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The fully finished T34 and Tank crew:

That looks great! I wouldnt be surprised if the whole thing was fully functional and it drove off across your desk. Really looking forward to seeing this painted too.

Thanks Legoburner! It certainly took a lot of work but the interior detailing really paid off.

The Infantry are now finished and ready for the diorama and painting.

Infantry on foot:





Infantry riding the tank:





Now that the troopers are all done I've moved onto making the scenic base for the diorama and started painting the Tank. More photos of the painting to follow shortly.

Really nice work, good to see some really nice scale modelling can't wait to see the diorama. Love the guy with the traditional Gatling gun, As the posture looks right.

Thanks Llama, I really love the Tamiya sculpts. They really managed to get some great dynamic movement into the minis.

You can really believe they are running for cover etc.

I'm working on the base right now and hope to have some more photos of that up soon.

The base WIP:




1st stage of painting:


Tank tracks (a little hard to make out in this photo):

great work so far.
i'm starting to collect 1:48th WW2 too.
still not 100% confident of the etched brass bits though - some are soooo tiny.

your progress picts are great - better than most model magazines (but then they are limited on space i suppose!)

cant wait for the next lot.

will you airbrush this?

also could you do a pict of one of the men next to an IG mini?

Hi Bubber, thanks for the comments! Yes Photo etch components are very fiddly! It takes a lot of work and patience especially when you have to remove very small areas from the original plastic parts to accomodate them. It's really worth it though and gives a great end result.

If you're not too sure about photo etch there are lots of different sets of different levels of detail you could try to start with. Lions Roar do varying levels from easy to experienced.

I'll be doing a mixture of airbrushing and brush painting on this set. The base and the tank will be airbrushed then worked on with brush techniques and washes, and the troopers will be brush painted.

I'll dig out an old plastic IG mini for you and get some comparison shots.

Great work here Gundam-Mecha. I recently returned to the hobby and your level of detail and dedication is really inspiring.

I hope I can keep up my motiviation as well, starting on a blog ( here and on blogspot ) soon to motivate me.

Thanks Kagar!

What will you cover in your blog? I'll be sure to check it out!

Today I visited a local model store and stocked up on some different materials, including lots of scenery bits and the Sin Industry Filters by Mig Productions.
I've seen quite a few articles on these filters and have been really keen to try them, today I got myself the Allied filters set for Soviet, US, and British Tanks.

Filters are very subtle washes that you apply to armour to pick out the details and give interesting shades and colouring.

I also ordered myself a new airbrush online that will arrive tomorrow, so it will be great to try that double action airbrush on the T34.

Here are some more WIP shots of the scenic base:








Theres still a lot more to do on the base. For example the telegraph poles will have copper wire through the holes I drilled out on the plastic parts. I plan to have these cables hanging from the pole and also strewn across the ground to make some interesting patterns. I'm also waiting on some brass etch barbed wire for the base.

The signs will also be painted and finished with the Tamiya 1:48 road sign set, the sign standing will be in German reading "this way to Minsk, Moscow" and the damaged sign on the ground will be a Russian war slogan.

I'm also going to have some Soviet propaganda posters strewn across the floors:

Thats starting to shape up nicely.

The russian posters are great looking!

Wow, so much progress has been made! Maybe mother russia was right!

Seriously though, I love the base, it looks great. It gives a lot of space to the diorama and with the men running around it'll look complete. Did you use real pieces of wood for the trees? It looks like it. I always wondered why people spend loads of money to buy plastic trees, when you can get real ones for free!!

Thanks guys!

I really love the posters and war slogans, it's going to be fun working with them.

As to the base it was important to allow enough room for all the infantry and the Tank since its actually quite a small area to work in (around 25cm x 18cm).

I wanted to try and get the subtle impression of a battlefield without filling up too much room as I wanted the minis themselves to be the real focal point. Theres still a lot more to come and it does look a bit bare now since there are no other effects such as foliage, flock, water effects, ice, snow, leaves etc. I'm hoping also that the barbed wire will really bring some more to the scene when it arrives in the mail tomorrow.

The trees are real wood yes, just some twigs snapped into the right length for modeling. I'm most likely going to end up weathering these and maybe adding a little paint, or I may leave the natural wood colour.

The Telegraph pole is made from a match stick.

Some more updates, it's been awhile but quite alot of work is now done on the diorama base.

Painting stage 2:






By this point the scorched brown and Black Ink base coat has received various shades of Browns and khaki colours that have been airbrushed on. Various washes of Burnt Umber Oil Paint mixed with Turpentine, and Desert Yellow mixed with Tamiya thinner have also been applied. Various light coats have been applied to try and give the earth a natural and diverse colour.

The 1:48 scale photo etch barbed wire:

This stuff was tiny and very very fiddly to apply. The barbed wire was also rather sharp and often ended up getting stuck in my fingers! The scale was great though and really looked brilliant when applied.

Some shots of the barbed wire set up on the base:




With the Tank and Infantry:

The Posters cut out:


Work on the Telegraph Poles:


The signs marked out with the Tamiya transfers:




Poster weathered and attached to base:


Weathering and rust on the barbed wire fence:

Its looking great! Do you read AFV magazine?

Its great for this sort of hobby.

Ive made a few 1:35 dioramas so i know the work involved!

Keep it up

Did you singe the edges of the poster with a flame? It looks great. Keep up the good work!

Thanks guys,

Grandmaster - I read AIR modeler magazine which is the sister mag to AFV (started reading it for ideas for my FW Thunderbolt). I've never actually read an AFV mag though. I've flipped through them a few times though. It seems to be a great magazine and I'm actually considering getting a subscription as there are some wonderful models and painting inside!

