Brandi ..I'll tell you a little bit about Photo Etch ..or PE .. its the thing that can really make a model a beauty .. track guards. armour plate ..damn near anything and everything looks better with PE ..the first time you have a have a play ..its gonna drive you nuts but once you get your technique down its all good from there
The paints i use are Tamiya and Humbrol .. the 2 types i have always used ..the Tamiya XF range is so easy to air brush with and i use the Humbrol for the detail painting ..many of the paints you can get in the States and in Europe we can't get here ,other than mail order . so we make do with what we can get most times but i am getting some Vallejo paints ..the guys on here love em that use them so i gotta try them out ..never heard anything bad which for me is a good start
Ask all the questions you want lol .. i've got the time

Phill

...... Talk to me about how you get someone to PAY you to do this?

Simple matey .. its supply and demand .. I can do something he cant yet he loves military models but he don't have nowhere the amount of skill needed to make look good ,,thats where i come in ..but in this case it works both ways ..he can get models i cant get so with some cash on the side and a ever increasing pile of kits i'm a happy camper .

Phill

Hey you people out there ..heres some more pics of the Panther ..is now ready for painting and all that other good stuff .the annoying thing is that i have to completely finish this model before i can pour the water .and thats not going to be all the far away ..still plenty to do ..so take alook and enjoy








Phill

hey Phil, looks great! Did you have those PE parts just lying around? They look really nice on there.
I can't wait to see the camo pattern!
Any tips on airbrushing camo? Or airbrushing in general? Or any books you know of that help a new airbrusher like me? I have no idea how to even use one, lol.
The resin for water should be fairly easy. I like Cast n Craft clear stuff...not the huge jug, but it comes in bottles...it degases as it sets, so no worries about air bubbles, pretty nice stuff but I don't know if you can get the same stuff in NZ.
Anyway, it's looking great! Nice scratch build!

Thank you for the comments and yup ,,i've got a heap of PE bits and pieces and many complete sets .. a old model we had here closed down and since i knew the owner very well ,dealt with that shop for over 15 yrs .. he gave me a huge pile of old sets that never sold ..its pretty expensive here ,,the cheapest set was $29NZ for armour plate for a Jeep ..one small sheet of PE for $29 bucks ..the big sets where over $60 NZ ..now it cheaper to get them online ..much cheaper ..still got to get a couple of more sets for the Shermans in this dio .nothing flashy but thats cool
You tube or DVD's hun will work best for your air brush schooling lol they will teach you better than i ever could ..ok if we was standing side by side then different story lol .. As for the water ...its not a brand i have ever seen here and trust me i would need to sell a gun or my car to get it lol ..thats why fiber class resin is the way to go ..one brand we have .( dont remember the name ) you have to melt and then pour ,,its super clear but the problem is the heat ..you cant have anything plastic near that stuff .freaking melts it ,found that out the hard way ..bugger..resin is much cooler heat wise and since the water will be dirty its not that important thats it clear .
Had a thought .. Shepard Paine's book Modeling tanks and military vehicles has a good section on air brushing ..thats will help you bloody helped me lol
Wish ya the best of luck with that schooling thingy lol ,pass that midterm

Phill

Up date time ... did some more on the dio today .. more ground work and the river is looking pretty good now .. once the paint hits it,it will tie it all together nicely .. so heres some pics for ya to prev at
Oh heres a couple pics of the Panther ..base shading takin care of .


Now for the dio itself .












Cheers

Phill

Really cool development!!! Looking forward to seeing more!!

Regards,

Phil
Looks great ,benn folllowing your progress from the start. This is a pretty good size diorama. Keep up the great work. Looking foward to your next set of pictures.
Tom

Phil, looks awesome! The base coat on the panther looks really nice with all the PE on
Can't wait to see the river!

The big logs in the gap look a bit out of place right now. I would suggest that you put some kind of stumps somewhere on your diorama to 'connect' them to the surroundings. Or maybe a pile of logs or a wooden barricade/wall.

Vladimir ,, thanks man ,,this one is quite away.s to go yet but i am enjoying it

Thomas mate trust me there's going to be a heap more pics coming of this one ,,hell i haven't even started on the men or other vehicles yet ..waiting for the tracks for both of the Sherman's can't wait to build that Crab

Brandi ,,I'll be painting that Panther today if all goes well ,,once i stop the ol hip from giving me crap ..short story ,,big crash , lol ,still have some work to do on the tree trunk ..got to make it look like its washed down river after a storm ..its been there a long time so it needs plants and the like wrapped around it

Scott ,, I agree with ya there matey ..that tree looks like that ..but only for now ..its a washed down river truck ..haven't made it look like that so once everything else is dry i will ,,kinda copied that from a tree truck i saw in a river not far from my home ..farm land on both sides of the river and no trees anywhere near the river but there's plenty of them in there.washed down from a big storm we had not long ago .

