I won't be running over anything when I'm glued to the bench. Happy Easter as well.

Kimmo

Speaking of being glued to the bench. Closed up the turret after adding the bino case and headphones to the commander's bin. Took a few attempts to get the rod that runs up to the cupola to sit. Almost everything is now attached, apart from the spare wheels and the roof track and the pe clasps which will go on last. The next session will be pigments after final touch ups.







And a Happy Easter to everyone.

Kimmo

Kimmo,
You know what they say: "One picture is worth a thousand words." Your work is amazing! And your photo progress posts are very captivating. Unfortunately, that mutch detail is too much for my limited eyesight to handle but I truely appreciate it when I see such amazing work by other model builders. I am humbled!

Thanks for the kind words Michael. If it wasn't for the optivisor, my eyes wouldn't be up to the challenge. Even with the magnification, sometimes I need to step back for a while to get my eyes uncrossed. I guess it's something that affects almost all of us as we get older. So all you younguns out there, don't be stubborn, get your eyes checked and work in a well lit space. It gets mighty difficult to glue your thumbs together when you can't see what you're doing.

Kimmo

The initial pigments have started. Before that, I decided to give the hull bottom a worn primer look. I literally slapped some Cavalry brown on first and kept working it with a wet, moist and dry brush to give it a nice patchy look. Then I added a coat of slightly darkened mix and finally a sepia wash.




Then pigments. I want a heavier coat on the undersides than on the outside and uppers. A mix of different pigments in a "live" wash meaning mixing as you go adding more of one or another to give it some variation.





And after it had dried a few minutes we get this




The you go in and start removing excess or adding more as needed





And it starts looking like this




I'm removing practically all of the pigments on the rubber portion of the wheels. I want just a hint of dust and good contrast. I'll go over them once more with a lighter mix when I do the rest of the tank.

More to come.

Kimmo

A little more progress. The lighting isn't the best, but it should give you an idea of where its heading. The base colour makes it difficult to pick up some of the subtleties and the fact that the pigment coats aren't completely dry yet.






You should be able to see that everything has a more blended feel and a bit of a random dusty look. I'm happy with it so far. Next up, the tracks. I'll get a coat on before I attach them and then touch up at the joins.

Kimmo

Here's where we're at after a marathon session yesterday. Adding pe wing nuts and tool clasps at 4 am in the morning is more fun than you can imagine. A couple of touch ups, the antenna and I think we can stick a fork in it.






Final photos will have to wait until Tuesday I think, providing the weather cooperates, so I can get them done in natural light.

Kimmo

My last official act of madness was to add the padlocks to the rear bin. If you ever decide to add padlocks, do not try to use the U hooks in any pe set, the piece will invariably be too small to handle, and if its a larger scale, looks flat. Take some appropriate wire and bend it into an elongated U and thread the lock, glue it in place and then trim the wire to length.




And that's a wrap. Final photos later as promised.

Kimmo

Great job Kimmo..You've done this kit justice. Love the scruffy look of these desert warriors .. I'm planning on a few desert schemes and I hope they come out like yours ..congrats.

Rick

Thanks Richard! It's been a challenge at times, but it certainly was fun.

Kimmo

As promised, here's a few outdoor shots, more will be coming at some point. I still need to get a proper set up for shooting. A decent camera wouldn't hurt either.






Until next time, thanks to all who followed, commented and supported me and the build, it has been a lot of fun. I'm still rather amazed at the number of views this has gotten and I'll stop there before I get all mushy. Now, quit reading this and go build something.

Kimmo

What's next on list of models to do ? If I may be so bold as to suggest try a Bruckenleger IV B . I picked one up on eBay for 20 bucks so cheap that I could not refuse . Besides I've never built a Trumpeter kit yet and I wanted to see what the quality of the moulding were . I believe it's such an oddball kit that I just had to get it , but it fills a gap in the panzer IV family tree . It just looks good .
Now remembered what I was going to ask , are you going to Matt coat this after all the detailing ? You have done a fantastic job with the paint brush and a tins of paint . It just look great . So how big was the brush in 1/35 scale .

Next on the list is an armoured car, the Armorama gods have been kind enough to entrust me with another little project. I've currently got a figure on the go, haven't done one of those in ages either. If you want a peek http://armorama.com/forums/221218

No more coats of anything, the pigments were fixed with glaze medium which is pretty good as a sealant and top coat. It's normally a bit on the satin-semi gloss side, but the pigments dull it down nicely. Thanks for tagging along and the kind words along the way.

Kimmo

So it's details and more details .

It's all in the details I was reminded of this:

Big fleas have little fleas,
Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas,
and so, ad infinitum.

You can go on forever adding detail or layers of paint. For me, most of the fun is adding a little here, and a little there to challenge myself and to add interest and to remain somewhat faithful to the original subject and to try out new techniques. Fortunately I don't have an extensive reference library. If I did, I'm afraid I'd get caught in a loop like our proverbial flea above. While that would be technically rewarding, it certainly wouldn't help to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time and might cause the dreaded loss of mojo. I was away from the hobby for too long and now I'm making up for lost time by bashing on instead of getting stuck with hunting down that elusive last piece of evidence. Having done a couple of OOB build reviews has taught me a little bit about working with what you have and making the best of it.

Sorry if I rambled or got philosophical there. I've come to realize that the last 6 months or so has been very satisfying personally because of this build, and also humbling in that so many people have taken an active interest in something that is basically a form of therapy. Everybody needs an outlet for their creativity or pent up energy, this happens to be one of mine. And if somebody else benefits from all of this, so much the better.

Kimmo

And we learned quite a bit , thanks to your trial and errors . Thanks a lot .

Hi Kimmo

Excellent build, and your closing statement is the icing on the cake and a timely reminder to build a kit and enjoy it, that is why we are involved in the hobby, for the fun.

I am following your figure build too, as I have never had a successful figure build, yet

Excellent finish on the Pz IV DAK

Regards

Steve H

Excellent finish to a long and productive build, Kimmo. No "thumbs up" icons, so you'll have to be happy with a couple of waves!

Thanks guys, as I said earlier, it's been a really interesting and fun experience.

Kimmo

Great job!! Looks great!! Someday I might be able to build 1/4 that good! LOL

I'll keep doing it for I love it!

Mike

Thanks Mike, that's the reason we all do it.

Kimmo

So, with the latest DMOM contest over, it's time to add the final pics. I didn't want to add any until now because I didn't want it to be seen as pandering for votes. I could have used a little pandering. Sniff.


















And fooling around with GIMP



So now it's officially a wrap. Several months after the fact, but hey. Once again, thanks to everyone who followed along and commented.

Kimmo

Kimmo,

My apologies but I came late to this build. Congratulations on the superb work. My question relates to the comment you made on the first page about releasing your plans based on the SketchUp programme. I may have missed this during the article but did this ever happen?

Continue the excellent work.

Regards.

Gary

Hi Gary, thanks for the kind words and better late than never As to the SketchUp files, if you or anyone else is interested send me a pm with your e-mail address. I made pdfs with notes and I'll amend them as needed and when I get a long gun version done.

Kimmo

Kimmo, if I am in my local art store and buy the pastels, will they know what I want if I ask for a "fixer"?

Thanks in advance!