I've never worked in 1:35 myself but I've been considering it recently. You can certainly get a much higher level of detail in armour at that scale and there are so many fantastic infantry and crew kits available at that scale. Acessories and after market kits are also much wider ranging at 1:35, it can be a challenge sometimes to find things at 1:48. It's a shame really I'd like to see more stuff at 1:48 I really like the more compact scale myself.

Yeah it is a lot of work, but it's really worth it. A lot of people have asked me on Warseer especially if I intend to game with these WW2 models or my Thunderbolt and all seem disapointed when I say no. I guess they find it hard to appreciate that people like to build models and paint them just for the art of it. It's really satisfying to spend the time on a diorama or a complex kit and just watch it grow and develop. Actually I never seemed to have time to finish whole armies when I played Fantasy and 40K in the past, I just ended up with large groups of semi finished minis. With one diorama though or a single kit, you can get a project finished and really work on all the cool elements of painting that come near the end of a project like weathering and highlighting etc. It's ironic that my painting now has imporved alot more now that I'm painting less compared to when I used to work for GW and was painting shedloads of minis everyday!

It's finishing a model to completion that really helps you hone and develop your skills I think.

S.J - yes the edges of the poster were burnt with a match, very carefully and then blown out pretty much as soon as they were lit. Since the posters were so small it was really important to move quickly and try to control the burning as much as possible. I then sealed the ash and burnt areas of the paper with some watered down PVA glue to stop them from crumbling and blowing away and gave the poster a wash of Chesnut brown ink mixed with Badab Black wash. Soaking it in watered down PVA and sealing the top afterwards really helped get the paper to fit the contours of the scenery nicely.

I also tried the Johnson's Klear trick for applying Transfers from the Imperial Armour Masterclass book and found it worked really well.

This looks better and better after every update you post, I espescialy like the pigtails that are holding up the barbed wire.

I've send you a pm regarding your prior question.

Thanks Kagar!

Those "pig tails" were very tricky to bend. A thin bit of copper wire, some plyers, and a lot of patience!

I followed the example in the Modeling Masterclass book, they did a similar thing in the Krieg Earthshaker Diorama.

Checked out your blog, great to see some Mordheim stuff!

Nice,now get to work finishing it up I must see the end result!

I've now had a chance to do some more painting and weathering on the Tank hull:

1st stage weathering:








This is after 5 coats of Sin Industry Filters, a Burnt Umber Oil wash, and paint chipping applied using the "sponge" method. In the sponge method you dip a little bit of sponge into some paint, dab off the excess on some kitchen roll or tissue paper and then very carefully apply random patterns to the surface by dabbing the sponge onto the model. It's very important not to go too over the top with this technique and to try and keep it subtle, you also have to try and think what areas would show wear and tear during everyday use, such as edges, hatches, and other such components.

2nd Stage weathering:












This is after building up layers of dirt and dust made from a wash of Citadel Kommando Khaki, Vallejo English WW2 Uniform, Mig Vietnam Earth pigment powder and Tamiya Acrylic Thinner.

A small package arrived in the post today and contained these:





My transfers and banner from Archers. I've used Archers transfers before but this was the first time to use one of their flags. The Instructions provided were pretty clear and the quality of the transfers fantastic, they apply directly to tin foil. Heres a short how to guide:

Step 1:
Cut out one left and one right side of the flags, being careful not to cut the backing paper just the transfer sheet.


Step 2:
Stick one side down to a flat light surface with some tape. Making sure the image is facing down.


Step 3:
Place the other side on top sticking one side with tape to make a hinge so you can make a sandwich. Dont push down at this stage as the transfers will bond together and become useless.


Step 4:
Place your tin foil in-between both halves and make a snadwich.


Step 5:
Use a dull pencil and some force to push the transfers onto the foil.


Step 6:
Carefully lift the transfer paper from the foil.


Step 7:
Place backing paper over the flag and burnish the transfer into the foil to seal it.


Step 8:
Remove the backing paper and carefully peel the foil from the transfer paper on the other side.


Step 9:
Carefully cut out your flag using a scalpel blade and very light cuts. The foil can easily tear or split at this stage.


Step 10:
Bend and crease the tin foil to the desired shape. The foil will hold any shape you want and the ink will never crack or peel. It's remarkably durable.




These flags are a great product and give some very diverse and realistic effects. I can't recommend them enough!

Transfers:



This slogan reads "Bei Fashistov!" "Crush the Facists!"



Some further weathering on the hull, this time with rust effects:




The engine hatches:




Whole tank:

Your booking a lot of progress, how long do you think is ahead of you to get this finished. Or don't you plan these things?

Hi Kagar!

I hope not too long till the end now. The tank has some more stages of weathering and painting, but the base is mostly done. The next thing is of course the infantry.

My final deadline is the summer of this year as that is when i will be traveling to Minsk to deliver the finished diorama to my relative. So I have to get it done over the next few months for sure!

Well seeing the progress that your making I'll take it you've started work on another project by then.

I've started work on my Tau army now, I've posted the last pictures of my Witchhunter warband yesterday.

Looks awesome GM!

The paint with the weathering even looks like thick soviet paint that would go over these things.

Amazing job overall. I used to model WWII armour in 1/35 scale before moving into 40k and I can certainly appreciate the amount of work that goes into a project like this.

I have one comment. The external stowage (the crates, track links, tow cable, barrel cleaning kit) don't appear to be fastened to the hull in any manner. They just seemed to be sitting on the tank and look like they will fall off as soon as the tank drives away. Obviously as modellers we can glue parts on our vehicles anywhere we like, but real tankers have to ensure that their gear is secure.

For example: with T-34's it was very common for the crew stash the spare track links vertically into the long hand holds that adorn the tank.