Army_Air_Force

Thanks. I'll check back next week.

Anyone know when the moderators are back from the Christmas/New Year break? I made a post with pictures, in the military vehicles section a few days ago and don't know if it just hasn't been moderated yet or whether it failed to upload? I don't want to try and repost and duplicate it, if its just waiting for moderation! Thanks

Life has been both busy and difficult over the last few months, meaning the family has had little time for fun. However, mid December, my daughter and I got back to spend a little time on the Jeep. I'd managed to get the Jeep gloss coated some time before so it, and the trailer were ready for decals. The seats still needed painting, but that could be done later. The hood star was the first decal to be applied. /media/tinymce_upload/786520da1d7e76538c40ad297fc90836.jpg The Jeep was set aside and the tiny flag/wading instructions were added to the screen next. I was doing the cutting out with the aid of a watch maker's magnifier and my daughter did the application. Blu-Tac was used to stop the screen from sliding around the table while the decal was prodded and poked into position. /media/tinymce_upload/877ebc4fad1781efac60070da65e64f5.jpg The flag decal on the real Jeep has the US flag on one side and on the inner side facing the driver, it has all the instructions for wading the vehicle through water. At this scale, those instructions are far too small to be seen anyway as the flag is only about 1 x 2mm in side. /media/tinymce_upload/1a546bb5067928fdd3c012c1abfe7aed.jpg The hood star had ben left to dry a while and was then given a few treatments of Microsol and once more left to dry before we could apply any other decals. /media/tinymce_upload/93ade9fd23dc102fe2471f16e094dd80.jpg After the star had settled and dried, both registrations were added to the sides of the hood. It was once again set aside, and the first decals were added to the trailer, then that was set aside to dry. We hopped back to the Jeep to add the stars to the sides of the rear of the body and they were left to dry. Back to the trailer again for more decals and then the Jeep again for the front bumper markings. We were so busy, I forgot to get any pictures of the work on the trailer. We ran out of time for any more and it was all left to harden. /media/tinymce_upload/ab5d625a7ae1ee5c142be73e22498e8d.jpg

From comments and discussions I've seen on other forums, helicopters aren't big sellers compared to fixed wing and particularly WW2 aircraft, so aren't worth the investment in research and tooling.

You may have thought this project had dropped off the end of the modelling bench, but it's still ongoing ( slowly ) due to school work and other activities. Today we did a little more painting for an hour after school. I finished painting the Jeep windscreen and the Jeep body got another coat as there were a few thin spots from the first coat. /media/tinymce_upload/7a163fa9a3c38b3346c77369ea90db89.jpg We also did some figure painting. There was quite a lot of flash and being the horrible rubbery plastic Airfix use for figures, trimming and sanding doesn't work well. Instead I opted for a soldering iron and melted flash away and seams flat. That worked fairly well. /media/tinymce_upload/0c0244d34b31a75b9e97ce1f9019a9ce.jpg

After what felt like weeks of inactivity due to school work and other after school activities, my daughter got back to her diorama today. Having given the front of the Jeep a coat of paint last time, we got the headlights cut out and glued into the back of the grill. This would allow the hood and instrument panel to be fitted - almost! The instructions called for the screen arms to be trapped under the hood as it was glued in place, but as it wasn't yet painted and was fragile, I didn't want it fitted just yet. The pivot arms were quite long so I cut them about 1mm shorter and this allowed the screen to be fitted later by stretching the arms around the Jeep body. So with the screen adapted and able to be fitted later after clear coats and decals etc, the way was clear to attach the hood. /media/tinymce_upload/75fbdfe17ab19d0bdfa74e2d08926012.jpg It was left clamped to dry while we went on a model shop trip for some supplies for other projects. When we got back, we had lunch and then went back out to the workshop. There were some other small parts that needed to be painted, but that I didn't want to attach straight away, so things like the steering wheel, mirror and spare Jerry cans were painted and left to dry. /media/tinymce_upload/cf2ad98d1901421245326d2996e9ed6c.jpg The Jerry can on the back was added next and left to dry. /media/tinymce_upload/169daab0625bee106575580beed31f5d.jpg The wooden handles of the axe and shovel were also painted and left to bake in my curing cabinet. /media/tinymce_upload/7d269658efe40b2011ebd4158ebf1c18.jpg I got the rest of the diorama back out too, just to show her how far we'd already come on this project. It also reminded her how great it looked and how much of it she had done herself, albeit still with lots of step by step guidance. /media/tinymce_upload/6874e5c561eb8df4014d8e00bbf19bda.jpg To finish the session, the rest of the Jeep body was given its first coat of green and while she did that, I gave one side of the windscreen its first coat of green. Masking or painting that freehand was still beyond her current skill level. The parts were all placed in the curing cabinet and we left it to do other stuff. Not massive progress, but another step along the road. /media/tinymce_upload/d81056409200b4cc386bcd8b60ab03b5.jpg

