mustang1989

Good news, and not so good news. The good news? My order of Tamiya paints for this effort arrived a couple of days ago, when I was away from the house. The bad news? The XF-90, which is supposed to be red brown, is actually more green than anything, though that doesn't seem to show up well in the photo. So, now I have to order more paint, wait a few days for it to be delivered, and that, combined with a complete lack of passion at the moment, means I'll probably not get it finished for the show in September. I will soldier on when and as the mood strikes, so will eventually finish it. This sucks.
 

Oh Boy, tracks! Tonight I began the time consuming (and tedious) task of cleaning up and assembling the track runs for this baby. 100 pieces per side, at least as a starting point, but I'll adjust as needed.
 
Cleaned up, pinned, excess pin cut off and pin head glued in place. (This is but 20 links out of one hundred per side, so I still have quite a way to go.)
 

 
The best thing though, is the fact that track flex remains.
 

Return rollers now all cleaned up and ready for paint. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless.
 

And the Panzer finally has its base coat of grey. I have to say I hate the way this MRP sprays, and seriously doubt that I'll buy any more, other than perhaps base colors, but certainly not for camouflage colors like this vehicle needs. And oh my does it ever stink up the place. I am very happy with the color though, and that's a major plus.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

And more good news (I just loves me some good news), I'm declaring the turret 100% and ready for the paint booth.
 

More good news, the MRP colors I chose, seem to be a very good match for what I have in mind.
 

The bad news. Spraying out on the deck, I accidentally sent the whole thing tumbling to the deck surface, picking up all manner of dirt, grass bits and other crud. However, no major damage was sustained, and complete cleanup will just be a matter of lightly buffing with some mild Scotch-Brite.
 

Good news and not so good news. Hull primer is on and the results are even better than I had hoped for. Problems (that I've seen thus far) are very minor and will be easy fixes.
 

Oh boy, new paints. Much to my surprise, the "Panzer Grey", is actually marked as Swedish army, but still appears to be an OK match for the look I'm after. The MRP grey specifically for German AFVs, is almost black, so I avoided that, at least for now.
 

Big shout of thanks to Rick Griewski for putting me onto these substitute metal track pins. Bought four packages today (including extras for my Panzer IA), and they were delivered today.
 

 
The pins are a tad to long, but I'm assured that trimming them to a better length, will be a snap.
 

My Aber brass MGs for this baby, from Poland. Roughly two weeks for delivery, but well worth the wait.
 

I assumed the turret was as close to ready as I was going to get it before testing, so spritzed on some primer to check. All in all, just two tiny areas that need a spot of putty, as far as individual piece join seams are concerned, which is great. (Closer inspection today does reveal a few more tiny issues that need straightening out, but they're very minor.)
 

 
However, the two vertical ghost seams remain visible, so will need some additional putty and/or surfacer to eliminate. Once that's done, it'll be ready for paint, along with the hull/chassis, which is so close to being finally finished.
 

And this arrived Saturday, the needed parts for this kit, compliments of Andy's Hobby Headquarters
 
Many thanks to the folks at Andy's, it's such an excellent gesture on their part.
 

 

All of the road wheel and drive sprockets now given some primer. While they do look better, there's unfortunately more work to do, and the primer doesn't mess around in revealing those things.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

But the best news of the night, I've finally glued the two upper superstructure pieces down. Turret is just sitting there for the photo, as I still have some very minor putty work to wrap up on the hull pieces.
 

In my haste to "glue things", and despite consulting the instructions several times, I still managed to glue this starboard side idler arm on upside down. Oops!
 

Moving on it was time to go back to the cottage..........
 
And time to make some SUPER tiny shingles................and a LOT of them! These are basically 1/32 thick balsa cut into strips roughly less than 1/8" wide, then flattened with a stainless steel pair of tweezers against a very flat piece of tile.
The difference between 1/32" thick and after they have been flattened is AMAZING. The balsa wood squishes down very predictably. 
 
These were cut out with rounded edges using a piece of brass tube sharpened at the end with an exacto:
 
   
 
 
 
I ended up making what felt like hundreds of those little buggers, but got a good start on the lower small roof up front, and also finished up the cottage stone work using some SAS stonework clay:
 

 

 
 
 
 
I also got the window into the dormer section and got it attached permanently as well in prep for shingles in that area:
 

 
 
 
 
I also removed the majority of the hand railing and just left a small section at the top...........I think the fairies can manage a few steps without a handhold.
It looked much better without the other section on the stairs:
 

 
 
 
 
I finished up the shingles on all roof sections and splashed a bit of dull red on the lower roof section to see how things looked. I like it!  
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I also got the tower roof shingled and painted as well. Here it is just setting in position to see what it will look like. The top "hat" is still masked off as it will get some gold leaf later.
I also still have yet to add some cool looking roof peaks and finials that will finish the roofs off:
 

 

 
 
 
 
Also setting on top is the cap to the upper chimney, which is a Amanita muscaria fungus I happened to make out of clay, small clay blobs and some airbrushing (the wife also likes mushrooms.....not the psychedelic kind, just the cool looking observable kind):
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Most likely back to the base tonight or tomorrow as I need to start looking forward and get the lighting and base further along.
 
