International Scale Modeller

NorthernModeller wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 2:37 am Brilliant stuff looks great and looking forward to the end result

Thanks Ivan!

Well life, work and technology have all conspired to put this on the back burner for a few weeks, but having sorted the technology yesterday and with the other two settling down a little before the Christmas mayhem I've got a chance to pay some attention to this neglected kitty.

This is how I left it previously


Since then I've "glazed" the windows with some random shapes of acetate. These were glued in place using Humbrol clearfix, and then sprayed with a very thin Vallejo umber wash to give some grime. The frames were painted with a Vallejo dark green of some description and then grimed up again with the umber wash.


The streetlamp was glazed the same way, and painted with a base coat of German Grey, dry-brushed with a dark metallic from Citadel, and then weathered up with a combination of rust & grime clay washes


Starting to take shape


Onto the Puma, I added the aerials and opened up the hatches and finished those off - I used the photo etched option for the top of the umbrella antenna which was a little fiddly and required some filling at the join. I've also added a false floor inside the turret for a crewman to stand on.


So that's the cat pretty much done I think


And I've finally decided it will be this way around on the base


So onto the dudes, here are the sprues - one for the figures


And one with the equipment


As usual for Masterbox there are no instructions per-se just an illustration on the back of the box. The only minor disappointment with the set is that despite the front illustration showing a variety of head gear there are only the standard helmets in the kit, so I've nabbed a helmet from the spares box


The figures go together well with minimum filling and cleaning up required, and I love the poses that Masterbox have come up with. Here we see Hauptman Willi von Karr explaining to General Sweikinder-KeinSchlaf that we can't go that way because Gerhard von Quax has got his Tiger stuck in the high street


And here they are all posed on the base with blu-tack. The guy in the turret is from a Tamiya set, and I've done some work on his headgear since this shot (basically nicking another cap from a different set).


There may be some minor tweaking but I think this is where they're more or less going to end up


I've also started in on the painting of the figures and if I can get them finished off this weekend then I'll be in with a fighting chance of getting this done in time.

Thanks as always for looking.

Woohoo, TC’s back and the cat is looking sweet. Love the work on the glass and those figures look superb. Can’t wait to see them painted.

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:45 am Here we see Hauptman Willi von Karr explaining to General Sweikinder-KeinSchlaf that we can't go that way because Gerhard von Quax has got his Tiger stuck in the high street

Love it!

Can't wait to see the figures all painted up.

ElCapitan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:07 am

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:45 am Here we see Hauptman Willi von Karr explaining to General Sweikinder-KeinSchlaf that we can't go that way because Gerhard von Quax has got his Tiger stuck in the high street

Love it!

Can't wait to see the figures all painted up.

I missed that

Oh just so cool, love the detail in your work Neil, just awesome.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:52 am Woohoo, TC’s back and the cat is looking sweet. Love the work on the glass and those figures look superb. Can’t wait to see them painted.

ElCapitan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:07 am

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:45 am Here we see Hauptman Willi von Karr explaining to General Sweikinder-KeinSchlaf that we can't go that way because Gerhard von Quax has got his Tiger stuck in the high street

Love it!

Can't wait to see the figures all painted up.

DrSprue wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:12 pm Oh just so cool, love the detail in your work Neil, just awesome.

Thanks Guys! It's good to be back

Wow!

Great work done sofar

I composition of the diorama and the work with those broken windowframes is just amazing

Can't wait to see the finished dio!


Tommy

Ohai Neil, welcome back!

Great stuff is going on there! I like those broken glasses, they look great!
Can't wait to see those figures painted and the way how your project comes together at the end!



Attila

great to have you back in the groove Tomcat

I'm looking forward to seeing the cammo go on the figures, its gonna be great!

Gerhard is now on the eastern front driving a 38t as T34 bait in a Strafbattalion...

Paul

Quax wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:03 am great to have you back in the groove Tomcat

I'm looking forward to seeing the cammo go on the figures, its gonna be great!

Gerhard is now on the eastern front driving a 38t as T34 bait in a Strafbattalion...

Paul

Gerhard wasn't the only one to get the boot either. The commanding general went east too, replaced by a General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen, who as it turned out was far more interested in acquiring priceless works of art than he was in tactics and logistics

he was replaced in command by Sturmbannführer Jura van Kerr, General Willi von Kerr's German cousin

Paul

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:51 pm Wow!

Great work done sofar

I composition of the diorama and the work with those broken windowframes is just amazing

Can't wait to see the finished dio!


Tommy

papatika wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:12 pm Ohai Neil, welcome back!

