Dragon 1/35 25 Pounder

[Guest]

Following my mishap with the Stug I needed something to lift my spirits. Since I don't really have a stash yet this was about all I had. I've heard that Dragon instructions can be "interesting" but after a bit of head scratching it went together well. I started on Sunday afternoon and by last night the gun and shield were in primer, limber was done today.

No build photos as I wanted to crack on without that added pressure and just enjoy myself. Most of it was pretty straightforward though, even the PE, but the front, drawer section, of the limber just didn't want to fit. After carving big chunks out of the mounting faces I got it to where I was happy.

Sorry the pictures aren't very clever as the black primer seems to hide a lot of mistakes details, but for once I've managed to find some good real life pictures so at least I'll have something to work to when I start painting. Haven't decided whether to add the shield now or later. It'll certainly make the detail stuff easy with it off, and the pictures I have show a coiled rope on it so will probably add that later too, after wiping that greasy finger print off! :smiling5:

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[JR]

That's some finish Andy with the primer !

[Steve Jones]

Nice to see you trying something new Andy. I have the Tamiya version which I am hoping to kitbash one day. Its probably too late now but here is my walk around of a 25 pounder if needed HERE

[BattleshipBob]

Looking good Andy, what primer have you used

I made this for my dad just before he passed, he was in the Royal Artillery. Surprised he knew what end was which:smiling2:

[Guest]

Thanks chaps.

This was my usual Mr Surfacer 1500 but this time through my cheap airbrush with the bent needle! Lacquers are just so forgiving.

Thanks for the link Steve.

[BattleshipBob]

One thing i found odd was after cleaning the airbrush after lacquers then cleaning after vallejo i had a strong smell of lacquere thinners! No trouble spraying vallejo!

[Guest]

Wierd Bob, I'd just about convinced myself that's what was causing my problem - switching between the two.

[BattleshipBob]

Very strange and smell of lacquer was strong? Getting my damaged Iwata fixed so using your good idea of two, one for vallejo, still got a lot of there stuff and the other for lacquer

[Guest]

Tried something different last night by spraying some white from above at one angle to try and simulate fake shadows. I think I went a bit heavy though!

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Then a few light coats of Mr Color Olive Drab, but yet again a bit heavy as it hid a lot of the previous work.

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So tonight I lightened the base colour to add some extra highlights here and there. Still nothing sparkling but the more I practice the more chance I have of getting it right, and at least there is some variation there to give me something to build on.

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Not sure what I'll be doing next but will hopefully get some inspiration tomorrow. I'd ask for suggestions but I've seen what's happened in John's Stug blog :smiling5: I may try and mix an even lighter shade with Vallejo so I can brush in some minor details like brackets, handles etc.

[Guest]

Looking good, too bad the highlighting got obscured a bit but I’m sure you’ll still get a good-looking finish.

[Guest]

Thanks Jakko. I keep haring that it's all about building up layers, so I guess even if it's only slightly visible it'll add something.

Fumbling around in the dark here with no real plan as usual, so anything could happen! :smiling5:

[Guest]

It’s not a painting style I’ve ever mastered (or even seriously considered trying to master) so it’s not like I can give you any advice on it. In any case, things not going to plan generally teaches you a lot more than when it all goes without a hitch

[wotan]

Andy

That looks like a great start to me. Let me add why this style of painting is appreciated by many folks. In fine art we say there is rarely anything more uninteresting than a plain flat colour. In the real world of 1:1 scale things they are usually so large that light variations across the object make its colour seem to vary from place to place across its surface. If you paint a model version in just one flat colour then, whether you realise it or not, it looks like a small model. In order to add realism at smaller scales, some modellers choose to make slight variations in colour across the piece. This is to try to simulate what we see in the real 1:1 object.

In addition the sharp edges of a model frequently don't look as sharp as they do on a 1:1 object. For this reason modellers often choose to either lighten or darken the edges of their model to help to give it a more defined form and to try to add MASS to what is a miniature representation of a large object.

If you try to follow this style of painting the end result is more important than the technique used. You will know when you get it right because your model will really come alive and look as though it has real weight and presence.

I hope this helps everyone to think about how they approach their painting.

Good luck with the next steps.

John

[minitnkr]

I recall on TOSNTBN there was a lot of heavy experimentation w/the concepts mentioned above w/some interesting results. WAAAAY above my level. PaulE

[Jim R]

Hi Andy

Then a few light coats of Mr Color Olive Drab, but yet again a bit heavy as it hid a lot of the previous work.

Keeping preshades needs a lot of care. My success rate is abyssmal :sad: Yours is certainly not bad at all. You have kept a lot of shadow areas. You could try a slightly lightened, well thinned coat of the base colour airbrushed from above - like you sprayed the white. Personally I'd leave it as it is :thumb2:
Jim