What's on my desk? Part 116.
Hello and welcome!
Not much to say this week, other than: perfect weather for modelling! :-)
In the shop, I've finally made some progress on the Ford Focus. I varnished over the blue decals and (once dry) carefully masked the curve with Tamiya tape. To be safe, I masked off the rest of the car as well. Then I could finally spray a few thin layers of Ammo-Mig Red. Looks great at a distance:
However! There are big flaws, which will necessitate a second and third masking and respraying...
My masking was maybe a bit too careful, resulting in some overspray (underspray?). Here's a composite photo. See the red shades over the white paint? Yeah, that's not good...
Oh, end there are dust motes embedded in the paint everywhere. I thought the spray booth would solve that, but I clearly need to bring a dust-free drying box into the shop...
Ammo-Mig paint needs to be sprayed in very thin layers, otherwise it has a tendency to pool and create artifacts like that pale red dot on the body panel:
So to-do on the Focus this week: lightly sand to get rid of the dust motes. Re-mask and respray the red. Re-mask and respray the white.
I've also mostly finished the wheels. Painted the gold center with X-12, the bolts with Silver, and applied the decals. The 'Michelin' titles will need checking and maybe some extra adhesive to make them settle down better. The seam lines over the tire centres were sanded off with my Dremel Micro.
The Viggen then. I sprayed the nose black, then proceeded with masking it off. At that point another disaster: the nose broke off... So I used the opportunity to insert some folded cardboard in between the cockpit tub and the nose gear bay to make these assemblies sturdier (remember I broke the cockpit tub loose a few blogs back?).
Of course, now the nose topside doesn't fit as well anymore, so I had to fill it in with Tamiya putty. More sanding coming...
I primed the Bloch white and sprayed the undersides grey (Mig-208). At which point I realized I would have huge issues spraying the yellow nose and tail if I apply the camouflage next. So next step: you guessed it: masking!
I read everywhere that pink is a good undercoat for yellow, so while I had the red in my airbrush for the Focus, I sprayed a thin layer over the Bloch nose and tail. Red needs to be gradually built up, because the first coat will look pink. I used that to my advantage:
So: the Vichy yellow-red for the Bloch will be next. Then I can mask that and continue the camouflage.
And then. With the Minerva done and the other projects all in the painting stages, I have little else to do in the shop front. I had to choose a new project from my stash, and here it is:
It's Amusing Hobby's 2020 T-72M1. I like the look of the T-72. It's just so quintessentially Soviet: low & wide profile, pancake-shaped turret, lots of clutter breaking up the lines... And of course the Log on the back. The M was the export version, and I will be making the Finnish version. The Finns used the M1, which was slightly improved/uparmoured.
For those building the DDR version, there's an East German MP figure included:
I don't really understand why Amusing Hobby would include this (very nice) resin country-specific figure, but no (widely useable) tank crew... Anyway, full interior kit, so you know there's a LOT of plastic in the box:
13 sprues, separate turret, lower hull, lots of individual track links, wire, spring, plus of course decals and PE fret...
I (and the instructions) started with the lower hull parts. Lots of bumper stops and wheel mountings to attach. I'm leaving the wheels for last, as per usual:
When it came time for the torsion bars, I primed white and painted the hull inside in Mig 210 (grey blue), but I decided to give the torsion bars a slightly darker colour to make them stand out a bit more. I used Intermediate blue (Mig 228). The difference is subtle, but noticeable:
The M1 has a dozer blade on the underside, which necessitates removal of some mountings on the lower glacis plate. AH forgets to mention that you'll have to reconstruct the weld line. I used some stretched sprue, half-melted it with Tamiya Extra Thin, and scored some notches in it with an old knife blade:
Lots more to come!
See you next week!