Hans-Hermann-Thanks for the info about the Mali deployment.

I have a small update on the decals for the figures. I'm glad to say all the figures are now all decalled. At the last update I had a bit still to do on the kneeling guy and a good bit left to do on the standing guy. Progress on the standing guy was quicker for some of the larger areas where doing a masking tape template was possible but once I moved on to things like the ammo pouches it was back to using tiny pieces and taking it slow.









I also got the boonie hats and helmet done.



The next thing for the figures is to give them a good coat of Future to seal down the decals and then I will be able to tackle painting the areas that didn't need decals.

The next update will be about the control systems for the UAV.

Thanks for reading.

Great achievement with the decals. Looks georgeous. I cross my fingers that everything goes smooth with the painting.
Keep us updated!

That looks really good! This is about the point where the decals start lifting off the surface for me. I hope you are better at it than I am.
J

Michael and Jerry- thanks for checking in amigos, I've got most of the figure detail painting done so I will likely get some pics of that up soon.

In this update (which will be pic heavy) I will show the various control units for the ALADIN UAV. All the pictures were sent to me by Hans-Hermann Buhling and I can't think him enough as they proved absolutely invaluable in making these parts. As you will see many of the units are pictured from multiple angles which helped a great deal in seeing what detail went where.

First up are some brochure like pictures of the ALADIN that show it off in various settings and point out its features.













Next up are some more detailed shots of the main control components. There are three of these- comprising a main control box which also has an antenna, a computer-like viewing device and finally the manual flight control stick.

































I'd just like to start off the description of what I did to make these components by saying that I'm not a particularly good scratch-builder. I'm a very reluctant one! I'll usually only scratch-build something out of necessity! So it was great to have all these pictures- Hans-Hermann even went to the trouble of getting measurements for the control box.

We'll start at the control box as it is the biggest thing to do. Hans-Hermann's measurements were 20cmX40cmX40cm. I used a scale calculator and it said in 1/35 it should be 5.7mmX11mmX11mm. To me this seemed a little small so I added a mm to each measurement. I reckon in the assembly of the box my measurements might even have grown by another mm on all sides- like I said I'm not particularly good at this scratch-building stuff! The sides of the box was simply thin plastic-card, stuffed with some waste plastic card to give it width and a bit of sturdiness.



(Also shown in this picture is the viewing device which I will talk more about below.)

Once the box shape was done it was time to add a little detail- namely the zips on the front- this was done with magic-sculpt. A small square of plastic was also added to the top for the antenna mount.



The antenna mount was simply brass rod, a tube for the chunky wire, a square of plastic, a square beam with the front cut off for the mount on the plate and a small piece of hollowed out sprue for the antenna mount on the very top.



Obviously the cover for the box was made with the Steppentarn decals. Once these were on I just needed to put a small fan housing on the left side and some little switches in the top which are simply brass rod inserted in small holes drilled through the decal.









The viewing device was made up of four bits of plastic card cut to shape (shown above with the control box). Some scrap pieces made up the bottom of it- plus a thin application of magic-sculpt was used to give the screen some edges.



Again, the Steppentarn decals were used to create the glare-cover for the screen and some bits of the Trumpeter dashboard decals on the Fennek were cut out and used on the bottom edge of the screen.





The flight stick was just two pieces of plastic card cut to shape, sanded and with some putty applied to give it some shape- then a piece of stretched sprue was put into the middle for the joystick.





The only thing I am using some 'artistic license' on are the carry cases for the UAV. I am using three resin hard-shell cases for these.





Here's are all three of the main components together.



Once again- thanks to Hans-Hermann for all the references.

The next update will either be on some of the figure detail painting or the base. I haven't decided yet!

Thanks for taking the time to check out the thread.

very nice precise work.

Well...if you don't consider yourself very good at scratchbuilding then I don't what you DO consider to be good!! Very nice! I never saw one of these before. The cammo is sort of a cross between the erbsenmuster and old splinter colors.
J

Hyder and Jerry- thanks for the compliments!

The last time I updated the thread regarding the base was back on page one so I wanted to concentrate on it for this update. I've been slowly working on it as I went along. I use ready mix wall plaster and DAS Modeling Clay for my groundwork and its usually best to let these dry for a day at least before working any more on it. Hence building things up can be a bit stop-start but I would thoroughly recommend DAS Clay to anyone. Its a very workable air drying clay- a little PVA helps it stick on whatever you are working on and then it can be worked with water or some glue and water. Its spreads down very thin and it builds up nicely too- it also sands well and takes paint nicely.

Back on page one you can see the base has a basic shape but no middle. I laid that down with plaster before overlaying that with clay and then shaping it- 'plucking' at the clay with a toothbrush produces a nice rough texture and I also used the resin wheels for the Fennek to imprint treads on the clay- as well as some footprints and tread from a set of resin wheels for a civilian 1/35 truck.





A worn down path was also built into the middle of the roadway and I determined where the well would go by building up a small bit of clay and then imprinting the bottom of it.



