SBS Troops with Kayak - 1:35 - Dragon Kit

[pjgtech]

Camo update!
So put 1st camo coat on the smock, dark green, on top of the very light green base....

Then put 2nd camo coat on the smock, brown...

Then added camo coat to the trousers, brown on top of the sand base....

Need to add the black streaks to the smock tomorrow, but its coming along.....

[pjgtech]

The two SBS figures and the kayak are now almost done, (almost) so I will get some pics up later.
So I'm now starting to think about a little diorama. maybe A5 sort of size, as the two figures and kayak are quite small (1:35).

As they will generally be a covert unit, I was thinking the dio could be a quiet little cove, in a secluded area, with the base being part water and part sand/beach, maybe with some rock formation or plant life to one side. The Kayak pulled up onto the beach, as if they have just landed and the two figures placed to "scope out" the area. Got some foam boards, mod pog, PVA, etc.

For the water I have so far seen two main methods (apart from the dedicated gels that you can buy), which are the toilet paper and pva method and the clear mastic method.

As this will be quite small, and just the edge of a river / coastline, my intention is that it will be quite still, not loads of waves, maybe a couple of small waves lapping the shore. I am leaning towards the toilet paper and pva method.
This will be yet another learning process for me, as I've not done "water" before.....

[scottie3158]

The scene sounds good and will be very effective for setting the build off.

[pjgtech]

Pics....
I've roughed out a small diorama base, small hillock to one corner, and a small water area, carved out a section so that the kayak will sit correctly in the water, rear slightly lower, front sitting pulled up on the beach/sand. Just glued some foam sheets together and few splodges of pva and mod pog. Once its dry I'll shape it a bit more....



A dry run of how the mock up will look with the kayak in place and then the two figures in place. Final positions of the figures may alter slightly....


Painted the faces today, small tashes on both, as per the box art, and just some black eyes, might tidy it up a bit later and figured not weathered yet. I intend to have their boots and the bottom section of their trousers to be darker, wet, muddy after coming ashore from the kayak...

Have now finished the two rifles, have also put slight highlights on them, to show up the metalwork and glued them in place on the figures. Also painted the four kit bags to go on the kayak.

Then glued the kit bags onto the kayak, plus added a couple of other bits, an ammo box and another small kit pouch....

Then finally today, I added some tie downs, straps to the stowed kit, using very, very thin wire and CA.

[flyjoe180]

Enjoying watching this come together Peter. The moustaches are a nice touch

[pjgtech]

Cheers, yep I'm enjoying this one I must say....

[Jim R]

Looking good. Nice figures.

[pjgtech]

I always struggle with faces, but I'm getting (a bit) better....

[Airborne01]

You might consider the fact the operators will almost certainly have cam cream on their faces and hands Peter. Was monochrome brown but evolved into two (or even three?) colour nowadays. Not too heavy, just streaks applied with the finger tips over forehead, cheeks, ears, chin and bridge of nose. (and back of hands if not gloved up)
Steve

[pjgtech]

Yep, the box art has camo face paint, and I had already thought about that. The faces need a bit of tidying up anyway, so probably will also add camo streaks.... 8-)

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Thats really taking shape Peter well done.

[Valeron]

This is a really fun build to watch. It's all coming together nicely Peter.

[pjgtech]

More work on the diorama this morning.....
Started to "smooth out" the edges on the small hill, using milliput, plus added a few bumps here and there.


Then added some texture, to what will be the ground, beach, landing area, a mix of brown and sand pigments and some pva.


Then added some more small features, this time using Green Stuff putty, then added some small and large rocks with pva.

Then finally so far today, started on the "water", [Gulp!], got all the essentials, eg: pva, little tub, a wide brush, toilet paper (Cushelle if you must know....) 8-)

Took a few deep breaths, and dived into my first water feature....
Put plenty of pva/water mix down first (50/50 mix).
Then layered toilet paper and covered with more pva, rinse and repeat, think I put at least three layers down, may have put four in places.
When the water layer looked thick enough I gently pushed it around with the wide brush to create very small ripples.
I did not want a raging sea with huge waves, so I have gone for gentle ripples lapping the shore.

Now to wait and see what it sets like, before painting...... 8-)

[scottie3158]

Peter,
This looks really good mate the ripples in the water look spot on.

[pjgtech]

Cheers, I tried to be "subtle", did not want to overdo it.... just letting it dry now, will not touch it until tomorrow at the earliest now...

[spanner570]

Coming on nicely, Peter.

Ron

[pjgtech]

Little update today....
Rear rudder added to the kayak, this was actually cut down later, as only the top section is visible above the water line.

Not sure whether to add this little guy to the scene somewhere, maybe hiding in the (yet to be attached) bushes? 8-)

Applied first coat to the landing area/ beech, a dark earth colour (red brown)....

After weathering the kayak lightly, a grime wash, last night I have now glued the kayak in place...

And then applied a first coat to the sandy/beach area, a light brown/sand colour....

Gonna give the "water" another 24 hours to fully dry as its still a tiny bit pliable, so holding off painting this bit for a bit. I was unsure about colours to use for the water, but I've now seen a few YT vids, and most go for a mix of blue, green, brown and black, slowly getting darker as you move out from the shallows into deeper water, so probably gonna go with that....

Also seen a few people add white to the tips of the waves, which is quite striking.
But as my scene is a much more gentle one, with ripples rather than waves, think I might just do very small and very subtle white/cream highlights, eg: maybe even dry brushing, rather than actually painting the highlights IYSWIM.

[pjgtech]

Todays update....
Ok, so I took the plunge and started painting the water.
Lighter colours getting darker as you move away from the shore, an off white, a green, a brown and then black.

The above first attempt was a bit too "stark", with the colour bands too distinctly separated, so I then added some grey to tone down the white and the blue/green and to darken it all up a bit and mix it all together a bit more.
Also added slight light highlights to the tips of the ripples.

Then started on the green stuff, some 2mm grass (mix of dark and light), some small grass tufts, some general bush foliage, (mix of dark and light), with some slightly larger bush foliage, (red, yellow and green), also painted a few of the rocks slightly different tones, and added some sand pigment (reddish and yellowish) to the main beach area for different shades and texture.

Next step, after its all dried, probably tomorrow, will be to add a pva layer on top of the water, (to add depth), then after that's dry, a gloss coat on top of the water to hopefully give it that "wet" look. Then final step will be to stage the figures....

[Jim R]

Very nicely done.