Extreme Reality.pdf

extreme Reality www.ak-interactive.com Phone: (+34) 941 44 52 28 [email protected]

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Realism is usually the goal we, modellers always want achieve. It becomes very difficult as we have to bear in mind many details, but these small details are the ones that give our model its realistic appearance. Extreme Reality shows how this realism can be achieved in scale modelling. Follow the talented artists through a journey from models to real life. Divided in step-by step articles showing you from well known techniques to some of them rare or even just made for its specific model. They will show you how a bulldozer can be as extracted from the scrap yard or a bicycle abandoned to its luck somewhere in the countryside. Extreme Reality is book of masterpieces and it is mean for all of us who enjoy and love this great hobby.

ANDREW ARGENT * KRISTOF PULINCKX * EDOUARD NOUAILLIER * JOHN SIMMONS * GERT MERTENS * DOOZY

AN INCREDIBLE APPROACH FROM SCALE MODELLING TO TRUE LIFE

I have been a keen modeller most of my life enjoying making miniature scenes and models of all types. I have also studied Art at college and worked as a semi professional artist for many years. with the articles in this book i have combined the two interests into one and portray scale model making as an expressive piece of art that would feel at home in any art gallery. With some of the world attended model shows like Euro Militaire and Scale model challenge & the competitions that take place in them i think the work on display in these type of shows should be rewarded with a wider audience. The work is pure 3D art that many 1D artists would be extremely proud to produce. It is far from the plastic airfix planes most of the world would think we build. I have found myself straying away from the traditional dioramas of late like WWII subjects and instead producing some random but very rewarding to make scenes in miniature. Ones to represent Extreme reality. Its an art form now that is starting to grab the interest of other modellers and a lot more everyday subjects are being produced now from Oil drums to Tractors to run down buildings. The military automotive,naval and aviation subjects have company in the way of reality and fantasy now. I thank AK Interactive for the opertunity in showing my work amongst other top modellers from around the globe in this publication. I hope all the readers enjoy the articles and spread the word and help to promote this ever growing art-form of scale model making. Modelling has rewarded me with lots of new friends worldwide which without this hobby i would never had the pleasure to know. One such friend is John Simmons who i met at Euro militaire. I instantly got on with John and his infectous personality. He is an extremely talented guy . He introduced me to another very talented guy at that same show in the name of Kristof Pulinckx who i have over the past year had the pleasure of working with in another publication Tanker Magazine again by AK. I was in talks with john about my work and it inspired him to make a diorama of his Dads classic and rare tractor. John made an absolutely beautiful job of the model and it is very hard to distiguish model from real tractor and its surroundings. John recently invited a small group of friends and model makers to stay for the weekend at his caravan park in Mersea Essex England. While i was there John showed me the barn with the tractor in it. When i had my picture taken with John in the barn it felt like i had been scaled down and was standing in Johns diorama. Thankyou John for the exsperience and you friendship. Enjoy. Andy Argent.

Concept and Original idea: Fernando Vallejo AK Interactive Special Thanks to: Shige Art Direction: AK Interactive Englisht Texts: Andy Argent Graphics and Design: BMS Designs AK Interactive Legal Deposit LR-1086-2015

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ARGENT Cycle of life

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PULINCKX

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NOUAILLIER

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ARGENT

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SIMMONS

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GERT MERTENS

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Bulldozer

Walls of decay

Oil drum

Major Refurb

Devastator

DOOZY Shore's Cafe & Bar Bakery in N.Y. / Beach House Bar / Gee Bee Cafe

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Cycle of Life I have been making models on and off all my life and over the past few years have combined my interests in art and modelling together to create a whole new direction on my offerings. As I enjoyed making another model of mine called Rustic in 1/6 scale containing an old oil drum and a slice of nature i was very excited when Fernando Vallejo asked if i could build another similar project and document the progress using the amazing AK range obviously. Well I couldn’t wait to get started on another in this scale and in this style. This subject this time being an old WWII bicycle. Like the oil drum scene I did I wanted this subject to be in amongst nature’s undergrowth as if the bike is being gradually swallowed up by mother nature and to have been there for decades. As i enjoyed

making nature in miniature in the last project i really wanted to excel in that field in this project. It is both really fun and rewarding to create .I find myself constantly looking at nature in all its offerings at all times of the year Autumn, spring, summer and deepest winter. I am fascinated with its offerings and love to try and create it in miniature. The most important part of my modelling is observation. How things grow ,where they grow and why is all factors that i take into account. Secondly composition plays an important part also as i want to display the piece as if it would feel at home in an art gallery and not just a model show or on a shelf in my hobby room . I get a lot of fun out of photographing my models in the field and try to fool people that the model is real. It helps me strive for the most realistic effects that i can create. Every build i try to improve on the last or at least try a new subject or location i havnt done before. It is a lot harder to create reality in this bigger scale as everything is magnified so much bigger therefore the viewer can see any inaccuracies a lot easier. A stinging nettle for example. The leaves are not just a shape in this scale ,you also have to produce the texture of the leaves also . Magnification changes how you paint all the subjects also to the desired scale. Since doing the oildrum i have found my work being received very well with a world wide audience and not just the modelling world but the art world also. The oildrum and this cycle of life have fared very well receiving Golds at prestigious shows such as Euro militaire and Scale Modelworld along with Best Diorama for 2013 and for that i thank all the people that like this rather new aspect of modelling that i find myself creating these days. So on with the build. To start with i disassembled the front forks and wheels from the readymade action figures bike that i found collecting dust in my garage.

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1 I painted the frame a dark red and the wheels silver as well as the handlebars. Saddle handlebar grips and pedal rubbers were picked out in panzer black/ grey.

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Hairspray was used in preparation for the coat of Dunkelgelb paint.

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Dunkelgelb light was then sprayed on areas of highlight.

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6-15. When dry the paint was scrubbed of with a stiff brush and water and also a hobby knife used for scratches. This was done to quite a severe degree as i wanted the paintwork very worn and chipped to give the illusion of it being neglected for tens of years.

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19 16-19. AK,s Track wash was used neat next to give some of the metal area,s the first stage of rusting. This was great for the old steel parts of the bike like the pedals and chain etc.

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Track wash was also used to weather the wheels. Adding in layers to give the weathering different degrees of wear and grime.

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The saddle was sanded with a sanding stick to give it a well worn look. Simple but very effective.

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22 The parts at the beginning of the next stages of weathering.

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24 23-27. Delux materials scenic rust set was used for the rusting effects on the bike. I find this material suits this scale perfectly as i think the powder may look a bit over scale for 35 scale.

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31 28-34. Scenic rust treatment was then used on the cycle. First you mix up some of the scenic rust powder in equal parts with the binder solution. Then add it to areas that you think it would most likely be rusty. Less is more with this and don’t over do the process or it will fail in it realistic appearance. When this is dry you use the scenic rust developer which is painted over the previous stage. Left for a day or so and you end up with a realistic looking rust that just needs some pigments and washes to finalise the look.

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35-41. AK interactive pigments North Africa Dust was used to put the final touches on the bike. Along with some very weak streaking with AK light rust. The pigment was used on the tyres and the pedals along with the pump and a very dilute filter in locations on the frame. I also added the worn material band that covers the spokes on the rim of the wheel. This was made to look very old with further AK pigments. This all added to an incredibly realistic look to the old bike.

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42-44. Next step i thought i would have a go at making some corrugated galvanised iron sheets that you often see in old scrap yards and builders yards. I have made these in 35 scale before but it will be a lot more challenging in this larger size as the detail in the metal finish is that much more magnified. Oh well i like a challenge so to start with i used some corrugated cardboard and cut it to the size of a roofing sheet that you see on old hut roofs and in fence lines. I then creased the cardboard to represent dents. I painted it in a grey primer first then added a wash of Vallejo silver.

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45-46. I then added some Mig concrete pigment in a very weak wash then a more concentrated mix was used and flicked on to the surface. This produced the look to the galvanised steel that i was after. Greys and silver in various patterns gave it a convincing look of a new sheet but i wanted an old one.

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46-49. The scenic rust treatment was used in the same fashion as it was on the bike at this stage.

