Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Wow, that thing is spectacular, well done.

That's looking really fantastic and is coming together incredibly well. Keep up the superb work!

Managed to track down an image of the one I'd seen before, from yesteryear. I think this was in WD 195 or 196.
Enjoy: http://www.ifelix.net/gamingblog/?cat=146

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!

Anti-Mag that reference photo from the studio was great, thanks for that. Thats a really old photo isn't it. Gotta love the scratch build on that. It reminds me of Mike McVey's old dioramas, I used to love those. The Eversor Assassin and the Exodite were my favourites.

Where did you dig up this old photo?

Well I remembered it from when I started; I think it was in the second WD that I bought (part of the hobby that I've now abandoned). I just Googled it down until I found the best picture I could. The pictures in the magazine were great; this is obviously a quick shot taken from a convention or something similar.

By the way; I think the weathering is excellent. I've gathered a lot of resources on this element of painting, but have so far found it pretty tricky to replicate (on tanks, at any rate). I'll make sure that I'll re-read this thread the next time I give it a go.

Thanks Anti-Mag.

The weathering is tricky, the key is not to do too much and give the techniques a go. When I first read about some of the methods I was a bit sceptical but actually if you have confidence and faith in the ideas and go for it they really pay off.

It's very important to spend as much time as you can on the weathering to get a consistent look. Cover every panel line, bolt, and rivet all in the same sitting if possible. The good thing is while you work your way around the kit the earlier parts will have the thinner already evaporating so once your done they will be ready for blending.

Make sure that you only use a little bit of burnt umber oil paint and mix it well enough with the turpentine, the finer the wash and the lighter the colour the better. It will change colour a bit once dried getting lighter but not much. Also be as neat as possible during application as you can, whilst you can tidy mistakes up later its always best to try and keep things as crisp as you can early on.

Whatever you do make sure that the thinner evaporates fully and dries out, if you try to blend the colours whilst its still wet you end up with a bit of a mess (I made that mistake myself on my test runs). If it's dried though it will blend into the background colour nice and easily.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your own experiments on your next kit. I really enjoyed trying the methods out on mine!

The Pilot (WIP)



The reference example









Just a few WIP shots of the standing pilot. The camera isn't too great and the lighting wasn't very nice but it gives an overview of where things are at the moment.

Theres still a lot more to do but I'm happy with things so far.

Heres the Thunderbolt's seated pilot again a WIP

Still very bad light and a poor quality camera. I will have my proper camera back next week and take some higher quality photos then.

Wow, nice. That pilot is cool and you've painted him well.

wow, corking good job. you're flying now!

Very very nice job. That paint job is absolutely exquisite!
Way to go, and I look forward to seeing these finished.

These look terrific. Thanks for the posts, and especially for the references so we can track your thoughts. I've learned some about airbrushing to boot.

Keep it up.

RZ

Looking at the first couple pix I was saying to myself.. "this reminds me of working on the flight line" back from my days in the navy. Also when you finally got the bird painted and back on the base I said "ok, this thing is too clean." and as I scrolled down and saw that you covered the details, with the misc on the ground and oil trails, dirt, grease build up between panels... WELL DONE SIR!

Great diorama! I love the wear and tear on the tarmac, and your use of oil washes on the Thunderbolt is excellent. It'd be great to see a few more angles on the fuselage and engines to see how you dealt with in-flight fuel/oil run-off and grime.

Keep up with the inspired work... I can't wait to see more.

@ S.j, Trevy, RZ Thanks guys! I'm glad your liking the progress so far. I did some more work last night on the pilots and ground crew and hope to have them finally done by this evening. I have to take little breaks because I often obsess over them. Sometimes it's hard to know when to put the paint brush down!

I found working from the reference photos really interesting and a great source for ideas. It also lets you keep an authentic look and feel to a diorama that a set mini companies colour pallette won't provide. They also helped alot for working out the layout and positioning of the Diorama.

@ LBursley, thanks very much. I was trying to get that flight line feeling as authentic as I could with a Sci-Fi setting. I had imagined that Scale Model purists might cringe and nit pick at the details, so it's great to hear that it's on track from a former Navy man! I've done some more work on the Thunderbird and I'm about 80% finished at the moment, things I have to include are the main engine cover, the hatches on the sides of the fuselage (one of which will be open while the Deck Crewman works), and of course the actual cockpit itself. I plan to model it so the canopy is partly open with the Pilot looking out and signalling to the mechanic working by the engine on the wing. I also plan to put rare earth magnets on one of the fuselage hatches so it can be easyily removed to access the internal details.

@ GitSmack I'm planning to put some photos of the underside of the hull up soon. There will be lots of weathering there also, streaks and exhaust marks from the engines, as well as oil run off. So I'll get some more angles and some close ups soon.

Lovely work so far.
I have a copy of IA: Model Masterclass myself and now can't stop thinking about buying an airbrush and trying the techniques. highly recommended book.

Well done for trying them out and making them work so well sir!

wow that is very bitchin man. i would pay to build another one if i had the money, because that is the best 40k diorama i have ever seen.

How have I missed this Plog???

I think the title of it is a little too short to catch my attention.

I see some fine scale modelling techniques used here. Man, you used them well. Just an overall great project.

You absolutely should enter the finished product into the golden demon. It is absolutely worthy, and i think this work needs more exposure.

great job!

Thanks for all the comments guys, @shep maybe the title of the blog is too low profile! Perhaps something more dramatic next time!

Here are a few more progress shots, the camera isn't great so they are a little out of focus:







Further work on the Thunderbolt:

Further Weathering:

I have to say, as an old school planes, trains and automobile modler, I really appreciate this piece. Well done, keep it up.

Gorgeous.

~sA

that looks sooooo cool, i wish my stuff turned out like that.

Weathering is incredible and realistic, I hope my stuff will get to this level soon.

Are you going to post any more pics of your work completed?? I hope so!

That is completely awesome.

This is awesome
just....awesome
I am exeedingly jealous of your weathering and painting skills. Keep it up!

Hi guys

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

I'm working on some more of the model this week and I hope to have update photos posted up sometime before Friday.

The next stage is finishing off the ground grew completely and the scenery.

This is absolutely fantastic!

The Forgeworld modeling book is a great resource, I have been looking for a project in which to try the techniques from it, reading this blog has just made me want to start working on a project.

I just hope that you could get better pics, as the current just hint at the level of painting you have done.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Metsuri I didn't have a decent camera before as my girlfriend took it with her on holiday. I have it back now so I will finally be able to get some higher quality photos done. More updates to come tomorrow!

Wow, you work is truly appreciated. Something I would strive to achieve. It's such a shame you can't get some good photos, send it to me and I'll take studio quality photos for free. I'll send it back, I promise!