Great stuff is going on there! I like those broken glasses, they look great!
Can't wait to see those figures painted and the way how your project comes together at the end!



Attila

Quax wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:03 am great to have you back in the groove Tomcat

I'm looking forward to seeing the cammo go on the figures, its gonna be great!

Gerhard is now on the eastern front driving a 38t as T34 bait in a Strafbattalion...

Paul

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:16 am

Gerhard wasn't the only one to get the boot either. The commanding general went east too, replaced by a General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen, who as it turned out was far more interested in acquiring priceless works of art than he was in tactics and logistics

Thanks for all the encouragement guys - it's really appreciated as always

I've managed to get a couple of good evenings at the bench this week and I think the finishing line is in sight...

First up some dudes, I have to say these aren't the best job I've ever done painting figures, but with the time constraints at the moment I've cut a few corners to try and get them done. Basically instead of laying down highlights & shadows I've gone with a base colour and then applied thin washes to add some depth. I've mixed and matched the colours and camo patterns to reflect the idea that this dio is set in spring '45 when troops were from disparate organisations and were basically wearing whatever they could get their hands on - anyway I hope it works

Here's the first group around General Zweikinder-Kleinschlaf


And the other set including Arfur, the gunner from the Puma - there's some wonky eyes in here I know so I might tidy them up if time permits but they're not going to be too obvious on the finished article


At that stage they were still waiting for a coat of Ultra-Matte so there was some shiny in evidence. I then went back to the base and added the drainpipe after smearing it with some rust colours to weather it in, and then chucked a mix of rubble "artistically" around the building and into the street. Then it was time to put the figures in place - and here they are blu-tacked in.


So that's where I've got to so far this week, I'm going to let this dry overnight and then take a fresh look tomorrow and see if there's anything that needs some tweaking.

Thanks for looking!

Wow!

That looks awesome!


Tommy

TommyKillander wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2017 7:02 pm Wow!

That looks awesome!


Tommy

Cheers Tommy!

Figures looking superb matey!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:10 pm Figures looking superb matey!

Thanks mate - I'm definitely going to go back and sort a couple of those faces as they'll just niggle at me if I leave them.

Hopefully I'll be able to wedge in a day at the bench in the next week amid all the seasonal chaos!

Those figures look really cool.

DrSprue wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2017 2:47 pm Those figures look really cool.

Thanks Doc

I love the General officer collar tabs on the big cheese by the way. Very cool

Great job on the figures, they bring it all together really well
Paul

That is an amazing diorama, thanks for sharing your work with us.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2017 5:41 pm I love the General officer collar tabs on the big cheese by the way. Very cool

Thanks mate - he's hereby renamed General GrosserKase!

Quax wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2017 6:40 pm Great job on the figures, they bring it all together really well
Paul

Thanks Paul! I've taken another look at the figures this morning and decided I was being overly anal about the eyeballs given the scale, so I think I'm going to go with them as they are and just add a bit more dust to the debris areas and call it done.

HIghAltitudeScale wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:27 pm That is an amazing diorama, thanks for sharing your work with us.

Thanks Bret - really appreciate it

I want to say how amazing this build is but I may get told of for swearing Really well done, I love it. Merry Christmas

NorthernModeller wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:40 am I want to say how amazing this build is but I may get told of for swearing Really well done, I love it. Merry Christmas

Thanks Ivan, and many thanks to the Friday night crew for all the kind words!

I grabbed a couple of hours at the bench yesterday to get this just about done.

First up I dusted up the figures with some MIG brickdust to weather them in a little


Then I wanted to apply some more dust to the base and seal all the loose stuff in using this for the first time


It's an alcohol-based thin glue so it smells a bit and although it can be airbrushed I steered clear of that this time around as I was fairly sure I'd end up blowing the dust off the base. So I dropped the stuff out of a pipet working across the base and panicking as the dust dissolved into the glue... I had planned to take a photo of the "in progress" point but got called away for some sprout-related issue and didn't get chance... so going back a couple of hours later everything had sorted itself out and I was left with this


So that's it - all I need to do now is attach the figures to the base and get the reveal photos done.

Thanks as always for looking and for your support and encouragement through the build.

Happy New Year!

Niiiiiiiiice.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:33 am
Niiiiiiiiice.

Thanks mate!

We're all done and the reveal is here

Way back at the start of this build I mentioned that I'd previously completed Matchbox's 1/76 Puma a couple of years ago...


And here are the two kittys side by side to finish off

The little one is much better!

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:35 pm The little one is much better!

yeah you'd have thought I would have picked up some improvements by now wouldn't you!

Wow!

What a difference time makes!

Great builds both btw...