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The sheet in its roar cardboard state and at the scenic rust stage described.

50-53. AK interactive light rust wash was used to further enhance the rusty look to the metal sheets. I was very happy with this little experiment and will definitely use it again in the future.

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The AK light rust was then used on parts of the bike again.

54-55. The composition of the diorama was laid out using polystyrene sheets for the build up in the base. Composition is one of the most important aspects to an appealing scene. I like to have things at an angle on the board with some height to the rear and the main aspect in front of the backdrop so the eyes immediately catch in this case the bike before gazing around at details in the scene.

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56-60. The backdrop in this case was a stone built pillar. I started with the initial shape in polystyrene and i covered this in pollyfiller after i sealed the polystyrene with foam armour from Deluxe materials. This works both as a sealer and adhesive for the pollyfiller to adhere too. When the filler was dry i scribed the stone brick shapes into it. I build these in real life so am familiar with how they look and how they are built which helps.

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With the pillar painted in a stone colour and with washes used to pick out the old pointing and pigments used to age it the pillar had the look i was after. I covered the base with the polly filler and when dry i used the foam armour to stick some brick and stone dust to that.

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Some green dyed paintbrush hairs were used for some long grass leading up to the piller fixed with super glue. Part of a buddleia bush was then made to stick out the top. Buddleia bushes will grow anywhere including on buildings and are often seen in wasteland.

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The bike and one sheet of iron was added to the scene for positioning of other materials. House bricks were cut from full size bricks and then broken and cement added to some for the look of old used bricks. Leaf scatter was then added from crushed dried leaves.

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65-68 I made the plant Cow Parsley from dried stems of a thin weed plant and added the fan legs at the top and then added tiny dried and coloured cut up flower petals to finish the look. Once again its all down to observation in the wild.

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69 i took the progress out to the garden and photographed it to see if it was realistic up against a real background. I love this part when the model blends into reality. Happy with how this was looking i went on to

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73 70-76. Another very common weed that you find almost everywhere and grows at a high rate of knots is Bind weed. It will grow around anything it can often strangling other plants. It has white flowers in the summer. Very thin wire was used for the stems of the plant which was painted in an olive green . Then a mixture of dried leaves painted green and paper leaves painted in the same colour for two different types of the weed to be used. I made paper leaves for dandelion weeds at the same time. I super glued the leaves to the wire which was woven around other homemade weed plants . I also added the second piece of corrugated sheeting to the scene to see if the composition was correct. Its all about composition on a scene like this. It can make or break the piece of work.

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Small grass was made from a paintbrush .Hairs dyed and cut then some dipped into superglue then dipped into a very fine sand to give the illusion of seed heads.

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78 a small weed from the garden was picked ,immersed in a solution of glycerine and water then dried and lightly sprayed green in places to act as the undergrowth part for brambles to be added later under the bike frame. I did this to give the bramble layer more bulk and details were not important, i just wanted some dense plant to the area.

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80-83 Ferns were made from wire for the stems then paper leaves with fine scatter added to the surface for the texture of the fronds. This was painted olive green for the live ferns with old dried dead fern added for the old ferns under the new growth. Buddleia bush was made from dried weed stems for the stems and plastic leaves from a miniature artificial houseplant. This was painted different shades of green. The flowers were made from old seed heads dropped from the pine tree in our garden. The perfect size and shape.

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84-85 Balsa wood was used for an old plank on the ground painted in AK wood ageing effects

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85-89. With the other piece of corrugated sheeting painted in the same way as the previously described way i fix the bike to the scene and start to add the all important brambles to give the scene that really overgrown look i was after. I used some dried weed stem for the stem of the brambles. Some were painted green and some a rose red as in reality. Some tiny thorns were added in places from pieces of cut hairs. Paper leaves and dried leaves were used for the bramble leaves once again painted in various shades of green. Blackberries were made from bluetac painted in various green, red and black gloss paints. When dry a pin was used to make impressions in the berries to give the illusion of separate segments. I can easily get lost in a project such as this and it seems the more you do to the model the more i want to keep going. Its quite infectious to me when you see reality being created before your eyes. Random and untidy is the way to go. Mother nature doesn’t much care for keeping things neat and once again observation of the real plants is essential. Bind weed was added to the scene again weaving through the wheel and around the brambles.

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Vallejo blue violet was used to paint the flower heads on the buddleia bush. A nice addition of bright colour to the scene.

92-102 Stinging nettles were next on my list. I have added these to models on a much smaller scale but never in this scale before. With everything being magnified to such a big scale it is a lot harder to recreate reality as the viewer can see so much more detail. For the nettle i used a dried weed for the stem and then used embossed type paper for the leaves cutting out different sizes. Larger leaves to the bottom gradually getting smaller to the top. Painted a dark sap green. To finish these of i used some tiny seeds for the seed balls of the nettles. These turned out great but were very time consuming to make, great fun though.The scene now was done apart from adding cobwebs to the saddle area and inside the lamp on the bike and under one of the corrugated sheets. All places where spiders would lurk.

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Since completing the model we had a family and friends get together and one person i had not seen for a long time asked if i am still doing artwork and if so what am i doing nowadays. To this i showed the person a picture on my tablet of the bike against the real background. Well sorry Andy was the reply, i think that is rubbish. I was a bit surprised but thought ok you can’t please everyone. The said person then said I don’t call getting an old bike and throwing it in some brambles and taking a picture of it art, Don’t like modern art Andy. I then said this is a model and showed them the model in the display cabinet. Can’t say the exact words they said but it was in the vein of, Get away i thought it was real. That was the higest compliment I could get for the work. The finished model has won the highest of awards at both Euro militaire and Scale model world but my highest award was it along with the oil drum being wanted for inclusion in the Roberto Aguilera collection in Mexico Thank you Roberto. Thanks to Fernando Vallejo for commissioning the build for this book. I am already working on the next piece in this series.

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The story of this model is one of several years. It was built years ago, back than only the engine was painted to serve as the box art for the AK-Interactive Engines and metal weathering set AK-087. But we from AK waste no model, so we decided to revisit the model and have another go. Completely rebuilding it by adding lots of missing detail, the model was previously build straight from the box with the exception of the engine which was detailed up with some wiring. DETAILS Lots of details, in the form of bolts and weld seams are missing from the kit. But before we started detailing I opted to apply a coat of primer to make possible flaws in the construction more visible. Next the model was dry fitted to confirm the fit of the parts. To strengthen the effect of a rusted abandoned vehicle some rust holes were made with a burr mounted in a motor tool. But don’t overdo this; use it more as an extra detail. The floor of the driver’s station was also sanded down, replacing the moulded on anti-slip with some photo-etch plates from an Aber sheet. The dials of the dashboard were also drilled out. The blade of this bulldozer needed the most attention. First all the missing weld seams were applied with Magic Sculp and brought into shape with

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the rear end of a drill bit. Next all the joints were detailed with round and hexagonal nuts made with a punch and die. Finally the seat... To make a convincing worn seat is not so easy so I opted for a different approach, leave the seat off! This left me with the support for the seat including rails to make and that was it, much simpler . PAINTING The complete model was base coated with mixture of Old Rust and Red from AK. Next several rust tones were applied with a sponge to get some variation in tone. When dry the model was sealed with Matt Varnish and the Worn effect and Heavy chipping acrylic fluid was applied by airbrush. The yellow base coat was applied next in several thin layers and then the fun could begin. With the use of a toothpick, cotton bud and an old short haired brush I started removing the paint. The best way to do is by wetting the surface first with tap water to let it dissolve the chipping fluids for a few minutes. This took several hours to complete the process a section at a time. After this the model was cleaned to get rid of residue. To stop the chipping fluids from working and to seal the finish another coat of varnish was applied and the model was set to dry overnight.

