oh man I have a rather embarrassing question… What does AFV stand for? Armor ??? Vehicle ? [:$]
AFV = Armored Fighting Vehicle.
Whic???
Wow… too easy! Now I really feel embarrassed. oh well… Learn somn’ new every day. Thank you.
Hermech,
I relined a Bandai 1:24 King Tiger with scale thickness armour and still have to correct its glacis angle. I suppose that counts as a bit of scratch so I appreciate Fermis’ point.
But then again, de-warping or repairing aircraft fuselages and wings has taken up alot of my time.
HkShooter’s point about the ordeals of flawless shiney paint on cars reminds me of a guy who would strip a car of a finish if it had a pice of tiny dust showing and start all over.
So many model builders don’t do stuff because it’s easy, but because it’s hard. I spent countless hours building aluminum spars for a set of BUFF wings.
I figure it really boils down to how much time a builder has to spend on his subject, and how far he wants to take the effects he’s trying to achieve.[bnghead]!
By the way, I always figured critters like amphibians then Dinos came 100’s of millions of years before chickens, and their eggs worked pretty good!
Straight build-time, armor is far easier… I’ve usually got a 1/35th tank complete and ready for paint in about 3-4 hours, with aircraft, I’m lucky if the cockpit & engine of a single-seat fighter is done in that amount of time…
Typically, I have about 12 hours into a tank, whereas an aircraft is going to be in the 20-30 hour range…
Read more, Talk less kid.
Dr
!!! 3-4 hours on a tank? Man, it takes me that long to get the road wheels correct. I dreaded doing road wheels and was a key contributor to me doing aircraft. It has been almost two years, since doing armor, though…I can see me re-visiting my armor kits on the shelf in the not-too-distant future.
I think both subjects have their ups and downs, at least for me. I’m terrible at filling and sanding seams and aircraft generally have more seams than armor with the fuselage halves, wing halves, wing roots, tail section, etc. These imperfections in my work stand out more in aircraft.
Armor on the other hand gives me trouble with tracks and wheels. I hate assembling 80 gazillion little road wheels and indy track links. Then I have to decide whether or not to attach the tracks before painting them or after painting them.
In the end, I think I can produce a better piece of armor than I can an aircraft but I prefer the assembly process of aircraft over armor. So I guess as far as ease is concerned, armor has a slight edge for me.
I don’t do indy/link & length tracks… Don’t need 'em, don’t buy kits with 'em, anymore… I paint 'em as they look in the dirt, then add the mud… It’s already the right color…
Chuck the roadwheels in a Dremel (variable-speed drills work too…) for sanding and painting (Use a black Sharpie… The Dullcoat will take care of the gloss)… 15-20 minutes…
So you use vinyl tracks exclusively? I’ve used them before but I’m not sure how to get the proper sag out of 'em, or how to ensure they sit snug against the road wheels.
Sometimes I have to adjust the idler (best for tracks with return rollers), same as on a real track-laying vehicle, other times I just glue the tracks to the roadwheels or return rollers, using dowels inserted in betweeen the them, making sure that they get glued down to the side of each wheel a little, or I use some thread to pull the center of the track down, tying it around the axle, on tracks like the M109, M113-series or T-55/T-62… A little gunk in there, like grass or weeds hanging down, hides the thread… Whatever the method, they’re always on a diorama… Hides a lot of “sins”… Can’t stand building Gate Guards…
Figure-painting isn’t as tough as most folks think… The uniforms and equipment are really no different than painting any other small details that most modelers do every day in cockpits and on engines… The faces don’t have to be layed 15 times with “filters” and shaded with oils in 27 places either… And they don’t need “eyes” in 90% of the cases… Soldiers are in the sun a lot, and when you’re in the sun, you squint… Black/Dark Brown slits will do… Paint the rest of the face with a good flesh-color (I like Testor’s MM Radome Tan), then a dark wash, 5-o’clock shadow with charcoal, and drybrush with lightened Radome Tan…
Wash and drybrush the uniforms, and you’re done… Keep in mind that I’m talking about 1/35th and smaller, and not photographing them so that they appear 12 inches tall… I paint them as they will be viewed, at normal distances…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Screenshots/Models/P-39 GB/P-39009.jpg?t=1265896640)
If you REALLY want easy faces, do 'em wearing camo-paint on their faces (See my Avatar)… Loam (in the shadow areas) and Light Green (in the shine areas) for woodland areas, Tan (in the shadow areas) and Loam (in the shine areas) for Deserts, burnt-cork (charcoal dust) for WW2 paratroopers…
Actually, the Light Green is a Dark Green and the Loam is a Light Green… Don’t ask me, I didn’t name 'em…
HVH
Thks for the KH