Rubicon Panther

 

Continuing the theme from the last post of "models I have had for far too long," the next complete mini is a Panther tank that I think I got way, way back in the black Friday sale of 2013! This particular tank is a Rubicon kit that I picked up along with one their

The model has a tyical stop/start history. It sat unloved for it's first six months, until one day when I had a building frenzy and constrcuted this along with a few other vehicles for Bolt Action. After that, it spent years on the shelf without any porgress until two years ago. Then, I was commissioned to paint three tiger tanks and whilst I had the airbrush out I did this and another one of my vehicles - laying down the base colour and camo. It then spent another two years on the shelf. 

However, as I try to reduce the lead mountain during 2021, my first goal is to clear the half built shelf - where this has sat during that time. It finally bullied it's way to the front of the queue, and this is the result:

I have taken a fairly basic approach. Once I had dusted it down, I added decals, weathered them in and then hit it with a thinned agrax wash. Afer that,I drybrushed it, chipped it and painted in a few details. 

Now at that point I would normally seal it with Klear floor varnish before adding oil paints for weathering and then pigments, finishing it all off with a matt varnish. However, because I want to get stuff done and I think it is at a pefectly good table top standard I decided to finish there. It has now been put in storage with my German Army in the hope that it may one day see the table top. 

Bingo wise, it is another box done so I am now at 70 points - I need to up my game a little on that front.

Puma and Panzer IV Progress

As any World War 2 war gamer will tell you, you need tanks. Infantry are the back bone of any force, but tanks are where it's at. 

So without that in mind, I have made progress on a bit of armour support for my Bolt Action German force. This required breaking out the airbrush. To say I found this worrying would be an understatement. Having used it once, I had stripped it down and cleaned it down before putting it back together. But would it work was the question? The answer was a resounding yes! For me, this is a great boon as it means I can use it more regularly because I was concerned that I had use it once and then broke it. 

Anyway, on to the pics. I went with the same scheme as the half tracks, here is the Panzer IV:

And here is the Puma:

They've also had the first stage of weathering in these pics, using a sponge I first applied hull red followed by metallics in the most worn areas. 

Still a long way to go with these, but hoping to get stuck into them soon. 

As always, more updates at The Cardboard Fortress

Heaven is a Halftrack Part 1

When I got back into the hobby many years ago, I remember being worried about painting vehicles more than anything. It was around the time Forge World was really taking off and all these awesome vehicles were popping up everywhere, weathered and beaten and ultra realistic. What's more, people kept talking about this fabled thing called an airbrush, so I bought one. And then it pretty much stayed in the gararge, unused and unloved.

I decided not long after getting into Bolt Action that this would have to change. I wanted my German vehicles to have decent looking camo and an airbrush seemed the only real way to do it. So I dug it out and dusted it down and when I had finished the infantry I decided it was all or nothing.

First step was to stowage up the vehicles (can't go wrong with a little stowage) and give them an undercoat. I don't know why but I find this stage very appealing as the undercoat really ties all the different materials used together by giving it a uniform caller.

When that was done, I got on with the airbrush. I used vallejo air paints, which didn't require thinning and speeded things up. Here you can see one with the base colour on and the first colour applied.

 By the time I had done with the airbrush, the three of them looked like this:

I learnt many things from using the airbrush. Some mistakes were made that I just about managed to cover up and I think I spent more time cleaning the airbrush down (especially at the end) than using it but I hope that this is something that will speed up with practice. I already have four more vehicles of my own to do and have volunteered to do three of a friends so should get plenty of practice in.

Once the airbrush was away it was an evening with the good old brush. I put the decals on first, weathered them in a bit and then chipped the hull down with some sponge work before doing the stowage. A few more bits and all three currently sit at this stage:

I am reasonably happy so far. The tracks need doing before I seal them with gloss varnish and then use some oils to weather them, before appplying pigment. All stuff that is new to me.

So, in summary things I have learned so far is patience with the airbrush and some rough techniques. I also need to get some Microsol and Microset for decal work. But other than that, what progresss! In my 40k days, using normal paints and brushes, a Chimera would have taken me about two weeks. This took my maybe 2 hours in the afternoon and three hours in the evening. So at least I am speeding things up!