Bull dozer WEATHERING The airbrush was loaded again with rusty tones and light shadows were applied in corners and edges. This was done very lightly to show some deterioration in the yellow paint. Next some further chipping was carried out with the sponges again especially on the larger flaked paint chips. To create depth the model was outlined with Track wash and Rust streaks from AK mixed together in various proportions to enhance the look of a rusty vehicle. Streaks were painted on with the same colors, but also with light rust oil paint from AK. The floor or the drivers station is treated with Crusted rust deposits ‘ Light rust’ to obtain a dry rusty surface. The tracks were first sponge chipped and when dried followed first by a light rusty wash, then when the wash is still wet another wash was applied with heavily thinned European earth pigments thinned with pigment fixer. This way the washes mix and result in a light dusty and rusty color. The front of the blade was sprayed with several rusty colors in a cloud pattern to obtain some depth. The next day the front of the blade received a light rust wash. Not much more you can do on this big rusty surface to keep some realism. FINISHING OFF The hydraulic lines were added and painted in a dark grey color. To finish off, some oil stains were painted on but very sparingly. Some dried up oil stains were added and for this AK082 Engine grime is perfectly suited. Then all the subassemblies were assembled and the size of this model becomes clear, it’s huge at almost 32 cm long!

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The model is primed to check the construction for flaws and before the detailing, flaws can be rectified without damaging the details.

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After the test fitting it became clear some work was needed to obtain a perfect fit.

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To show some extra wear and tear a few holes are ground with a burr placed in a motor tool, this creates the effect that rust has eaten through the metal.

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Don’t overdo this effect, just use it as an extra detail.

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The drivers station before detailing.

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The same brought bang up to date be replacing the floor with photo-etch parts, bolts added and the dials of the dashboard are drilled out to enhance the look of an abandoned vehicle.

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The beam at the rear is detailed up with bolts made with the punch and die. These details will also play an important role during the weathering as these can be painted and weathered differently resulting in a nice contrast.

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The back of the blade needs the most attention, many weld seams are added and details such as missing bolts. The joints are also detailed up with bolts.

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The seat from the kit and the support for the ‘missing’ seat made from plasticard. The seat from the kit look too much like a toy and further more a worn seat isn’t the easiest task to tackle so we opted for a simple way out.

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The hydraulic lines are made from elastic hollow wire and connected by pins, these will be left out till after the painting stages.

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The complete model was base coated in a reddish brown rust color mixed from AK’s old rust and red acrylic paints.

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To create some difference in tone the model was sponge chipped completely with several rust tones to obtain as much variation in tone as possible.

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Next a coat of Matt Varnish the models was airbrushed with either Worn Effect or Heavy Chipping fluids depending on the parts. We treat some parts differently depending on the level of deterioration in mind.

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Using my trusty Harder&Steinbeck Infinty airbrush the model was base coated in yellow. Such light colors are best build up in several thin layers for the best results.

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The chipping begins: first we wet the surface with tap water so the chipping fluids can dissolve, then a toothpick, cotton bud and a short haired brush were used to remove the yellow paint in desired places.

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18 19 After the treatment with the chipping fluids is over the model is sealed with Matt varnish and set aside to dry overnight before the next weathering phases can start.

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Very subtle some shadows were airbrushed on to create some depth and shadows in the model. A mixture of rust colors is used.

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Again we used the sponge chipping technique to enhance the larger chippings created earlier so everything blends in together.

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The drive sprocket was painted in a dark brown rusty color which served as a base for further treatment.

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The radiator was painted in flat silver.

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The drive sprocket was also sponge chipped with lighter rust tones for more effects.

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The radiator received a dark brown wash. It will be barely visible but it needs to be done.

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Our Bulldozer was completely outlined with dark brown rust tones. First we applied the mixture of Track Wash and Rust streaks in all corners and edges.

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When it has set for several minutes a brush moistened with White Spirit was used to blend the paint in and create shadows and depth.

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Streaks were painted one by one by hand, use several different colors. But also get some variation in the shape and size of the streaks for more realism.

The engine you may know from the box art of the AK Engine and metal weathering set. It’s nicely weathered but out of place if we leave it this way.

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So it’s also chipped with rust tones and treated with rusty washes, streaks were painted on to make it fit with the rest of the model.

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This filler cap was painted in aluminium to make it stand out from the rest of the model and it would provide a nice contrast. With light rust deposits the floor was given a wash which results, once dry, in a nice overall rusty and dusty finish.

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Light rust oil paint was dotted on straight from the tube.

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Because if something is out of place the bonnet will not fit perfectly and will ruin the model. It was a tight fit and there a lot of test fitting and adjusting needed in earlier stages.

The tracks were chipped with light rust colors to break up the monotone base coat.

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A wash of light rust deposits was applied over both the tracks.

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And with a dry flat brush the oil paint is blended out creating a subtle rusty sheen.

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The driver’s station and engine were fitted, make sure everything fits perfect and is perfectly aligned.

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And before the wash was dry another wash this time mixed from European Earth pigments and pigment fixer was applied allowing both washes to mix and dry into a nice light dusty and rusty color.

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The front of the blade was airbrushed in rust tones in a cloud pattern to create some depth.

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When dry it was followed by a light rust wash.

The tracks are on, no need here to create some sag as the tracks are well supported.

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The piston rods are rusty but for more realism, as they are normaly quite shiny, they were chipped with silver paint applied with a sponge.

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Finally on the grease nipples and in and around joints some oil stains, and dry oil stains were painted on.

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Since a long time now, I devoted myself to reproduce parts of french streets, blind alleys, workshops or simple façades from the 40’s to the 60’s with their derelict look, faded letterings, chipping paints... I constently try to express my feelings through utmost three dimensional scenes to capture the atmosphere of a bygone age. Among all the elements which ”make” this urban landscape, one is typical : the decayed walls, the dilapidated façades. This is a “generic” topic which could be useful for various types of miniature buildings and in any scales. With the help of polyurethan foam and filler, I will show in this following step-by-step photo sequence how to obtain a realistic façade of this kind. Of course, our main interest will be in the different methods for degrading and ageing the structure which allow us to obtain a convincing decayed appearence in scale...

Walls of decay

Setting the scene... To describe this technique, I have taken as an example the creation of a simple façade which takes part of a new serie in larger scale intitled “urban agonies”. This topic will deal with the different steps in the design and construction, as well as how I brought some details from Addonparts to the structure, or the way I hand - made others.. Let’s see how to proceed...

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The first step is of course to gather together the main material to start the building. For instance I will need polyurethan foamboard of 5 mm of thickness ( I insist : polyurethan foam, from Canson ), some Evergreen strips ( such as # 249 & # 137 ), water based filler and some very fine items from AddonParts such as wooden shutters and doors, metallic anchors moulded in resin.

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A sheet of foamboard is cut to the dimensions required for the façade I previously drew on graduaded paper. After the top layer card is carefully peeled back from the surface to be impressed, I then firstly cut out the openings always using a new blade for a neat and clean cut.

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To imitate the bricks, emboss them in the foam (on areas where the stucco is missing), I’ve made a tool which will allow me to impress the shape of them into the material. For instance here, this “master” was hand-made in an old fine paint brush : the end of the handle was carefully hollowed out, then the tool itself is pressed in using fine pliers and smoothed with a small flat file. At last, I obtain a tool which is easy to grip and work with.

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Once the bricks are simulated, you can go farther for a fine realistic effect by reproducing the state of decay. For instance you can easily go over the impressed bricks in places and cut away more savagely to imitate damaged pointing. Here, I judiciously imitate some missing parts of bricks or modified ones to bring variations. I lightly hollow out the foam by using the point of a needle held in a pin vice.

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After I’ve determined the areas where the stucco has flaked off, crumbled away, I emboss the bricks into the foam with or without the help of a metallic rule as a guide. Thanks to the porosity of this material, the brickwork thus created also have a certain surface texture which is very interesting in scale. Take care not to apply so much force that you pearce the foam.

On random places I accentuate the rendering of the joints between the bricks by simulating some “rolls” of cement pouring off. Here I employ the water based filler (the same as for stucco) carefully added with a fine bruh. At this stage, you can also bring more effects by imitating parts of cement used to fill shallower holes : in this case you can leave the spots of filler ups alone or some can be polished with a chisel blade or a small spatula...

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Then it’s time to apply the filler on the foam by using a spatula or a small chisel blade. Ths first thing is to apply a thin coat under 1mm of thickness. The second point is to split up the work by areas, taking care to always start by the openings. Once the filler is applied, I let it dry 15 mm or so then I smooth the surface with a lightly moistened finger to give a certain uniformity to the “stucco”.

