What's on my desk? Part 30.

Hello again.

There are still spots for the workshop on August 10th. Send me an email if you want to attend.

I've been working on both the house and the 35(t) this week. It's been slow going, but I'm seeing the house especially coming alive.

Let's start with the 35(t). And a word of explanation about the (t) designation. During World War 2, the Germans captured loads of foreign material and weapons factories. A lot of this material was taken over and put in use in the German army (all the while creating a logistical nightmare) and the Germans gave everything an official name. Foreign equipment received a letter between brackets. T stands for Tschechoslowakei, R for Russland, F for Frankreich, and so on. The 35(t) and 38(t) tanks made up large parts of the German tank divisions in 1939 and 1940.

So how's the actual build going? Slowly, to be honest. I've started work on the turret and there are lots of tiny pieces going in there. First off: a ring of rivets needs to be added to the turret inside. These are molded on the sprues and need to be sliced off and stuck in the (approximate) right place, like so:

See the red circle? That's one of the rivets...

The gun assembly also is made up of teeny tiny parts. I'm all for detail and accuracy, but some of this could have been molded into the parts in the first place, without actually losing detail...

And at the end of the day, what will be visible?

Not a whole lot, it turns out. Now, to be honest, this level of detail is rare, and is basically completely optional. You can leave it all out if you want. Manufacturers also cater especially for it. For example: Miniart these days releases two versions of most of their tanks: one with and one without interior. Makes for a difference in price and gives options for every desire for detail.

Speaking of Miniart: on to the house!

Painting has progressed nicely. Last week I showed the base colours, this week I've started weathering a bit. On the Miniart website, there's a big guide on how to paint houses. I also watched a Night Shift video on painting a façade. I combined these a bit.

Miniart recommends mixing up oil paints into a brownish-grey colour, covering the entire house with it and immediately wiping it off with paper towels and cotton buds. That's what I did with the yellow café. Night Shift, on the other hand, stipples variations of his base colour with a sponge to create texture. I followed his way on the grey house, thén covered it with oil paint (a slightly more grey shade compared to the yellow house). The exposed bricks were then painted dark brown. Here's the result:

You immediately see the plasterwork come alive. Some of the oil paint remains in the cracks and dots and accumulates under the raised parts. Rubbing a cotton bud up and down also creates faint lines, simulating rain staining. Overall, the oil paint leaves a slight discolouration (or filter) over the base coat, making the colour a bit warmer.

Here's the side of the grey building, which turned out very well. Notice how the colour isn't uniform. That's due to the stippling. The cracks are filled with brown-grey oil paint and there's faint downward-running lines seemingly created by rainwater running off.

You also see the second phase of the brickwork: a light brown colour applied to the bricks individually, trying to avoid the dark-coloured joints.

On the yellow house, I wanted white window frames. White is a difficult colour to brush paint, so I mixed some Corax White (which is quite thick and covers well) with Mr. Hobby Flat White (to get a more whitish colour), then applied a few layers thinned with water.

On the grey house I painted the lintels in Sandy Yellow. It looks good, but maybe I'll add a little colour with the red-and-Deck Tan mix Night Shift used in his video.

Finally, I noticed I forgot something on the base. The door openings need the threshhold sill painted. I used Tamiya NATO Black, a nice colour I really like for grey so dark it's nearly black.

This week I'm a bit stuck with the 35(t), as I need an airbrush to paint some stuff (like wheels) first.

The housework will continue with both interior and exterior details. I also need the inside roofs done, as there's nothing in the kit for this. Luckily I still have lots of wood left over from the OcCre tram.

Alright, that's it. See you next week!