The next major step was building up a rocky outcropping around where the path had been hewn into the rock face.



Once I had the rocks built it was time to add some loose rock and scree. I didn't have any rubble type products to hand so I gave a bag of 1/35 breeze blocks a good going over with a hammer which smashed them into dust and small bits. I have no idea what they were made of but they made for nice rocks and scree!







As you can see the rubble was spread around the base but the most concentrated areas was near the rocks. I also built up a small foundation for the well but after it dried I noticed it was angled downward so I tore it off and re-did it.



The well is a very simple affair with just a bucket, some rope and an old wooden door as the top cover. While I was working on its foundation I also worked out the areas to put the figures which is what the cocktail sticks are for.
(The grey colored areas is just Mr. Surfacer which I was putting on for a bit of texture in some areas before I prime the base.)





Right now there's not much more to do on the base and it should be getting some paint on soon.

I've also started weathering the Fennek and doing some work on the figures. The UAV finally has a coat of paint on it too. I will get an update for all of that done as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading.

Wow!! You have been very busy I see Karl. The groundwork is really far along already. I like the multi layer concept.
J

Hey Jer- thanks so much for commenting on the groundwork- and for noticing the multi layers/levels. This is something I love to do in a dio if I can work it in somewhere. I also hope my figure placement adds to the idea because there will be two guys on the upper level- then the Fennek in the middle and the last guy just below on the lower steps- the figures create a kind of triangle with the Fennek right in the middle.

I also picked up on your comment about Flecktarn being a little like erbsenmuster- you would be surprised at the number of post-war and even modern camouflage patterns that were 'inspired' in some way by those the Germans used during the war. In fact the Russian military were using, around the mid-2000s, a couple of patterns called 'Partizan' that were very close to the SS Oak Leaf pattern.

Hi Karl,

You've got all sorts of interesting work going on here! I always wondered about the decal camo - looks very good. I'm also enjoying a look at your base WIP - fun to see how these go from a simple surface to a really convincing ground plane! Looking forward to your next post.

Cheers
Nick

Hey Nick, thanks for stopping by- I'm glad you are enjoying the updates!

Hi Karl!

Have been catching up with your thread. Your Fennek, UAV and figures looks great! That you got the decals to work is also quite impressive. I tried those on some stovage a while back, lets just say it wasn't successful.

The step by step of the base will definitely be useful when making the base for the T-80.

Nice work!

Jakob

Hey Jakob- thanks for checking out the thread, much appreciated.

Hi Karl. One question about the figures. After you apply the decal do you do anything to the figure (washes, drybrushing, Matt varnish, etc.)?
I am away from home so I have not had a chance to finnish my Meng Shi.
Keep up the good work!

Hi Marcos- thanks for the kind words. Once I finished doing the decals I gave them a coat of Future and then once that had dried I brushed some acrylic matt varnish on the areas I had to paint- this was some straps and holsters, plus bits of the assault vest that were solid color and not camouflage. I then painted those areas. Dry brushing would likely cause a problem as the decals can be fragile- you could end up peeling them off with the motion of dry brushing. What I did is add acrylic color for highlights and shadows using two brands of paint retarder. Windsor and Newton Slow Drying Medium was used to unify the painted areas and the camouflage decals and give a slightly worn look to the uniforms. Then I used Vallejo Glaze Medium to add the highlights and shadows. I will talk about what I did in more detail in a future update.

Thank you Karl!

As I mentioned in some of my comments above, I am going to talk about the figures in this update. Once I had the decals on the tough and long, boring part was done. Painting, compared to the decals, was straightforward.

The details to be painted on the figures were not that many, mostly just clips, straps, boots and hands/arms. I gave these areas a coat of matt varnish and then painted them.







Once that was done I had five steps to go through, which sounds like a lot but each step doesn't take very long and covers fairly small areas.

Step One: A unifying color was applied, in this case Vallejo Iraqi Sand, by mixing it with Windsor and Newton Slow Drying Medium- this product has the consistency of hair gel and sticks to all parts of the model (i.e. it doesn't just flow and sit in the crevices like a wash might)- it turns the paint into a somewhat opaque coat that serves to unify the painted and decaled parts of the figures.

Step Two: First Highlight- very straightforward- simply Iraqi Sand mixed with a little white and Vallejo Glaze Medium- this is then applied to the high points of the figure that would naturally catch light.

Step Three: Second Highlight-We simply add more white to the mix above and go back over the highlighted areas only keeping inside those highlighted areas and really only touching the areas that would get the most light.

Step Four: First Shadow- This was Iraqi sand with some Chocolate Brown and Glaze Medium- this was applied to the areas in shadow on the figures.

Step Five: Second Shadow- More of the Chocolate Brown color was added to the mix and painted onto the areas already touched in step four, but keeping within the boundaries established there and really only concentrating on the areas in the most shadow.