The drawn cracks are then “physically” repeated with the needle previously used and worked over with a small diamond file. Here I go really softly when making it : take care not to make crevasses ! However, if the groove is too deep, you can always rectify by applying more filler with a small paintbrush to mask the overemphasized fissure.

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Once it’s done, some architectural items are scratch-built using foam, plastic card and the Evergreen strips : this will be particularly the case with the windows stays, cornice, exposed wooden lintel and beam, cut to fit in the openings or the wall.

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After a two days wait, the filler is hardened and ready to be patiently sanded with abrasive # 400 grade paper. The aim is to obtain a very regular, flat surface. When doing this, the dust powder is regularly cleaned off from the surface wit a small brush and above all at last removed from the joints of the bricks. Old stucco has always cracks, and these must be imitated in a realistic way. For my part, I systematically draw them by advance with a fine black pencil, following more or less real examples...

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On random places where the stucco has flaked off, I re-work the drelict effect by using the chisel blade to give the edges a natural crumble looking...

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Then I continue farther with the ageing effects by using an engraving point - this time – to give a decayed appearence to the cornice, edges of openings and so on. I always work on various places, without any plans to bring many physical “chips” of all sizes.

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The façade ready, some little items are then added such as metallic gardrails on the 1st floor window. The overall surface is painted with two coats of enamel paint 28 Humbrol much diluted with 30% of mineral spirit. Here I simply use a large # 10 paintbrush to apply them.

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While the paint is drying, I take advantage of this to re-work, improve one of the shutters from Addonparts and give it an advanced decayed appearence so that to fit with the derelict façade. After I’ve taken off a metallic reinforcement, I then break teh glowing aspect and bring some “decades” to the wood, first by performing some incisions, and in a second time by deeply engraving some joints between the planks. The second shutter as well as the door are left the way they are, but will later receive a heavy ageing.

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Focus on the façade as it looks with its “primer” coats and its details.

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16 Now we can start the colouring steps with enamel paints to give a first “basic” shade to the surface. So that to reproduce a “generic” decayed stucco, I always use the same shades : light grey, white, medium grey and beige ( Humbrol 28/34/64/110). For these first coats, I’ll principally need sheets of sponge as well as # 2 and # 4 large paintbrushes.

17 Now that this preparatory work is ended, the serious business begins using these enamel shades. Afer I’ve put small dabs of each colour in a palette, I soaked pieces of synthetic sponge alternately in teh different colours which are pat on the façade. I work progressively in small areas of about three/ four centimeter square. The aim is to blend the colours - without any extra precisons at this stage – Once it’s done, I re work the overall surface from top to bottom, employing the colours brushed on almost dry with the # 4 paintbrush...

18 ... then to bring more contrasts, I roughly underline the surrounds of the crackles and the edges with matt white. You don’t need to be in precise work once again there, it’s simply to add more variations to this underneath coat..

19 A first wash of matt black (40% of paint + 60% of water) is brushed from top to bottom on the overall surface. This one will thicken the different shades, as well as lightly underline the crackles and bring a first interesting dull aspect to the façade. Now let it completely dry one day or so...

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20 Now it’s time to imitate the definitive derelict stucco with the heavy chipping fluid and acrylic paints. I will mainly use Vallejo paints matt white, ivory, medium and dark grey as well as some shades from AK ( 720, 734 & 792).

21 The first step is to apply a basic coat of fluid on to the surface, let it dry 15-20 minutes, then to apply a second coat from top to bottom. Here I employ a large AK # 8 flat brush...

22 After ten minutes, I start to “paint” the surface the same way I did with the enamel, but this time with # 4 old large paintbrushes to dab the shades on the façade and mix them together onto the surface. The recesses under the cornice are coloured much more in a dark shade using mainly the dark grey paint to emphasize the shadows.

23 Then, it’s the long time work of chipping employing first the old paintbrush previously used to imitate large areas of chips, then using a small wooden stick to reproduce much more precise and smaller one, mainly on the edges of the crackles. At last, you can obtain a realistic aspect of weather beaten stucco with its subbtle contrasts and variations. However, work slow and take your time!

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To mark more precisely the cracks (already visibles with the black wash), I then make a pin-wash using the dark grey AK 720 much diluted with water. At this moment, the façade is starting to reveal a different aspect...

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... which I continue to work with a second effect of peeling, this time to reproduce “relics” of an old yellow paint. Once again, I use the AK heavy chipping, but on random places only, then I work the same way as I did before to mimic the yellow chips.

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So that to bring much more contrasts to the façade, I initialy undertook to simulate some letterings painted onto the gable to advertise a joinery business. The basis for receiving this typography is coloured after applying a layer of worn effect fluid AK. Here the background is painted using two tones of green, buffered / mixed together on the surface with small pieces of sponge to obtain different random shades. At last, the white line delimiting this part is hand-painted with matt white.

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As I did for the derelict stucco effect, I then employ the heavy chipping effect to reproduce large or smaller chips, this to fit in the overall aspect of derelict I already give to the façade, not less not more...

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Tooking inspiration from original situations I saw in photos of the 40’s / 50’s gables, I then apply various dry transfers using light pressure with a soft pencil. Here I previuosly drew the example on graph paper so that to mimic rendering of palimpsest ( superimposition of old inscriptions) and worn / faded letterings.

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The first step with teh ageing process is to lightly sand the surface with very fine grade abrasive always from top to bottom. This will not only more or less simulate a second weathered effect to the overall painted surface, but also trim the letterings at the same time. After this, you can more precisely improve the effect with a fine metallic point until you get a visually satisfying result, according to the “amount” of decay required. The residue are then removed softly with a large flat paintbrush.

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So that to blend the basics of the sign with teh rest of the façade, I work a piece of sponge alternately in ivory and medium grey from vallejo to bring more subtle effects.

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I continue with a long work of micro-painting (or micro- weathering should I say ) by re-working all the edges of the cracks with a mixture of matt white and ivory ( 50% + 50% ) applied judiciously in various small touches with a # 0 retouching brush. The façade at this moment really begins to have a sympathetic appearence...

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However, working on very precise ageing effects, I take advantage of this opportunity to add much more small chips using the acrylic dark grey shade. This is done on random places using alternately a sponge or the fine # 0 brush for more variations.

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To mimic streaks from the cornice (as can sometimes be seen on this kind of antique building), I will make use of “Old grease” & “Tire grey” pigments from Wilder products... Sure this is an unusual use, but it perfectly works. After I mixed them together, I dry brush the powder from top to bottom with fine paintbrushes guided by a metallic rule. Once again I vary the size of the drips to give an overall realistic aspect.

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The next step is to colour the bricks. Here I use an invariable method summarized in 3 points : A/ The bricks are coloured with mixtures of acrylics from Liquitex (Burnt sienna + Cadmium grey + Ivory black). You can obtain a wide range of subbtle colours to reproduce the numerous tones which can be observed in real bricks. B/ Once the paint is dry, white or light grey pigments are stamped onto the surface with an old brush. After the excess is removed, the pigments that remain are worked into the joints using a moistened finger or a soft cloth dampened with clear water. C/ Each brick is fianly dry-brushed - or not – with the mixtures previously made , or with cadmium red + medium grey and so on to bring once again much more variations.

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Now it’s time to colour the wooden parts. As for the bricks, I use a generic “primer” coat to mimitate old wood. For instance, I employ enamel paints 28/64/98/110 to give the items an overall look of “wishywashy” door and shutters immediately... The paints much diluted with mineral spirit are applied in no particular order first with a # 2 large brush from top to bottom (and blended to obtain interwoven shades), then in second with a fine brush to bring much more precise contrasts.

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When the paint has completely dried, a wash of matt black acrylic is applied to the surface. At the first, it will appear to negate the previous painting step, but as soon as this wash is dry it will emphasize the joints and the “grain”.

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To be logical with the green already applied on the façade, the shutters and the door receive the same colours, here applied with a large paintbrush #2. To bring a little more variations and break the uniformity, I added two extra shades : a green –blue and a yellowbrown which will be “chipped” in a usual manner after applying the worn effects fluid once again...