This is the second framed Sea King I've built. The first was made for a friend who wanted it for a gift for a Sea King pilot. He liked it so much, he asked for a second one for himself! The kit was made with two M3 nuts built into the starboard side. Brass tube spacers hold the model off the backboard while M3 studding hold it in place. The background is a 12x8 photo print with the graphics done on my laptop. The starboard side sponson is fitted directly to the fuselage, omitting the small wing, in order to reduce the overall depth of the model and frame. The rotor head was modified to allow the rotor blades to be stowed. /media/tinymce_upload/e79f7b1a3aa7e91e8715b7ae4d0c17ed.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/b7fb5d76f644977bcec12c9a26fb8fb9.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/3eb208432452e8002b4ff425497c9a23.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/a1b3a7e994a85794b3f9e3e37f413bab.jpg

We managed a rare free afternoon today and did a little more on the Jeep. The grill was fitted, the gearbox and transfer case levers, and the three seats.The clear headlight moulding was meant to be attached to the grill first, but we left that off. Adding it now would then cause difficulties painting without painting on the clear part./media/tinymce_upload/669bc0326b9347801d99b66b2307214c.jpg The instrument panel was attached to the hood and then the front end of the Jeep was painted a first coat ( still drying here ). When the paint is dry, the lights can be fitted without needing to repaint around them. Once the lights are fitted, then the hood could be attached. /media/tinymce_upload/e3db171e8bb1e2714658ba92c6c5ca29.jpg

We managed to do a little more yesterday. The wheels that were painted on the sprue some time ago were cut free, trimmed and glued to the trailer and field gun. A little later in the afternoon, when the glue had a little while to cure, the black on the tyres was touched up where the wheels had been cut from the sprue. /media/tinymce_upload/f5c42e323a44d05a2bf878a6b35182f3.jpg Next was back to the Jeep, gluing in the rear body panel, which slotted in between the floor and rear body handles from below very neatly. /media/tinymce_upload/d73a1a376f5d1de8222ea380a442f897.jpg Attaching the tub to the chassis came next and that's where I spotted a problem. I suggested we glue the chassis rear cross member to the bottom of the tub first and once the glue took hold, then pull the front of the chassis in line with the front fenders. That's when I spotted the bumper at an odd angle. At first, I thought we may have glued a twist into the chassis when attaching the axles. However, closer inspection showed the cross member at the front of the fenders was parallel to the top of the fenders and the axle was also parallel to the chassis front cross member. The twist existed in the chassis moulding ahead of the grill position. I decided my daughter could glue the chassis on regardless, as the majority of the chassis was straight and true. Once the glue was set, I would warm the front chassis leg with a soldering iron to soften it and then straighten the twist. I did that today. /media/tinymce_upload/3a523850c404ab88b957c93f521fb6f1.jpg Here's the tub and chassis as joined yesterday, prior to straightening the chassis today. /media/tinymce_upload/caf39a37092efba224cb5029ee6b6a64.jpg

A change in the time table at school is sometimes leaving my daughter tired on a Wednesday, so progress may slow down a bit. Wednesday is the only day we have free for modelling.Today we managed a little work. The trailer and field gun were given a second coat of paint, and put into the curing cabinet to bake. She then began to cut out the parts for the Jeep tub - sides and floor. /media/tinymce_upload/986ad8270206348c509b66ca6341044a.jpg She was quite tired already, so I knew we weren't going to get much done, so focussed on getting the tub glued so it could harden for next time. The sprue joiners need trimming and sanding here. /media/tinymce_upload/bbb5d3c854fb78d89ede08afb0d1df61.jpg The first side is attached..... /media/tinymce_upload/f3aa6774cbd3e5aecc5b50db918d073f.jpg .....and the second side. That was it for the day. Only a small step forwards, but at least it's some progress. /media/tinymce_upload/a25e71ecaa3603da09e9b7308a9f7fdb.jpg

