T34 Bolt Action Refurbishment WIP 1 Oils

A couple years ago I painted a pair of T34 tanks for Owen's and my birthdays. The tanks started out identical, but after picking up a Trenchworx tank for Bolt Action, and being inspired by another friend's Konflict '47 force, I figured it was time to retrieve the tank from the bottom of a box and see what I could do to update it.

In terms of painting, the tank had a fairly solid foundation. Panel highlighting, pin washes, and color modulation all worked very well on it. However as a monotone tank, it suffered a little in the visual interest category. It also looked a bit too much like a toy.

The first thing I addressed was a lack of paint chipping. Using a sponge and a brush I was able to chip up the model in under an hour. This broke up the harsh transitions and helped tie the tank together.

I next worked some more colors into the model. I used blue, red, grey, and buff oils and worked them into the surfaces adding different tones wherever needed. Blue was added to shadow areas, buff to highlight areas, and red and grey used to streak down the sides of the tank. I finished this process up by adding oil stains on the barrels and to either side of those vents behind the turret.

With oils completed, I really saw the model. I was not pleased by the kit, but there are other problems all my own doing. There are some awful looking construction issues where the top half and bottom half of the turret join together. There are visible seems on the gas canisters on back. The antenna is as thick as the mg, and comically short. (Why did I even put it on in the first place?). To solve these problems I need to do some surgery. I think I need to:

1) cut off that wonky antenna and replace it with a brush bristle
2) use weathering powders on the oil canisters to hide the seams
3) drill out the weapon barrels.
4) fix the turret seams using.....magic?

Number 4 is where I could use some help. I'm just not sure what the right path for correcting the seams is. Should I just find a bunch of junk to glue to the turret and cover up the problem? Do I just ignore the problem? Any suggestions would help.

1/35 Scale Opel Maulitier Flak

After the Richmond trip I decided to give a scale model a try. It was a very different experience to building a wargaming model or a resin model. What you can't see in these photos is the fully detailed engine bay. On a wargaming kit hidden parts wouldn't be present, but in a scale model they are. It was kind of fun stepping into our hobby forefathers shoes for a bit. However, now that painting is nearing completion, I wish the model were in a usable scale for Bolt Action.

Richmond IPMS

For a couple of years Justin McCoy has suggest that I attend an IPMS event. Out of the blue I connected with Bryant Dunbar, from Grex, and he put a plug in for the Richmond even since he'd be there.  So this past weekend, my wife and I drove down from DC to Richmond to see what all the fuss was about. I brought down a few models to enter into the competition. First off, the event was huge. There were around 500 models in competition, with table after table of entries to look at. Visually, it was a lot to take in. It was also a bit confusing. IPMS has lots and lots of rules. Despite that, I took home two first place awards, a second place award, and a third place award. I think I may have made a few folks jealous, when they found out it was my first event. I dutifully explained that I have been painting for more than a decade, and that I was really honored to receive awards by the military modeling folks. 

1st place: Ogre bust from Roman Lappat in the fantasy bust category (this category was split out during the judging)

1st place: Mark IV Female WW1 tank by Trenchworx (tank without instructions category)

2nd place: WW2 machine gunner bust in the historical bust category

3rd place:  Medusa by Forgeworld. 

One of the coolest things about the event was the massive vendor area. If you've ever wondered what all the cook aftermarket kits are like, or where you can by mig products in person, this is the kind of event to attend. I managed to pick up 5 1/35 scale military scale model kits for around fifty dollars. That is a steal!