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Then, I re-work the effect of wear with the help of acrylics “Light grey” and “Light grey-brown” available in teh set “ Old weathered wood # 2” from AK. I mainly work in a micro-painting manner with tiny touches tio emphasize the very small areas where the paints has completely worn away.

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Finally, the shutters and door are glued and some details where the metal is exposed are underlined. This is particulary the case of the gardrails, chipped the usual way and then rubbed with a stump soaked with AK dark steel pigments.

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At last, you can add a bunch of other details to give more life to your façade : masonry anchors, electrical cables or even like this enamel tin plates...You will of course take care in advance to reproduce small rust flakes, or the ever more pronounced corosion at the edges...

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41 Here’s the façade after these main ageing steps are ended. Of course you can go further and further... For my part it is self-even to tell a story, or symbolize an era...

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Rustic 1:6 scale oil drum diorama This diorama came about completely by luck. It all started when I was requested to do a how to article on how to use Delux materials rust treatment. Well i was off work at the time recovering from an operation when i decided to start the article little did i know then that this was just the start of good things to come. The small article was done but after it was complete the drum turned into a major works diorama that was probably my best work to date and something completely different. To start i initially had the thought of doing the article with an armour subject in 35 scale but feeling lazy at the time i wanted to look for something with minimal building. Not fancying anything in the cabinet already made i went in the garage for a browse. There sat on the back of my 1/6 scale Tiger 1 tank was a German fuel drum made out of aluminium. Perfect, no building to do just some distress work and i am ready to go. And so on with the build.........

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I started with the aluminium oil drum in 1/6 scale and sanded and drilled out some of the can to represent rusting through. I also dented the can to give it a worn and beaten look.

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The can then received a coat of Halfords grey primer to seal it in prep for the painting stage.

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Vallejo air panzer medium brown was then airbrushed on for the rust base coat.

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Vallejo orange was then sprayed on in light bursts to give the base coat some variation in tones and colour.

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A coat of Johnsons clear was then sprayed on to seal the paint coats in preparation for the next stages.

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A coat of hairspray was then sprayed over the entire drum and left a few minutes to dry.

Vallejo German yellow was then lightly sprayed over leaving some variation of thickness to leave some of the base colour to show through. This all adds to the variations in tones to the finished model.

Then after it has dried the paint is gently scrubbed off using an old stiff brush and plain water. The hairspray is softened and the paint will lift of revealing the sealed basecoat underneath and giving the can the old chipped paint look. Be careful on this stage and don’t scrub to hard. Practice on an old model or plastic card first if you are new to the technique.

Result of the previous step, looking at real images is the best way to get the most realistic result.

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I then lightened some of the yellow colour and painted some very fine highlights to some of the chips just for further added interest to the look.

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When this had dried overnight the next stage was to start the rusting. For this i used the Delux materials scenic rusting set. First up i mixed the scenic rust powder with some of the binder in equal parts mixing it in the tub provided until it was a thin sludgy paste.

When the solution has dried which didn’t take long in the summer heat outside (15 minutes) It was time to paint on the scenic rust developer. This reacts with the small metal fibres and creates real rust. It takes a while to really show up and is best left for a day to see how the result has come out. If after that time you want a heavier look then just repeat the procedure in the required area,s

This was then painted to area,s of highest rusting on the drum. I didn’t just paint it all over as that would not look realistic. It needed to have areas of thick rust and areas where you can see the chipped paint. This Scenic rust set i have found is more suited to this scale as it is more in scale on larger scales than on 1/35 scale but i have achieved a satisfactory look in the smaller scale.

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20 AK streaking grime was then added to areas where leaking would be present on the drum. Then AK rust effect colours wre thinned and used in various area,s for more variation to the tones of rust and also for some very thin streaking using AK,s size 3 brush.

21 Here we can see the very realistic look to the drum when all the previous procedures have been used. It really does look like it has been around for decades.

22 Here we can see the scale of the drum against a 1/35 scale figure.

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The Diorama That was the drum finished and i was very happy with the result. While i was sat in the garden with a cup of tea admiring my efforts on the drum i had the idea of setting this model in a small setting. Something like an old builders yard or disused piece of land somewhere. With the result on the drum being so convincing in photos as to looking like the real thing i wanted to extend the realistic look to the small scene and wanted it to be convincing in pictures as to being the real thing. The most important thing on doing a scene like this is observation. Look at real locations as to how real plants grow and what a disused or neglected piece of land looks like and what you would find in such a location. I started by cutting a piece of plywood to the required size and covered it with a layer of polyfiller and when dry i coated the area with PVA glue and sprinkled a mixture of sand and brick and cement dust on to the glue. Being in the building trade i collect a lot of builders dust from the back of my truck. It comes in very handy on projects such as this.

23 To start with i built part of a wooden pallet seen in a lot of area’s of neglect in builders yards. This was made from balsa wood and put together with tiny nails to represent the real thing completely. This was then aged with washes of greys from Vallejo paint. A shiny bucket was then bought from Hobby craft in the same scale as the drum. It was very shiny tin and looked to perfect. So i set about making it look like a galvanised builders bucket by spraying various shades of silver and grey paint on it. Again have something to represent the real thing is essential. Grey/silver was then flicked onto the surface of the bucked leaving a very convincing galvanised look to it. The hairspray technique was then used along with a gloss white paint to achieve the chipped painted look. The bucket was then crushed and weathered. Real cement was mixed up and used in the bucket and then scraped out leaving a very convincing old builders bucket.

24 Paintbrush hairs were dyed green and used for tall grass along with various photo etched plants for weeds. Dried pieces of real plants were also used as weeds along with dried leaves cut into small pieces for old leaf scatter.

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25-26-27 Dandelion weeds were made from paper for the leaves, wire for the seed ball stem and Halloween cobweb was used to make the seed ball head.

28-29 Brambles were made from dried twigs and thorns put onto them.

30 Weeds also made from wire.

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31-32-33-34 Leaves from a fern were dried ,pressed and painted in both underside and upper parts of leaves. Lighter for the underneath and darker for the top. These were used for the bramble leaves amongst others on the scene.

35 The scene is really beginning to take shape now.

36 The beginning of the Buddleia bush with dried leaves for ground scatter

37-38-39 A butterfly was made out of paper with bluetac for the body and hairs for the antennae. This was then painted from reference pictures to represent a red admiral butterfly. Seed heads from a pine tree were painted to represent the heads of the buddleia bush which attract such butterflies.

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40 pictured against a real background this is looking quite convincing. Gunzee sanyo clear was mixed with white spirits and blown through the airbrush to create cobwebs. This i saw in a modelling book called advanced techniques. With a bit of practice you can produce quite convincing webs. Perfect for my little scene.

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42-43-44 A spider was made from two tiny polystyrene ballsfor the body and paint brush bristles for the legs. Then trimmed and painted black/brown with Vallejo acrylics.

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45-46-47 A tiny ladybird was made from green stuff and added to one of the leaves on the brambles.

48-49-50 Green stuff was also used to make apples and segments for wasps bodies. The apples were then broken into and scraped out to look like a half eaten apple. This was then painted in oils.

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51-52-53 The parts of the wasps bodies were put together with superglue. A real wasp was used for reference as to how they should look.

54-55-56-57 Tiny wings were cut to scale from dead flies wings and added. The wasps were positioned on the apple with one actually inside the apple. This was a great touch to the scene and was fun to do.

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58-59 A dragon fly’s body was made from Green stuff next and painted silver. When dry a wash of blue was added to give it that metallic blue look. Flying ant wings were used for the wings. Perfect timing for flying ants to hatch out in the garden. For me anyway, not the ants.

60-61-62 Well this is starting to turn into tiny slice of nature now. What next. Snails. So off i went and collected some snails and using one as reference i made a few using the green stuff once more. I painted them in acrylics once more from the Vallejo range. I glued these to the side of the wooden pallet just as you would see in real life.

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63-64 To finish this project i wanted to add some slimey looking snail trails. How can i achieve this i thought? I discussed this with my wife and she came up with the perfect solution. The raw whites of an egg will give the same type look. Excellent i thought and when tried turned out a treat. I tweezered on two lines of slimy egg whites and it looked perfect.

