Newbie seeks tips and tools

[Brad Edmondson]

I got an Italeri Leopard 2A4 for Christmas. I wasn't planning on making a tank model for some time but now I want to make it 'The Project' for the next year.

 

I've never made a tank model before and I want this one to look good when I'm done. What are the pros tools that I need? Where can I find some good links on tips for newbies? I want this tank to look weathered and dirty like it just got through an exercise, not rolled off the assembly line. What will achieve this effect?

 

As for accuracy, I'm not depicting any specific unit or time frame here. Ok, I lie, I'm making it my steed from Steel Beasts 1st Canadian Division

[Jacques]

Hello and welcome,

 

tools w/links to descrips:

 

x-acto knife http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/14349.html

 

a pair of side-snip cutters (available at radio-shack for $2) http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/80333.html

 

a sanding stick http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/81471.html

 

liquid glue (glass bottle with brush on cap)

 

rubber bands

 

This should give you the basics to get the kit built well. The knife and rubber bands are pretty self-explanitory. The side snippers are for taking the pieces off the sprue trees. They should allow you to remove the pieces quickly, with less to clean up and without "ripping" the plastic or cutting your thumb off.

 

The sanding stick is to sand down the spot where the sprue is cut off at, even if it looks flush. other uses are obvious.

 

Why the liquid cement? I like it because it flows well through joints with only a little used, yet makes a strong bond. It also dries fairly quickly, within 10 minutes or so. It will have to cure for longer to get a good bond, but you should not have glue flowing around making a mess. BE CAREFUL when using it around rubberbands as it does have a tendancy to creep up the edges with bad results.

 

additional things that will help are a box of pastel chalks (available at art or craft stores), clamps (sears sells some very good small ones in a set of 10), and an airbrush. you can do ok with a spraycan or thinned paint using a brush, but an airbrush is the best. maybe not in your budget, but if this may be a long term new hobby for you....

 

paints will also be important. I am a fan of polly scale, tamiya, and modelmaster acrylic paints. They are safer, water-thinned, and dry faster.

 

I could go on and on, blah blah blah... any other q's, one of us here should be able to help.

[Brad Sallows]

If you can be patient, I suggest picking up a couple of small (1:72/76), cheap kits. Practice assembly and some basic painting techniques (airbrush if you get one, washes, dry-brushing, chalks, pastels, whatever) to ensure you will be able to get the desired effect before going on to the real project.

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

I use Model Masters Liquid cement - the one that comes with the long tube. My old 'bottle' had a metallic tube unlike the current plastic 'clog' types, thus I just replaced the plastic tupe and used the old but effective metallic which I could clean using the wiring of the twisty wire.

 

Get an airbrush with compressor or compressed air. I use a double action badger. I hear others should stick to single action - better air and paint flow control. Unless it is single color, airbrushing is THE way to paint for camo patterns.

 

A soldering gun/iron is also useful for slightly bending stretched sprue or other plastic. I used one to tighten the clamp on the PzH2000's gun.

 

There's also putty or fillers, ranging from the usual model putty for model kits (Gunze Sangyo's Mr. Putty or Tamiya's putty), or cyanoacrylate (super) glue with hardener, or for more minute seams, try using the Mr. Color Primer 500 from Gunze Sangyo. More info on this from NAVISMAGAZINE in one of their 'demo' issue on tips.

 

There are some small (cutie) models at 1/35 scale like the M41 bulldog (current projekt) or a jeep/humvee. Practice makes perfect alright, as Brad would suggest.

 

The rest are covered by Jacques - x-acto knives (I personally don't use retractable knife cutters as they tend to break under pressure), etc. Also, Jacques or someone else, gave me a tip on modelling mud using powder and paint - which worked on my M1A2 though I hear one uses actual mud to dirty the model up.

 

There are lots of websites out there for model verks or reference like AFV Interiors, modelling techniques such as dry brushing, other techniques from IPMS Help Desk, or from our resident pros such as Jacques. Hope this post helps! Enjoy!

 

PS

 

Who here again was building a PzH2000? I quit doing the interior and now am soldiering on slowly on finishing the kit.

 

[Edited by Gennady I. Beregovoy (28 Dec 2001).]

[nfafan]

Hi Brad,

 

Once you get hooked on armor, there is no turning back to painting canopy frames...

 

Best resource to start with is to get Shep Paine's "Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles". Chock full of detailed pics of his tips and techniques to help you reach your goal. Good info applicable to "other" modeling too.

 

For what you will spend on tank kits these days, this is $15.00 well spent towards getting your money's worth from your kits.

[Jacques]

Well darn, resident expert...

 

anyhow, I am a big fan of using windsor newton watercolors and pastel chalks to make mud, along with using Hudson and Allen "mud". Have not had much experience with either as I tend to make dusty vehicles rather than muddy. a muddy vehicle is in the future though, will let you all know how it turns out.

 

Gennady, we need pics of the M1 to see how the powder method works.

 

I am finishing up a M2 Bradley (Tamiya), a M60 Blazer (Academy) and a M113 (Academy/Italeri mix) and will post what I have done on my webpage. These will have nice figures and all, I will be selling them on eBay to help pay for x-mas...ha ha. Always hard to part with kits...

 

 

 

[Edited by Jacques (29 Dec 2001).]

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

Will do with pictures shortly - hopefully in a day or two. Hope it comes out nicely. Since I do not have a website, I'll just email it to you, fine with you?

[Jacques]

Well, I will be gone until the 7th of January, so if you get no response onthe e-mail, that is why...

 

I added pics of the M2 Bradley, check them out here:

http://members.tripod.com/saammodels/ebay/...ley/bradley.htm

 

I hope this helps show what can be done. The big question is if this is what our newbie is looking to do for detail and weathering. I can detail how I got certain effects if the look of the Brdley is what he aspires to.

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

Am sending the pics in around, oh, twenty, thirty minutes after this post. Hope it helps.

[Michael Eastes]

Very nice work on the Bradley,sir.

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

Mr. Edmondson, are you interested in the navismagazine article I mentioned earlier, re:filling seams and gaps? I put it in Word format and if you're interested I can email it to you.

[Brad Edmondson]

Originally posted by Gennady I. Beregovoy:

Mr. Edmondson, are you interested in the navismagazine article I mentioned earlier, re:filling seams and gaps?  I put it in Word format and if you're interested I can email it to you.

 

I've bookmarked all the links posted here. Thanks everyone for your help in getting me started. It's off to the hobby shop now!

 

One more question though:

 

What would you guys suggest to replicate the drivers side-view mirrors on the Leo2A4? I've already figured out using 35mm film cut out to do the optics so they look like glass, but I'd like to make the mirrors look like mirrors. Any ideas?

[Brad Sallows]

I use aluminum foil (shiny side out).

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

I hear Bare Metal Foil products work really good. However, I find it a tad too shiny for the scale, so I'm partial to silver paint with an added clear gloss. Aluminum foil with shiny part out is also good. But I'd prefer Bare Metal Foil - not as thick as aluminum foil and it 'sticks' to the plastic because IIRC it has an adhesive back and it is thinner than aluminum foil, hence 'hugs' the plastic (very good also for engine blocks, wings, etc. where bare metal effect is needed).

[Guest GarthKidman]

I'd add disposable microbrushes to the list. I've found them to be much better than toothpics for applying superglue and superglue accelerator.

 

Also, I have a neat little tool ... miniature suction cup thingie (a technical term) that is used for holding and positioning small parts. Better than a pair of tweezers in many cases ... esp for parts that need to be placed flush with a great deal of precision (like clear parts that will craze if they hit the glue in the wrong way)

 

--Garth