hi folks, a quick foray into a 1:48 armor again . I have a soft spot for 1:48 just wish more of it was modern!!

Anyways doing the Humvee by tamiya, the normal one, not the big airfield one.

This won't take long and will be working on it every night for a few hours with a daily update so hopefully this blog be over in a week. I want to also express my opinions of the kit, and offer some good one the way photos.

so lets get on with it

firstly this is going to be a kitchen table build - not in the modelling den which is a still a mess from the last project!! and theres no tv in there either.

yeah I was watching tosh.0...

assembly starts with axles and chassis. beautifully detailed for the scale. typical tyamiya! important to note that hidden inside one of the walls is a letter F and R on each axle so as to not confuse front and rear. BRONCO are you paying attention? their instructions are quite bad(bronco) but this is brilliant(tamiya)- typical fall together kit

knife shown to give scale

great detail!

chassis assembly


comparison of scale with the bronco humvee - a project I abandoned a while back.


the detail at 1/48 scale in comparison to 1:35 on the bronco is extraordinarily similar.


drive shafts and exhausts

check out the tool rack under the chassis - I have never seen this in any kit before nor in any reference. hopr they not making it up but its way cool.

a final comparison for tonight, tomorrow is the cabin interior and that means painting already !
enjoy , adamskii

looks good,I did that one for a campaign,it goes together nice,looking foward to your project.

ok so I finished building the vehicle last night - was very very quick mostly because it fell together with no major issues.

so heres so along the way pics - they get more interesting later when I start painting/ weathering.

drill out these holes - well i did that and now there is a hole in the tub that seems to have nothing go in it ? who knows... one of the 4 holes seems to do nothing.

worst alignment so far is the back quarter panel..but it is invisible when the top is on - good bit ofmodel design that.

completed step inlcuding dash board

most of the seats fitted


cab interior finished construction

turrt ring - nicely done , not glued so it can swivel.

major assemblies finished

wheel alignment

the weels have a smaller pin for the socket than the hole so there is some slop. also they have not used the traditional poly cap for the axles so each wheel gets lued in place or will fall out. due to the slop I used a quick jig to keep the weels parralel and the camber vertical.. while glue dries


major assemblies including wheels.

all the parts for painting (doors and radio face will be detailed off the sprue before placing on model)


So tonight I will continue painting - probably do a coat of green inside and then some sand out side. Desert strorm sand is a particular colour that no one gets right - it is very light lsand and most natural model paints are too dark,, so will do some testing.

Adam

Great photo sequence. Having the dining table scene included gives the feel of the build. I,m shocked theres no Abrams tank yet from Tamiya. there's some nice humvee builds by a guy named Lars oin the gallery on onefortyeight.com. Have fun

hi again folks, daily update..

firstly I painted the interior of the cab nato green as per instructions. that includes the inside of the doors and underside of the roof.

I have decided to leave the bonnet (or "hood") nato green. I love that look and although may be a historic no no for 90/91 gulf war, this is a liberty I am prepared to take. I like the idea of a damaged bonnet being replaced from spares that are the wrong colour!

so heres the first coat of the interior.


then it gets a wash of black, and a wash of mig pigment gulf war sand.


the sub assemblies drying...


then I assemble the doors onto the cabin, and give the interior a dustcoat of "buff" to blend the watermarks and mismatches.


now add masking tape to prevent the sand colour spoiling the interior



the first coat of desert sand goes on. i used a special blend of 50% matt white and 50% desert yellow (tamiya acrylic) for this colour. interesting how it changes colour under different lights - will see how it photographs in sunlight tomorrow.


the subassemblies painted..



and some final posing for tonight.. lol.



next step is weathering!
paint the chassis details ( rust , oil streaks , rubber dust boots etc)
so pinwash and shading.
then dustcoat/ blending,
then detail painting ( lights, graffiti, decals)
install the windscreens and weapon station
and a last fading coat with the airbrush.

hopefully be done before my bushmaster arrives in a few days !!

Adam

Looking good Adam, I need to pick up 1 or 2 of these and try them out.

ok this is the fourth night I have sat down to this project. so maybe 6 hours of work so far.

Washes.

This is the vehicle with a single even wash applied. The roof was given a pinwash and then a "filter" of the base wash to make sure it all looks even.

the wash is burnt sienna oil paint mixed with lots of turpentine! I test its consostence by applying to the back of my hand and if it only fills teh cracks in the skin then its good.




the exhaust pipe is painted in a patina. first a base coat of iron oxide metal suspension, and then an acid of "rust' colour is applied that actually eats at and rusts the base coat - thus giving real rust .. the shine goes away when dry in about 12 hours.


the various angles with the washes starting to make detail stand out...




So next is blending with a dust coat of base colour again, then ever lightening layers of drybrushing etc etc...

Enjoy, Adam

so did some dry brushing tonight, managed to squeeze it in.

here's some more progress pics. not far to go now.

back hatch detail is starting to really stand out.


so is the turret ring


doors starting to "pop"


assembled with first drybrush complete





the chassis got some much needed attention - detail painting of the rubber boots over cv joints, brake discs, exhaust detail, drive shafts and some extra oil stain washes.



I dont like the idea of a silver sump, but its what the instructions say so i guess it stays, the next levels of weathering will dull it out alot anyways.

next steps... (tomorrow hopefully)
apply decals! (and seal them)
paint the lights (indicators etc)
tyres and wheels detail
antenna
install windscreens,
final dustcoat with airbrush (superfine)
and a coat of mig pigment gulf war sand.

maybe, I will add some dirt/ mud splashes to the wheel wells and bumpers etc..

coming along nicely I think..

Adam

hi again.

well almost got this puppy put to bed tonight, almost.

Decals are applied, lights are painted, have a look

military police decals..



the tyres were washed with sand to highlight the tread

and then air brushed to fade and blend them


headlights and other reflective surfaces are painted in silver


and once dry the orange or red as appropriate is applied over the top. I use tamiya clear red / orange.

holding the chassis vertical I drop some tamiya clear x-22 into the light wells instead of using the lenses. gets left like this overnight to dry



the gun is mounted on top, painted in semi gloss black, will get a silver weathering tomorrow when dry, and some raw umber washes, along with dust coats to blend



so all thats left is the machine gun weathering, glue the windows in with pva, make an antenna, paint it and stick it all together and a final dust blendind with the airbrush!

till then...

Adamski

Great fun following your work Adam, excellent thread mate !

Cheers, D