We had around an hour spare today so had a quick modelling session knowing we'd be having to leave bits to dry anyway. The field gun and trailer were painted first. /media/tinymce_upload/a3fbab212262e4ded627d23e7cab734f.jpg She didn't want to tackle the wheel hubs in case she got the green on the tyres, so I did those. I showed her how to build up several layers of dilute paint, allowing capillary action to draw the paint around the hub. A quick force dry in front of the heater, then another coat until a reasonable density was reached. /media/tinymce_upload/8c91b6fc97f4e666d5d51bd58c7df1cd.jpg Cutting and trimming the very fragile chassis and transmission parts took her a little while and lots of concentration; as did working out which way to assemble them. The springs, axles, prop shafts and transmission support are all one moulding. The spring ends didn't all want to sit on their spring hangers, so I bent some thin sheet lead to add a little wieght to hold them in place so she could apply the glue with a fine brush and then leave the whole thing to dry. /media/tinymce_upload/e105040bac1813d812bedb5590715b49.jpg Later in the afternoon, after she'd gone out and the chassis had a while to dry, I took the weights off and compared the 1/72 chassis with the 1/35 version I'm working on. /media/tinymce_upload/4c60e89cefea109c6da33d6b6b2e8125.jpg

It's difficult not to want to correct things but I'm trying to stand back a little further with each model she builds. Having said that, it is a joint project that we are enjoying time together working on it. Certain jobs on her models, I do myself. Spraying clear coats before decals is something I do, as I can't find a mask that will fit her. Where ever possible, I let her do things and then if she struggles with a task, I then ask if she wants help. A few days ago, I started an experiment with a camo net. I had one of my daughter's dance class hair nets, damaged a few months ago, to use as the practice net. A piece of 1/8 plywood was covered in parcel tape to stop any sticking. The net was then stretched over the wood.Some of the Airfix starter kit acrylics were mixed with some PVA glue to thicken it and allow it to glue to the netting. Starting with the brown, and using a small brush, I painted square spirals onto the netting and tape covered board. I quickly ran into a problem. The hair net is woven out of micro fibres which actually resemble long link chains. Because of the thickness of the chains and the way they are woven together, the netting wouldn't lay flat on the wood. This made it difficult to form the spiral on the surface of the tape. The mesh was hovering slightly above the surface and so I was having to poke the brush down through the mesh and then let it partially cure before pressing the net down into the tacky surface to bond the mesh to the glue spiral. /media/tinymce_upload/a5832037f96627d9451f1e839679325a.jpg I did some green later and then let it all dry properly, before peeling the net off the board. It was lifted up to see the effect. Due to the problems applying the glue, I didn't closely pack the spirals, but the overall concept seemed to work fairly well. What I did need was a finer mesh. This would hopefully allow the mesh to lay flat on the board and the smaller weave would support the spirals better. /media/tinymce_upload/9cf0da29aae74c2b3fe94248e4baa935.jpg I raided the scrap fabric box and found some black tights ( hosiery for American readers ) which had a fairly fine weave. I piece was cut out, approximately the size of a 20 feet square camo net. This was stretched out a little to open the weave and then taped down to the board. This time, it was much closer to the board and it was much easier to get a smaller, more in scale spiral to stick to the mesh. I started with the brown again, painting on the spirals and square cornered snakes, leaving spaces for the green. It does take quite a long time, but appeared to be making a fairly good representation. /media/tinymce_upload/ca5590db1e5570ecd21911a2a537c62a.jpg After the brown was complete, I worked from the dry side, filling in the spaces in green. The brown didn't change colour much when drying, but the green was very light with the white glue mixed in, but darked quite a lot once cured. /media/tinymce_upload/b4bbfb4676bcbee5adf5e23ae1c71865.jpg Here's the last of the green drying. Once that had dried, the glue would be hard enough to stop the mesh from shrinking back to its pre-stretched size. This allowed me to peel all the tape except the corner pieces. I then glued more patterns around the edge of the mesh. /media/tinymce_upload/7b143e5104f4f962cfe8aeb57364be26.jpg After a further period of drying, the camo net was peeled away from the wood. I'm very pleased with the way this is looking. /media/tinymce_upload/e4342dbee8dd4f69d126ff9d72cc1dbc.jpg The netting is balanced on two metal rods over the end of the diorama for these photographs. It will probably be fitted in this location, or this approximate location, supported on some poles and with cotton guy ropes to tension it. The kit radio operator will probably be under here, along with a few other odds and ends. I'm feeling quite pleased with this little experiment, something to keep in mind for future projects. /media/tinymce_upload/e99169df147a04b286980dad89a573b6.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/3946267ec8523f7f6a46fba6c23bb6f2.jpg

