hello fellow modelers,

i have my hands full with a new project and i thought i would share the progress with you. this diorama will feature the Dragon Late Production model with CMK interior kit and will have a Miniart building added to the mix. I am just at the stage where i have completed the interior and the inside will need to be painted before any further construction to the model can be done. i will try to get the building assembled while i wait for the various paint stages to dry.

the CMK interior is marked as "made for Dragon kit" but the instructions refer to the Tamiya model. nicely cast resin and fairly decent fit made it work but there are some issues. the racks are too tall to get a good fit of the hull roof. the gun breach is a bit to long too long to fit inside without warping the upper hull during my test fits. i usually build interiors from scratch so these points are just minor. CMK allowed me to create a good interior in a fraction of the time it would normally be.

i can see the plus and minus of aftermarket interiors now that i have tried one. i also got my hands on Griffon's Full Detail Set (5 frets of brass) and was really impressed. some of the hinged pieces are SOOOOOO small it was an act of incredible patience to construct them.













hope you enjoy and happy modeling.

cheers, mh

Looking good so far. Keep up the good work. Look foward to your next update.
Tom

hi tom, this blog's for you buddy. you asked for progress shots of my next project and i have very much enjoyed seeing work in progress updates from fellow armorama fans. this one will capture major stages as i push forward, hope you enjoy.

cheers, mh

Will follow this for sure. Jagdpanther is my favorite panzer. Your work looks good already. Keep it going

thanks for the kind words Simon. a small note about the build so far: the CMK interior instructions show the gun periscope being attached to the gun breach and glued in a way that it lines up perfectly in the hull roof hole.

well, i figured that would be neigh impossible. the resin of the gun breach has a bit of flex and i tried to glue it so it popped out of the hole at the right height, angle and centering... and after an hour of trying i made a brass bracket for the periscope and glued it to the underside of the hull roof so it was in the right position and it touches the gun breach during final assembly. the brass bracket was put on the far side so you can't see it from any of the hatches.

hope this helps those who might try this project. cheers, mh.

Hi Meaty, follow up and can't miss about your work of new preview. Waiting to see more details and more knowledge from you soon. Thanks.
Prasert.

hi mate, the interior looks great and i can't wait tosee this diorama.

UPDATE: Miniart Construction Completed

hello everyone,
here is the Miniart building ready for paint. it is the Italian City Building which was too large for the single vehicle diorama i have planned. so i got out the mini hand saw and customized it into a new configuration that will lend itself better for my needs. i am leaving off the gutter, doors, windows and such for the paint process.


here you can see the front wall section i cut away. i cut it in a manner that made a nice joint for the corner. it also got rid of the "italian column" detail making it more generic.


the interior details will be wood so i will construct that after the plastic components are painted.


the railing was warped using a heat paint stripping gun and spare brass from old frets was used to make railing mounts.


the doors needed hinges so i made some and broke apart one of the insert door panels.

the Jagdpanther interior has had its interior base painted and is drying. next update will be the finished interior, ready for more assembly. hope you enjoy.

cheers, mh

it's coming along quite nicely, looks to be a goodin

UPDATE: Badger Model Flex Disaster

just a quick update about my Miniart paint stage. went to my LHS and saw these new paints called Badger Model Flex. they are for railroad but also have military colour range. i bought 3 bottles of various colours for my Miniart building.

read on the Badger website that it does not need to be diluted for airbrushing. the primer coat had been drying for 4 days so i went and sprayed "Sand" as my base coat. even undiluted this paint had no coverage. so i sprayed it nice and light planning to have to do multiple coats to cover my white primer with a pale sand colour (already a bad sign).

i come back 4 hours later looking to put a second coat on and the first coat was flaking here and there!!!! i touched it with my finger and could rub off huge areas right back to the primer. this paint is being silly as i am using the highest grade fine particle primer for plastics/metals/plaster.

so i decided to sand it all off down to the primer, and boy did it come off easily. i am going to have to reprime the building and use another brand of paints. i am sure someone out there has good experience with this new paint range but i will never buy it again.

Cant wait to see what this looks like finished.

me too Anthony. i am looking at turning this negative into a positive, the flaking and sanding of the failed paint looked like extreme hairspray work and i was impressed by the details popping out. i was soooo tempted to leave what was half there because it looked really distressed but i will be cautious and reprime the building. cheers, mh.

