I just read a post over at Missing-Lynx where Marcus Nicholls of Tamiya Model Magazine Intl. admitted that he used my non-slip coating application idea on his Tamiya Challenger 2 model, which will be featured in next TMMI issue! Wow - that's really something!

For me, at least... TMMI is my favorite magazine and Marcus is one of my favorite master modelers. I used more than a few of techniques he described in his articles to finish my models - I never thought that he will use one of mine!



Cheers,
Pawel

Marcus has just updated TMMI web page (http://www.tamiyamodelmagazine.com) with some in-progress photos of his Challenger 2. Here is one showing the "Mr Surfacer non-slip coating" :



Rgds,
Pawel

Hi Pawel,
Actually, that issue has been out for a few weeks (at least in Victoria) and Marcus has used the non slip coating,,,,and it looked very nice, and the tank turned out great! Congrats!

?....

I'm afraid you are writting about something else. Marcus is working on his Challenger 2 right now, "as we speak". He updated the web page with mentioned photos today, and he applied this non-slip coating less than a week ago. This Challenger 2 model will be reviewed in issue 106 of TMMI and this issue will be out on July 15th...
I have previous issue 105 and there are only small photos (or was it just one photo?) of "factory built" Tamiya Chally 2.

Regards,
Pawel

Vodnik, I have used your technique as well, on 1/72nd Challenger. Have not gotten it down completely, but practice makes perfect I guess. Just a question though, when you did it, did you spray a "heavy" coat or do you spray a "light" coat?? Heck, here's another question, if you do a "light" coat, do you repeat the process a few times? And you use it straight from the bottle with NO thinner correct??? Sorry for going past my "one" question. LOL.
:-)

Thanks for sharing your technique and any help to my question.

Hi Pawel. I also used your technique on my M1A1 entry for the OAID Campaign. I may have applied the Mr. Surfacer too thin but it was fairly noticeable after the tank was weathered. Thanks for that great idea.

Whoops...you're right...it was last issue, and it was the Abhrams tank, and it was the Cast A Coat system that was used...after reading alot of model mags, some of the articles tend to blend into one another!! LOL :-)

So, which technique do you find produces better results? I have CAST-a-COAT stuff and it looks nice, but I'm pondering on Mr. Surfacer method as well... Someone said Mr. Surfacer gives too uniform anti-slip coating as teh coating on the real vehicles is supposed to be irregular...

Your thoughts guys?

Mario M.

BTW, Pawel... great to hear your technique is being adopted by other modelers... and getting to be so popular. Well done mate...

Mario M.

I applied all coating on the model in one session, in a few coats applied immediately one after another. But undilluted Mr Surfacer is not flowing through the airbrush easily, so applying heavy coat is almost impossible. Unless you use some large diameter nozzle - my airbrush has rather thin one: 0.35mm.




That's correct.

Regards,
Pawel

It actually depends on the type of vehicle you are building. On some vehicles non-slip coating is applied in very uniform and regular pattern and then Mr Surfacer technique works best (e.g. Bradley or modern German tanks and vehicles). On other vehicles, like Abrams tank, the coating is much more rough and irregular and for them Cast-a-Coat may be better (judging from photos of Marcus Nicholls' model in TMMI). But check photos of non-slip coating on real Abrams tank in Sabot's Motor Pool gallery - on some parts of the tank, e.g. storage bins on the turret, the coating is very regular, while on other parts, like hull, it is much more rough. So actually the combination of both metods can give most accurate results.

Cheers,
Pawel