Yes, the steady is two layers of 1/4 inch steel sheet ( or there abouts ), folded into a loop at the end. Brass strip would be more appropriate. I may thin it out a little with a scalpel, but at the end of the day, it's her model - I'm just giving advice, tools, workshop space and an extra pai of hands!!

We didn't get back to the D-Day Battlefront diorama until today. It's the school Easter Holidays, so what better way than some modelling to fill in the day.We began with some painting on the diorama base. The road and pavements, while scattered with broken stone, were still looking very clean and fresh. To dirty them down and mottle the appearance, we used some of the Airfix starter set black and brown acrylics, painted onto a piece of scrap styrene as a pallet, then applied to the diorama with a sponge and stiff brush, dabbing on the paint in random patterns and different densities. /media/tinymce_upload/98ffa78deda4a87e94400edef5185d1e.jpg It worked well to tone down the road, but is only the first step. We also want to reproduce muddy marks and clods of mud from vehicles and tank tracks along the roads. That will probably involve a plaster/paint/PVA glue mix, possibly rolled on from a small wheel on a stick, but that's all for another day. After the dabbing and stippling, the base was put to one side and left to dry. /media/tinymce_upload/86562a3b002c562a9274f91072708281.jpg Time to move on to the next stage. As mentioned previously, we've ditched the Tiger from the diorama in favour of a Willys MB. We got the kit at Christmas, in the Aldi sale. /media/tinymce_upload/ca8c6aa7f2376eb50cd10e25a1cbc429.jpg There's a lot of tiny parts in the Willys kit. Since she hasn't really done any small fiddly models, mostly aircraft with large parts and just a few small accessories, I suggested we start with the field gun and trailer first. If those got messed up, it wouldn't be a great loss to the overall diorama. /media/tinymce_upload/92c6fee4b5a8ef971b63f95cef322294.jpg So the field gun came first, with the chassis/tow frame being made from a number of small parts. Some of the joints needed a little extra opening up to fit correctly, but it was a good excuse to remind her about trial fitting components to check. Holding them together for assembly was fiddly, even for 9 year old fingers, so we resorted to Blu-Tac to hold the parts in the correct alignment while the liquid glue was brushed into the joints. /media/tinymce_upload/d1c47dbfcdd5d3f706dc0f50fb3f0101.jpg While parts of the field gun dried, we started to assemble the trailer, then hopped back and forwards from one to the other. Each one is made from several components. /media/tinymce_upload/d9a45982c6612b5cdd610c8210495702.jpg While certain parts of the gun and trailer were drying, the wheels were given a coat of black on the sprue. Some Easter card making was also interspersed amongst the various modelling tasks. /media/tinymce_upload/375909797c900e3c9907257d1b628b0c.jpg They could then be left to dry fully before they would have the centres painted green, be cut free, cleaned up and be ready to fit. /media/tinymce_upload/811c2d1665089848978441b232cb8c77.jpg Five parts in the trailer so far, eight pieces in the field gun. We also spent some of the drying time in the garden as it was the first nice warm day for a long time. /media/tinymce_upload/f98dd51127cb79ba091fbe35749b4815.jpg Before we knew it, it was after 4pm, so I suggested we carry on and get the last few trailer parts attached so that everything would be dry for the next session. So the axle, springs, wheel arches and front steady were cut out, cleaned and attached. /media/tinymce_upload/b97a412d49da5fdf80b7d4e941b3b62d.jpg

