So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this!  The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles. Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab.  So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this!  The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles. Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab.  So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this!  The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles. Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab.  So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this!  The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles. Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab.  So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this!  The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles. Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab. 

So this is where my love for gaming combines with my love for modelling. In this little vignette i have tried to portray a scene from the mission “All Ghillied up” in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare.

The figures are from Tamiya’s range of 1/35 figures, namely their US assault infantry set. They were assembled as per the instructions, and were then given ghillie suits made by first applying a base layer of tissue paper soaked in a water/white glue solution. The camouflage material was then replicated with individual lengths of sisal (separated from a string) and glued on with superglue, working in layers. You don’t know just how stuck together my fingers got after this! 

The WWII era M1 Garand rifles had to be modified to look more like the suppressed M21 sniper rifles used in the game. To do this, I sacrificed a couple of Kar98 snipers form Tamiya’s 1/35 German weapons set and used their telescopic sights. Next i made longer magazines from plasticard, and suppressors from lengths of metal wire. They were painted in a camouflage pattern of field grey, green and khaki, coming as close to the in-game camouflage pattern as I could. Masking tape was then cut into thin strips to make camouflage strips with were then wrapped around the rifles.

Now came the problem: what to use for the base? I found the answer in an ice cream container lid. Groundwork was made by mixing wall filler with paint. To replicate long grass, i used lengths of sisal string and different kinds of moss I found in the back garden. The telegraph pole was an old pencil made to look like one with wood strips and wire; and it was stuck into a hole made in the base. The pole was drybrushed with Tamiya flat earth and khaki drab, then given a wash of nato brown. The vignette was finished after giving the grass a dry brushing of khaki drab. 

  1. Date Posted Icon 31st May 2012
retrowar: F-15

retrowar:

F-15

  1. Camera: Nikon D3
  2. Aperture: f/5.6
  3. Exposure: 1/500th
  4. Focal Length: 330mm
  1. Date Posted Icon 30th May 2012
  2. Reblogged Icon Reblogged From retrowar
  3. Notes Icon Notes: 77
This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash. This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash. This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash. This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash. This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash. This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable. There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme. I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash.

This Tamiya 1/48 King Tiger “production turret” is my first tank in 1/48 scale. It is a great kit, good surface detail and, typical of Tamiya, excellent fit. The turret mated to the hull without a hitch, and the plastic hull parts fitted to the main cast-metal chassis seamlessly (although I don’t really see the reason for having a metal hull). Tamiya provide link-and-length tracks, with enough left over to hang on the sides of the turret, which had a poseable main gun and was turnable.

There are decals for 3 different Tigers: one based in Trois Points, Belgium, in the classic red brown/green/sand yellow scheme; the second is a machine on the Oder River Front in 1945, in the same scheme; and the third is a Tiger based in Poland in 1944, this time in a sand/dark brown scheme.

I chose the first option, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. The model was weathered with more acrylics, adding paint chips and rust spots. Creatacolour chalk pastels were added next, then a flat coat and finally one of Tamiya’s great new products, their “Panel line accent,” which is basically an enamel wash.

  1. Date Posted Icon 28th May 2012
  2. Notes Icon Notes: 1
Another model I built two years ago, the Academy 1/72 P-51D Mustang. This was a pleasant kit to build, parts fit was generally good. It had reasonable interior detail, with seat belts being moulded on the seat itself. Cockpit sidewalls were also reasonably detailed. the model had nicely recessed panel lines, and you had the option of having the flaps up or down. The main wheel bay had limited features. But hey, who goes around checking wheel bays?   About the paint scheme, well, it isn’t exactly authentic! Since I had already built a couple of mustangs, I decided to have a bit of fun with this one and use a some (actually a lot of) artistic license. I had always wanted to paint a plane with that hot rod look, with flames and all that. So that’s what I did.  After brushing on a base coat of Tamiya gloss black, i used a finer brush for the flames, outlining the edges with red, then filling them in with orange. Decals went on as usual, and aside from some translucency on the white portions of the stars ‘n’ bars, they were fine and adhered perfectly. I only used the national insignia and some other small stencilling as this was not an actual mustang.  Overall this was a great model to build (I have another one finished accurately in natural metal, it is now quite broken), and being an early kit (1990s) it is actually better than some of Academy’s newer ones. Another model I built two years ago, the Academy 1/72 P-51D Mustang. This was a pleasant kit to build, parts fit was generally good. It had reasonable interior detail, with seat belts being moulded on the seat itself. Cockpit sidewalls were also reasonably detailed. the model had nicely recessed panel lines, and you had the option of having the flaps up or down. The main wheel bay had limited features. But hey, who goes around checking wheel bays?   About the paint scheme, well, it isn’t exactly authentic! Since I had already built a couple of mustangs, I decided to have a bit of fun with this one and use a some (actually a lot of) artistic license. I had always wanted to paint a plane with that hot rod look, with flames and all that. So that’s what I did.  After brushing on a base coat of Tamiya gloss black, i used a finer brush for the flames, outlining the edges with red, then filling them in with orange. Decals went on as usual, and aside from some translucency on the white portions of the stars ‘n’ bars, they were fine and adhered perfectly. I only used the national insignia and some other small stencilling as this was not an actual mustang.  Overall this was a great model to build (I have another one finished accurately in natural metal, it is now quite broken), and being an early kit (1990s) it is actually better than some of Academy’s newer ones.

