Tuesday, 30 August 2022

Royal Model - Waffen SS Tank Crew 1944-45

 Slowly getting there.....


You can observe some back-and-forth on the refinement of the 44' Erbsenmuster pea dot camouflage. This pattern can be both easy or tedious to paint - depending on how precise you wish to replicate it in miniature. For most people, a couple of random dots will do the trick. However, a careful study of the pattern reveals two features of this pattern; The distinctive patches or "continents" and how the dots (especially the sand/pink dots) are clustered.  

I used a combination of AK11120 Mud Brown, AK11109 Dark Brown and  ABT1142 Paynes Grey from ABT 502 range to create the tones for the brown base. The olive green portions are AK11346 USMC Forest Green. AK11411 Light green for the bright green spots. AK11402 Light Flesh mixed with |ABT 1135 Amethyst from the ABT 502 range. ABT1142 Paynes Grey for the dark patches. Shading was mainly done with washes of AK11418 Brown Black - which has replaced AK11027 Rubber Black as my favourite colour for shading.  I will take a pause for now on this figure as I await the groundwork to arrive from the HQ of Royal Model.

Cheers,

Calvin



Monday, 29 August 2022

Royal Model - Waffen SS Tank Crew 1944-45

 Coming along slowly on a lazy Sunday evening.


Cheers,

Calvin



Saturday, 27 August 2022

Royal Model - Waffen SS Tank Crew 1944-45

 This evening's progress. Gonna get some sleep now. 

Cheers,

Calvin



Friday, 26 August 2022

Royal Model - Waffen SS Tank Crew 1944-45

This evening's progress. 

Cheers,

Calvin



Thursday, 25 August 2022

Royal Model - Waffen SS Tank Crew 1944-45

Going to chalk this one up just for spot.


Cheers,

Calvin



Tuesday, 23 August 2022

US 704th TD Battalion, NW Europe 1944-45

Another figure completed for the month of August. All painted using colours from AK Interactive's signature paint set by Adam Wilder.








3D printed pine cones from HD Models to "spruce" up the scene.

For scale comparison.

A colour guide for painting the tanker's jacket and HBT suit.

Cheers,

Calvin



Thursday, 18 August 2022

US 704th TD Battalion, NW Europe 1944-45

Added in the goggles for today. 




Cheers,

Calvin



Wednesday, 17 August 2022

US 704th TD Battalion, NW Europe 1944-45

I have been busy this month with this minor conversion based off the figure from Tamiya;s M-18 Hellcat. The head is taken from Tamiya's Wehrmacht Tank Crew Set (35354). The helmet together with the M3 sub machine gun are from the US Tank Crew Set - ETO (35347). The left arm is left detachable to facilitate the painting of the trousers. The shoelaces are rebuilt with black Milliput in tandem with the painting.  Progress has been rather slow due to work but here's hoping I could get this completed this weekend. 





Cheers,

Calvin



Sunday, 14 August 2022

SS-Scharführer, LSSAH, Normandy 1944

This is an oldie made in 2004 for one of the chapters of the Osprey title Modelling Waffen SS Figures published in 2005. 









Cheers,

Calvin



Saturday, 6 August 2022

Commonwealth Bren Gunner, NW Europe, 1944-45.

Here is a sneak peak of the Commonwealth Bren Gunner from HD Models, available in 1/35 scale.










Cheers,

Calvin



Friday, 5 August 2022

Interview on The Figure Mentors Issue 41 - Historical Edition

Here is a quick shout out to my interview with Jay Martin on The Figure Mentors magazine issue 41 - Historical edition. It is available for purchase and download HERE.


Cheers,

Calvin



Thursday, 4 August 2022

1st Infantry Division - The Big Red One, Operation Husky, Sicily 1943

There is always room for improvement. Whilst browsing through YounTube videos of the Browning 30.cal being fired, I observed that the spent cartridges were discharged from below. I thus went create a pile of spent cartridges at the spot using stretched sprue. I also could not resist adding a canvas ammunition belt on the ground made from a strip of rolled out Milliput for added interest. 

After feeling rather pleased with that, I took another step to spruce up the scene by adding a holster to the figure and a carrying handle for the 30.cal on the cooling sleeve. Now I can say that I am satisfied with this build and time to move on to another project.



Cheers,

Calvin



Wednesday, 3 August 2022

1st Infantry Division - The Big Red One, Operation Husky, Sicily 1943

Having fun with the VFX in Photoshop.

Cheers,

Calvin