Mr. Walsh - thanks for the posting - Ijust signed up to follow this project.
The main building seems to be a MiniArt kit. How about the other wall and stables - scratch built??
Thanks,
John S,

Hi John,

The Main building is the Miniart Ardennes building.

The stables and wall had been a combination of 2 other Miniart building sets. I cannot recall the other building numbers but the wall was originally an L shape configuration with the wall cut at one section and joined together.

The build is moving along steadily with the figures primed in Vallejo primer and painted in Vallejo acrylics with Humbrol enamel highlighting with a mix of white oil paint.
The troops at the front of the dio are the ones being used in the Takom king tiger dio whereby the balance are being used over at the Russian diorama.

Over 12 months since painting any figures and now have 62+ and Horses to do. Fun times.



Michael

I envy your painting skills. Well done Michael, so glad to see your still at it.
Keep up the good work on this build.

62+ figures and horses .... That would fill me with dread and probably make me give up modelling lol...

But you have them looking good so far, well done on the whole concept..

Q on the black primer, do you think that gives a better after shading and depth in all the creases/folds etc when you put the actual clothes paint/flesh on ? I use grey primer and sometimes feel the final effect isn't there when I look at the clothes etc.

Hey they’re not even wearing masks…although some seem to be practising social distancing from their own heads, something a few politicians might consider as an option. Awesome crowd mate, just awesome & great to see you back on this project

In response to dioramartin's comment this is somewhat of a late reply about the great big hole in the wall on the tiger 2,but it is the passage for the driveshaft as most if not all german tanks were front drive

It is coming along nicely Michael, I will follow with much interest, as your builds are always exceptional. I was just looking at your earlier Famo and trailer build trying to motivate myself to build the same kits with all the Aber sets. That build is still one of my favorites. I look forward to your next update. Thank you for sharing your fantastic work with us Michael, and best regards from Canada..........Dale

Thank you for your words.

Robert Jan.
Youtube and Facebook have been a wealth of knowledge with painting techniques and using weathering applications.Better than reading it in books to some respect. With the information from there and what has been learnt over the years has helped improve the work and It's still a constant learning process in the hobby. The dio base is right beside me where I work and I lost the direction and inspiration in the build. Similar to the Famo and PT builds and now the mojo is back and more to follow..


John Hagan
Thank you for your comments. The answer to the Black primer is yes it does give you a better impression for shading in the creases and folds. Have used Mig's Black, White and Grey Primer and the Vallejo primer is by far a better base to start from. Will still use Mig's primers but Vallejo has a better coverage as with Mig's the primer is sprayed in layers.

Started into the hobby with spraying Humbrol primer for all model and figure priming and still use it as a good backup. If the lid is on the Humbrol tin properly it will last for years.

Tim Martin
Thanks Buddy, good to hear from you. yeah it's a bit crazy with the spacing, looks like they are protesting lol I've been watching your huge dio build and it has given me the inspiration to pull my finger out and do some work.

Thanks Stuart Martin.
The transmission is huge in the King tiger,I reckon there would have been a lot of heat coming from the transmission on a long drive. An no aircon

Thanks Dale Hines
Appreciate your words. With most of the big builds the mojo or work direction loses steam as you realize the amount of difficulty and work involved and the build ends up getting pushed to the side. Having the dio base next to painting desk was a reminder to finish the project. The inspiration is back and the work is on with more images to follow...


Michael

Thank you sir!
Best Regrds,
John S.

I'm enjoying following this build. A hardy fantastic work going on everything. Your figure painting is tops.

Thanks Ernie,

It's been over 12 months with the figure painting side. I have started with the figures for the Russian diorama to try iron out any flaws with the Faces and hands before I move over to the Takom King tiger dio figures.

First figures near finished are the Stalingrad on the road figures. The oil paints are probably looked at as the old school style of painting as everyone seems to be using Acrylics nowadays.I find you can work with the oil paints by manipulating colours better than using acrylics. It is challenging and time consuming but well worth the look in the end.

I have included the face and hand oil colours that are used to get to the colour change. Base coated in Vallejo Flesh base over the Black primer.

Once the car is built the figures will have the arms manipulated and glued in place once they are sitting in the car.









There is still some minor touch ups to do with the figures like the buttons and clean up around the hands and then they are ready.

Michael

No question those oils (& the way you use ‘em of course) give the figures real “oomph”, I can’t think of the right word. What’s always sent me to acrylics is the expected drying time for artists’ oils, maybe you can disabuse me of the belief the latter take days to go off completely?

I think Ushi vonder Rosten has a fluid that speeds up drying time of oils by mixing it with the paint. Cheaper solution is to get some Zippo refill, those little tin cans for their lighters. works the same. Drying time is les than a day.
Nice work and great to watch this build.

Thanks Tim and Robert

Never worried about the drying time with oils. Other modeller's use cardboard or glass as the base but all the figure builds here https://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/4818
have been provided in the same way as above.


Michael.

Hello Again,

Small steps to the overall Goal.

The curtins are completed with foil and evergreen rod and strip.
Some minor touch ups for the bottom of the garage doors and the boxes and accessories have been painted ready to be glued in place on the ground floor.




Michael

Very impressive dio so far. Would take me years to do some many vehicles and figures at the same time. Looking forward to seeing it falling into place.

Really coming along nicely Michael, it will be a stunner when finished. It is nice to see someone else using the old school oil paint on the figs. I just cant seem to get used to the acrylics for faces and get an acceptable finish on them.I find the oils much easier to blend and get a good result I will keep following Michael with much interest. Hope that you and yours are doing ok down under. We seem to be doing ok here in Canada, but we are certainly living thru some very challenging times. Best regards.....Dale

Thanks Frank and Dale.

Dale, our state has come out better than the other states on the east coast. Your words are so true about challenging times.
Stay safe and model on.

Michael

Wow!! Just...wow! Nice project; look forward to seeing more.

Thanks Brian,

More images to follow soon, have been off line building and painting.

Michael