Andrzej,
I am not much of an expert but I have been working on a technique for faces and hands that seems to work. First I paint, usually with Tamiya but I have experimented with Vallejo and some other brands. Mixing a little bit helps, but also having colors on hand such as burnt carne helps as well.

So first the painting, and it ends up kind of flat. Then I use sepia or burnt umber guache paint. Guache is a water based paint that is like watercolor in texture, but more opaque. Hence it is sort of in the middle between water colors and acrylic.You have to look for it with the art supplies.... anywise, I do a heavy wash with the dark guache paint, then I go back with thinner or alcohol and lift the darker paint right off the lighter, more exposed areas such as the hands and cheeks.

My next step is more experimental. You may or may not like the glossier look, but I go to an oil wash which is going mostly be mostly linseed oil mixed again with a sepia or burnt umber kind of tone. I also do any highlighting that needs to be done in oil. What I am experimenting with now is using Liquin Resin Blending compound. It does a good job of blending and cures the oils nice and hard within 2 days I would say. I suppose that if you don't like the gloss, you could spray a matte overcoat. What I am trying to experiment with is the actual glossy tone, more paint and more linseed oil seem to make it dry more slowly but over time the gloss also fades somewhat.

This is still a HUGE learning process for me, but I hope this helps. Also as you know there is great information in the Figures thread above. That is a good place to find info.

guille

ps feel free to comment on my figure above. I am curious what people think of the glossier look in particular, and am generally open to suggestions on how to improve my technique.

Sorry, I was also going to ask where you got the civilian figures from? I know Squadron has some, but your do look nice.

I likey!

Thanks for the good words, Billy !
Yeah, that is Verlinden #1026 , European House Ruin.

This is my first diorama attempt involving architecture, so I'm trying to take my time to make sure the damage, etc, is believeable. I'm back into the hobby after many years away, and am slowly tryng to rediscover my old modeling "chops", as well as learn a few new ones. But one thing I do try to focus on is telling a good story that hopefully connects with viewers in some meaningful way....


Oh.. the civilians ? I know the refugee wagon and the people around it are from Plusmodel; The others..I'm not sure offhand. Verlinden, I believe . I think adding civilians adds good contrast and perspective to a military subject.

Great builds so far, you guys! There is some good progress going on, here!

As for me.... well.... what can I say...

I sort off hit a modelling-lack-of-motivation.
I have all these builds going on, but somehow my drive to go on with these has vanished. I am trying to keep my M3A1-build going, I am still waiting for my paint to arrive, so I can finish my Africa-builds (and I am happy, if I can get at least one of those actually completed!).
My initial entry for this campaign started to spin out of controle sizewise, so I put that one on hold (and in a box) as I have with every major project of mine.
I decided to start with something completely different.
I am entering Twenot's Ardennes-groupbuild with an old 1/25 Tamiya Pantherturret (from the sparesbox) and an equally old 1/25 Tamiya Pattonfigure. He will be triumphantly placed on top of the knocked out Panther.

Is it ok if I'm entering it here, too??

You can't build a kit for more than one campaign. The point of a campaign is to build a kit for that campaign, not to collect as many ribbons for each kit built.

It's not about the ribbons. I don't really care for a small, digital drawing.
It's about sharing a build and to motivate each other and help emprove buildingskills.

But appearantly some see things differently.
I'm out of this one then.

take care and enjoy this campaign!

What makes you think I feel differently? Here's a thread about the subject. https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/139740&page=1 There is another thread about this on Aeroscale as well. http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/144873&page=1

Hi Gary,
I do apologize for my "bitchy" reply.
I wrote it, being in a bad mood, due to frustration (modelling related) and bad health (physically).
I understand the rules and appreciate you being very clear about them.

No hard feelings, I hope...

bottomline is.... it will not be build at all.... for now...

Hush Guys! Play nice!

Ron, I hope your health is improving as we speak... I know what you feel concerning motivation - I have opposite situation now: I have plenty of motivation but total lack of time and conditions to build...
Anyway - you know me, we've built a lot of sh1ty stuff together for misc campaigns and I'm sorry to hear you won't be presenting anything for this one... Rules are rules though and I'm happy there are no hard feelings from your side on this one.

Hope to see you during some other campaings (maybe you could make some figure for my SE campaing on HF? Huh?).

Andrzej

@ Billy,

Thanks for tips. My problem is that due to permanent lack of time I've been trying something that looked like less time consuming method... It simply didn't work .
Anyway, I'm almost done with faces, now I'm going to build the figures to have some bodies to put the heads on .

Have fun and rest well during the weekend! (I know I won't...)

Andrzej

Hi Andrzej,

Sorry to hear about your lack of time. I know that makes modeling difficult. Sometimes I also find that working on figures keeps me from other projects so that is definitely something that I have grappled with as well.

Speaking of not enough time, I see a lot of new campaigns coming up, including another one of yours, right? It sure is inspiring to see everyone's work. Thanks for your hard work to keep things moving and good luck as well!

