What's on my desk? Part 81.
Hello and welcome!
The weather's going up and down; wet and dry, windy and calm, hot and hotter... Best to stay indoors and build models!
That's what I'm doing... :-) First off the BT-42. Been going on a slow pace with this one. I gave it a shiny gloss coat for decalling and a wash.
I used Ammo-Mig Dark Wash on the rivets and details:
You can see they're slightly contrasted now, but you can also see I need to work more cleanly; there's dust embedded everywhere in my paintwork... Might be worth putting a dust-free plastic drying box next to my airbrush station.
Decals are sparse: a number front and back, and the Finnish hakaristi on the turret sides.
(Side note: Finnish use of the swastika predates nazi Germany (it was considered a good luck charm by early aviators) but was abandoned as a vehicle symbol after the war.)
Tamiya has attempted a nice thing here: the symbol needs to go over two protrusions on the turret, and the decal has two corresponding holes cut out.
The holes aren't entirely big enough though, so the first one didn't go down as well as I'd hoped. In the second one, I cut out a + with a sharp knife to make sure this hole opens wide enough when laying down the decal. Liberal use of Set and Sol takes care of the rest. You do then need to fill in the centre with a drop of black paint:
The BT has some tools attached to it; two shovels, a barrel cleaning rod, a jack block and a metal crowbar. The wood parts were painted with Mr. Hobby 079 Sandy Yellow (any beige colour will do) as a base, and then some Burnt Sienna oil paint was used to get a wood effect. Once the oils are dry, I can paint the metal parts.
On to the Williams then. I continued assembling and painting the engine, gearbox and the rear suspension:
It all was going together very well, until I messed up and pushed too hard on the outer wheel mounts. One side of the suspension broke... Luckily the parts didn't bend too much and I was able to repair the damage. I'll do some filling and repainting and it'll be as new.
The 'gold' connectors on the axles were painted Ammo-Mig Silver, which was then overpainted with Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow, something I learned from building the Yamaha motorbike that's still on display in my shop window. I like the effect better than the suggested 1:1 mix of X-11:X-12.
There are no transparant plastic parts in this kit, and the brake light is plain white plastic. I painted the light part Silver again, this time covering it with X-27 Clear Red, simulating a glass cover.
This is the underside of the engine, the big holes there fit into the bottom plate. I still need to paint that before I can mount it.
The exhausts were called in the instructions as plain XF-16, but I used Ammo-Mig Flat Aluminium mixed with a few drops of Ammo-Mig 0193 Bluish Titanium to simulate the blue heat discoloration you frequently see on these parts. The effect is subtle and changes with the light, but I think you can see it in the picture:
Finally, the tires had a prominent seam down the middle. I used my Dremel tool and a rough sanding pad to remove this and give the tires a worn effect:
I'm pretty satisfied with the result, they look nicely worn:
To do this week: Thierry's face will be dry by now, so I can mask it and airbrush his helmet, then paint the blue coverall he's wearing.
The BT tools need some more drying time, then can be painted and mounted. A matt coat will prepare the vehicle for further weathering: chipping paint, oil dot filter and dust, maybe some rain marks.
That's it.
See you next week!