Cheers! 
 

Fast forward...............
 
You can now see an actual direction I'm going with this. Until right before all this I really couldn't see what direction it was going either!   Its SO MUCH FUN carving away at the foam which does very intricate and seemingly delicate things when roughly cut with a small blade.
Very "rock like" but still will most all be covered with stone replicate air dry clay. Some parts will not get clay covering, only a thinner frosting of a mix of stucco patch, Modge Podge and paint. This mix will eventually cover the entire scene.
 
Some areas I have not really touched at all, and other areas I've attached rocks to from my wife's collection (which will also be covered in the above combination of coverings to bring everything together) and and some just have had their foam carved alone. Much more work including most all the detail work to come. I'm just trying to make things random yet convincing to what my minds eye holds.
 
The shape was very roughly cut to a crescent moon shape, while taking in the platform for the cottage and an upper level that will hold a crystal tree and a pool with a waterfall
 

 
 
 
 
You can see here the beginnings of the overhang platform for the cottage. This was made from a square of balsa, covered in clay and sculpted with some dowels for trusses. The stairs carved into the foam will get a clay covering to emulate some broken steps of stone down to a small boat dock
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
There will eventually also be steps up the far side to the pool as well. This is where I intend on placing and lighting some stones
 

 
 
 
 
Where the pool, waterfall and crystals will be 
 

 
 
 
 
Eventually these will be steps in laid with stone clay as well, and possibly shallower, but longer steps at the top, I haven't quite decided yet
 

 
 
 
 
I have yet to design the bridge that will connect the two sides either, so that will take place soon as well.
 
Thanks for looking in on me! 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well you can sorta kinda see the initial steps on how I plan on thinking about starting to get ready to do something.............
 
lol - This is the very beginning of things, so everything is still pretty rough. You can get an idea of direction however...
 
The Etsy Bonsai tree pot marked with the shape of a small base I made out of two pieces of stacked XPS foam:
 

 
 
 
 
The base has some aluminum rods for support buried in it and secured with some hot glue:
 

 
 
 
 
A very initial start on the other side, even incorporating some rocks liberated from the wifes rock collection :
 

 

 
 
 
 
Next up was to cut out 3 appropriately sized circles out of XPS using a large mixing bowl we had in the kitchen, flattening one side to mate with the base:
 

 
 
 
 
Using a hot foam cutter, I made two tunnels in the center foam piece for the supports to run, and to run the lights later:
 

 

 
 
 
 
With the 1st and 3rd foam circles sandwiched on the outside of the center one, you can see the base shape that I will be working with. All the support holes and wire holes with be filled in later as needed with any combo of clay and modge-podge and or putty filler or dry wall filler:
 

 

 
 
 
 
I cut out the same circle pattern on some grid paper I taped together and laid out a very crude and general shape I will be heading toward with the hot wire foam cutter. That thing is VERY satisfying to operate on XPS foam!
This is just a very generalized shape of things, and this may change but will be a good starting point incorporating all the aspects into the build I wanted (I hope) including a platform for the fairy cottage, a small rock and wood bridge, some stairs and a pool with some crystals:
 

 
 
 
 
More to come! 
 
 
 

I havnt taken any pics yet but I made a cobblestone "roller" out of a piece of PVC pipe and a mini paint roller. I also picked up some more items for the diorama that will be surrounding the cottage.
 
Really surprising the stuff you can find at Michaels and/or Hobby Lobby if you are looking for strange things like I am looking for. Found some lichen in a bag and some cool tiny flowers.
Some of the lichen looks otherworldly to me and will be perfect for a fairy/whimsical diorama:
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Wandering around Michaels I also found a cool crystal "chain" necklace that had some really cool looking crystals in it, so bought it and took them all off of the elastic band holding them together.
 
I also borrowed some of the wifes Amethyst crystal chips to imbed in some steps later. Not 100% sure how Ill use the crystals yet, but I definitely will;
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I also found this cool chain at Micheals too.............again not 100% sure what Ill be doing with it yet, but it looks neat:
 

 
 
 
 
Thanks for looking in on me!
 
 
 

Thanks gents!
This one IS a large bit different and I cant lie, its been AMAZING to work on. The landscaping, the small cottage with no real angles to contend with and a sort of "build it as I go" attitude.
 
