Romfell V2.0 Armoured Car Update:
It has been a little while since my last update, but I have not been sitting idle. There have been a couple of troublesome problems that have taken time to resolve but I think we are well on the way now. 'What problems?' I hear you say. Well...
First off, I needed to select and make the decals I would be using - and thanks to Petike for providing the necessary ground forces insignia for the vehicles in his TL and instructions for the relative size. So far so good. Petike also liked the idea of Romanic numerals to identify the specific vehicle - OK. Unfortunately, I had not used enough acrylic varnish when making the decals and when I tried to apply them the colour washed out and, as the final insult, they fell apart! Time to make some more but, of course, I had run out of inkjet decal paper... Needed to order more from Amazon!
Second issue. The model tyres are completely smooth/slick which seems more than a little odd for a vehicle that was supposed to have some off-road capability - although several photos of the original Romfell AC seem to show distinctly smooth treads. Nevertheless, given that the Romfell V2.0 has wider tyres, the lack of treads seemed even more of an issue - what could be done? Trying to etch on something was, IMHO, fraught with possibilities of total disaster and so was not an option. What I settled on was to make a tread decal - oh much easier said than done, I can assure you!! And, as mentioned above, I had run out of decal paper... Several designs and attemps later, I think I have something workable.
Third problemette. What paint to use? I settled on Revel Bronze Green silk acrylic as the closest match to Petike's drawing. The silk finish was good for applying the decals and the oil paint pin washes and looked very reminisant of the Deep Bronze Green finish in use by Britain at the time. It was also at this stage that I realised the positioning of the decals would need to change slightly as the Romanic numbers looked lost sitting in a panel by themselves. The end result (see below) was OK but perhaps a little too dark for Petike's drawing.
In the end I have decided to go back to a matt finish which lightens up everything a bit and will allow me to better add a little light weathering. Still have some touching up to do and said weathering. I have also sent off for a couple of realistic Austro-Hungarian crew members as I just wasn't happy with what I could cobble together from my spares boxes.