Billy

Except for this one I'm running one figure campaign on Historicus Forma (Soldier Evolution - click on my banner to get to rules site if you are interested).
I do have several ideas on campaigns, but I cannot even build models for all I'm participating in right now...
Andrzej

Andrzej,

I know what you mean about no time! My two entries for the 88 campaign (ends 30 Nov) have stalled my Bitter Taste model, but as they enter the paint shop I hope to get moving on the burnt-out Panther. I did get as far as carving off all those rubber tyres from the wheels...

Maybe I'll have progress pics to post in a week or two!

Tom

Hi guys, I've been working on my dio but now realize it's not going to fit the message enough visually. So, I've decided I will start from scratch again and do an old burnt out KV next to a destroyed village hut or barn with a pair of Russian infantry looking at the destruction. Still got a couple months to do it

Greg, don't worry - you still have plenty of time.

As for myself: I had some time this weekend to start building my entry. I've almost finished figures and have the equipment ready. I still need to figure out what to assemble before painting and what will be better to paint first and assemble later. Here are first pictures:




More comming soon (I hope).

Andrzej

Wow, those are great looking figures - can't wait to see em' painted.


I couldn't help myself and decided a K.O.'d duo of KV's would look better One is Tamiya and the KV-1E is a Hobby Boss.

Thank you Greg. This kit is very nice (like most of DML's Gen2 kits). I've made the pictures before cleaning so there is some putty present in areas that required filling. I've already attached bigest part of equipment, leaving only few parts not attached (they will be easy to attach to painted figure but painting them unattached will be much easier).

BTW: Greg, how goes building 1/48 tanks? Is it closer to 1/72 or to 1/35 in your opinion?

Andrzej

Hi Andrzej, I think 1/48 is closer to 1/35 as some kits are merely shrunken plans. 1/48 can be a lot faster to build since some details can be skipped for scale effect and still give a satisfactory model. Sometimes I wish I would've gone with 1/72 to have enough shelf space, but I like the look and feel of 1/48. The scale lacks in figures mainly now, but otherwise has an extensive availability between plastic and resin kits/conversions available.

What I like about 1/48 is that you can have a lot of cross-over projects between ground vehicles, and aircraft. Good point about the figures though- this area is very lacking. You have to pick and choose between the figures that come with the kits, or get good at making conversions.

Going to post some new progress pics soon. I am using a '44 Normandy Rangers kit, but if I leave the parachute bags off, what conversions can you think of that I would need to make for the Ardennes region in December? Keep in mind that the troops were not well supplied in this area as far as I can tell? I mean, is this kit even going to work for those of you who are particular to these kind of details?

As for my exact progress I am painting my partially destroyed MiniArt German Shed that you see above with oils. This move was a costly mistake in terms of time. I like the texture of oils, but I should have just painted the whole thing with airbrushed acrylics, at least as a decent undercoat. But life is for learning. Any suggestions on how to make it look like a shell fell and exploded about 5 feet in front of the jeep? So far I am using some tissue paper to sculpt the area where the shell hit the road, making a little crater essentially. Maybe I need a BIG crater.

Here is my update. It was fun playing with the figures and imagining how the scene would unfold.

Billy, thanks for posting - nice progress you have there!
Aren't we all a bit too old to play with toy soldiers?? .... Naaaaaahh.... I had to ask myself the same question last friday while being on Rammstein concert - I've been standing with my brother and we've wandered are we already too old to jump and headbang through all the concert but as soon as lights got dimmed we've looked at each other and said: "No, we're not too old" rest is silence (or very loud music and fireworks )

BTW: I've finnally finished Blitzkrieg II entry so I'm going to move forward with BTOD.

I hope we all cross the finish. I was home sick the other day and took a pic. I'm further ahead then this pic and close to being done with the builds actually. I'll pose them destroyed in positions like in the photo; next to a burned barn or hut woodwork; and with a couple of Russian soldiers passing through the carnage.

Nice, clean build you have there! My build is now next to three other projects and broken police car of my son (I'm trying to fix it - it was a nice toy...) so my desk looks like fire in sanitarium that someone is trying to extinguish with screwdriver...
Now I'm painting the equipment so there's nothing interesting to show but I will post some pictures as soon as I move to figure painting.

A.

Hi, all,

There are some great builds coming out here, so now that I've finished the 88 campaign I figured I should post images of my own progress. I'm building the Panther that was knocked out in front of Cologne cathedral, from the ancient Tamiya 1:35 kit. So far I've dealt with the turret and the suspension.

Turret exterior showing track-link "armour", narrowed mantlet, and periscopes:



Turret interior showing crude scratch-built breech, periscopes etc.



"Collapsed" suspension arms, cut from kit and repositioned. Note the different heights to accomodate the "lip" of the inner wheels.



Burnt-out wheels. Carving off the rubber tyres was a real drag! Note that the inner wheel sets have a "lip". The inner wheel sets are doubles, but as the old Tamiya kit had singles I made resin castings to sort it out.



I'll be adding Tamiya's Panther G track links (to get the sag & wrinkling from collapsed torsion bars) that will hide the true origins of the kit!

Tom

Cool idea for a Panther!

I need to pick up a picture frame to start the base, and then I'll build in some battle damage.

Greg,

Neat tanks - I always liked the no-frills business-like looks of the KV series!

All these dios leave me wondering how big a picture frame will I need to fit Cologne cathedral at 1:35?...

Tom