Sunday, June 19, 2011

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.

2 comments:

  1. I love the idea of posing the mech in maintenance mode. You are leaving yourself open for so many creative basing idea's.

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  2. I'm actually going to use the same base I have under the workshop model. I think that the Steel Plating oval is perfect for this guy. I'll just add a ladder and maybe some additional crates.

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