Hi
This is really becoming a very nice little scene your creating. The Grass & fence look great. The Camo paint looks very good as well. I did a similar thing earlier in the year for My Daughter. I built Her a Leopard 2 & painted it like the Milka chocolate painted tank.

Watching to see the end result.

Shaun

Hi Shaun,

frightening what can happen to a big cat if it swallows the wrong cow.
No kidding, very nice modell! It looks like braille scale, is it? Your camoflague has sharp and crisp edges. How did you mask it? Or is it brush painted? And now that you are already at the keyboard, may you let me know how you coloured the recesses. Just a plain wash or did you paint it?

I do like the other Leo too. Does the pic beneath it mean, that there was a real one with that dress? Great paint job!

Cheers Michael

Hi Michael
Both Real Both 1/35 scale. Although the Milka tank is a little brighter than the real one. The Milka Leopard was done by a German regiment 2. Company Tank battalion 334 to commemorate the 1st all Women Tank crew in the army back in 2001. The Spotty Leopard is from a ordnance depot as a gate guard but I cant remember where. The camo was masked out using silly putty & then touched up with a fine paint brush. As for the recesses I used a very fine paint brush & some Dark Brown Ink from Games workshop ( don't think they make it now).

Shaun

Hi Michael,
The papier maché does sound messy and wet but I think the paper mush could be kept fairly dry. Still needs to be tried out on something unimportant first.
The various puttys work (are not wet and sticks to the model) but they can leave residue like grease or discolouration and they can damage fragile details so each technique has advantages and disadvantages.

Nice paint job ;-)

/ Robin

For simple surfaces without too much details or structure it is possible to use the sticky parts of "sticky notes" (Post-It in english, don't know german name) but I guess you know this already ...

Hi Shaun,

thanks for the info. I just had to google those two Leos of yours and definitely like your colour scheme of the milka tank better, than the real one, which indeed does look rather pale on the pics.
I figured out that the spotty Leo is an Austrian one.
[quote from militaryphotos.net: "The Leopard-Camo was specially for the Open Day by the 14. PzBtl / Austrian Bundesheer at their HomeBase at Wels"].

enjoy your weekend

Michael

Ok, everything is in place again, paint was touched up and received a semigloss varnish (Marabu). The rubber rings of the roadwheels were brush painted and wheels and tracks installed (particularly the latter was easier than I expected). As the tank should be represented in its state right after being freshly coloured there will be no weathering. I just emphasized the grills with a black wash as I did with the exhaust. I very limited pin wash was done to emphasize some details. With the same idea in mind one or the other detail like the spare track and snow grip racks were painted with different colours to make them pop out a bit more.








The Graffiti at the left side of the turret was hand painted. A decal was used as a template. The decal was constructed from a photograph. Unfortunately this could not be used straight from the picture as the Graffitti has been repainted by the time the photograph was taken.








Thanks for sneeking in

Michael

Looks really good !
/ Robin

Looking Good! & Lotsa Fun!

Looks like a worthy addition to the 'bonkers camo' genre.
Look forward to seeing it in person, just make sure you put a gurad on it to stop the 'Bankseys' being nicked.

As an aside, I had seen the Milka Leo pics before, but not pics of the Model.

I've also seen the Spotted Leo on the Comp table, Birmingham/Sutton Coalfield, I think, superb...
Then I saw it at MK Nats last year....
in Braile scale...

Hi Robin,
nice that you like it. I personally am not happy yet with the camoflague colour. When put on the diorama the colour looks very very very bright. So with a heavy heart I finally decided to give it a light grey filter just to tone down the edge of the colours a bit. Hope it will work. Cross your fingers.

Hi Jon,
When I saw Shauns pics I was already tinkering with the idea to do a spotted Leo in Braille myself. But discarded it for the time being again as there is already another Braille Leo in the making and, and, and…



In the meantime the diorama was finished. Basically some dirt did the job: some earth coloured pigments were pushed into the grass and at the edges of the fence and sidewalk. Some littered leafes were added and finally a name plate was glued to the frame.