Phill

Phil, good deal on the tree. As long as you've thought through it, that's cool.

Looking forward to more updates.

Yo Phill,

That's a huge work you showing here.

I'am hooked up for this one.

Greetz Nico

Phil,
Can you give a basic rundown of the process you usually use when putting a tank together? like, the order in which you do it and what you do at each step (if you paint it then, PE, etc)?
I'm just curious

Nico mate thanks man ,,its a fun one this dio for me ..keep an eye out ,,theres gonna be changes with this soon

Brandi well time to answer that curious mind lol .. normally when i build a tank i'll plan it out first ..study the plans and read a few reviews to see if theres any hidden problems ,,then i'll decide what i am going to do with it ..damaged .field mods ,added armour and so on ..once thats all sorted then i will build ..start with the chassis first ..its normally the frist step anyway ..when your building and PE is used you build it as you need to like following the standard step and put the PE on when you have too .
Just follow the plans .
When damage is used on the model it needs to be planned so it looks real as possible . there;s plenty of pics out there for ideas and to copy . when after market or AM is being used of course the plans wont cover that ..AM can be many many things for a tank ... added armour..tracks ..turrets ..guns ..engines ,,,you name it ,,so you have to work that into the building too ,,since your first tank is a doddle to build these problems wont be there but later
Say for example i am putting on after market tracks ,well these will go on when its time to put them on in the plans but this can also depend on the tank i'm building .some you leave off and only put them on when everything is painted .others you have to put them on and paint while your still building .. the MAUS super tank is a good example . theres also technique's you will pick up and you will find away which works best for you ..we all do

One tank i am building for this dio is a Sherman crab ..has a anti mine frail on it and i will need to build the tank in such away that the hull is not glued to the chassis ,,that way i can paint the tracks then put the two parts together ..the way the frail is made it would be a big pain to paint the tracks once the frail is in place ..different things for different tanks ..thats modelling for ya

Phill

Righto finally got to do some painting on the Panther ..weathering is to follow very soon ..its not going to be a clean job this one ..its a old tank and its at the end of the war so they don't care what it looks like so long as it works ,,so heres some pics of it before its weathered







More to follow soon

Phill

Also forgot to chuck these pics on here too .. been paying some attention to the bridge too ,, as a guy who used to haul heavy earthmovers i know that anything wooden and has metal tracks running over it alot will end up being pretty torn up .so i have made the wood on the bridge look like my old trailer did ..this turned out pretty good








Phill

Okay Phill, you've got me. How'd you do the crush effect on the bridge? It's come up nicely and with a bit of weathering is really going to look the part.

Cheers, John

Well John mate thats a top secret skill ..and of course i'm gonna tell ya
Started with 60 grit sand paper .sanded the channel into the balsa wood to give some depth to it ..then using the back of a stainless steel ruler ..its got to be sharp and square on the end ,, you drag it along the wood with medium pressure .,,do that a few times and works like tracks pulling them selves along the wood ..it gently tears the wood giving you what you see there ..i still remember how often the wood on our trailers had to be replaced dew to the tracks on bullies and excavators ripping them to bits .just did the same thing but without tracks
Oh using soft balsa works best for this to .tears up much easier than hard balsa .

Phill

Phil, this sure is coming along! The tank is going to look really nice one it's all painted! Nice job on it!
The bridge looks great, too. It was worth the time you put into it, it's gonna tie the whole thing together. Can't wait to see more!

Brandi ,,thanks you muchly ya slowly but surely ,,would be going a little quicker but a slighty torn muscle in my right shoulder is slowing things down ,,damn it!!
But oh ,,boys will be boys
I might be able to do some more work on the bridge today ,its 5.49am here so i got the time lol
The Panther will be a step closer to finishing too .

Phill

Great work Phill! Some really grand progress, that bridge is looking mighty good (that effect on the wood is awesome!). Sorry to hear about your arm, hope it’s not too bad, hope u get better soon!

Regards,

Hey Vladimir mate .. thanks dude ,,will be more done on it today as i am bored silly with this bloody shoulder ..i make small movements its all good ,,make big movements not good and its right on the shoulder blade to ..so sleeping is a pain lol literally ..so won't be doing much of that but ya never know
Mate and I lifting weights and blokes being blokes bets were made and he won lol ..bugger
I'm getting too old
If things go to plan might be painting the bridge today .but dont quote me on that

Phill

I strained a muscle the last time I was at the gym! It’s not as painful but I kinda know how it feels …