I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone on the Armor Forum for sharing their experience and techniques. I just finished my first model of my adult life which is a Dragon 1\35th scale Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.F2 (G) and I am shocked at how real it looks and it is all directly attributed to the all the techniques and skills that everyone has so freely shared.
When I finished it last night at 12:30 am I made the tactical mistake of barging into my wife and I’s bedroom to share my excitement which was not well received to put it mildly! We have a one year old baby so she was enjoying some much needed sleep. So I thought it would be a good idea to get a subscription and get involved in the Forum’s.
I am in the Computer industry and wanted a hobby that had absolutely nothing to do with computers. My Model has not blue screened or locked up one in the past month of working on it!
I would post pictures but I couldn’t figure out how which is quite funny considering what I do for a living. If anyone could give a pointer or point me to the FAQ that covers that topic I will post pics. I am very interested in getting feedback and pointers on how to improve.
Looks like you’re on your way. You’ll get better with each succeeding build. To show bigger pictures on here you should do the picture settings on your camera before taking the shot.
Welcome to the Jungle. It looks like you tackled an ambitious project for your first build. Nicely done. A few observations: there should be track sag between the return rollers, drive sprocket and idler wheels. You came closer on the left side to achieving this. Second, my screen might be off, but it looks as though the return rollers and roadwheels are painted in base color. In reality, they had rubber tires. In addition, the jack block next to the driver’s visor on the left side should be a wooden color.
Congrats on a job well done and look forward to seeing more.
Well Schnobs, welcome to the site! You’ll find a great bunch of people here. And a great first model. Oh and glad you lived through your experience with the wife! If I had done that to my wife I would have ended up in the ER having the model removed from a certain bodily orifice!
Hey Schnobs, welcome to the madness. You are lucky you’re not talking an octave higher for waking the wife like that. Great bunch here. I started armor last year and everyone was very helpful. Can’t help but improve with these guys around.
And if i may, the track is too loose at the drive sprockets. It should be tighter so the on the sprokets are into the tracks. If that guy tried to run from and advancing enemy column, he would be in some deep poo.[;)]
You are absolutey correct in your comments and observations. First of all I was a little perplexed when I saw the little bag of Magic Tracks in the Dragon kit but I am German and took to the attention to detail challenge like a duck to water. I searched the forums for a tutorial and found the following tutorial that was very helpful.
Unfortunately I had already glued the guide wheel and I had some difficulties aligning the track and it broke on that side so I had to finally glue it under the fender and the sag was perfect! Sigh… Lesson learned though. Also I used Testor model glue and maybe I should of used a different adhesive.
The road wheels are the same color because I did not get my circle stencils from Staples before my air brush arrived and when it did it was all over weels were getting painted the base color.
I didn’t know what the jack block was and I have seen it brown and base coated but I like the ideal of it brown so I will make that change.
Thanks for the comments and everyone that has given me encouragement on the model and my marriage.
Don’t feel bad about being in the IT industry, I am as well, and we all make the little DOH’s once in awhile. I recently spent the better part of 2 weeks trying to figure out why in the heck the machine wasn’t recognizing my two hard drives anymore that were working fine. I checked connections, but didn’t bother to look very closely. After some time of swapping things out on an IDE interface, sometimes the pins get a little tweaked, and it feels seated but isn’t. I got the ribbon connector seated all the way and guess what? WOOHOO 200 gigs of info I thought was gone.
Thanks again Phil for the encouragment and the photobucket tutorial it’s pretty cool and simple to use.
I am having a hard time leaving it alone and not continuing to try to improve it. I ordered a resin base kit called “The Sunken Road” so I could practice painting some more and indirectly continue to work on my “First”
I have learned everything I know so far from the great posts and I received my second model to be for Christmas which is a Tamiya 1\35th VI Tiger I and after opening the box I was shocked at how may more parts the DML kit had as compared. I will have fun but I want to make the same DML kit as the first asap in a desert camo scheme.
I did not use Future on my first build because I was afraid to be honest. I loved the matt look and didn’t want to screw it up. I based coated with XF-63 german Grey and then lighted the coats signficantly with flat white to simulate sun bleaching. I then used burnt umber in a wash with repeated light coats. That was pretty much it except for Tamiya weathering kit pigments for the rust and mud on the bottom hull. Also graphite pencil and Model Color silver for steel parts.
I plan to take the Future plunge on the Tiger though but I have to admit it sounds crazy even after how many articles and posts I have read.
