I was feeling a bit better today so I decided to take a few pictures of the Trade Federation Tank I’ve been working on for a while now. This will be a gift to my Nephew when it’s complete.
I’m customizing the turret, just under the “shroud” to increase the level of detail in that area. Anyone who’s built this kit knows it’s pretty barren there. Reference pics show two “vent” areas on either side of the cannon and a little recessed “nub” off to the right of the cannnon. Looks pretty rough right now, but it will be corrected by the time this kit is completed.
I’m taking quite a bit of care to fill gaps and fix misaligned parts. If you look carefully, you’ll see a lot of unsanded Squadron Green. [:p] Major areas were the top and bottom turret fit, top to botom airfoil fit, rear door, and a large seam that ran down the middle of the hull.
Certain areas like the triangular brackets on the top of the turret and just behind the left and right gun “arms” were cut out behind the hanging “bracket” to make it a bit less flat, and to get rid of the “hey, this was molded on” look.
Guns were drilled out, including the main cannon.
The “lip” on the inside of the airfoil’s cannons were sanded out, and made smooth with the bore of each cannon.
What’s left, you may be asking? Well, gaps need to be finished and I need to mix up more paint, I think the base coat needs to be a bit darker. After the base coat is on, I can do the accent colors on the turret, airfoil and front of the hull. Then the detail colors for the cannons, guns etc. come in. It will be sealed with Future, and appropriately weathered (not excessively like I see on a few builds). Then it gets sealed with flat and you’ll get more pictures. This thing needs to get done, it’s slowing my progress with other models! [;)]
Thanks maxx. Where was yours warped, at the hull to airfoil fit, or the two pieces of the airfoil? I was fortunate, there didn’t seem to be any warping in my kit, just some really bad fit issues especially where you join the rear hatch to the hull. Lots of sanding and putty were used to reshape several areas in that section. It’s still not perfect, but better than it used to be. There’s also a HUGE gap between the hull and the airfoil, especially at the bottom of the rear hatch. I have yet to start filling that area but will probably start work on it today.
Thanks to everyone and their input so far, I’m working on this tank today to see where I can get with it. I’ll have some new pics up later tonight.
Looks good so far!
I saw a completed model of this tank at a recent IPMS show (Bletchley/Milton Keynes) and, though I’m not a Star Wars fan, this kit is now certainly at the top of my wanted list ! It looks very impressive and is much larger and detailed than I imagined it to be - I’ve often seen this kit for sale second-hand in the past but wasn’t sure what it was like detail-wise. I’ll certainly pick up the next cheap one I see!
Also, I’ve a feeling it might make a very impressive Warhammer 40K Tau superheavy tank, with a bit of converting and modification… the style is very similar to Tau vehicles.
I’ve finally worked out how I’m going to mask off and paint the tank. Let me tell you I agonized over the masking and the colors to use to complete the painting process (did I tell anyone how much I love building, but how I HATE to paint?) I spent a good hour going over a bunch of footage on my Star Wars Episode 1 DVD, zooming, rewinding, frame-by-framing, all the while trying to figure out the color scheme that was used in the movie. Let’s just say I will NEVER again trust instructions for paint colors and masking info. I wasted about 2 hours on unnecessary masking (masking is another skill I’m working on, never had to do it before…)
I just got done laying down the second paint color, and I think I’ll be happy with the way it turns out. To be truly happy, however, I’ll have to do a LOT of drybrushing many variants of each color to get it to look right. Never thought this was going to be so difficult… Once I get all of the second color down, I’ll be pulling of the masking and snapping some shots of the current progress. Should have the pics up before the end of the night.
#11 shows how dark the second color was, should have been used as the 3rd color (the darkest). To remedy this, I still had a bit of the original base coat used overall on the tank’s exterior, thinned it and did a light overspray until I was satisfied with the darkness of the newly painted areas. #'s 12 and 13 show how it turned out.
I have to finish toning down the second color (the paint on the main hull will be just barely darker than the main color) and then I will press on with the last color and detail painting.
Funky, the last post I sent didn’t get up on the board… oh well.
I have to run out to the LHS to pick up some yellow paint. My bottle that I had was sealed shut, and probably too old to do much good anyways. I’ll be adding a small amount of yellow to the base color and lightly overspraying everything to help bring out the yellow that I’ve decided is missing from the current color scheme. Bah, I just want to get this thing painted so I can move on to weathering!!!
Half of my problem with this build was that the LHS didn’t carry the exact colors specified by the instructions, so I got close matches. Hopefully you don’t have that issue.
One thing I noticed was that the suggested color mixes are WAY off. You’re going to have to eyeball the colors if you want anything close to what is shown in the movie. One suggestion I have is try adding a bit of yellow to your mixes, as the overall tank (with the exception of the “C” color has a tinge of yellow to it. The suggested ratios produce tans, instead of what you see on the box.
Let’s see, overall (listed as color “A”) I used a mix of Model Master Radome Tan #1709 and Model Master Panzer Interior Buff #2104. This was way too light, I had to darken a bit and it still lacked the yellow tint I was looking for.
For color “B”, I used a mix of 66% Model Master Radome Tan #1709 and 33% Model Master Dark Tan #1742. WAY too dark! Still lacking any tint of yellow. I shot a thin mist of my darker “A” color over the “B” color until I reached a shade that was closer to “A” than color “C”.
I have decided to use my original “B” color as my “C”. To fix the lack of yellow tint, I’m dusting the “A” and “B” colors with brushed on yellow and medium yellow pastels, then rubbed off with a paper towel. Pictures will be coming shortly (probably a few minutes). To break up the monotony of the perfect one shade of paint, I will be working in variations of each color via pastels. Once I get the “mottled” look I’m aiming for, I’ll fix it in place with an overcoat of Future. I just hope the Future won’t mess up the pastels.
Sorry for the long-winded post, but this painting thing still eludes me and I would rather explain in full than have someone go through the same headtrips that I’ve gone through thus far.