Another model I built two years ago, the Academy 1/72 P-51D Mustang. This was a pleasant kit to build, parts fit was generally good. It had reasonable interior detail, with seat belts being moulded on the seat itself. Cockpit sidewalls were also reasonably detailed. the model had nicely recessed panel lines, and you had the option of having the flaps up or down. The main wheel bay had limited features. But hey, who goes around checking wheel bays? 

 About the paint scheme, well, it isn’t exactly authentic! Since I had already built a couple of mustangs, I decided to have a bit of fun with this one and use a some (actually a lot of) artistic license. I had always wanted to paint a plane with that hot rod look, with flames and all that. So that’s what I did. 

After brushing on a base coat of Tamiya gloss black, i used a finer brush for the flames, outlining the edges with red, then filling them in with orange. Decals went on as usual, and aside from some translucency on the white portions of the stars ‘n’ bars, they were fine and adhered perfectly. I only used the national insignia and some other small stencilling as this was not an actual mustang. 

Overall this was a great model to build (I have another one finished accurately in natural metal, it is now quite broken), and being an early kit (1990s) it is actually better than some of Academy’s newer ones.

  1. Date Posted Icon 27th May 2012
A couple of years ago i built Revell’s 1/32 EC-135 police helicopter for a friend’s dad. The overall kit was quite disappointing, with many bad fits and vague parts location. The clear parts were also a problem, leaving an obvious gap between it and the main fuselage. Detail in the cockpit was reasonable: no instrument panel detail was provided; it was represented by a decal. But that didn’t really matter, because no much of the instrument panel can be seen after completion (partly because of the thickness of the clear parts!).  Anyway enough of the bad stuff, time for the good news. Surface detail was pretty good, and the passenger bay was also quite well represented. Revell even provide parts for miniature headphones (although you will have to make the wires yourself). The non slip upper surfaces of the steps on the landing skids are well produced.  The model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics, and the decals were applied with Modelmaster decal setting solution, which didn’t really do much, I’m afraid! A couple of years ago i built Revell’s 1/32 EC-135 police helicopter for a friend’s dad. The overall kit was quite disappointing, with many bad fits and vague parts location. The clear parts were also a problem, leaving an obvious gap between it and the main fuselage. Detail in the cockpit was reasonable: no instrument panel detail was provided; it was represented by a decal. But that didn’t really matter, because no much of the instrument panel can be seen after completion (partly because of the thickness of the clear parts!).  Anyway enough of the bad stuff, time for the good news. Surface detail was pretty good, and the passenger bay was also quite well represented. Revell even provide parts for miniature headphones (although you will have to make the wires yourself). The non slip upper surfaces of the steps on the landing skids are well produced.  The model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics, and the decals were applied with Modelmaster decal setting solution, which didn’t really do much, I’m afraid! A couple of years ago i built Revell’s 1/32 EC-135 police helicopter for a friend’s dad. The overall kit was quite disappointing, with many bad fits and vague parts location. The clear parts were also a problem, leaving an obvious gap between it and the main fuselage. Detail in the cockpit was reasonable: no instrument panel detail was provided; it was represented by a decal. But that didn’t really matter, because no much of the instrument panel can be seen after completion (partly because of the thickness of the clear parts!).  Anyway enough of the bad stuff, time for the good news. Surface detail was pretty good, and the passenger bay was also quite well represented. Revell even provide parts for miniature headphones (although you will have to make the wires yourself). The non slip upper surfaces of the steps on the landing skids are well produced.  The model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics, and the decals were applied with Modelmaster decal setting solution, which didn’t really do much, I’m afraid!

A couple of years ago i built Revell’s 1/32 EC-135 police helicopter for a friend’s dad. The overall kit was quite disappointing, with many bad fits and vague parts location. The clear parts were also a problem, leaving an obvious gap between it and the main fuselage. Detail in the cockpit was reasonable: no instrument panel detail was provided; it was represented by a decal. But that didn’t really matter, because no much of the instrument panel can be seen after completion (partly because of the thickness of the clear parts!). 

Anyway enough of the bad stuff, time for the good news. Surface detail was pretty good, and the passenger bay was also quite well represented. Revell even provide parts for miniature headphones (although you will have to make the wires yourself). The non slip upper surfaces of the steps on the landing skids are well produced. 

The model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics, and the decals were applied with Modelmaster decal setting solution, which didn’t really do much, I’m afraid!

  1. Date Posted Icon 27th May 2012