Tuesday blogday!
Last week I estimated 1-2 weeks of work left on Fram. Well, she's basically finished. All I have left to so is some final touch-ups. Straighten up paint lines, tighten some ropes and maybe add a little bit of weathering to the hull.
So let's look at some pictures.
All the sails are in place:
Looking front to back:
I re-attached the four lifeboats and hoisted the Norwegian flag (there's also a small triangle flag with 'FRAM' printed on it, but that doesn't look realistic, so I left it off).
The navigation lights needed a small length of the supports cut off. Theyre' now sitting a bit lower, but you can see the bend of the support coming through the ropes under the deadeyes, not in between them anymore:
Next week: a few more pics and I'll give a brief review of my first experience with a wooden ship model.
What's next?
I've been working on
Border's Apocalypse tank. It's one of a range of models from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, a classic strategy game from... 2000?? Wow, I'm old.
Take note that the titles 'Red Alert' or 'Command & Conquer' are nowhere to be found on the box, so I'm guessing the licensing was not entirely settled...
Anyway, these kits are snap together, molded in coloured plastic sprues. If you want, you can build it without any glue or paint at all and it will build up into a cool model. There's a few more out, the Allied Grizzly, and the Soviet Tesla tank and Kirov airship (the last two I have on order and will be available soon-ish).
I'm building it in semi-realistic fashion, using the historic Soviet 4BO green, intending to apply some white weathered stripes over the turret, as seen on IS-2 and T-34 tanks in the last stages of World War 2.
This is another one of my shelf queens. At some point in the past I primed it and airbrushed some of the parts with Ammo 4BO, but not very well. Impatience I guess? Ammo paints tend to 'pool' if you don't spray thin enough coats, and that's what happened here. I've been working on the wheels first and foremost, repainting them by brush. Road wheels also received a coat of ATOM Rubber & Tires over the tires.
Side note: ATOM is the new range of Ammo acrylics and will eventually replace the classic colours. I already have some available and will be replacing them gradually as the classic acrylics sell out. Keep an eye out for me at conventions (e.g. KMK Scale World on 1 June), because I'm offering them at a discount there.
Moving to the lower hull, I applied a wash on details and angles. I used Ammo Dark Wash for this. It's enamel based, and the liquid was a little thick. I experimented with Citadel Agrax Earthshade, which is acrylic. I found that the Citadel dries way too quickly for this kind of work. The enamel stays workable a lot longer, and can be faded with brush moistened with a little thinner. I also thinned it a bit before applying, which helps. You can see some details outlined in dark brown here:
This work will be mostly covered with dust and mud later, but I feel it's still a necessary step. If nothing else, it helps me to practice my weathering techniques.
I'm going to try and bring in my compressor and airbrush sometime this week. Experiment with the option of airbrushing in the shop. I need to know if the noise is too much, or the smell too invasive (I already know I won't spray Alclad, because that stuff literally takes your breath away). It also will get me closer to finally organising the airbrush workshop I've been thinking about for so long...
Alright, that's it. Weather's nice, so don't stay out in the sun too long and get some modelling done!
See you next week!
