A small introduction seems in order as I will probably haunt this place. I'm a new Armor/Military modeler that comes from almost exclusively automotive subjects my entire life. I live in the North East Coast USA and have built a reputation building shiny race cars and classic street machines. I build for clients who want their first car or race car done in scale.

After watching a great many videos on YouTube concerning rust and weathering I bit the bullet and bought my first tank model. I picked up the ancient Tamiya M-41 Bulldog to see if I could apply what I'd learned coupled with my years of experience to see what i could accomplish in the exciting world of Armor.

I will post a few shiny builds here as well as my tank as a way of introduction and so you can see where i'm at skill wise. i hope to have a few WIP threads in the near future and am excited to get feedback and knowledge as i progress. I have a thick skin so no comment will be too harsh. Just make your criticism factual and not personal and we will get along just fine.









Here is my Bulldog. I used vallejo and Tamiya paints over an enamel undercoat. I added washes and powders to create it. I am pleased and hope to get better as I progress.

Bob, you took and old kit and made it look nice. It looks very used and dirty. Thank you for posting and keep sharing. Hopefully this bump will garner some more comments.

Thanks Russ. Being made to feel welcomed is especially important to me. I am on Automotive forums for many years and strive to make newbies welcomed. As a somewhat elder statesmen in that genre I always felt it important to extend encouragement and tidings to newcomers.

I'll post a few shiny things to show what I'm about.

Bob

Here are a few from the archives. Things that are shiny or perhaps a bit dirty.

My new found love affair with Armor in particular comes from an early age, I just never seemed to buy any in all these years.


I'll make up for that soon as I have an Easy Eight kit and a Dragon M1A1 now in my clutches.


Small steps....

Those are really nice builds. You should post those on the automodeler forum here as well as they deserve some attention. Thanks for sharing them. Which easy 8 did you get? I am nearly finished with the Tamiya kit, which is a great build.

I got the "European Theatre" edition. Just a single crew member yelling into his mic is all that it comes with crew wise.


I opened it straight away and it looks like it should be great fun.

Just have to finish up an old MPC X-Wing for a friend and then I'll be digging in.


I'll just let these builds stay here as my intro.


I'm here for the Armor!!



Thanks Russ..

Great looking builds, Bob! Welcome to the network.

First: Welcome aboard and nice dust/weathering on that M41.
Nice touch with those fuel spill marks

A small thought about the tracks.
The tracks look dusty and dirty and that's just fine.
A tank that has been standing still in a dusty place will get dust all over the tracks (presumably), as soon as it moves a 100 yards or so the ground and the wheels will start polishing the tracks to a significant level of shine (shine polished metal).
Even if the rest of the tracks are dirty and rusty there will be shiny areas on the outside where the metal is polished against the ground and on the inside where sprocket teeth and rubber "tires" on the roadwheels rub against metal. Sometimes the shiny strip on the inside of the tracks will show through light layers of dust.
Note: It depends on the type of tracks (construction, materials et.c) how they will get polished so different tanks will get shiny areas in different ways.

/ Robin

Shiny parts on a Leopard tank:

Thanks Robin. I did hit some of them with a flat silver. I think it needs a revisit and touch up. I also forgot to replace the antennae and the front lights need some paint as well.


I think I'll take it back to the bench and do the touch ups as presented and take some pics of that being done.


I love it.....

Isn't 'polished steel' something you've done on those civilian cars already
Try to find out how those tracks are constructed, which parts are steel and which parts are rubber, insides and outsides.

Track full of dirt with shiny edges where the metal has been polished:






/ Robin

For sure that steel is in my paint arsenal. I see what you're saying here. As soon as it gets going it will start to tidy up all surfaces that touch ground and the edges of the tracks will be freed of muck, then the ground will begin shining up the edges and wear areas.


Now more work to be done. Great stuff Robin, I'm learning already. I'll have to look at the real object more for certain. When I do an ultra detailed drag car i do a lot of recon and sometimes end up with folders chock full of reference. This model/replication is of course no different.


Thanks again.