WW2 Historical M26 Pershing Pt 1

Here is a M26 Pershing tank I am making to go along with some homegrown rules I am making for Dust Tactics.

Basically add regular non mech units,I have a Tiger I and a Sherman to do as well.

I used Procreate to replicate the canvas mantlet cover,using a mechanical pencil to add the fasteners

The Bottom chassis is completed and weathered the top has the base coat and oil filters.

I have painted the barrel in a camo style Shermans used to use to give the impression of a

smaller barrel.

The filters should be completely dry by tomorrow so I can start the varnish and decal layer.

Anyone know if the finish should be shiny gloss or satin for water slide transfers?

Either way after the decals I will add rain marks and pin washes

Kilroy Close Up shots

I added some weathering to him with oil paint,dot filtering and weathering powders.

A bit more work and he'll be perfect

Selling quite a bit on E-bay,good deals for all

I have decided to cut back on the sheer amont of stuff in my collection.
I have decided to start selling some of it on E-bay
There are pieces off of my IG force such as the well painted Valkyrie.
A really cool Ultramarine High Command consisting of Both Calgars,and just about every brass in the Ultramarines
Space Wolf Box Sets
Land Raider
Bikes
Deathwatch Killteam(The founders from the early days of this blog)

Check it out everything has a very low starting bid,not $1 but the bear minimum I could let it go with hitting myself in the head.

http://shop.ebay.com/wilis1/m.html

Dust " My name is KILROY"

I finished the main paint job on him,removed the mask and added an Archer dry rub stencil to his chest.

He is a work of art.

I am now going to be going through the fun process of weathering him.

Dust "Kilroy the painting process"

Here I am showing you how I go about painting a guy like Kilroy.

First I paint him in the colors of the materials he is built with in this case Steel and Copper.

I used Alclad II for the Steel and Copper over a basecoat of Tamiya Primer and Armory Black primers.

After that is dry I use masking fluid to sparingly hit him on a couple of spots,mainly the edges.

I then used Tamiya Hull Red to replicate the Red Oxide primer that armor is painted after they come off the assemby line.

After which once again hit it with masking fluid,the key word is sparingly.

After this I used Testors Model Master(MM) Olive Drab and painted him up in about for light layers as to opposed to all at once.

This I will leave to dry for a few hours before I start panel fading and hightlighting with MM Faded Olive Drab

Dust"Attack of the 30ft tall Robots"

I like the back story to Dust.

But like with anything I like to add my own twists.

In my head in the alternate reality of Dust,the revelation of the alien spacecraft and Germany's tech leap has made the US keep the Los Alamos scientists together after they built "The Bomb"

Together with Einstein and Tesla the US has also invented giant automated 30 foot tall robots.

Armed with a mighty wrecking ball and the frightening Tesla Disintegrator.

Christened, "Kilroy" this engine of destruction dares any Kraut to stick his nose out so he can blast him to kingdom come.

Dust "The First Batch"

Here are the first few Dust minis that I am working on.

I painted the Germans in a SS theme,not because I love Nazi's or anything but only the elite troops would have access to this kind of gear and that would mean the SS.

I painted the Recon Grenadiers in an Autumn Pea Dot,the Battle Grenadiers in Winter Smocks with regular Pea Dot pants,and the Laser Grenadiers in traditional Field Grey.

I have also started work on the first unit of Airborne Rangers too(the Elite thing goes both ways)

Trying to sell em again on E-bay

I did not have luck selling it as a complete army so this time I am putting up the Merican Lancers up for sale unit by unit.

So if you are so inclined check out the auction if you want some well painted vehicles please bid on them.

They are more reasonably priced with the starting price less than the cost of a new kit.

And if you are not the best painter then these guys are perfect for you.

http://shop.ebay.com/wilis1/m.html

1/48 scale Genius "Dust Tactics and the AFV"

For the past year I have been picking up issues of Fine Scale Modeler.

It is a great magazine that mostly caters to Historical Military Vehicles.

There are alot of AFV (Armor Fighting Vehicles) that are amazing.

There are many different techniques that carry over very well into the 40k side of the house.

