A few 1/35 IFV's and AFV's

[Ramba]

Powder-free "surgical" gloves should fix the fingerprint issue & you should be able to get boxes of 100-or-so for not too much at your local chemist/pharmacy.

There are, also, cheap $2-shop types but they're often prone to tearing for no apparent reason, just when you don't want them to.

Thanks for the tips on the gloves. I have some around the house somewhere. Will have to dig them out.

[Ramba]

Starting back on the Hobby Boss ZTL-11 what if after a long hiatus. Thanks to Jeffry Fontaine for the ESCI M60A1 Blazer thermal sleeve 105mm main gun barrels. I still need to do a lot of work on the turret and hull filling and sanding the gaps from the new scratch built sections I added and other areas I had to repair.

[Old Wombat]

Fire power!

[Ramba]

Fire power!

[Old Wombat]

BOOM!

[Ramba]

BOOM!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGQDqY-_5w

[Silverfox]

Starting back on the Hobby Boss ZTL-11 what if after a long hiatus. Thanks to Jeffry Fontaine for the ESCI M60A1 Blazer thermal sleeve 105mm main gun barrels. I still need to do a lot of work on the turret and hull filling and sanding the gaps from the new scratch built sections I added and other areas I had to repair.

I am in awe of your plasticard-shaping skills! That looks so much neater than if I'd tried to do the same thing. I can never get such straight cuts and neat edges.
Looking forward to seeing this evolve. I love your armour projects.

[Ramba]

I am in awe of your plasticard-shaping skills! That looks so much neater than if I'd tried to do the same thing. I can never get such straight cuts and neat edges.
Looking forward to seeing this evolve. I love your armour projects.

Thank you!

I use metal scales (rulers) to get the neat, straight edges.

[Ramba]

Just flat coated these two Italeri 1/35 M998 HMMWV's this morning. Both still need tires, antennas, headlights and windows. The M998 IED version still needs the M240. I didn't weather the tires yet so that is why they aren't on yet. The IED tires aren't even actually painted yet, they were just primed. I still need to paint the rubber tire color on them. The tures for the M998 Command Vehicle are from the Tamiya M1025 kit. They are rubber so I just need to weather those. The M998 Command Vehicle also still need the seat put in. They are also from the Tamiya M1025 kit and I lost the front passenger side seat so had to use the horrible one from Italeri. You won't see it anyway as the roof and doors will be hiding it. Once the roof and doors are on, you won't really see much of the inside anyway. Will try to paint the M998 IED tires today and weather them tomorrow. I will weather the Tamiya rubber tires at the same time and hopefully get them on soon.

Italeri 1/35 M998 Command Vehicle.




Italeri 1/35 M998A1 IED Vehicle.



Family portrait.

 

[Old Wombat]

Movement!

[Ramba]

Movement!

I can only use the spray paint or airbrush outside and winter is finally over. It has been decent weather the last couple days so taking advantage of it.

[Ramba]

Got the tires weathered and not as good as I want them to be. My weathering skills need a lot more practice.

Tamiya 1/35 M1025 converted to an M1043.


I was going for this look but failed miserably.


Another failed attempt.


It was supposed to look like this one.


These came out OK though.

[Frank3k]

You're very close - just take an eraser or somemething to darken some of the edges to match the picture.

[Ramba]

You're very close - just take an eraser or somemething to darken some of the edges to match the picture.

Thanks for the tip on using an eraser. I was just using a damp cotton swab but will try the eraser instead.

[Old Wombat]

A brush dampened in the appropriate thinners to clean off the paint at the edges unevenly should work, too. Then add a coupe of dabs of slightly darker "wet mud" coloured paint, lightly & irregularly to roughly simulate the patches in the picture.

To simulate that second type of dusting (on the green machine) I use heavily thinned paint dabbed on lightly with a fine-ish brush, using capillary motion to spread it over the edges where it builds up. This is usually a multi-pass process, so don't expect it to look perfect first time (works better on matt surfaces).**



[**: I use a version of this process around bolt heads, etc, too.]

[Ramba]

A brush dampened in the appropriate thinners to clean off the paint at the edges unevenly should work, too. Then add a coupe of dabs of slightly darker "wet mud" coloured paint, lightly & irregularly to roughly simulate the patches in the picture.

