Hi all,

Taking a break from all things Vietnam at the moment. Latest figure is Dragon Fallschirmjager tank rider Ardennes with a Hornet head.

All comments appreciated.

Cheers,

Andy

Very nice work!

Mark

Is it really 1/35 scale? Superb work!
All details, like face, unifrom, gear etc are painted perfectly.
You should enter our contest. Just follow the rabbit, I mean link
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments guys.

Mark, praise indeed coming from you - thanks.

Marcin, yes it is 35th scale. I have the failing eyesight to prove it ! No competitions for me, it's just for fun. Thanks anyway.

Andy

We all do it for fun, at least I hope so. Besides competition is fun too.

Great work on a very difficult camo scheme... any tips on painting marsh pattern?

Any ideas for the groundwork?

Mario

Hey Mario, thanks for the comment.

Nothing special about the marsh pattern. Just painted it up like a normal splinter camo, then mixed the base tone with the splinter colour 50/50, thinned it a bit more than usual and outlined the splinter pattern to get that soft edge to it.

There won't be any groundwork as such - this will be another epic tank rider model (might get this one finished !) I am using both Dragon FJ sets and having them stood on the back of a King Tiger with a motorcycle despatch rider shouting up to them. This is figure no.2 finished, only another 6 to go then the KT crew and the KT itself.

I do set myself unrealistic targets sometimes

Andy

Thanks for the tip... I have Jeff Shiu FJ in 120mm and was thinking of making marsh pattern jump smock. Seeing what you acomplished in 1/35 sets very high standards for me too.

Good call on the tank riders, it should be an interesting display once finished. Keep us posted on the progress.

Mario

Hi all,

Just for the sake of completeness, here is figure No.1 from this project. Figure No.3 is WIP and I will post this one when it is finished.

Any questions, don't hesitate !

Andy

really nice painting Andy !
I do confirm, the marsh pattern is really nicely rendered.
Are you using acrylic ?

Best,
Julien

Julien,

Yes it is all acrylic, mainly Vallejo, but sometimes I use Lifecolor if I need a specific colour (I use their Field Grey in preference to the Vallejo one for the trousers). Sometimes I add a little Tamiya flat base to some Vallejo colours to stop them drying with a sheen. Also, you don't tend to get this with Lifecolour.

Thanks for your comments.

Andy

Stunning camo job Andy. Love both of them.

Frank,

Glad you like them, thanks.

Been meaning to ask you, are there any model shops in or around Donegal ? My wife's family live in Derry and I need my model fix when I go over ! Send me a PM if you would'nt mind.

Slainte,

Andy

OK then, WIP on figure No.3. So far the head and helmet have been painted. Used the kit head here, because I didn't think it looked too bad (although the helmet seems to sit a bit high), and scratchbuilt the chinstrap from paper. I think I have overdone the highlights on the face, but anyway.

Smock is base coated here. I used a 2:1 mix of Vallejo 885 Pastel Green and 924 Russian Uniform. Stay tuned, more soon !!

Sorry Andy ... haven´t seen this thread since the last post. I have been living in Sweden since 1996, so really don´t know of any. I seriously doubt it though. You might get an occasional kit in a toy shop, but I have never seen any in Letterkenny which is the biggest town in Donegal (where I come from). Derry city might fare better, but I wouldn´t get my hopes up.
If you have any interest in "local" history, books shops have improved a lot. WW1 is pretty well catered for as well, whereas WW2 is more general. Sort of a pot-luck and depending on your own interests. I checked out some of the bigger magazine outlets in Derry city the last time I was home and couldn´t even find anything modelling related.

If you can´t do without some models, best advice is take some with you, sorry to say.

Thanks Frank, as I suspected.

Anyway, back to the plot. Been a while since I put brush to torso what with the football and the sunshine but here is progress so far on fig No.3.





Upper part of the camo smock is getting there and I have started on the equipment. Not entirely sure I'm happy with this one, probably because I had a break and then returned to it.

Obviously all comments gratefully received, and as always, apologies for the crap photos.

Andy

What is it that you don't like about this one? I think you are on the right track and although it takes some time to go back to your finest painting after a long break, I think you are doing a great job.

Mario

Thanks for the encouragement Mario !

I'm not 100% happy with the face and the way the helmet fits. I will live with it though, if I change it now I'll never get anything finished.

Andy

I understand about the helmet, it does look to be sitting a bit high... I know how it is when you start thinking something doesn't look as good as you'd like. I usually strip the figure and start over but I really don't finish much that way.

Mario

OK, so the more I looked at this, the more it looked odd. You know what it is like when something is nagging you, and I'm afraid I am an ultra-perfectionist to the point of never getting anything finished !

I decided to replace the kit head with a Hornet one and I think it suits the pose a bit more. Comparing the original pictures, the kit pose looks too stiff. What do you think ?

All of the equipment is finished now and I have made a start on the camo for the left arm. I am planning on having the helmet hanging from the belt at the front right side of the smock.

That's all for now - all comments welcome, as usual !

Andy you are doing some great work on these fgiure mate, very nice work on the cammo patterns.

Where in the East Midlands are you ? Im in Leicester.

Steve

Thanks for the comments Steve, I live in Mansfield, just north of Nottingham (Someone has to !)

OK, I'm calling this one finished. As usual, comments or questions welcomed.




Done, done, and I'm onto the next one
(apologies to the Foo Fighters !)

Hi Andy. Another stunning figure. I have these figures and the relief on details is only so-so, so this is top painting in my books.

Did you ever make it to Donegal? How did that go?

amazing working