The models for modern armor destroy GW's stuff,sorry no disrespect,the detail on the vehicles is second to none.

For the major model makers models(Tamiya,Dragon,AFV ect)there are probally half a dozen or more companies who make brass etch and resin upgrade to push the realizm up to museam quality.

GW will get there someday,their plastic kits keep getting better and better every release.

The main reason why you do not see more of these kits in scratch builds is the scale.

GW is 28mm Heroic which seems to be whatever they feel like at the time.

Fine Scale models two main sizes are 1/35 and 1/48.

The new game Dust Tactics is a Weird War Two game that was genius enough to make their game in a 1/48th scale.

The minis are about 34mm but most importantly fit perfectly well with the thousands and thousands of 1/48 WWII models.

I have just dipped my toe in the waters of Dust and plan to make use of the superb Sherman tank upgrade kits and milled metal barrels for use on the walker tanks.

And it also gives me the perfect excuse to start buying WWII models too.

"G for Gretta" Gotta Pin to Win

Chugging along at a nice steady rate it is now time to start thinking about attaching the wings.

They are going to be extra heavy with all of the engines attached so it will need that extra ommph.

I have pinned them exactly how GW showed us all those years ago in the painting guide.

Attach pins on one side,paint them so you can see the marks on the other side.

It will add alot more strength to the structure,kind of like re bar in concrete.

Here are a few shots that show you guys a better view of what she looks like

"G for Gretta"Super Detailing of Flaps

Today it was time to start showing the under wing some love,the engines are going on soon.

The flaps were are little blah.

Every time I fly on a plane I usually get a real good view of the flaps because I am in coach in the back :)

But the is always a whole lot going on inside the flap area that wasn't happening on this model

Here is a photo of a real B-17 flap see all the gubbins.

So what I did was bend some 24 gauge wire a bit a glue onto the flap area of the wing.

Not too much three little pieces each,I do not want to bulk it out just have the illusion of alot more going on.

I do this by making many square bends in the three lines.

I then painting it and the underside of the flap itself Tamiya Cockpit Green and the plumbing is painted Tin Bits.

"G for Gretta" Guages > Candles

Just a quick shot to show what I expect in a cockpit

Gauges

I made these with a micro arts, micro punch tool it is a little pricey($30+) but makes perfect gauge sized circles,all the WWII modelers use it.

Before

After

"G for Gretta"Candles in the cockpit are stupid

I know,I know it is part of the 40k grim dark but common

Open flames,near oxygen I get what the sculptor was doing but I do not like it.

So I chiseled off the candles and scratch built a new instrument panel to replace it.

I also wanted to show off how pretty the wings are becoming now I have added the Identification stripes.

"G for Gretta" Coming along nicely

I do not think I ever even want to finish this model it is too much fun.

I have been working on respraying parts of the plane to remove fingerprints which are much more noticeable on it.

I will be handling it with surgical gloves from here on out.

I have been working on the engines themselves and they are starting to look really good.

The rumours of the plastic Thunderbolt is keeping me from ordering two right now.

In fact I want three,one metallic,one flying tiger style,and one Apostle.

But here are a few shots of the fuselage painted up looking pretty.

Happy New Year,Goose watch your head

First off I'd like to wish all who frequent my blog a very Happy New Year.

Hope all your resolutions come true and all that jazz.

The Guys from Forge World were awesome enough to provide me with a spare co-pilot seat.

I explained to them I was modeling the plane with no one inside and needed a second co-pilot seat.

You see the regular cockpit comes with the pilot seat with the pilot sculpted in the seat.

The co-pilot is not sculpted on,he gets glued into the seat,so for an empty cockpit you need two co-pilot seats.

Once I received it,I went about the task of making the new pilots seat actually looking the part.

I copied every detail I would from the original and even added much more,such as the ejection handles and restraints.

The new seats have 36 extra styrene details such as the new more realistic control stick with

top-hat and 4 painted on buttons,I also added that detail to the regular pilot piece so his control

stick does not look like a knob off a forklift.

The restraints were made with heavy foil off the top of a wine bottle trimmed to shape and fine wire to make the buckle.

The paint job is not finished more of just a basecoat at this point.