ARM: New/Old Assembler Says Hello (long)
DanielT
myself. I'm yet another of those forty-somethings who has rediscovered scale
models after a long hiatus from when I started out as a kid, and perhaps my
tale will be useful to some other new/oldy...
[BTW: what is it about this age that re-awakens the hobbyist? Finally
getting established with the requisite time and money? In my case leaving
the Canadian Army Reserve (Armoured Corps - twenty years full and part-time
in armoured reconnaissance) provided the spur to rediscover the hazards of
the X-Acto knife.]
Anyway, after talking to those friends who had walls of un-built kits in
their basements I dug out my old X-Acto knife (same one from when I was a
teenager!) and bought a selection of Tamiya acrylics, some Tamiya liquid
cement, and a Tamiya Pzkpfw II (a bit of an old dog, perhaps, but a nice kit
to start with). First impression was how much the world had improved since
the enamel paints and tube cement of my youth: easy water wash-up for the
acrylics (which even smell nice!) and no glue strings from the liquid
cement. Second impression was that the wee plastic parts were a lot smaller
and harder to focus on than I remembered! They must be shrinking...
Still, I got the thing together all right, filling in the motorization holes
with Tamiya putty (no, I don't own stock) and boxing in the open sponsons
with sheet styrene. I picked up a basic airbrush (Paasche Model H) to paint
my creation and a can of propellant. The latter was a waste. I soon decided
that a Paasche D500 compressor wasn't that expensive, and I might as well
spend the money sooner rather than later (and enjoy using proper tools). The
D500 has since proved remarkably quiet and steady for a basic compressor -
recommended. My mix of Afrika Korps yellow turned out a bit orangey, but all
was well until I tried an artist's oil wash, just like Shep Paine describes
in his superb book. I gave the finish less than a day to dry and my Mars
Black oil, thinned with Turpenoid and generously slathered over the whole
kit, promptly lifted the finish and turned the Pz II into gluey, glutinous
mess. Whilst considering what to do, I tried to soften the somewhat twisted
tracks by pouring boiling water over them. They promptly twisted up into
little globules of melted vinyl.
Into the bin went kit #1.
Second try was a WWI Whippet by Emhar. The simple design (the hatches and
many external details are moulded in) made it a quick and mostly
straightforward build. Being a British kit, though, the poor engineering of
the superstructure (built up from flat plates) did give me a chance to
practice my gap filling techniques and to learn the importance of masking if
you don't want to sand off most of the rivet detail with the excess putty.
(Before any readers from the old country respond, let me just say that I've
owned British sports cars. I've paid my dues and can say whatever I want
about Brit engineering now!) I also got a lot of practice using Super Glue
to attach the stiff rubber tracks on the sponsons.
To avoid a repeat of the wash horrors I painted the Whippet with MM enamels
and added some mud with earth-coloured acrylic thinned successively with
water, Windex, and rubbing-alcohol. This worked, and the end result was a
pretty good looking tank (if I do say so myself). But I wasn't that happy
with the acrylic wash; it tended not to sick, or to dry clumpily no matter
what I thinned it with.
Feeling more confident I tackled the Emhar Mk IV Male. This featured similar
engineering shortcomings to the Whippet, but I knew better now and filled
the thin gaps around the sponsons with Elmar's white cement smoothed into
place with a wet finger. The larger gaps, mostly on the inside track plate
(mysteriously moulded in two out-of-alignment pieces), I backed with sheet
styrene and filled with putty (masking the rivet detail this time). I also
re-learned an old lesson: go easy with the liquid cement. I knew
intellectually that this stuff works by melting the plastic parts together,
and that therefore more cement does not equal a stronger bond (just a gooey
mess), but I think this is something you have to experience to appreciate.
Enamels had worked well on the Whippet, but the vile solvents required for
clean-up raised concerns about my remaining precious few brain cells
(especially when shot through the air-brush - I live in an apartment and
must paint indoors). Determined to make acrylics work, I painted the Mk IV a
shade of Gunze Sangyo aqueous green and resolved to let it dry good and hard
before applying a wash (research on this board had taught me that acrylics
dry to the touch very quickly but take a lot longer to fully cure).
Unfortunately I didn't apply the same reasoning to the generous applications
of Solvaset used to snuggle the decals around all those well-preserved
rivets. An advantage of Gunze's semi-gloss cam colours is that you can apply
decals right over them without a clear-coat. Trying this the same day as
final painting I was horrified to see the Solvaset eat through the green
finish and reveal streaky swaths of the better-cured black under-coat.
Re-applying a layer of green covered both the streaks and the decals fairly
well, but I would have to complete the Mk IV as a very muddy example of the
breed.
Worse was to come. Before the wash I applied a clear-coat of Gunze's flat
clear (no, not the flat base, the correct clear finish). This deposited a
snow storm of white flakes on the tank that, once dry, proved very resistant
to removal without damaging the paint. So, I let them dry completely (for a
change) and applied a heavy wash, hoping to cover up the disaster. I started
with black, thinning the Mars Black artists oil with Mineral Spirits (which
is a thinner) rather than Turpenoid (which is a solvent). Whoops! The
mineral spirits didn't damage the well-dried acrylic paint, but I learned
that black should be used in moderation to fill panel lines and for grease
spots. The Mk IV looked as though it had driven through a refinery fire. And
the flakes still showed through. Kit #3 became a paint hulk.
