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

[Frank3k]

Maybe you can do 5 or 10 a day in between painting and assembling other projects... or see if there are any good vinyl tracks that can be substituted.

[Ramba]

Maybe you can do 5 or 10 a day in between painting and assembling other projects... or see if there are any good vinyl tracks that can be substituted.

That's a good idea. The Panda Tunguska is almost ready for primer but won't get to it until next year. I will try to assemble the tracks over the winter.


Last year I was testing my OLFA circle cutter to see if I could make masks for the road wheels but the multitude of indy tracks with separate center guides stalled everything. The OLFA cutter only has a limited minimum radius so I can't make masks for smaller wheels. The minimum radius is only 8.5mm The Panda Tunguska wheels were fortunately big enough to make masks for.

[Ramba]

Old Wombat will be glad to hear that I finally got the M1A1 mine plough primed today. I braved the heat, humidity and mosquitoes to get it done.

[Old Wombat]

 

[Ramba]

I got this Bandai Batmobile back in May, 2018 and started it on February, 2019. It is snap tite and everything fits perfectly. I quickly assembled it just to see how it looks together. The plastic is molded in blue, no paint on it yet in these first four photos.





My plan was to make it into a futuristic armored vehicle. I had added an RWS to it but didn't like the way it looked so I removed it. I did however add some smoke dischargers and a DUKE antenna. I got it primed this past Tuesday and this is where I am with it at the moment. Still thinking about some kind of camo scheme but I will more than likely leave it in black. I need to give it a gloss coat then some light weathering then a flat coat before reassembling it.

[Frank3k]

It looks like a fat cat with its tail up...

[Ramba]

It looks like a fat cat with its tail up...

That's a funny take on it 

I thought it looked more crab like.

[Ramba]

Got the wheels, smoke dischargers and DUKE antenna painted. The exhaust is also painted but you can't see it from this angle.

[Silverfox]

It's interesting you mention a camo colour scheme; in the third movie - Dark Knight Rises? - there's some other Tumblers shown and they have camo schemes and mounted weaponry. Not sure if you were aware of that?


One with a missile launcher of some kind


One with some kind of double-barrelled gun in a turret that lies along the top of the vehicle.

Might help as some inspiration!

[Ramba]

Silverfox, thanks for the images, those are great. I saw that movie a few years back but forgot they had some camo version in it. I really wanted a camo scheme but couldn't find anything I really liked so I decided to just leave mine black.

I added a couple more antennas and an RWS to the Batmobile. The RWS is the AFV M151 but I modified it for a lower profile. The green looks a lot brighter than it really is because of the camera flash and also because I edited the photos to show the black better so that the black didn't show up as a blob. I don't have a photo booth so I have to use the camera flash and a photo editor. Anyway, I need to weather it then flat coat it before final assembly.

[Old Wombat]

The green parts are throwing me a bit ... Nor sure I like them ... Not sure I don't.

[Ramba]

The green parts are throwing me a bit ... Nor sure I like them ... Not sure I don't.

The green looks a lot brighter in those photos mostly because I edited the photos to show the black better. In the original photos before editing, the black was way too dark to see shape/contours of the vehicle. I used the shadow and highlights editor in Photoshop Elements to lighten the black so the green was also lightened. In the original photo, the green still stands out amongst the black but not as bright as shown in those edited photos. I painted them green to break up the monotone black to have some visual differences.

I was going by how the U.S. loves to mix different camo parts on one vehicle. A lot of the U.S. vehicles that were painted in the NATO 3 color scheme had a lot of sand painted add on parts. Here are some examples. The sand parts stand out as well but do look better than my green on black combination. Anyway, I was going for something different as I didn't want yet another green vehicle with sand parts so I went with the black and green instead. Hopefully when the Batmobile is weathered, the black/green won't look so unusual.

[Ramba]

Almost done with the Bandai 1/35 Batmobile. I just need to add the .50cal to the RWS and need to paint the RWS lens and gloss coat it. The name for the converted Batmobile I am going to use is Urban Fast Attack Vehicle (UFAV). I used a spray can flat clear coat and it misted up and left a gritty feel to it over the black paint. It was extremely hot and humid yesterday so guessing the grayish mist was from the high humidity. I am pretty annoyed the flat coat misted up over it but nothing I can do now. It is staying as is. No way to fix it unless I strip it all down and redo the whole thing and I am not doing that.






In this overhead shot you can see how the flat coat misted up and left a gritty layer over the black paint.

[Ramba]

Tamiya 1/35 M1025 converted to special forces DMV. The tires and stowage are weathered but the camera flash washed it out a bit. I still need to add some more light weathering though. I also still need to add the antennas, paint the lights and add them.

[Frank3k]

The Dumvee looks good. How hard was it to add that big resin stowage?

[Ramba]

The Dumvee looks good. How hard was it to add that big resin stowage?