We're hoping to get back to the D-Day diorama tomorrow ( Wed 3rd ), after a month away. We spent a couple of weeks making this Apollo 11 Easter Egg competition model for school, then the whole family was struck down with a big that came home from school, knocking us all out of actin for two weeks. Wifey and daughter are well again and I'm heading in the right direction. We're looking forwards to making more progress once more. Neil Eggstrong and the Eggle Lander. /media/tinymce_upload/ede9a8c65493f76766168f50c2449c67.jpg

I checked on the dio this morning and the PVA had fully dried. A careful prod and poke of the rubble showed it had all firmly glued in place. /media/tinymce_upload/6061069ea00bf749ad85f031a472b933.jpg The debris around the house will probably remain mostly untouched. Some of the other areas will have the colour changed or toned down with the airbrush and the road needs a good work over with further colour, dirt, mud and weathering. I particularly want some mud trails from the Sherman tracks. /media/tinymce_upload/256f3b47b39c904a420211b597b5e548.jpg

Despite the Easter Egg school project that is ongoing, we made a little more progress on the diorama today. I cleaned some of the paint away from the base, and had to do some trimming of the vac-formed base as the house didn't fit very well. /media/tinymce_upload/05f7e2bcc8ac5c0160b07c8210b69a94.jpg Once we got a reasonable fit, the house was glued in place and then weighted down with some lead blocks to keep it firmly still while the glue set. /media/tinymce_upload/7d21db6fab506e8992c1a99064441fd8.jpg After a while to dry, the pots of smashed up stone were brought out, ready to add some debris around the site. It was sprinkled on dry and in some cases, move around slightly with a paint brush. Once we were happy with the distribution, the whole base was sprayed with a water/detergent mix. /media/tinymce_upload/642b52f1d11f1bb755629b4a76f5c4e6.jpg After that, we went around the diorama with eye droppers, dripping dilute PVA glue onto all the rubble. There still lots more work to go, with more dirt and mud etc, but all the extra rubble is turning the smooth plastic base into a more realistic scene of destruction. /media/tinymce_upload/274b137b1fe7cf5239ebcd6bf290b808.jpg

Little legs damaged a hair net while getting her hair done ready for dance class. I said, "Great, don't throw it away, we need it for the diorama!". While the mesh spacing is overscale for a 1/72 scale camo net, it would do for us. However, for some time I've wanted to replicate the square spiral hessian camo material in WW2 netting. I had a plan. /media/tinymce_upload/2aaef838abe025fa0c074ea5648715c1.jpg I had a few miuntes to do some testing yesterday so stuck some parcel tape down onto a piece of scrap wood. I mixed some PVA glue and waterbased green and brown acrylic together, then added some baby talc to thicken it slightly. I didn't have a fine needle for my syringe, so ended up just scooping up a little of the glue mix onto a piece of fine wire, and dabbing it onto the parcel tape, forming a spiral. These spirals vary between around 5/16ths to 1/2 an inch square. After it was dry, it peeled off the parcel tape no problem. The plan is to cover a larger piece of wood in tape and then tape down the hair net, stretched out over the board. I'll then start applying green and brown glue spirals over the netting, leaving until dry. The net should then peel off the parcel tape, leaving the glue spirals stuck to the net. It can then be used on the diorama, supported on some poles with cotton guy ropes. /media/tinymce_upload/c2a5286ac17b5146ba23fd9e29e76970.jpg

No significant progress on this of late. We've been too busy with two school modelling projects. One is for World Book Day and that is now complete. The other, which is still ongoing, is a Moon Landing themed Easter Egg competition. We've won her age group for the last two years so the pressure is on!The only progress we have made was to fill the back of the very thin vac-forming with a plaster/PVA glue mix to stop it being crushed by accident while we work on the rest of the model. /media/tinymce_upload/6e50663b1f76afd65586a3282159cb88.jpg Once the plaster was dry, the plastic was epoxied down to the MDF baseboard which has already had its edges painted black and varnished. It was weighted down and left to dry, and the lead weights came off this morning. We've got quite a bit of debris to add to the ground but it shouldn't be too long before we make a start on the Jeep. /media/tinymce_upload/409513c1193421e6261b3d368112fef3.jpg