When pictured against a real background this proved to be very convincing.

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This model was taken to two major model shows and was well received getting a Gold award at Euro militaire as well as Scale model world and also received the Best Diorama of the show 2013. But most importantly it was both fun and very addictive to create.

THE IDEA This build started off with a conversation on the phone with my good friend Andrew Argent, we were discussing projects and I mentioned one of my Fathers old tractors and how I would like to make it for him as a Christmas present. After seeing and discussing Andrews work with him in person at shows it filled me with great inspiration looking at his projects, it made me think of what we see in person in our everyday lives. We are literally spoilt by the plethora of model kits currently on the market but sometimes it’s more fun and challenging to just build something you would walk past without noting or paying attention too, in my case it was my Fathers tractor. It has been sitting at the back of our barn for as long as I can remember but I have never looked at it in an artistic view. In its own right it is a collectable classic but I wasn’t really interested in its rarity or how collectable it has become, I

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s aw a wonderful diorama in the works complete with oil, grease, dust and dried mud to be all created in miniature! The engine starts but it hasn’t been driven for a long time, this meant that the wheels had dried crusty thick mud in the treads and the bonnet and raised areas were full of dust. A recent head gasket repair and a rather sloppy oil change meant there was oil galore over the engine (and barn floor!). The tyres on the left side are also flat and all this presents a wonderful ‘barn find’ look, just the thing us modellers want to replicate. The Build

I trawled the internet trying to find a suitable model of the Fordson Super Major and nothing in my preferred scale of 1/35 turned up, a few resin tractor kits but nothing that would do for our Major. But further investigation lead to a 1/16 Die cast 50 year edition Ernest Doe collectable. This was perfect, a large scale but not over the top and it was the exact same model as my Fathers 1962 treasure. It came complete with a ‘muddy’ field base, certificate of authenticity and an acrylic display case, very nice indeed! But it wasn’t long before the extras were omitted and the lovely pristine factory fresh Major was stripped of parts and suitably damaged. I must admit that this felt a little wrong destroying such a fine collectable but this had to be done to replicate our old one. First to go was the tyres and then the smaller partssuch as the radiator grills, headlights, seat and cushions, bonnet handles, number plate, signs and decals, exhaust and wheel weights. Now I had a relatively blank canvas to start spraying over the glossy paint work.

Major Refurb

THE PAINT JOB After a rub down with scotch-brite to kill the gloss and give a base for the paint to adhere to I sprayed the tractor with Vallejo Dark Prusia Blue thinned down with Vallejo’s own new formula thinner through the Badger Patriot Air Brush. I then highlighted some areas to give a light colour modulation with Pastel Blue Model color, again thinned and shot through the airbrush in light coats. Up next came the engine and surrounding areas, this was picked out with a red brown colour to work as a base for the grimy weathering to come. The engine needed some chipping and small rusting in areas, a fine tipped brush was used for this by hand and again with different shades of brown and blue from the Vallejo range. Once the engine had the desired amount of chipping and rust I started with the washes. Track Wash and Engine Oil from AK were generously applied all around the detailed areas which gave a rather satisfying amount of grime. Where the recent oil change had taken place the side of the engine

was covered in black thick oil and dirt. To create this I made a mix of AK Black Pigment and Vallejo Gloss Varnish, this was then lavishly applied with an old brush around the engine. A touch of AK Engine Oil was again used here to give an even oilier representation. Once I was happy with the engine I moved onto the rusty seat. This has seen better days and was a real treat to recreate. Starting off with a base coat of Life Color’s UA907 I painted the seat by hand. Then using the sponge technique I then proceeded to randomly dab the seat with a lighter rust colour UA702, again with the sponge I finished with the lightest tone UA703. Now I had my rusty seat it was time for the white but before then I had to dab some HumbrolMaskol on with a sponge to create the chipping effect. Once the Maskol had dried I sprayed on some Tamiya Medium Grey and Flat White then with my finger I rubbed off the Maskol and created a realistic chipped effect. A matt coat was applied and then time for the washes from AK mainly DAK Wash and Interior Wash, an AK Filter for brown wood was then used for the rusty sections. This filter although meant for wood works perfectly for orange rust. I moved onto the body of the tractor next and gave the panel lines and recesses a Wash with AK Brown for yellow vehicles. Next came some more micro chipping on the body work with a brush by hand, concentrating on the reference photos and not going over the top which is very easy at this stage. All the areas of steel (not that there is many) were painted with AK’s new range of wax based metal paints. The mechanical areas at the back, PTO shaft and tow hitch etc are very rusty in the reference photos so careful speckling was used here. A mix of European Earth and Light Rust was sprinkled over this whole area then using a stiff brush AK Rust Streaks was flicked over the pigment layer, this absorbed in the pigment and gave a nice appearance of age old textured rust. Once I was happy with the look of the tractor I re-attached the Fordson badges and gave the whole tractor a light dusting of a heavily thinned Tamiya Buffthrough the airbrush. The tyres needed a good going over and to begin the worn appearance a large coarse sanding stick-

was used tosand down the tread.Then to represent the flat tyres I sawed off the bottom of the tyre and replaced it with a putty ‘flat tyre’. This was very simple and was shown to me by Professional Modeller and good friend Daniel Brooker. I made a sausage shape out of Aves Epoxy Putty and pressed it in to the tyre and slightly modified the creases with a cocktail stick. The same process was used on the front tyre also. Once happy I sprayed the tyres with AK 720 Tyres and then highlighted with Vallejo Mode Air light grey. To represent the wear and ‘smooth’ look of the side wall of the tyres I used AK’s new ‘Paint Stripper’ product, this was applied with a cotton bud and rubbed around the side of the tyre removing the acrylic paint that I had previously sprayed on. This left me with the bare black colour that was on the original plastic/rubber part of the tyre. The same process was applied to the raised tyre lugs, a quick dusting with the Tamiya Buff again and I had well-worn dusty base on my tyres. To further enhance the dried muddy look I chose some pigments again from the AK range, usually I apply and fix pigments with enamel thinner, but this time I chose a slightly different method. I made a mix of European Earth pigment, Vallejo Acrylic Matt Varnish and some fine fibres to act as grass. This paste was generously spread onto the inside of the raised tyre lugs (any excess that spilled onto the top off the lugs is wiped away with the neat Varnish and a cotton bud) this was then quickly blasted with the hair dryer on a low setting. This is somewhat unorthodox as the hair dryer usually blows away the pigment dust but in this case the varnish is very thick and holds the pigment in place to the model. The heat of the hairdryer makes the varnish and pigment dry very quickly and start to crack, just like real mud does when it dries in the sun on a hot summer’s day. The tyres need to be put back on the wheels now and this was the most challenging part of the build, with a lot of blue language and puffing noises the tyres finally slid onto the rims. The tractor is nearing completion now and the only things left to do are add the number plates and little bits and pieces. I want to thank my buddy Scott Girvan for supplying me with the custom set of decals for the number plates, after emailing him some pictures of the plates he then edited them on the PC and printed them out at the correct size on decal paper for me.

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the tractor 1-2 Here we can see the original 50th anniversary Ernest Doe & Sons Die Cast model that had to be stripped of parts to represent the old tractor in the barn. The glossy paint work was rubbed down with Scotch-Brite and then matted down with varnish to allow the new paint job to adhere.

Vallejo Model Color paints where heavily thinned down with the brands own thinner and sprayed on in thin layers to slowly build up the new aged paint job. Working from dark to light a subtle colour modulation effect was achieved.

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5 The engine bay was masked out carefully with Tamiya Masking tape and then sprayed a light brown tone through the airbrush to act as a rusty base for the further heavy weathering to come.

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Now the weathering has begun, chipping effects have been created with the use of a sponge and some dark brown paint. A fine brush and a steady hand also created the chips along with the rust. Note the change in blue colours, these were the same Vallejo Paints used on the body work.

A pin wash with AK Interactive Track Wash brings the details out and helps refine the interesting shapes found around the engine compartment. This was applied generously with a number two brush and when dry the excess was removed with a cotton bud damp with enamel thinners.