A good thing to remember when figure painting is to work out the look you want for your figure before you start. For this I wanted the uniforms to look well used and dusty. I find thinking about this often helps when selecting paints and when actually putting brush to model.I still have one or two areas on the figures to touch up and I've yet to sort out the guns and straps. I'll likely leave doing those jobs until I am closer to putting the figures onto the base.

I've also finished doing the faces. I'm not that happy with them to be honest and its entirely my own fault- I was using a new set of flesh tones, by AK Interactive, and had essentially finished the faces before I remembered to do the eyes. My usual thing is to block them in after applying a base tone, but since I haven't done figures in a while and with using the new set I guess I forgot. So I had to block them in and go back and re-do a good portion of the faces.







The AK set is very good, it provides some excellent tones although I certainly wouldn't follow the instructions in/on the box.

For the next update I will get back to the Fennek and also the UAV.

Thanks for reading.

I said in the last update I would come back to the Fennek and the ALADIN for this one.

First up is some weathering on the Fennek. Before I gave it a coat of Future and the decals I gave it one coat of a filter- this one is, as you can see below, a grey filter for green paint- on light paints like on the Fennek it appears a kind of mid brown color.



Once that was dry I gave the whole thing a coat of Future and applied the decals before giving them another quick shot of Future to seal them down. Then it was time for a pin-wash. I'm a fan of grey color washes and I recently picked up some of the new Panel Line Washes from AMMO- they worked very nicely- the set I got comes in three grey tones- light, mid and deep- the latter of which was used here.





I've also been working on the UAV- I find airbrushing white takes a while because its usually best to build it up in light coats- about four or five were done on the UAV.



One obvious and annoying omission from the Blackdog ALADIN kit is the decals- there should usually be six- two flags on the tail, two crosses on the wings and a serial number on the body. I was thinking I'd just have to have no decals on mine as I couldn't find anything to fit- then while I was doing the Fennek decals I noticed there are two extra German crosses included- they are probably a bit too big but not by much- plus there are small flags on the extra number plates- and the number plate numbers could work as the serial number on the UAV body- so that solved my decal problem.





Once I finished the Future and the decals stages on the UAV I gave it a wash using the Light Grey Panel Line Wash from AMMO.



I still have the propeller blades and a small antenna to do on the UAV but I likely won't do those until its ready to put in the hands of the soldier launching it.

I've also been working on the base- after primer it was given a coat of sandy color.



I'll have more on the Fennek weathering and the base in the next update.

Thanks for reading.

Wow,that vehicle is really shaping up. The base isn't too shabby either. I always have a lot of problems with decals for some reason.
J

It has been a while since I updated this and I'm glad to say I'm finally finished it. The pictures below show some of the progress while I was snatching time at the bench here and there- but recently I got the time to finally finish it and I just pushed on with it and the pictures of the finished piece will be in the post just after this.

I didn't go massively overboard with the weathering on the Fennek- the following pictures show the OPR I did on it and after this had all dried I then added a few layers of pigments to finish it off.









The base took a while to do but was painted and finished using various different methods. Airbrushing and then some dry brushing were completed first, then some grass clumps were added. Various Enamel weathering products were then used to produce different earth tones and shades. Oil paints were then used and finally various pigments were added.









In the next post I will show pictures of the completed piece.

Once I finally had the base all painted up there was quite a lot to add to it. I started by sorting out the well. The top went on easily- a rock was added to the top of it. A piece of string and the bucket as well as a stake for excess rope were added next.

The figure beside the well, ready to take control of the UAV after launch, was then added and the storage box, computer, joystick and uplink box were arranged close to him. The last two UAV storage boxes were added in front of the well.

Obviously all the figures had been given their G36 at this point and the straps are simply doubled up Tamiya tape. The soldier looking down the sight was added next.

It was the UAV itself and the figure holding it that gave me the most trouble, but I'd been expecting (and dreading) it to be honest. The propellers were added, then broke off, then re-added! The worst aspect was getting it to sit in the launchers hands- even during assembly it didn't sit properly in his hands- they are shaped really poorly. Now that it was painted and assembled it sure didn't fit any better and it kept slipping- risking breaking apart. Eventually I got it to sit the way I wanted it!

The last thing to do was add the Fennek itself.











































So that wraps up this build.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who took the time to check out the thread , post a comment or offer some help and/or encouragement- I appreciate it so much and it was great to have you along for the build. You guys are what make this site so great!
I also just want to thank Hans-Hermann Buhling- without his brilliant reference pictures and information there are large parts of this dio that likely would not have been possible!

I hope you enjoyed the build log and thank you all for reading.

And it's a wrap!!! It was a great build to follow along with man. The take-away I got from this one was the decal cammo on the uniforms. The whole dio looks cool and everything fits in the story. Very easy to see that,which is what we all aim for.
Good job and thanks for posting the whole sheebang.
J

Thank you for sharing this with us. i enjoyed seeing this diorama come to life. well done on this fantastic build.

Very nice !

I think you should just change the position of doors handles as they are opened.

Very nice! Good job!