My daughter had a smashing time after school on Wednesday - with a large hammer! To create some more realistic rubble around the diorama, I sent my daughter into the garden to look for some small stones. A few at a time, they were wrapped up in an old T-shirt to stop flying splinters and beaten to death! It created a nice range of colours, shapes and sizes. /media/tinymce_upload/0928f587e91a0cce0660156f048db966.jpg After that, I found a piece of Ramin wood, and sliced it into thin strips on the bandsaw. These would be additional roof timbers from the house, scattered by the blast or cleared by the troops using it. Straight from the saw, the edges had lots of splinters, so I set her off with a sanding block to clean up the strips. /media/tinymce_upload/0c0ecdfec729a3d4008d1b7b0ac2295f.jpg While she was busy with all that, I masked up the road to paint the paved areas on the base. /media/tinymce_upload/80f8de664879c258348e99b96bf21f54.jpg With the tape removed, the streen suddenly looked very clean and fresh! Lots of work would be needed to weather the scene, but it was slowly coming together. /media/tinymce_upload/9ea5368fdc3429d63625894dddcc5cde.jpg Once the timbers had been sanded, we got some Humbrol acrylic matt earth and diluted it with some screen wash. /media/tinymce_upload/229a2e45a1c6a59beb62aedb18b2ea50.jpg After a good stir, the thinned paint made a nice wash/stain to soak the new roof timbers of the house. As it dried, it soaked into the wood, allowing the grain and texture to show through. /media/tinymce_upload/3c1c6eccee418a4fd78674f18af686bb.jpg Once the wood had completely dried, it was given a light sand with some 400 grit sandpaper. Some areas were sanded more than others to create variation in the distress of the timbers. The two at the back of the image aren't sanded at all, while the two closer pieces have both hadvarying degrees of sanding. /media/tinymce_upload/cbdf3bde7057e5fd8ebdc4732ce99a36.jpg As well as roof timbers, we needed some more roof tiles scattered about. I found an offcut of styrene around the same thickness as the kit roof tiles, and set my daughter loose, marking out and cutting some parallel, 4mm wide styrene strips. It took a few goes to get it right, but she got there in the end. /media/tinymce_upload/36bacc95560a3f346781e4246d4497f5.jpg I mixed up some red/brown for the tiles and she painted the strips. Once dry, they can be cut into single tiles and will only need a slight touch up on the edges. I also painted the left over, wider strip after she was done, to give us a bit of spare tile material. /media/tinymce_upload/fa494a07440f7837bc7d50d434a56f09.jpg While she had been doing those, I painted the sandbags and other walls on the vac-formed base in a base colour. Rubble and other debris will probably be the next job to attach in the next build session. Another two and a half hours had gone and that was the end of this week's build session. /media/tinymce_upload/ab9e6a2eb41c9eef243c86f3ea87ef39.jpg

I often use tester pots from B&Q or get a 250ml tin mixed up to a shade I want.

We didn't have much time this week so didn't get much done. My daughter got some more base colour painted. This is just an undercoat for further colour and texture. /media/tinymce_upload/8ed483cbb5d3b3a881711fa353927a0b.jpg While she was painting the base, I painted the broken edges of the house walls with several colours stippled on. After a quick force dry with the hair dryer, I gave the house walls and wooden floor a couple of washes to tone down the colours and even finish. /media/tinymce_upload/cdca21836b9f41e61c82b4cd3ee78a70.jpg

I had these figures as a kid too. We won't be using the parachutes and won't be using any of the German figures either. The base is too small for a realistic combat scene, given what's in it, so our diorama will be GI's setting up and securing the forward position. We might have to remove some guns from the figures to make them look less in combat and more unloading and moving things, but I'll worry about that once we've decided on the final positioning. They will also need all their rectangular bases cut off. In addition to the Sherman, we have the Willys MB, trailer and field gun to position. The Jeep is going to be a challenge as there are many tiny parts in the kit. A challenge for my daughter because of her experience and a challenge for me because of my out of scale fingers!