To simulate that second type of dusting (on the green machine) I use heavily thinned paint dabbed on lightly with a fine-ish brush, using capillary motion to spread it over the edges where it builds up. This is usually a multi-pass process, so don't expect it to look perfect first time (works better on matt surfaces).**



[**: I use a version of this process around bolt heads, etc, too.]

Thanks for the tips. Between you and Frank, I should be a master at weathering as you two do some amazing work.

I did use two different shades of Mig Splashes on the Tamiya M1025. I used Dry Earth first as the base layer then Dry Steppe splotched on over it for the darker color. It didn't quite work out the way I wanted.

The Dry Earth is on the left and the Dry Steppe is on the right. You can see they are different shades but the Dry Steppe sort of blended right in with the Dry Earth.


This is the best I could get it. I will leave it as is so I don't completely mess it up 

[Old Wombat]

A few spots of Dark Earth might do the trick.

[Frank3k]

It looks good right now. If you have a spare set of tires, try Guy's idea. Also, thin some darker paint (I use acrylics with a glaze medium) and slowly darken the edges at random.

[Ramba]

It looks good right now. If you have a spare set of tires, try Guy's idea. Also, thin some darker paint (I use acrylics with a glaze medium) and slowly darken the edges at random.

A few spots of Dark Earth might do the trick.

Thanks for the tips. I will give them a try on my next project.

[Ramba]

The two Italeri M998's have the clear parts added. I still need to add the passenger seat to the Command Vehicle. I also still need to add the steering wheel to both, I completely forgot about them. The top of the Command Vehicle is only dry fitted for now so I can still add the steering wheel and passenger seat. The M998A1 IED Vehicle also still needs a few other things besides the steering wheel. I need to add the M240 and some stowage in the back.

[Ramba]

I finally masked off the wheels to paint the rubber sections.


Black primer was used.


Masks removed.



Weathered the wheels but still need some more.


I test fitted the tracks and the they are way too short. Either they shrunk or they were always too short to begin with. Sooooooo, looks like even if I stretch them, they will still way too short. They are short by one whole road wheel. They are just dry fitted but you can see even if I stretch them, they won't fit. The track is supposed to sit flat on top of the road wheels as seen in the second photo so once you lay them flat on top, there will be an even wider gap. I still have to paint them the rusty color and do the metal dry brushing and dirt weathering but at this point, it doesn't really matter anymore seeing they don't fit.



A quick fix solution is that I will show them thrown off similar to how they are in these photos.

[Frank3k]

You might be able to close the gap on top by warming and stretching the vinyl, but the bottom gap doesn't look fixable. The other options (moving the drive wheel or the forward idler wheel) probably can't make up the difference.

I thought a scatchbuilt skirt to cover the upper run might work, but looking at the real tank, it would have to be unreasonably tall.

[raafif]

Looks like Skif just used the same track as in their MTLb kit (that vehicle is one roadwheel shorter).

[Ramba]

You might be able to close the gap on top by warming and stretching the vinyl, but the bottom gap doesn't look fixable. The other options (moving the drive wheel or the forward idler wheel) probably can't make up the difference.

I thought a scatchbuilt skirt to cover the upper run might work, but looking at the real tank, it would have to be unreasonably tall.

No way to move the drive sprocket or any of the other wheels. Everything is already glued on. I can't stretch them long enough to fit and if I warm them up I can stretch the tracks slightly but then they are distorted. As you said, side skirts on those 2S1's would be pretty big. I haven't seen any though, not even improvised ones. I will more than likely just make it with the tracks thrown.

[Ramba]

Looks like Skif just used the same track as in their MTLb kit (that vehicle is one roadwheel shorter).

I have the Skif Strela kit as well and the Strela kit tracks are also too short. No idea why both Skif kit tracks are so short but it is annoying. If I use the tracks from the 2S1 on the Strela then they are too long. What I will do is use the shorter Strela tracks on the 2S1 but have them thrown off. The longer 2S1 tracks I will use on the Strela but will have to cut to size so I will have at least one kit with tracks that fit.