9 Life Color’s rust paints are excellent for creating a thick age old rust appearance and worked perfectly here as a base for the seat. The darkest tone was applied by hand with a brush and the two lighter tones were applied with a sponge create a chipped appearance.

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Here we can see a generous amount of AK Interactive Engine Oil and Track Wash being used, I wasn’t afraid of putting the wash on heavy here as further layers of weathering to come would even this all out and blend it together nicely.

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Once dry I applied some HumbrolMaskol again with the sponge, this dry’s within minutes and is ready for a coat of white paint to be put on over the top.

The maskol has now been removed and has left the seat with a chipped appearance, Washes and Filters from the AK Interactive range bring this seat to life.

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To achieve the thick mucky grease found on the side of the tractor I had to create this from a mix of AK Interactive Black Pigment and Vallejo Acrylic Varnish. Using a small pot I mixed a paste like consistency of the Pigment and Varnish and applied it generously around the areas thick with oil and grease. If it was a little thick in places I would water down some Varnish and apply it on the areas with a big round brush. The pigment would absorb the Varnish and leave a life like appearance.

13 The body work of the Tractor received a Dark Brown Wash in all the panel lines and nooks and crannies. This brought out the detail and left a dusty, muddy look to the old body work.

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The tractorhas seen a lot of hard work through theyears and this inevitably has left some dings, scrapes and general damage to the body work. This had to be replicated carefully as over doing the chipping by hand can easily be done, so extra care was taken with a fine brush and Life Color paints to recreate the micro chipping.

18 There wasn’t many steel parts to recreate on the tractor but what parts there was on show was easily achieved by using AK Interactive new AK457 Steel paint. Simply brush on and in this case some slight buffing with my finger brought out the shine.

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19. The rear of the tractor needed some serious rusting, just general washes over a brown base coat wouldn’t do here, so some layers of AK Pigments were used and a careful speckling with Rust Streaks gave me the look I was after. Any over spray from the speckling on the body work was simply wiped away with enamel thinners. 20. Rust tones from Life Color came to the rescue again here and like the seat the darkest brown was painted on by hand then the following lighter shades were applied with a sponge. 21. HumbrolMaskol was sparingly applied with a sponge, then the liquid mask was allowed to air dry before the coat of white went on. 22. Tamiya XF-2 Flat White mixed with Tamiya’s own thinner was sprayed on the exhaust through the airbrush in light coats. 23. Once the Tamiya Flat White had fully cured it was time to remove the HumbrolMaskol, this was simply done by rubbing my finger along the exhaust, as the Liquid Mask is removed it pulls away from the paint revealing the dark rust base and giving the appearance of lovely chipped paint. 24. To finish this off a thinned down wash of AK Interactive Track Wash was applied, tiny amount of Black Pigment again from AK was dabbed on the tip of the exhaust to represent the soot of the diesel fumes.

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25 The Barn where the Tractor is parked is extremely dusty and has no door so it is somewhat open to the elements. Although frustrating at times for my Father and I it gives me a great opportunity to get this dusty! Tamiya XF-57 Buff lightly sprayed in thin coats through the Badger Velocity Airbrush gave me the dusty results I was after. Spraying from above and pointing the Airbrush downwards gave the natural fall of the dust on the tractor.

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29 26. The tyres needed a good sanding down with a coarse sanding stick, removing the hard edges of the tyre lugs gave a realistic look. Knicks and cuts were also taken out of the sidewalls of the lugs and tyres with a hobby knife to replicate the hardworking tyres on the real tractor. 27. The tyres are flat on the tractor and this needed to be replicated on the miniature, sawing off the bottom of the rear and front tyres with a razor saw gave me a good start for the putty. 28. Two part Aves epoxy sculpting putty was rolled into a sausage shape and pushed into the bottom of the tyres, using a cocktail stick the flat lines of the folded tyres were then created. 29. The tyres are now sprayed a dark grey colour with AK 720 for the base colour and then highlighted with Vallejo Model Air FS36300 Light Grey. This gives a much more realistic look than shiny gloss black!

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30. To finalise the paint work on the tyres AK Interactive Dust Effects thinned down with enamel thinners was liberally sprayed on through the airbrush.

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Here we can see the flat rear tyre in all its deflated glory!

AkInteractives new Paint Stripper product came into use here for removing some of the paint from the side walls of the tyres. Simply dip a cotton bud into the bottle and gently wipe away at the tyre.

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The tractor is nearing completion now and can be seen resting on its two flat tyres. A side by side comparison shows that the tractor is looking like the real one though more work is needed to bring it to a completely life like appearance.

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34-35 The tyres although are dusty are not yet complete and need the dry mud added. For this I used AK European Earth Pigment and to fix it to the tyre Vallejo Matt Varnish was used.

36-37 To finalise the mud on the tyre some more Pigments from AK Interactive were used, these were mixed in a pot with some fibres to represent grass and then fixed to the tyre again with Vallejo Matt Varnish. To speed the drying time up a hairdryer was used on a low setting, this did blow some of the loose pigments off but the Varnish held the majority on, this then dried and cracked like real mud.

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the barn

I wanted to represent all the clutter around the tractor in our barn and nearly all of this had to be scratch built. But first I needed to decide on how big I wanted all this, in reality the back corner of our barn where the tractor is parked feels tight and claustrophobic. I needed this to be portrayed accurately in the diorama, so rather than make a large base with empty space all around I reeled myself in and went for a smaller area to work on. I started off with a cheap pine corner shelf that I purchased from my local DIY shop. This was cut to size and the edges were rounded off, I could have opted for a very fancy varnished base complete with chamfered edges etc, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate with the look I was trying to achieve. Now I had my rough barn floor and working area I needed to create the asbestos corrugated sheets for the walls. Again after a lengthy conversion with Mr. Argent he advised me to use some corrugated cardboard (this would be the first of many ideas that I have stolen borrowed from him in this build), this is found anywhere from boxes, paper coffee cups and food packaging. I just needed to find the right one that would suite the

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1/16 scale I was working on, after collecting a lot of different size cardboard boxes I finally found a suitable sized piece that would work. This was measured and cut into sections with a hobby knife, once I had the desired amount I glued them together with white glue and left them to dryovernight. I needed to make the RSJ sections of the barn for the sheets to attach too, for this I simply used Evergreen Strip Styrene and Tamiya Extra Thin Cement to glue it all together. Once the sheets had dried overnight I gave them a coat of Vallejo Primers, working from dark to light this give some depth to the otherwise boring shade of grey. These had to have some serious weathering added to them to bring them to life, so some sponge chipping using London Grey and White Vallejo model color paints was applied all over and a heavy amount of Green Streaking from the AK range was also added. My modified cheap shelf base from the DIY shop was given a coat of black and then the concrete floor was epoxied onto it. The concrete floor was simply made from High Density Foam Board Insulation, this was cut to size with a normal wood saw and this was advantageous as

the saw marks replicated the screeded barn floor. This was painted black then highlighted with AK 122 OIF & OEF US Vehicles base colour paint and suitably weathered with AK Pigments. The walls were attached to the RSJ frame work with epoxy glue and then attached firmly to the base again with epoxy, I was able to push the RSJ’s into the foam board to create asturdy base. The finish line was in sight now and it was time to create all the little bits and pieces that covered the barn floor. These consisted of things like boat fenders, ores, chain, spare tyres, wooden sign boards and a wheel clamp. The ores were created by whittling down some balsa wood dowels with my hobby knife, this was a fun process that didn’t take long. AK Interactives Streaking grime brought out the varnish on them and some Grey Wash forKriegsmarine ships represented the grey mud we have here on the coast of Essex. The sign board was simply made from coffee stirrer sticks and some rectangle balsa wood, this was then chipped with AK Worn Effects Chipping fluid and dirtied up with the usual suspects of Dark Brown wash and light brown toned Filters again from the AK range. Once

all the precious ‘junk’ had been made and placed to the base carefully with CA glue I moved onto the rear to create the lush green and wild grass that grows at the back of our barn. I wanted to replicate the ivy that grew up the walls too and for this I used a number of different things, Armour Farm Thicket was a handy product as at 1/16 scale can look like the roots of plants. I proceeded to push the stem of the plant into the foam board (with a little help from some CA too to fix it in place) and added some ivy leaves to it from Treemendous. This was repeated in many places but sometimes I would use real roots from plants found in the garden and ironically from the side of the real barn at home, and even just gluing the ivy leaves straight onto the walls themselves. Greenline grass tufts in many colours were added and also weeds and grass from Armourfarm were placed along the sides of the barn floor. I built this up until I had a rough representation of what it looked like in reality, even adding some thin shoots through the cracks in the barn walls, and making the leaves go brown at the end to represent dying shoots.