Today was modelling day again, but part way through the day, I spotted we'd made it famous, on the Airfix Facebook WorkspaceWednesday picture! My daughter was rather pleased when she got in from school! The first job tonight was to start painting the interior walls white. I thinned the kit acrylic and set my daughter painting while I was getting dirty with the tank ( more of that shortly ). She did one coat and force dried it with a hair dryer before applying a second coat. It is seen here after the first two coats. /media/tinymce_upload/8991cfddddd1ed382ecc6f28f476d8a6.jpg While the second coat of white hardened off for a while over a heater, I set her away painting the base, starting with the road and paved area. /media/tinymce_upload/e2fba856086d15f47c84f6a0b313d1e6.jpg She followed that with two different shades of brown for the floor boards of the bombed out house and other destroyed buildings. We'll be adding more detail and texture to the base, as some of the vac-formed edges are a bit soft looking for rubble and wreckage. While she did this, I gave the house another couple of white coats and touched up the floor in the house. /media/tinymce_upload/6c3eeae3976bcfa857aa28a1908f9676.jpg I'd given the roof a sandy wash by this time, and it all looked good with the house on the base. The road needs lots more work yet, but it's beginning to come together seeing some colour on the base. I still need to find some wood to glue the plastic down onto, as the vac-forming is very thin and will be easily cracked. /media/tinymce_upload/e110d16727d82c2e768af830743e3a01.jpg The figures had previously been primed with thinned PVA glue, so today I set my daughter loose giving them a base green coat. Having the PVA primer made a big difference to the application of the paint. /media/tinymce_upload/1bb7f93ead21f006af06d1cca8149f36.jpg At the start of the afternoon, while my daughter was painting the first white coats on the house, I was studying mud! Using Adrian Barrel's M4A4 Sherman as reference, I made notes of where the mud gathered. /media/tinymce_upload/b0ac5534ae55e4567dc21c63245d823b.jpg To replicate the mud, I used some first coat wall plaster, dilute PVA glue and earth brown acrylic paint all mixed together. The first coat plaster is quite gritty and seems to work well. It was applied with a small brush and while all still wet, some model railroading grass powder sprinkled on here and there. /media/tinymce_upload/fbde99e4aa340c556326863f143c6739.jpg After the plaster had dried, I went back over the mud with a few brown shades of enamel. Once we work out where the Sherman will be on the diorama, we'll also have to add some clods of mud along the road, deposited by the tracks. That was another two and a half hourswork done. While the progress today wasn't as spectacular as some other days, it's all steps along the way to completion, /media/tinymce_upload/3d67bb5b7b9701e5d2f60ae8d883d5fa.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/4327ba79f9233aebda688aefdb93f785.jpg

Another build session after school today. We got the ropes cut down and glued in place and after that, Dave the driver was installed. The wire used to install Dave would be trimmed once the glue had a hold. The front hatches were added next. /media/tinymce_upload/5ad73755389283b9956b09b0f3ff39fe.jpg Back on the house, we wanted wood beams and terracotta tiles on the roof. Because of the layers and order of detail in the roof, the inside and outside would be painted in different orders. On the inside, my daughter painted the red tiles first, allowing the joists to be added after. On the outside of the roof, the whole area was painted timber coloured first, and the tile colour added after. Red and dark earth were mixed to give a toned down colour for the tiles. /media/tinymce_upload/8be288d562585357de1199b51d7bef17.jpg The loft floor was painted a brown for the first shade of the timber planks. The outside of the walls came next, being painted a base colour for the stone finish. /media/tinymce_upload/71380504079c4f2d3631ba33d76f3a77.jpg Some of the small wooden crates were also painted. The copper wire on Dave was trimmed allowing the turret to fit, but it won't be glued until the final layout of the diorama is decided. By the time the house walls had two coats and the roof painted, it was 5:30 and time for food. /media/tinymce_upload/635992a162f17b7f48bc57c34b0c9b93.jpg Both Dave the driver and Kevin the commander are very pleased with their new ride. Both are eyeing up the Airfix Jeep box out of shot and are wondering who will be driving that! /media/tinymce_upload/8afbfc162732048a20497c04e14fd942.jpg We plan to find a nice country lane somewhere which will make an appropriate background for a photoshoot once the whole diorama is complete. For now, this printed backdrop will have to do. /media/tinymce_upload/0da30a5b3991436fb378d7a058a4207a.jpg