Cheers Bob!

Certainly the look I was striving for!

James

Hey gents,

Slowly but surely progressing with this one.

At this point I've completed the detail painting of all of the individual features, leaving me with everything ready for the weathering stages.
The isn't really a huge amount of stuff that needed attention but some areas like the licence plates were a real pain and required several goes at touching up to get right.
I then coated everything with an acrylic and an enamel matt coat - did not want anything messing up my hard work so far!

Alclad II was used as the enamel matt coat and I used Tamiya's XF-86 'flat clear' mixed with 50% X-22 clear and suitable amounts of thinner for the acrylic coat - this was my first experience with this and I must say I was very happy with the result - finally a matt acrylic coat I can rely on?! I hope so!

I'll start with some detail shots of these areas (BTW I tried the white background again as I bought another lamp and some higher wattage bulbs):



Front glacis, note the light cabling and licence plate.



Rear glacis - the licence plate again.



Exhaust - this is just a base, some more rusty pigments to come here.



Fuel cells, the piping got a little attention and some rusty tones applied.



Gun mantlet and light array, plenty going on here.



Photo's not great, but my attempt at the missing barrel fume extractor (Paul note holes drilled!)

Here's the real deal on a KO Iraqi T-69:



The wheels have also not escaped a bit of attention although not much to do here, just a tidy up of overspray on the rubber and a few bolt heads painted up to add some variety as well as the rusty and worn areas as needed:







Looking forward to seeing these mounted now!

So now the usual 'glamour shots' to see the big picture:





















Any comments much appreciated, looking forward to the weathering stage now - very rarely I get this far!!

Cheers,

James

Loking excellent James! Your model is extremely well painted and attention to detail is stunning!

Higher wattage of the bulbs did plenty good to the photos, now you just have to change the ones that are different type, this should get rid of the reddish tinge in the middle of the background.




Tell me about it... although, I may get this far more often but stop here and put it on a shelf

Keep on going man!

Best regards,
Greg

Thanks very much Greg!

I really appreciate your kind comments, it's these and others like them that have inspired me to make it so far!

I actually changed all of the bulbs out so they should all be the same. The red 'tinge' seems to appear when I 'clean up' the photos in paint shop before posting, I think the 'one step photo fix' function I use seems to highlight the problem. Still it's better than my own attempts to make them look better!

I'll keep experimenting all the same. Tempted to buy some blue card and see how that looks.

I'll keep going; looking forward to these final stages!

James

Hi James,

Man o man is she looking great!! I do believe that now with all her "make up" she is no longer a hooligan!!! More a faded starlight still hoping to go out with a bang!!

Can't wait to see all her legs on her!!The different coloured wire from the conduit is a great touch!!

Keep up the inspiring work!!

Cheers Mike

Thanks a lot Mike!

You might find she starts to fall back into Hooligan territory pretty soon!
Pleased you like the wiring, I think the little touches like that often 'make' the build. Hoping to add a couple more in the later stages.

Inspiring hey! Well must say I'm very chuffed you think so and pleased that I can be.

Thanks again, and hope you're feeling better mate.

James

Your rebel T-55 looks fantastic. You've set the bar high, for those who come after you.

Thanks mate, and sorry for my belated response, must have missed your post I'm afraid.

I'm pleased you think so, but would love to see others attempt similar builds. Here's hoping!

James

Well, well, well. Been a long time since my last update and I apologise for that, have been making progress in 'fits and starts' as my enthusiasm decrees! Am seeing the end in sight for this one which is great but also means I'm eyeing up other projects now......Stay strong James!

So since my last update I have been focusing on the weathering, this has been in the form of some light sand filters as Pawel suggested, some darker pin washes and then streaking with oils.
This has combined to give us the following:









Some detail shots:











Since these pics were taken I also added some Mig/AK/Ammo products such as rust pigments and engine grime washes etc. which have enhanced it further. Pretty please with the progress I must say.
I then hit a wall which is the reason for my delay in posting. I wanted to try something quite ambitious but there was a chance I could ruin my build. I finally got the courage last night and I am very pleased with how the first part went. I have a second stage to go tonight if I get time and then I'll try and get some photo's taken so you guys can understand what I'm talking about. Needles to say we've now entered the 'Rebel Stage'!

Cheers,

James

Great detail, James - I really like how it's coming together. I might have to try some of these pigments you're using.

I was just thinking where you have been... It's looking very good James. Just don't give up man!! It's looking VERY tired Maybe a little pin wash on the upper surfaces of the fuel cells (in the recesses)? I don't know what you're doing so very special so I'll leave it at that. I'm sure it will be tasty

spit

Hey guys,

Real sorry I haven't responded sooner, it looks like I somehow got unsubscribed from my own thread as I haven't received e-mails telling me of the last few posts people have made. Very strange, but I have subscribed again so hopefully I'll get an update when you post, I hope so as I really appreciate the feedback.

jphillips - Thanks mate, to be honest there are not a lot of pigments used in the photos you see up to now, they've all come later on, and will be used in some of the final stages.

Pawel - Thanks mate, glad you like it, and don't worry I'm still going - really keen to see this one completed! Good call on the fuel cells, they need something in that recessed area, I think I'll go for dust rather than a darker wash though? Well the mystery of what I've been up to will soon be revealed.....

Cheers!