The name plate deserves a short note: I ordered it at www.nameitplates.co.uk and wanted it to read: “T34/85
Mandela Way 1, London, GB
Painted in 2002 by Aleksandra Mir”.

A few days later I received – not one, but – TWO plates. One with the desired text and the other one with “1 Mandela Way, London, GB” together with a short info, that this would be the correct way to address it in England and I should just use whichever one I prefer. No additional charge! Well, that is what I call Great customer care! The order form is a bit of a pain, but such conduct certainly makes more than up for it. Highly recommended.









Happy modelling

Michael

Wow, really coming together realistically

Hi KoSprueOne,
Nice to have you following this thread. I appreciate your comment.


Filter is done. Some more pin washes too. Dry brushed the visible areas of the tracks. Picked up one or the other additional detail and finally put the little tanky in its place. The only thing still missing are the lights and their protective cage. So far I have not been in the mood to patiently fumble around till it finally suits me. For this might take some more days and I occupied myself with some other projects in the meantime I thought to share the actual state with you.












Nice to have you following this build so far. If you have any comments how I might do better next time or even improve this little piece, do not hesitate to let me know.

Have a good time and some happy and relaxing days. Take care and

Happy modelling.

Michael

Hey Michael, just realized thia was your build as well as the Leopard. Simply fantastic man! Just went through the whole thread, great work on the T-34/85 especially the tracks.

Hi
That looks Great
Love the diorama looks very nice. The Name plate really sets it off.

Shaun

Build looks on point.

The figures in 1/72, I don't where to get those…

Hi Kerry, Shaun and KoSprueOne,

I´m happy that you like my little pink tank. Thanks for your feedback. The only modern civillian figures in 1:72 I found are from Preiser. Casting, particularly of the faces, is not quite up to date but I may put one or two nevertheless.

Have a happy new year

Michael

It does look bright (stings ones eyes ;-) )
BUT !
compared to the photo of the original it could almost be a bit brighter ;-)
If the model show the tank some months after the photo was taken then it is perfect.

In this setting you could also have mixed som green and brown into the grey ...
/ RObin

Hi Robin,
you are right in every respect. Even though compared with the pics the brightness of the tank would have been ok without some weathering it simply was too much for my eyes. Thats why I toned it down a little bit.

Anyway. Today Pinky joined me to the Euro Model Expo (with my girlfriends consent) in Heiden, Germany. Pushed by my buddys into it, it was my second model to enter a competition (first one was 34 years ago .
Okay, competition was definitely not as fierce as in scale 1:35, but leaving with a silver medal still made me feel good.

Thanks for tuning in and happy modelling

Michael

Michael, really it is just fabulous, the scene looks great. Seems funny in a way that anyone would want to build the corner of a London Street, but you have it just right - with perhaps the only noticeable innaccuracy being with the fence mesh, which should, strictly, have the mesh at a 45 degree angle, like a diamond pattern, and should also appear tight between the posts, as it is under tension. However, I know from experience that trying to find small scale mesh is not easy, and the woven stuff can have the problem that it cannot be easily cut without unravelling.

Love the corner of the road as it goes around the bend.

Agree that the colour is not too bright, as it is so very bright in that photo of the real thing. Would be great to see it with the figures, but that would be a whole new challenge...

Great work from the helpful name plate maker too!

Hi Matthew,
nice that you like my (actually not so) little project.
With the mesh I am not so happy myself. I checked out a lot of different materials but almost anything I tried was either too coarse or not transparent enough. You are right with the angle (and the difficulties finding appropriate stuff in Braille) but the material I finally used was the closest I could find in transparency. That is why I chose it. To have it straight between the poles was the goal. Unfortunately my capabilities were not sufficient for that. Mesh and barbed wire were quite a fumbly job with the poles only pinned into the foam. Would have been better to anchor them more securly to have a more stable skewback when pulling the mesh tight.

To find figures for this little diorama was really a pain. The only ones I finally found were Preiser´s civilians (walking and standing). They are prepainted. I did not like the moulding and quite some flesh (from moulding - not from them being obese ) had to be removed, which of course ruined the paint. I touched up the paint and will now place one female figure on the pavement.

Thanks for tuning in.

Michael