Dragon 1/35 25 Pounder

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Very nice I wish I could get my paint as smooth.

[colin m]

Or, you could really push the boat out and try oils ?

[Fernando N]

Nice subject to try out something new Andy:thumb2:.

Maybe like Jim suggested, thinning the base colour more, I’ve found this gives you more control in leaving the pre-shade intact.
Takes a bit more time and effort but certainly worth it.

[Guest]

John - thanks for your insight. I think I'm getting a grasp of the concept but putting into practice is another matter. It's so far away from the day job where perfectly uniform colour is the goal, letting the angles and curves of the vehicles bodywork add the variation. As you say, this doesn't seem to happen at smaller scales so I need to teach myself to add that contrast artificially.

Paul E - I'm enjoying the experimenting. Still way above my level but I'd like to get there eventually.

Jim - I tend to bottle out if I'm honest. I've done a couple where the preshading really stands out, but it looked almost comical so added another coat to tone it down. Trouble is by the time I've done other work the effect seems to get lost completely. Maybe I need to be brave and start out with an almost OTT effect, knowing it will be toned down a little later.

Paul - thanks, I think the paint is definitely helping me out there.

Colin - I'm sure I'll be using oils/oilbrushers further down the line as I have on some of my recent models. I'm hoping to try and get some decent effects going on in the base paint first though, so I can enhance them later (or at least have a go!)

Fernando - thanks. I think I do put myself under a bit of time pressure, wanting to complete a "stage" in the short time I have after work, so I'm maybe less delicate than I should be. I tidied up some of the transitions tonight to give me a sharper contrast between adjacent panels and was planning to get everything clearcoated to complete that "stage", but decided instead to wait and have another look at it tomorrow night. I've said it before but I need to learn to take my time with the process rather than trying to get each model completed as quickly as I can. Working shifts I get over 200 days off a year so ought to be leaving this sort of thing for those, when I can approach it in a more thoughtful manner.

[Guest]

Unfortunately this has turned into yet another failure.

All was going well until I started weathering and bits just started dropping off again. I'll finish it in a fashion, but with massive glue marks and many parts out of alignment where I've gobbed them back together it'll never be anything other than rough.

Seems like I need to throw out all my enamel washes & oils as I just can't get them to stop dissolving my glue joints. Will have to try moving back to water based washes and using the AK weathering pencils instead. Or stop trying to do armour and stick with flying things :smiling5:

[Guest]

All was going well until I started weathering and bits just started dropping off again.

I was about to remark something about:—

enamel washes

before I read you already mention them yourself

The problem is probably the thinner you’re using, or that’s in the pre-made washes. I used to have similar issues with detail parts coming loose when I made enamel-paint washes with what in the Netherlands is sold as terpentine*, but when I switched to wasbenzine everything stayed where I had glued it.

* This is not turpentine, that’s terpentijn, but a thin mixture of substances distilled from crude oil. The problem for me explaining it here is that finding a UK equivalent is difficult: both are more or less equivalent to white spirit, but not quite. About the only advice is to try a different solvent (say, with a different smell) on some test piece to see if that does work.

[JR]

Andy, referring to what Jakko has said have you tried


Low odour and slow drying.
Would be a shame after all the work you've done.

[Guest]

That's the exact brand I've got John, seems to work fine, but MIG must put something a bit stronger in their ready made stuff.

Limber is a write off but the gun itself is salvageable, just a few wonky or missing levers. Might put it all into a dio and hide the limber under a huge tarp. :smiling5:

[JR]

Great shame Andy, ive had my fair share as you know, just put it down to experience, and move on.
Any way things like this are just asking to be used for testing other techniques. I keep mine for wreaks !

[Guest]

Indeed John. There were a few small etch parts on the limber including removable drawers. They went together so much better than previous PE attempts which a step forward.

I also tried a fair few splatter techniques on it, including very low pressure from the airbrush, so it's tought me a few things.

Santa is bringing me a P-38 Lightning so that will be a complete change of direction.

[JR]

Thanks for that tip with the low side pressure Andy, no wonder mine blew everywhere but ! :smiling3:

[Guest]

Sorry John, took me a while to figure out what you were saying. I didn't use the airbrush to blow paint off a brush if that's what you meant, haven't tried that one yet, only flicking various hard/soft/long/short brushes with a toothpick or coffee stirrer.

I was referring to blowing the paint on directly from the AB, but having the pressure so low that it came out in un-atomised blobs. Had to go really low to get the Infinity to do that! I couldn't even hear the air coming out, it just shot out a few blobs of paint when I pumped the trigger back and forth. Tricky with something as small as this as it was hard to control where the paint was going, but I could see it being useful on the bodywork of a tank for example, with highly diluted paint just a shade or two away from the base colour, to give a patchy faded effect.

Back to the lab shed for more experimenting methinks. :nerd:

[Guest]

Spent a bit of time trying to rescue this. Clever camera angles hide the worst bits lol. Still WIP.

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Doors are a little wonky (both of them melted off) but I think I've hidden the worst of the glue marks with rust / grease effects. Will do more once the joints have hardened up fully as I don't want them falling off again!

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I'm trying to go for a "used but cared for" look so not battered to death. Needs some light chipping around the edges I feel. Shovel needs to be more grubby, and some wear marks where the tyres had moved on the "turntable" thingumybob. Not sure what colour the spike things along the bottom should be (or even what they are) as I haven't found any pictures with them in place. Any help there would be appreciated.

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Pretty happy with how it's looking around the back. Leather pouches need a bit of fading, and maybe a few chips and scratches where the shells have been bumped around when loading.

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Wheels & tyres need a bit of work too. Mould line resisted all attempts at sanding or scraping! I also used a pigment wash to simulate dirt in the treads but while trying to remove the excess it's actually stripping the paint from the soft rubber tyres. Despite a really good scrubbing and degreasing the primer hasn't really adhered to them as well as I'd have liked.

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Despite the issues you have had this has turned out very well and if you hadn't have pointed them out you probably wouldn't have noticed.

[minitnkr]

Great recovery. PaulE