SPA Modeler

Duke Maddog wrote:Brilliant work Kenny! I love it! That interior does look better now that it's painted; you did excellent work on that.

Love the first pic with the Sherman teasing the StuG!

Thanks Duke. And to be honest, I prefer the Firefly. 100%. And there are so many fills I want to do on that thing, just to get it up to where I want it. And it’ll be a while. Geez. The Milliput won’t be here till after Feb. 15 I don’t think.

Anyway, though I prefer the Firefly, I’m enjoying the StuG. And I changed my mind on the interior. Hell, Tamiya did a really nice job on that gun, and the hatches can be posed open. I thought “why not?” and I’m gonna do the figure too!

Kenny!

Only now catching up with the Sherman and StuG builds! Sorry!

The interior of the StuG looks very good! Love the work you have done with the gun! And I agree with you, open hatches, as many as possible!

Looking also forward to when you start with the figure!

- Kari

Thank you, Kari!

I’m back in town now, arrived yesterday evening. And the air travel didn’t bother me as bad as I thought it would. Boy am I glad I started Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That helped a lot.

Anyhow, the STUG has been left alone since Friday, and on looking at it today, I’m pleased with how the oil paint washes have mellowed out since I’ve been gone. They do that, it seems. Like Mr. Carlos says, they get absorbed. Which is really a nifty thing. I think one wrong turn I made on my Corsair was not giving the pin washes and fuel stains, which I did with oil paints, a few days to be absorbed before I hit her with another clear coat. She still looks very nice, but she is missing a little bit of that magic I see has happened with the oils on the STUG.





The wash on the floor, and around the gun’s details, does not appear as stark anymore, and some of the lighter dirtiness has come to stand-out under certain lighting. I quite like that. From now on I’m going to give the oils longer than a day to do their thing before I spray clear.

I’ll work on running gear later on today. I seem to have contracted that stomach flu my kids brought home a week ago. Thank goodness it waited until I was off the airplane to get me. Subsequently, I won’t be going to the gym on my lunch break today. So “GOOD...” as Jocko would say “...more time to rest, and model building.”

Kenny, that is one fantastic looking interior! Excellent work on the weathering.

Thank you sir! I’m glad I went back and did that. This is a good kit and I would’ve regretted not doing the interior. That gun Tamiya supplies with it is absolutely fantastic and it’ll look cool in there when you view it through the hatches.

Did some work today too! First thing’s first, I got all the running gear assembled and primed. That wasn’t so bad. Primed the Captain too:



And I also got the metal parts installed along with some fiddly bits. Mostly lights:





So there we go! Coming along.

I got the base coat on the STUG completed today during lunch.

That Tamiya German Grey is incredible. I thinned this 2:10 paint:thinner, and did one diffuse coat of German Grey, then did Flat White X German gray 1:1, 2:10 paint to thinner, then a blend coat with just German a Grey, 2:10 paint:thinner. Ostensibly, 6 drops of paint total (not including running gear).







I have to paint the rubber on the road wheels yet, and the tools as well. I’m going to do that stuff next, then affix the tools and actually attach the running gear, then clear coat, decals, then tracks, then fun with oil paints. So far, so good.

Very nice! I like how your paint work has livened up the monotone scheme!

Stikpusher wrote:Very nice! I like how your paint work has livened up the monotone scheme!

Thank you!

And yes sir, that Panzer Gray can be boring. I realize it was tough paint that didn’t really get too badly faded or dinged up, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take just a little bit of artistic license with it, yes indeed. Plenty of realism can coexist with a slightly imaginative, stylized paint job.

My “Dirty Three-Layer Blend Over Black Base”:



It works very well with this particular monochromatic scheme. And it also sets me up to allow for weathering with oils later on. The oil washes on the running gear will look much nicer when done over a lightened shade. The filters and washes on the upper hull will look nicer too. And I didn’t do it all over the tank. The front and rear, uh “bumpers” LOL those I just sprayed straight German Grey. Got a nice mix of styles in there, used sparingly. It’s nice because I can get some realism and let my imagination run with it.

I am on lunch break, catching up on your progress first on Facebook and now here. I am reading Carl Yung’s “Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky.” I saw another fella posted a fantasy Star Wars kit which reminded me both of your work and the work of our esteemed colleague Carlos:



Just seeing those tough-looking fellas ready to blast Imperials makes me happy—almost as happy as seeing your recent work, Ken! I am over the moon or flying with saucers about your progress on the interior. You turned building armor kits into much more than just simply that—you’re creating a whole new approach to painting. Perhaps you need to start creating a lexicon now. I am already going to lose what happens when and where, and I need to recall when in the build the breakthroughs occurred to find the information, so may I suggest taking the forum section for tips and techniques and doing a cut ‘n paste with the text? Attach a few photos, too. Your thoughts are too darn good to miss. Let’s collect them in one spot!