James

Well, after 50 long years of service, from patrolling the borders of cold war Europe, fighting in the Golan Heights to being semi-retired and used for spare parts, in 2013 the Syrian Rebels have got their hands on this old girl and after getting her running again have added their own distinguishing features:



Some mis-spent youth doodling in the back of my schoolbooks meant I had a bit of fun stylising this graffiti. If you can't quite make it out it's 'F S A' for the Free Syrian Army.
I've wanted to do something along this line for a while now, and got pretty close with an M113 I was doing in a Lybian civil war scheme but never completed (big surprise). I was pretty nervous after spending a long time on the paintwork of this model and therefore concerned I might make a complete mess of it.
I measured up the area I wanted and practiced the design on paper over and over again till I was happy with it, I then made sure I could repeat it well on the day that I was going to draw it onto the model.
Beforehand I carefully sprayed a white patch onto the turret (masking the surrounding areas) with Tamiya paint to give myself a 'background' with which to work from. This allowed me to apply the design in pencil and I then hand painted the design using thinned Tamiya acrylics and humbrol enamels. It was pretty tense work but I must say I'm very happy with how it came out!



On the other side of the turret I applied a Archer transfer of Arabic vehicle slogans. Most of these are specific to Lebanon but this one is more general and basically means 'unity' (I can't remember the full phrase sorry). The transfer is black but once applied I carefully painted over it in red enamels to give a more 'hand applied' look and to add more colour.

As mentioned at the end of my previous post, I've rusted up the exhaust with a variety of vajello and Mig pigments and used some AK engine grime wash to dirty up specific areas and add a bit more depth to the streaking in some places. See what you think:























Still struggling a bit to get consistent light on my pics but I got a photo tent in the post last night so I hope the next lot come out a lot better.

Appreciate any feedback as always!

Cheers,

James

Love the graffiti with those arrows. Graffiti has to include arrows, right
Seriously, consistent controlled 'wild style' esp. difficult to do in scale. Then tracing over the arabic with red requires a steady hand much better than my sic-fi attempt in a diorama:
http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/95835#793559

This tank is looking super crusty grungy real

Cheers Bob,

Appreciate all of the kind words, yes a steady hand was required and was difficult to do in scale, but patience and the belief I could pull it off saw me through!

Like your dio, definitely very different and certainly a creative subject choice, the scenery is very impressive and realistic.

Thanks again,

James

wow the graffiti is just marvellous. This i really original and unexpected!!




I would do both first dark layer than dust layer, but.. that's me and no " less is more" philosophy.

Good to hear you acquired a photo tent. However it may oblige you to add even more light. We'll see.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks mate!

Was wondering how people would like it but it seems to have been a good move after all!

Cheers mate, have acquired Tamiya's brown panel line accent paint and it's great for adding little pin washes like this. Have started playing with dust pigments on the build now too..

Had a go with the photo tent yesterday and must say I am pretty impressed with how well it works, even the unedited pics seem a LOT better, have not got them on the computer yet though so will see how they come up, hopefully the 3 lamps I have are enough.......

Cheers!

James

Well, one of the great benefits of this thread has been all the kind help you folks have offered on my photography as I've not been happy with the pics that I was posting.
Well, thanks to help from you all, and particularly Pawel and Pedro, I think I'm finally winning. I made the colossal leap of spending $15 on a pop-up photo booth and although its taken a while to be posted, I must say I'm VERY impressed with the results.

Therefore this update is not at a specific point to explain in the build, it was more a chance for me to play with my photo booth! However, at this stage I've used some very thin Tamiya buff as a dust coat in places and then begun adding pigments. The process is ongoing and I haven't blended in the application you see in the photos so it looks a little rough, however, you should be able to see the direction I'm heading in. Enjoy!

























I'm also working on the running gear again; will be good to see all this in place finally!





Cheers!

James

James,
it realy makes a world of difference, doesen't it
Glad I could help!

Also great job with the grafitti, will look awesome with those rebels kitbash you made!

Cheers,
Greg

Hey Greg, Yes an unbelievable amount, certainly the missing ingredient I was after!
Thanks very much, I'm having some reservations about my figures, but will see how I go with painting them.

Cheers,

James

Very nice James. Pictures look much better with a lot less of shades. I still think 1 or even two more light would help even more. I would be interested how you exactly cope with those pigments. I'm trying to use them again but I'm not 100% happy with the results. Hope to see more soon . Happy Easter!

Hi James,

Man the hooligan is back!!! The graffetti is great!! Adds an amazing burst of colour in a really different & unique way!!

The quaility of the photos is looking better each time I look.

Can't wait to see the wheels on her & how the rebel figures are coming along??

Cheers Mike

Cheers mate,
You're probably right, the issue would be where to put them! rapidly running out of room on the desk as its where I spray paint too!

With the pigments its a case of continually re-working them until you're happy with the result. I try and get the result I'm after straight up obviously but find going over with a brush dampened in white spirit (or equivalent thinner) helps to really get everything looking how I want.




She sure is! Thanks Mike, much appreciated.

Wheels (and tracks) are now on so I'll have to have another photo shoot and show you how she looks. As for the figures I've hit a bit of a wall and fell out of love with the guys I'd built after getting the base coats on. This often happens when I paint figures as they start to look very toylike and I feel like I'm not going to do a very good job with them. I also found a figure from a previous build I thought may a better fit for the build, I'll get some pics so you guys can see what I mean and offer some guidance.

Happy Easter guys!

James

James, this tank is looking fantastic.
I am in awe of your grungifying skills.

Thank you Barry!

Grungifying - I like it!

Cheers,

James