red line as it seems as though it would draw my eye into the scene, but I'd be glad of advice from you guys that know a lot more about this than I do. Of course if you think of something completely different I'd love to hear that too.

Thanks
 

minitnkr

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Wheels & hood/exposed engine look great. Looks ok as is. How about a scalloped edge incorporating both lines loosely following the elevation for a little added interest? PaulE
 

spanner570

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Nice work Andy.
My advice? Just go with your instincts. If it looks right to you, then it is right.

Folks will alway have different takes on what is required - That's if anything needs altering in the first place.
 
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Thanks chaps.

I treated myself to an afternoon nap to think it over and still thought it needed to go so got the saw out and started hacking. I may take some more off yet but it definitely looks better to me.

Added in the fresh mud for the wheel tracks then started some colouring in on the rocks and roadway. Different shades of artist acrylics dry brushed or wet blended. I used different tones of the same colours between the two so it looked something like they used the stone recovered from the rock face for the road surface. It's no Picasso but much of it will be hidden anyway.

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Added some grassy stuff and the fence on the cliff top.

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Steve Jones

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just had a quick catch up Andy. Loooking very fine indeed. Looking forward to seeing the sheep, cows, farmer and rabbits in the field. :smiling5:
 
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lol, I've already been looking at sheep and what varieties could be found in Russia. That's part of the reason I included the fence. :smiling5:

It may not happen, but then again, you never know.
 

JR

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Progressing well Andy, now you've reduced the base you will I'm sure feel better about the whole thing. Like those three, very clean from the inners .
Now my ex bucket of dry linner adhesive is nearly gone I've gone over to a normal shed cheapo wall filler, still need to be aware of how thick you put it on.

Was going to try Sculptamold, think Jim has used it , that's a very light
, white, non-toxic compound that combines the best features of clay, plaster, and papier mache, does not shrink, and is durable for dioramas.
 

Mickc1440

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After my time away I've just caught up with this project Andy. I can't really top what the others have said about your work. Its all really starting to come together very nicely now. Top job.
 
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Thanks Mick, appreciate that.

Cheers John and Neil. My son & I clubbed together for some DAS clay a few weeks back but haven't used it here. Sounds similar to sculptamold as even though it's called air drying clay, it has a fibrous texture and smells of wet newspaper.

My next quandary is what to use for the water. I've searched back and seen a few of Ron's great methods but need something that pours for this, as I'm going up to the edge and partially submerging one of the vehicles. Plenty of ready made products to choose from but I'm trying home brew before I shell out any more cash. I used to have loads of polyester resin hanging around for making GRP/fiberglass but it's all gone off. Silicon is too thick and gloss medium stays white. Currently testing my sons clear PVA with a drop of brown, poured in very thin layers.

Love that rock texture Neil!
 

JR

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Much fun to be had Andy when you start dio's. I've tried every but resin. Ron's the man with his painted base and varnish.
I just say one thing.............make sure the surface is really sealed where the " water " is going before you do anything ! I know from experience :smiling2:.
 

Neil Merryweather

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Good luck with the DAS, Andy.......
I found it shrinks and cracks like crazy.
I look forward to your water experiments- I have a nasty feeling that if there was something cheaper than proprietary stuff we would all be using it already....
When I did mine for my Higgins Boat I tried so many cheap things I would probably have been better off just spending the money up front and saving the experimenting time. Unfortunately my solution won't work for what you want.
Good luck and keep us informed,please!
cheers
Neil
 
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Thanks John. I've done a few moulds and casts with polyurethane resin so have had my fair share of leaks. Will keep an eye out, and probably use thin ply for the "dams" covered in well-waxed brown parcel tape, hot glued in place.

The packing tape will stop whatever product I use sticking. Worked well here when I did a mould of my spare wheel well

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Thanks for the heads up on the DAS Neil. We bought it mainly to make small items for my sons Warhammer bases where I'm hoping the small size shouldn't present as many shrinkage issues.
 

Jim R

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Hi Andy
This is looking good. Nice steady progress. The way we work is different for every modeller I think. I tend to take it one aspect at a time whereas I know others like to work on lots of elements together.
Your very thoughtful approach is definitely paying off.
Jim
 

Steve Jones

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In my limited and short excursion into the world of dios I used to mould my DAS clay using watered down PVA rather than water itself. This prevented crackin and shrinkage. A bit on the messy side but it worked for me.
 
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Thanks Jim, it was getting on top of me a bit yesterday, more haphazard than thoughtful! Breaking it down into bite sized chunks has helped.

I'll remember that tip Steve, thanks.
 
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Today's attempt at modelling were about as miserable as the weather, so if you don't want to hear me moaning, a lot, you may want to sit this one out :smiling5:

I'm still having no luck finding cheap seated figures so did some more surgery. This chap has proved quite adaptable. He's become a guy waving (repositioned arm) a kneeling figure (repositioned arms and legs bent with a heat gun) and now he's trying to keep warm in the cab. A spot of filler and the inevitable 75 coats of model air that are needed when brush painting and he'll be right as rain.

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Got some green stuff on the scenery. It was far too bright so toned it down with the airbrush. Used tea leaves for the soil at the waters edge, painted brown. Also did a bit of blending and shading on the road, it's edge, and the rocks while I had the hissy stick out. Looked ok until I stood back and realised the wheel tracks look totally unnatural. A vehicle wouldn't go off the edge of the road at that angle.

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I'd knocked off and lost one of the mirrors from the trailer rig so substituted one from the wreck. I had a go at making one, aiming for a bodged field repair look that the driver had done himself, already rusting since it was never painted. In the end it just looks like a rubbish attempt at scratch building a replacement though. Whilst making that abomination I also managed to break the mirror on the other side, then knock the door off, so all that side is now swimming with blobs of CA glue.

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Then made a hash of fitting the windows in the supposedly pristine truck. It then got worse as I tried to fit the PE wipers. I smashed all 4 to pieces just getting this one in, and ruined the screen in the process. So now two vehicles have one badly fitted wiper blade between them.

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Starting to feel like I can't wait to get this over and done with as it's becoming a chore. Good job I'm back at work tomorrow so have 4 days with a good excuse not to go near it.
 
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