There it is, at long last (some of you have been waiting for over a year on this one!), my finished 1/72 Trumpeter Type 61 MBT.
The decalling process did, despite my greatest fears, go just peachy on most of the vehicle. Lots of decalling solution went on it, though. The turret was harder because on the compound curves and the commander’s cuppola was, eventually painted freehand.
The weathering is done as usual (for me) with watercolours (sepia and black washes), oils (drybrushing) and pastels (dusting and mud).
Well, I’m a happy man today! Let’s try to finish that Dewoitine D.371 now…
Thanks for your comments. The scheme is ‘real’ n so far as it did appear in a Tamiya catalogue back in the 80s but I’ve never seen a pic showing it applied onto a real vehicle (what a major pain this would be to apply to a real vehicle!).
I had printed a number of ‘tiles’ made up of about 15 hexagons x 15 hexagons. 3 of those tiles were needed for the hull:
I started with the engine deck, as most of it would be not visible anyway. It went in (the many grilles and other raised details) really well. After a couple of applications of Microsol, I pierced a few air bubles and that was about all the work I had to do there. Next was the front of the hull, where a few ‘strategic’ cuts with a sharp blade were needed. A few touch-ups with paint were needed too because of the different plates meeting at different angles that were not meant for a very flat decal sheet. The back of the hull was next. Lots of raised details there, so more pin-pricking and more cuts to let air out. But all in all the hull was simple.
The turret was covered with 2 decals. I had to make major cuts through the decal sheet over the sides of the turret, remove some of the decal and re-paint some hegagons, some not always the ‘right’ size, to ‘match up’. On the underside of the turret, in the ‘neck’ so to speak, there was no point in trying to match up properly. It would have been next to impossible anyway… major mismatch under there!!! I used scraps of another decal tile to complete the turret: gun mantle, gun barrel and the stowage box at the back.
I did try to apply a tile onto the cuppola, but it just would not work. The painted hexagons are a touch too small there, unfortunately, but it’s still OK…
You can find more pics of the completed model as well as a few ‘work in progress’ on my own site:
It came out looking great, Domi! Well worth the wait. Fantastic job making the decals not look like decals! Looks just like what it really was: a super-nutty paint job!