Next came a false start as I tried ICM's Pz IIL Luchs. This is a neat little
tank and the kit is well made. But, gluing on the many tiny fittings (which,
like DML kits, lack locating tabs) was not fun. And the prospect of cleaning
up all those individual track links (much less gluing them into a properly
shaped track) defeated me. I put the Luchs aside and turned to the kit I had
been saving for the day I felt half-way competent - Tamiya's Cromwell
cruiser tank.
This is a dream build: beautiful fine details down to the weld lines and the
textured armour plates, flash-free moulding, and perfect engineering and
fit. So little clean-up and test-fitting was needed that it flew together
despite having more than 200 pieces. I built my Cromwell from the box with
only the addition of Tamiya's photo-etch engine grills, a couple of brass
wire antennas, and some foil brackets to hold the string towing cable.
I finished the job with Model Master's second generation Acryl paints and
found their "no thinning needed" claim is well founded. And, with the huge
selection, I could just pour the correct shade into my colour cup and spray
(no mixing or thinning needed - very convenient). Clean-up was a bit tougher
than with Gunze or Tamiya, however (I believe Acryl uses a glycol solvent
rather than the alcohol base of Tamiya or Gunze, so the universal acrylic
cleaner, rubbing alcohol, doesn't work so well on them). And Acryl brushes
even less well than the other acrylics, so methinks I'll be sticking with
Tamiya in the future, especially since mixing information and colour charts
are so readily available for them. I mixed a lighter shade of green to show
sun fading and fogged it on over the base coat, then clear-coated with
Future (no white flakes this time!) and applied the decals. This time I let
the finish dry properly before wielding the Solvaset and no disasters
ensued. A final clear coat (with a flat base mix) produced good results.
I painted the tracks flat black, washed them with rusty looking Burnt Sienna
oil paint thinned with mineral spirits, and then dry-brushed with Tamiya
flat aluminium. I had initially found acrylics pretty poor for dry-brushing
since, by the time you worked enough paint off the brush tip, they were too
close to drying out completely. A Google search of this newsgroup produced
the solution - add some art store Acrylic Retarder to retard the drying
process. I now use the same acrylics for spraying and brushing, which saved
buying a second set of (probably enamel) paints and their solvents just for
the latter use. Tamiya's new vinyl tracks are also wonderfully detailed
(inside and out!) and really do glue together well. I used a dab of
super-glue to sag the assembled tracks down on to the top of the road wheels
and the result looked great. Who needs those tedious individual link tracks
now! Some very carefully applied (and limited) washes and pastels later and
the result is a beautiful late-war cruiser tank in all its slab-sided,
angular, big-bolted, and lightly-weathered glory.
To date, then, I have started more than two kits for every one
satisfactorily completed. Trying out the various materials, though, and
learning how they behave has been anything but time wasted. I'm pretty sure
my strike rate will improve from here (realizing that I'm just an
"assembler," though!). Washes are the one thing I'm still not comfortable
with, but I think the learning disasters are behind me and these, too, will
come with practice. So, while the Cromwell was drying, I started assembling
AFV Club's Scimitar, which looks very nice: state of the art vinyl tracks
(similar to the recent Tamiya items), turned aluminium gun barrel, and fine
looking moulding and engineering. I spent many hours in this turret (the
Scorpion variant, actually) crew commanding Cougar armoured cars, so I'm
looking forward to a real nostalgia project.
And that brings the story (finally!) to the present. My thanks to all the
helpful folk on R.M.S. (the politest Usenet group I've found) and - to
anyone who's thinking of getting back into this fascinating hobby - my
advice is to dive right in! Just have some band-aids handy...
Daniel Thorpe
Robert Grinberg
RobertG :-)
CharlieH
Charlie
"Robert Grinberg" <rgri...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:yoEv6.2519$R.9...@ozemail.com.au...
DanielT
And, compared to the kids on the comp.sys.computer.game groups, you are. The
amount of concern every time an (inevitible) flame war pops up is proof.
Daniel Thorpe
--
Remove "spud" anti-spam device from address before replying.
"CharlieH" <dj...@icon.co.za> wrote in message
news:3abf15ee$0$2...@hades.is.co.za...
Al Superczynski
wrote:
>After lurking for a while on this helpful forum I thought I'd introduce
>myself.
You lurked for a while before posting?? How novel. ;)
Welcome to the nuthouse, Daniel!
Al Superczynski, MFE
IPMS/USA #3795, continuous since 1968
Check out my want and disposal lists at "Al's Place":
http://apollo.up-link.net/~modeleral
"Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to,
and the critics will flame you every time."
Robert Grinberg
RobertG
David O.
> And that brings the story (finally!) to the present. My thanks to all the
> helpful folk on R.M.S. (the politest Usenet group I've found)
> Daniel Thorpe
>
>
>You just wait! These guys can be the most capricious bunch, and whiny and
not to mention anal. Welcome!!!
David O.