Thanks! The resin stowage wasn't too bad. I did need to trim the bottom and the parts that fits where the rear seats would be to fit correctly but other than that it was OK. I got it from a friend but I am pretty sure it was a recast. I used the rear doors on my build because I was too lazy to scratch build the webbing to hold the stowage in. The photo of the real one shows the rear doors being used so I just went with that. The rear doors do block some of the stowage but it was so much easier just using them.

[Old Wombat]

The HMMWV looks great!

Still not sold on the green equipment on the Tumbler ... Don't hate it but don't love it either.

Thinking about it, I'd have gone with a tan/sand, if I hadn't stuck with black, BUT that's me & it's your build, so all that matters is that you are happy with it.

[Silverfox]

I love the Tumbler. Glad the pictures were appreciated as well, though I like that you've gone a different route with your one. I like the antennae and the RWS, looks great.
The Dumvee looks excellent too. I always like seeing those kind of Special Forces vehicles like that with all the gear in the back.

[Ramba]

The HMMWV looks great!

Still not sold on the green equipment on the Tumbler ... Don't hate it but don't love it either.

Thinking about it, I'd have gone with a tan/sand, if I hadn't stuck with black, BUT that's me & it's your build, so all that matters is that you are happy with it.

Thanks! I already have a few vehicles that will be in the NATO 3 color camo with add on sand parts. I wanted the Batmobile to be different.

[Ramba]

I love the Tumbler. Glad the pictures were appreciated as well, though I like that you've gone a different route with your one. I like the antennae and the RWS, looks great.
The Dumvee looks excellent too. I always like seeing those kind of Special Forces vehicles like that with all the gear in the back.

Thanks! Yes, the stowage really adds to the overall look.

I wanted to do a camo scheme on the Batmobile but just couldn't decide on one so I just went with the overall black with the green add ons. It's different for sure.

[Ramba]

The plan for the DMV is to add it to a diorama base with some figures, sheep and a small house.

I am using the Evolution Miniatures set with the US special forces and Afghan man.


Also using this Evolution Miniatures US special forces figure too.


The sheep are from Mantis Miniatures.



The house is from Black Dog.



The base is from Diodump.


Here is the proposed layout with the base, house and DMV. The DMV shown is the same one I just completed but as you can see, I made some changes since the proposed build to the completed build.

[Ramba]

Continuing with the weathering on the Skif 1/35 2S1.

The sides of the hull were done a few weeks ago with Mig Splashes and AK Dust and Dirt Deposits.


Today, I used some Vallejo pigment with Vallejo pigment binder. My pigment is a bit thick in some places and I need to thin it a bit but the camera flash and photo editing really brightened the pigment. It doesn't look that bright in real life. I only did the gun, turret and also only the top of the hull with the pigment. This kit is only being used a test bed for practicing weathering on so I am using a lot of different products and techniques to try to get better at weathering. As you can see, I still need a lot of practice.

[Buzzbomb]

Bits of progress everywhere.

On the flat coat going chunky issue, not sure of the type of paint you used, but I have found with both Gunze Acrylics and even SMS Laquers, if the flat gets the white fleck business, a light overspray with neat, undiluted Laquer Thinner will most times help to dissolve the chunks, which I believe are the flat pigment that has lumped together and not mixed properly and/or dried before hitting the surface in more hostile painting conditions, which I agree High Humidity is one.

[Ramba]

Bits of progress everywhere.

On the flat coat going chunky issue, not sure of the type of paint you used, but I have found with both Gunze Acrylics and even SMS Laquers, if the flat gets the white fleck business, a light overspray with neat, undiluted Laquer Thinner will most times help to dissolve the chunks, which I believe are the flat pigment that has lumped together and not mixed properly and/or dried before hitting the surface in more hostile painting conditions, which I agree High Humidity is one.

Thanks! Yeah, been trying to get stuff done. It's been a productive year for me getting some primed, some camo painted and some weathered. Hoping to get some actually fully completed though.

Thanks also for the tip on the lacquer thinner. I will have to try that sometime. I used Rustoleum flat black primer for the main color and then Rustoleum clear satin a few days later over the black. It was around 85F with 97% humidity the day I sprayed the clear satin when it left the grayish, gritty mist. I used the same exact Rustoleum clear satin the very next day when it was roughly 70F with 67% humidity and the clear worked perfectly, leaving no grayish, gritty mist. So, yeah, the heat and humidity played a role messing up the Batmobile.

[Ramba]

Still progressing on the Tamiya 1/35 M1025 converted to special forces DMV. Added some weathering, lights and antennas. Got it 99% done. I just need the ammo belts for both the M240 and Mk.19.




I have to do all my airbrushing outside in the driveway and while spraying a flat coat on the DMV, this little beauty came to supervise. It is an Eastern Garter Snake, non poisonous. It slithered through the rocks to about a foot away from where I was sitting. I ran inside to get the camera and luckily it was still there so I could get these photos of it. It was roughly 2ft long or just over that.