bonjour madame et monsieur!
Iam glad to say i'm almost finished the beast The paintjob is a little boring iam aware, but id rather use a less expesife kit before i practice camo. Yet i still had enought courage to try drybrushing, used a hb pencil for son paintchips, mainly on the rear for the first time i painted the tracks(:-) ) and drybrushed some aluminum color onto it, doesnt look awsome on pictures, but in real life it looks awsome, i also had enought courage to give it a wash! And as if thats not enought: iam also building a dio for it so here it goes!



I must admit these tracks are by far the worst ever, not only are they to shot, but they came all tangled up and crooked!!!!iam defenatly buying aftermarket tracks when i have spare money, and i defenatly wont encourage tamiya!( ha! feels good to unleash the anger inside!)
now these are the 4 figures that will be present in the dio
(the german still needs a painted hat and shoes, and hte farmer is only started)

and this is were there going to be:

Now the german soldier will have his back turned to the window while these two americans try knocking out the beast with a panzerfaust 60 while one shoots the german

Now for the dio, i still need a lot of work on the house, which is the first one i try to build, and the groudwork needs a bit more dirt and grass. along the house i will have cut wood stacked up with an ax.

iam no photograph, but i still hope you enjoyed
Comments and critisism and advice are welcomed folks!
Thanks,
Frank

Hey,

Few big things I noticed.
1.) Black part on wheels are to glossy.
2.) Tank needs to be weathered.
3.) Tracks need to be weathered.
4.) Figures are glossy
5.) You need to pay more attention to detail, especially on figures. The german looks like he is USMC because of his green uniform.
6.) You need to put shadows on the clothing.
7.) The german's hand has a spot missing paint and a spot with green paint on it.
8.) Civilians hat has a spot where it is missing paint.
9.) The house's walls arent cut streight, I suggest you completely redo the whole wall.
10.) Put paint chips of grey on places that will get chipped on the tank.

These are all little details that work themselves over, over time. They are also some of the worst little buggers that you can have in a diorama. Keep us posted.

hi Francois,
First off you don't need to do anything as Harrison suggested . If you feel comfortable trying something different it is best to do it in moderation rather than to overdo it. If you were to try and weather the vehicle some more with dryrushing and perhaps some pigments or washes then seal with a flat coat it might bring the tank to life. Right now it just looks a little blah, you have a good start it just needs to be taken to the next level. Don't be afraid to try new things, you will be surprised how easy some things are once you try them.
regards,
Robert

Hmm,
Its funny how I actually reply to this topic typing out valuable information, then someone comes along and says that you dont have to listen to me. Then later on in the post he says he needs to put pigments and throw a dull coat on his tank. Hmm, did i not mention that in my post??

I concur with Robert. The build itself is a clean one. I don't see any excess glue and the fit of parts are good. If you were to just put a flat clear coat over the whole vehicle, you would see the tank start to come to life as Robert says. I found that taking photos help me to see some of my weak points of a build. Just go as far as you are comfortable and then try one more step further. You really do not want to go to far all at once. There are many steps to the finish. Try not to make the same mistakes I have made in over doing any one step (over weathering, rusting etc). A little bit goes a long way. I am not sure what you have to spend on paints and such but if you check in with the guys in the figure section I know that they can help you become a first class figure painter. Heck I am 56 years old and still can't compete with some of the youngsters there. This will be a very good contribution to the Campaign when you complete it. The most important thing that you must remember is that you have to have fun in the build. If not why do it? Your work will improve over time with experience.

Thanks for hte encouragement guys
Harrison, as i said these figures arnt dont yet, but i do see were your getting about the shadows, il keep that in mind as i finish them up.
as for the tracks i agree they do not look good on the picture, but i can assure they look great in real life. iam jsut waiting for the weather to get nicer before i mud up the tracks and tank.
as for the roadwheels, they arnt shiny, its jsut the much paint i had when i drybrushed(first time...oops :-) ) il do retouches

oo, and before i forget, that wall isnt cut straight, i jsut realized it be a pain to plaster the whole wall flat so i cut out a piece of cardboard from an old model box and glued it on, il be priming and painting once i plaster the edge i cut of while talking on hte phone... so no need to re-do the wall YET! lol

Thanks guys!
Frank
(dave your right, the amasing things with pictures is that it enable you to see your mistakes better )

Francois,

-something that I didn't see mentioned - I would paint those openings on the exhaust pipes black.

great idea alex! anything else?

Frank

great idea alex! anything else?

Frank

Well, What you could so is, hand pant the camoflauge and spray a light thinned base coat ( in your case Dark Yellow) over it!
I did it on mine and it looks great!

Adding a lil something to Alex's Comment..... Maybe some light rust also.

Looking good so far

Don't know if you forgot or just haven't done it yet, but the hull MG isn't painted. Have fun with however you progress the build, and please keep us posted!

oops, was about to forget about that mg, thanks for reminding me Graham!

Max, il take a look at yours them try your trick on another baby but sure sonds like it would look awsome !

Thanks guys!
Frank

Hey,

Good to see you're trying some new techniques. I can see the wash, on the road wheels for instance, but still not really the effect a wash can give.

Now that you are familiar with the technique, why don't you give your tank some more washes. And some heavier washes. I personally like very heavy washes, like 30% oils with 70% turpetine.

I'm interested in the interior.....can you tell a bit more about that? What did you do with it...any scratchbuilt stuff, an AM set etc?

Oh, before I forget. You can also try making rust marks with enamel paints while the wash is still wet on your vehicle. If you don't like you can still easily remove the rust mark because the wash is still dry, and above all, the rust mark blends a bit with your tank.

You may wanna try that as well

Good luck,
Martin

I like the Beast Frank, lots of good advice given in those posts.Have a go do a few washes they cant do anyharm only make the beast look like its in its element,I do think the tracks could use a little rust they look brand new .

martin, the interior is jsut out of hte box. nothing added. and iam going to use real rust for the tracks and vehicle

thanks for the comments guys i apreciate the help giving to me!
Frank

I like the civillian models

Thanks eerie he comes with tamiya old churchill kit. and il make it look better, ive been away 4 days to ontario with my gf and her parents so i havnt been able to work much on him il get to him soon

Frank