Hi MH. Great job on the interior, as well as the MiniArt house. Sorry to hear about the painting mishap ... drives me crazy when things like this happen ... thats why I stick to what I have and know. Still spray Tamiya and brush paint Humbrol enamels. Works for me so I have no need to try all these new trndy acrylic paints ... that and i cannot manage to paint with them either

thanks buddy for the kind words. i still have humbrols from years ago that are still good to go when i open them. my return to armour modeling has me trying out what's new and i was really blown away by the Vallejo paints which were recommended by a friend. i needed some non-military colours so i tried these Badger Model Flex paints. at least i tried them on something easy to sand like a building base coat... would have hated myself if it was something with delicate parts. sometimes you win and sometimes you sand something you already spent far too long sanding already (like a Miniart).

i think for now i will be doing just as you mentioned, sticking with paints i know. cheers, mh.

Hi Mh, I'm waiting too and properly building for this diorama scene.

Great job hound! That interior looks sweet. ]
I have found that with a little fiddling here and there you can fit the am kits just about in any model and not just the ones recommended by the manufacturer. I'm in the process of correcting a ton of mistakes on a Bandai 1/24 Jagdpanther I built back in the late 1970's. Its a complicated task having to scratch build all the details since no one makes am parts in this larger scale.

UPDATE: Painted Jagdpanther Interior

hello once again,
first things first, really want to thank everyone for the great replies and words of encouragement. this little diorama is moving forward once again with the Jagdpanther interior painting now completed and ready for more assembly. here is some information with the pics to explain some of the process:



the base ivory colour is a mix of Tamiya white, buff and yellow acrylics. after sealing with Future i applied a oil wash of Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber and Black to the corners and highlighted the large panel areas with Titanium White and Yellow Ochre oil paints drybrushed on using a large flat brush.



the interior was painted ivory as well as Model Master Anti-foaling Red acrylic for the primer areas. again oil washes and highlights were applied as above. i added chipping with a 3/0 brush using enamel raw umber.



you won't see much of the engine radiators but i had mixed some grey oil paints for the radios and such so i went ahead and drybrushed them to add some detail. the front area won't really be seen so i only roughed in some of the wash effects.



the gun breach got more care as it will be easily seen from the three open hatches. again the chipping was applied to areas prone to wear.



the metal for the gun breach was first painted NATO Black and then highlighted using various grey hues of oil paint. highlights were then done with drybrushed silver. only problem is you have to leave the oil paints for a couple of days to dry before you can proceed but i am an old school fan of drybrushing with oil paints.

most of the elements of the interior were painted with heavy contrast between washes and drybrushing because they will be under poor lighting conditions when viewed from the completed model. this will allow the interior to be interesting without looking out of scale.

hope you enjoy, next update will be the Miniart building going through its multi-step painting. happy modeling. cheers, mh.

that interior is looking great, keep up the good work.

The interior looks great. I can't believe the difference, looks so realistic, with all the different colors. I am also sorry about the paint problem. The building is looking good also. What are you planning to use for a base? Looking foward to your next updates. Keep up the great work.
Tom

thanks guys, much appreciated from a fellow modeler who likes to have fun making things then jamming a hull on top so it can't really be seen

for the frame i am making it out of rectangular oak boards with a plywood bottom, stained and then filled with insulation board. i will have a series update on this portion too. i busted my table saw guide on a home project so it will be tougher than it usually is but going to give it the college try anyway.

cheers, mh.

Looking superb MH! The Miniart building is looking great too, perfect in many ways for a Jagdpanzer of any kind. Can't wait to see this whole build come together.

UPDATE: Miniart Building Base Paint Complete

hi everyone,
here is the Miniart building with its base colours applied. doesn't look very impressive as such but i thought it might help those who want to see how i do the masking process and how much the weathering stage will change things...



here you can see how much masking it can take to do a three colour scheme. i use 3M automotive blue tape and then cheap green painting tape for larger fill in areas. i also used Silly Putty for a quick way to do the organic shapes.



this close up shows the Marmite applied for a undertone pattern that i will add a second coat of paint over for a subtle effect. for more on the Marmite technique you can check out my step-by-step tutorial on my first Feature in the Sci Fi section (Marmited Falke)



here is the terracotta colour finished. again, looks pretty plain right now and the photo doesn't show much of the tone on tone effect due to my poor lighting. may have to set up a proper photo booth like you guys have.



the inside is looking more beat up as the destruction of the building was on this side of the structure.

hope you enjoy and happy modeling. cheers, mh.

Thanks for that tip. Now I need to find Marmite so I can try it. Keep up the great work. Waiting for more updates.
Tom