Sunday, June 19, 2011

Weathered Interior - Sentinel


Most tanks have an white or off-white gloss interior to help make it easier to see in the close confines of the cabin. For my open door Sentinel I decided to add a slightly greenish tint to the white to give it a more aged look.

I started by giving the interior a solid coat of Vallejo "Hull Red." I followed this with a thick layer of hairspray and a light dusting of extra fine sea salt. After hitting the salt and hairspray with the blow dryer for a bit to ensure it was dry I used Vallejo "US Light Grey" and Vallejo "Green Grey" and hit it with the blow dryer again.

After using a soft brush to pick off the salt I came back with a stiff brush and hit the doors and starboard interior for some heavier weathering as these are the areas that will be visible through the open door.

I still need to pick out some additional detailing but you can see how it's going to come together now. The image on the right shows the area most visible through the open doors.

From Workshop Model to Diorama


The GW Leman Russ in the pic above was painted over four hours for one of my Masterclass Vehicle Weathering Workshops. Unfortunately because tanks are larger models I never have enough time to demonstrate masking and decals - and so I'm switching to a smaller model.


I'm hoping that the GW Sentinel will be the perfect workshop model. It's still a GW model, which will interest more of my audience, and it's small enough that I should be able to paint it and still have time to demonstrate masking and decals.

I would like to place it on a mud and water scene but it would take too long to dry - and so I'm going to try using one of the 95x120mm Steel Plating bases from Secret Weapon. This will let me demonstrate environmental weathering on the tarp and leaves plenty of room for rust which ties with mud for the most requested effect to demo.

However putting this first workshop Sentinel model together set my mind on creating scenes - specifically a Sentinel in dock and waiting for maintenance. The base sets the scene almost perfectly, with the tarp, tools and cable, but I wanted to up the game a bit. And so...


I decided to open the door! This is a second model and I'm holding the cockpit together at this point. I will paint the cockpit in pieces and then tape off all of the openings before I glue it together. This will protect the interior while I'm painting the model during the workshop. When the workshop is over I'll add a utility ladder to the scene and, with just four hours of painting, have a display ready model for my case.

This also lays the groundwork for me to come back and talk about setting scenes and what to consider when you're trying to display a model.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Scenic Base for Warhammer Steam Tank


In 2009 I started painting an Empire Steam Tank from Games Workshop. I loved the model and I loved the idea. I was also surprised that every single Warhammer Fantasy vehicle model I've seen has been reasonably clean and unweathered... and so I decided to change that.

Fast forward to 2011 and I never finished the tank. In fact I just pulled off the side panels and stripped them so I could redo the body.

But today I decided to knock out a scenic display base for the model and I'm happy with how it's starting to come together. I'm going to add plenty of mud and then another layer of leaf litter before I'm finished.

The frame is basswood and the base is celluclay and wood filler over foam. The goal is to create a muddy, fall scene in the midst of a protracted battle.