Ive got the two stories of the cottage glued together with some strategic holes cut in the middle of the 1st floor for lighting access later. As you can see, I have also added bunch of junk to it as well, including a tower balcony with railing, the 2nd set of steps up to it, another chimney, and have painted all the window frames. I have also started the cobblestone work on the walls, as this will get much easier to see later once smoothed painted and dry brushed.
As you can see I have also started work but not yet added stairs to the 1st set of steps up to the tower
 
I like working with clay!
 

 
 
 
 
The holes you see embedded in the clay and through some walls are for wooden "beams" holding up the roof simulated by some dowels. I also have to get some 1/32nd balsa strip for the shingles as well which are going to have to be added one by one.
 

 

 
 
 
I will also be adding some natural looking stanchions up both sets of stairs with some railings of some sort..............maybe some chain, who knows yet.
I know it looks a tad rough here, but will look better once smoothed out and painted. Hard to get perfectly right as this thing is SMALL
 

 
 

 
 
 
1st level stairs will go something like this once I have some other things done so I can attach them easier:
 

 
 
 
 
I guess I have never really shared a size idea on this little cottage, as its surprisingly small.
The cottage itself is 2" x 2" x 3".   A pot of Tamiya paint looks like a giant silo! 
 

 
 
It all (literally) fits in the palm of my hand:
 

 
 
 
More..............
 

Well, my lack of modeling MoJo has crept in and has taken hold of me for the last 1/2 a year at least.
Even having the largest plastic model show in the country 8 min from my house couldn't get my aircraft modeling MoJo going. About all the NATs did this year is jar me into the realization that I could sell some of my much larger LSPs and make a bit of much needed money and get some much needed space back in the display cabs. 
The wife and I do look at a lot of YouTube vids on line, specifically crafty stuff, like nature dios, resin casting and such. Seeing ALL of the unique and cool stuff out there and all the techniques and mediums I would like to try (XPS/EPS foam, resin casting, resin pouring/molding, clay ect, ect) I figured that as long as my MoJo for aircraft modeling was stuck, I might as well see if putting my creative urge toward something for the wife in a completely different realm might kick-start my passion for modeling again.
 
I completely realize this type of thing will not be everyone bag, but that's perfectly Ok. I tell you what, this kind of thing is EXTREMELY liberating! 
No perfect angles to adhere to, no ultra smooth finish to achieve, no seams to make perfectly invisible, its amazing really. 
The wife is very into nature, whimsical things like fairies, and crystals and the like, but not to the extreme. So, I thought Id make here a tiny fairly moon garden, using nearly every trick and technique I have plus a BUNCH Im going to have to learn. 
 
Here is one project that inspired mine, from a Malaysian artist named Mugen Woong. This is not exactly what Ill be going for, as he is using much smaller scale Japanese style 3D printed pagodas and walkways, with live plants and real water in a terrarium type setting, while I will be going for fairy forest/mood garden theme made from XPS foam, plastic, fake grass and moss with whimsical fairy water made from poured resin.
 

 
I will also be lighting up the entire thing including the fairy cottage, some crystal steps, and the water as well.
Here is a rough draft of sizes laid out on some grid paper.
 

 
 
 
The base I got off Etsy that is a very nice looking hand glazed Bonsai pot that will work perfect for my project
 
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I also picked up some XPS foam from Home Depot for the project, which I will use to simulate the rocks
 

 
 
 
 
The main attraction so-to-speak is the fairy cottage that will reside in the center of the moon. The rest of the project is just in the design phase, but I got started right away on the cottage, as without it, there is no project/birthday gift for my wife. I started with an idea in my head and some dimensions; roughly 2" x 2" square and about 3" tall.......so SUPER small is the name of the game!
 
Here is where I am atm:
 
The base, 2nd floor with front overhang, tower, tower cap and dormer. Im currently in the process of light blocking and painting the interior dark brown and in some spots like the tower, black:
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Things will eventually go together as such, with a LOT more to do and a lot more additions to go:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Ive got to cut out some windows and make up something for light diffusion so warm light will show through all 10 windows, but no one will be able to tell exactly what is going on inside the tine fairy cottage.
This whole thing will get covered in some air dry clay to simulate cobblestone as well as some balsa wood additions. 
More later and thanks for looking in on me! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Jeeeeez!!!! Man that tank it BIG!!!

You're gonna laugh or say "no way" when I tell you this....every one does....but this is what I use for my gloss coats whether it be one for decaling purposes or for a gloss finish on an auto build. Painlessly easy to use and clean and gets perfect results every time.
 

These aircraft take alot of skill to get the paint and decal work right. Looks like you did a good job to me.