I'm building the Tamiya Famo using some PE parts and resin tyres / wheels. If all goes well, I may put it in a small diorama too. Let me know what you think.

I'm going for a fun build rather than total historical accuracy.

Andy

Lookin' good! Love the engine with the fan and the transmission. Very well done.

Marty

Thanks Marty, glad you like it so far, here's a couple more photos.

Andy

Andy,

Really like the way you did the engine and transmission, how did you get that effect of subtle chipped and worn finnish ?

thanks for posting your pictures,

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

The engine and transmission were sprayed with Tamiya X10 Gun Metal. When it had dried I gave it a few washes of black oil paint and left it to dry completely. I mixed Mig's Europe Dust pigment with enamel thinners and "painted" the whole engine and transmission, again leaving it to dry completely. With an old fairly large stiff paint brush, I then just scratched / scraped the pigment off where I didn't want it to be seen, it also removed some of the wash too which then allowed Gun Metal to shine through as well.

I used a similar method on the exhaust system, using Mig's Rust pigment.

The whole Famo was first sprayed with Tamiya XF63 German Grey. I then applied masking fluid with a piece of torn-off scouring pad to the areas I wanted the grey to show through. It was then sprayed with Tamiya XF 60Dark Yellow, each successive coat was lightened with a few drops of Flat White. Then the masking fluid was removed to reveal the "chipped" grey paint.

I will keep you informed of my progress as the kit comes together.

Andy

Hi Andy,

thanks for giving me the break down of how you got that affect It look really good, what sort of ratio did you use on the black washes ?

Thanks,

Best wishes,

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

I don't really know the ratio for the oil paint wash, except to say I used more paint than I would use for a normal wash. The idea was to get quite a thick consistency as I didn't just want it to flow round the details on this occasion. It had to almost completely obscure the Gun Metal paint underneath it. On areas where I thought it was too thick, I used a brush dampened with thinner to "wash off" some of the, er, wash!

There is no hard and fast rule, just play around until you are happy with it.

Thanks for your interest so far.

I've got the front wheels on now too, so here's a couple more photos for you.

Andy

Just amazing work!!! I really like the engine compartment as it looks, well, real!

Well done so far!

Rob

Wow, Andy, this is stunning so far! Thanks for sharing both the pics and your methods, keep them coming.

I've decided to treat the main parts of this beast as three separate units : the rear cargo bit, the bit with the seats and the bit round the engine. I figured it would be easier to paint them all individually and assemble them later. Only time will tell!

Right here is the bit with the seats.



and again



While waiting for things to dry I built a Tamiya Zundapp which will form part of the cargo. It's built straight from the box.



Thanks for the positive comments so far.

Andy

Excellent paint job!

Wow, your build looking great! Hows the fit and everything? I'am in the process of thinking about starting mine (ei, gathering info, supplies)

Francois,

Glad you are enjoying it so far. This really is a great kit and is going together very well - no problems as yet with Mr Tamiya.

But...........

...........As this was probably going to be the biggest kit I would ever make, and one that I had been looking forward to for a long time, I decided I was going to make it all singing and all dancing with all the extra bits that I had read were essential for every kit.
So I bought Tank Workshop resin front wheels, an Eduard photo etch set 35383 and also the Eduard Express wheel mask set.

The Tank Workshop resin wheels are well worth getting as you can tell from the photos. I used one of the Tamiya ones to use as part of the "load".

I reckon I will only use about one third of the photo etch, the rest is either pointless i.e. won't be seen when it's finished, or is impossible to glue into the right position, or has just broken during assembly. I guess they are not made for people with sausages for fingers!!

Over half of the wheel masks either would not stick at all or blew away as soon as I got near them with my airbrush! I ended up spraying the entire wheel Tamiya XF69 Nato Black and then using an artists' circle template to mask them off one wheel at a time.

So my summary so far is Tamiya and Tank Workshop excellent, not very impressed with Eduard.

Thanks for looking

Andy

Stunning build! What paint did you use for the tan?

Happy jeeping

-Mike C

Mike,

Which tan do you mean, is it the seats?

Andy

Yes, sorry for the vague 'tan'.

Mike

Ok Mike,

Here's what I did.

First I took an ordinary tissue / Kleenex and cut a piece slightly bigger than each seat. I mixed a small amount of PVA glue with water and brushed it all over the tissue and while it was still wet put the tissue over the seats. Using a paintbrush dipped in the glue / water mixture I "formed" it to the shape of the seats and left it to dry completely. The excess tissue was trimmed off carefully, leaving (hopefully) a textured seat which looks more realistic than the original plastic version. If it doesn't work out right you can soften the tissue with more PVA, pull the tissue off and start all over again.

I wasn't really sure what colour I wanted the seats to be as nearly everyone paints them different colours anyway, but this is how I got mine to be the colour they are now.

I started off by painting them with Vallejo 874 USA Tan Earth, when dry they had a thin coat of Burnt Umber oil paint which was left on for 15 minutes. Using a brush moistened with clean thinners I started to remove some of the oil paint starting in the middle but leaving more oil paint round the edges.
10 minutes later I brushed on Tamiya XF9 Hull Red. When that was dry I added a very thin coat of Burnt Sienna oil paint concentrating more round the edges of the seats. I used a kind of stabbing motion with a brush to try to "feather" the join between the areas that would have most wear (the middle) and less wear (the edges). I then added a few small dabs of Gold Ochre oil paint which were "dabbed at" to reduce their effect.

When all that lot had dried I applied some Mig Europe Dust / Brick Dust pigments to the edges and then left well alone!

If you don't like any of the oil paint bits they can always be wiped off before they dry, allowing you to have another go until you are happy.

I dare say if used the same methods / combinations I have described above, they would come out looking completely different next time, but I like the way they turned out.

Hope that helps.

Andy

The problem is TWS products are hard to get in canada. I had a guy i knew who distributed them, but stopped the business...

The other problem is my financial situation for now.... I just found a great job working for an old teacher of mine in doing research, but christmas time is killing me!

Il see how the tamiya wheels turn out... but iam sure the rest is beautiful and i have plenty of extra PE to beauty up the baby.

Frank

Frank,

I got my TWS wheels from Ebay off someone in France!!

Compare this photo of the Tamiya wheel and tyre (which I will use as part of the cargo) with the TWS one in the earlier photos. I think it's worth getting them if you can.

Andy

Thanks for the info, I am trully grateful!

-Mike

Time to reveal some more of my hard work. The tracks are on and weathered with pigents and the wheels have several oil washes of various blacks and browns and pigments.





Here is the rear cargo bed, I went a bit overboard with the chipping but most of it will be covered up by the cargo so it won't be too noticeable.



And lastly for now, a couple of the crew. I'm not very good with figures as you can tell.





All comments appreciated as usual.

Andy

Hello Andy

Looking good on the FAMO mate.

An all time favourite of mine.

Keep up the good work mate.

Hey, things are moving along rather fast!
I wouldn't worry with the chips, i believe they look fine. These babies would have plenty of heavy stuff draged on the bed, so i thing the paint chips are reasonable.

Also, from the photos, i think the tamiya wheel is amazing, but the might ust be your modeling skills.
Keep us posted!

Frank

I agree! I'm not a big chipping fan on tanks but on a workhorse like this they didn't just go out on the front line and get knocked out in a month, and spent getting most of its surface walked on and abused as the interior is pretty much the exterior too. The bed floor would be beat to crap in no time, although I'd probably chill out a bit on the exterior walls and outer cab.. Looks great, and the roadwheels and tracks are just phenomenal!

Looking great I have wanted to buy one of these beasts ever since i saw one built up.