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A cheap wooden corner shelf from my local DIY shop was used as base for the Diorama, nothing fancy but strong and sturdy and easy to work with.

A cheap wooden corner shelf from my local DIY shop was used as base for the Diorama, nothing fancy but strong and sturdy and easy to work with.

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The asbestos corrugated sheets that make up the barns walls were replicated by using cardboard. These were from a cardboard box and the paper front has been removed to reveal the round corrugated sections needed for the walls. After measuring the panels and working out the size in 1/16 scale a hobby knife was then used to cut them to size. PVA White glue was used to attach the corrugated sheets together and once left to dry overnight they were very strong in the morning and was able to hold together nicely and stand up on its own weight.

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The RSJ section of the barn needed to be made now and for this my life was made easy by purchasing some corner and L shape sections of Evergreen styrene strip. This was all glued together by using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

Time for paint now and these cardboard walls needed some Primer, Vallejo Black, Light Ghost Grey and White were used here working dark to light.

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Some sponge chipping was used to create the weathered look found on the barn walls, Vallejo Model Colors London Grey and White made this start to come to life. Now the paint work is complete on the sheets it’s time to really bring them to life and Ak Interactive streaking grime certainly did the trick here. Applying liberally with a number two brush and then streaking it off in a downward motion with a flat brush damp with thinners gave me the grime I was after.

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The wooden base is sprayed black with Vallejo Matt Black Model Color Paint thinned down and sprayed through the airbrush.

The concrete floor was made from High Density Foam Board cut down to shape with a general wood saw, using a saw gave me the screed lines found on the concrete. A coat of Vallejo Matt Black then a highlight of Ak AK 122 OIF & OEF US Vehicles produced the dust appearance of the barn floor.

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Epoxy two part glue was used to stick the concrete floor to the wooden base and the front and back of the corrugated sheets together.

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One of the panels on the rear of the barn has a red/ brown tone to it, it isn’t rust but looks just the same. To represent this I masked off the area and then applied some AK Track Wash.

AK Filter for Brown Wood was then lightly applied with a number two brush over the top of the AK Track Wash.

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Finally some AK Dark Brown wash for green vehicles was used.

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17. The sign board was made from balsa strips cut to size and glued together with CA glue. 18. With the help from AK Interactive Washes and Streaking Grimes the sign board started to come to life, these were painted on with a number two brush and then wiped with a flat wide brush damp with thinners in a downward motion. 19. A couple of layers of Worn Effects was sprayed on and left to air dry, it was necessary to spray more than one layer on as the first coat slightly absorbed in the pourers nature of the balsa wood. Then a thin coat of Tamiya XF-2 Flat White was applied lightly and evenly through the airbrush. 20. Once the Tamiya Flat Whitehad dried it was time to go to work on the chipping, using an old stiff brush wet with tap water, I vigorously scrubbed away at the paint. The water reacted with the Chipping fluid and lifted the Tamiya Flat White, this gave a pleasing appearance of a well-worn chipped wooden sign.

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21. The ores are simply whittled down balsa wood dowels, nothing more than a general hobby knife was used and for the rollick stoppers I used Tamiya masking tape cut to size and wrapped around the ore. 22-23. Now the ores are starting to look realistic and worn, much like the wooden sign AK products deliver a wonderful effect on these ores. To get the varnish effect I used AK Streaking grime and the dried grey mud was created by using AK 303 Grey Wash for Kriegsmarine ships from their Naval range.

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24. Placing completed objects onto the Barn base gives me the sense of scale that I need to remember and the idea of the layout too. Even at this early stage this is starting to look like home! Lots more to add but I’m happy with the results so far. 25. A dark wash mixed with some black pigment was used to represent the spilt oil on the concrete barn floor. Vallejo Black Glossy Varnish will also only be used on the middle section, this gives the illusion of the dusty floor absorbing the oil. 26. Olive sheet lead was used to create the canvas sheets scattered on the floor barn, these were then sprayed with acrylics and weathered with AK Products.

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27. The boat fenders found hanging from the RSJ’s were hand made from two part epoxy sculpt. Then suitably weathered using AK Worn Effects and Tamiya XF-79 Linoleum Deck Brown.

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28. The wheel weights were sprayed with Red Brown Acrylics and then sponge chipped with a Red Tone. A wash of Dark Brown for Yellow Vehicles made the small details pop and some European Earth Pigment was later used to dust them up. 29. The wheel clamp was scratch built using styrene card and the outer edge was made simply from a bent metal rod. The chain was added with CA and then it was painted with acrylics. Sponge chipping was used to replicate the chipped paint and a wash was used to bring out the detail. Dark Earth pigment and some catkin seeds finished off the look. 30. A lot of wood lays around our barn and to replicate this I simply used balsa wood cut down to size. AK Interactive 263 Wash for Wood was applied generously to bring out the grain and white wash from AK gave me the worn paint appearance.

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31 31. Here we can see the rear of the barn, plenty of Ivy, grass, weeds and wild flowers are needed to bring this to life.

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32 32-36. Everything is placed in the barn and carefully glued together with CA glue. There still needs to be plenty of dusting to add loose leaves on the floor, cob webs and general grime all over. Note the oil in the small basin, this was achieved by using Vallejo Still Water and a mix of Glossy Black also from Vallejo. An eagle eyed viewer may even notice the coloured swirls in the oil that can be found when water is mixed with oil in reality.

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Devastator Ford Coupe 1949

The idea I was visiting a demolition derby race a while back when my attention was caught by how bad those cars actually look. Obviously their sole purpose is to be demolished! These cars are stripped of almost everything until only the chassis and bodywork remains. A roll cage is added and some adjustments are made to make the cars safe for the race. The cars are kept together by numerous weld seams and bolts. After a race, when possible, they are rebuilt to be able to drive again, and that’s what counts, drive them and race them until only scrap metal remains. The model The car that inspired me the most was a Ford Custom Crestliner from 1950, called Devastator. Sadly no kit existed so I opted to use a Ford Coupe 1949 from AMT. Not quite the same but close. The kit however is not very promising with a lot of flash and countless sink marks... and the Chrome parts are...,well ,not good! Luckily I only need less than half the parts of the kit to build the ‘Devastator’. Getting started I started by removing parts and details that were not necessary, and it turned out be actually quite fun.

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AMT 1/25 scale

This means that I immediately could start with transforming the model. A new seat was scratch-built to replace the standard bench seat, as the real thing had no seats! Up next was the roll cage onto which the seatbelt is fixed. Some more internal parts that needed to be built were the fuel tank, a battery and new floor made of photo-etch sheet and finally some wiring. Moving over to the chassis, the suspension units were modified to lower the car a bit and the steering unit was altered to be able to turn the wheels which make the model look more dynamic. The bodywork was up next. Various weld seams were added as the doors were no longer operable; the rear hood was rebuilt with pewter sheet. Pewter sheet was further used to add the extra panels on the doors and roof. Various small scale metallic bolts were used to detail these panels and create the effect that these are roughly bolted on.

The engine supplied in the kit is poorly detailed and thus some extra detailing was needed with scratch-built parts and parts from the spares box. Not much of the engine will be visible anyway but it had to be done. Painting Interior This was the most challenging part of this project. There would be a lot of rust, and the hairspray technique would be used over and over again to

create the many different layers of paint that are actually present on the real thing. First some tests were carried out on spare parts to learn which technique and in which order was needed to create the effect I was after.

the surface is moistened with water and again we start removing the white paint in desired areas. The key to easily remove the Tamiya paint is to thin it with tap water.

But first things first. The interior was painted black with Tamiya laquer paint thinned with tap water. Over this a layer of Games Workshop Purity seal was applied and when dry the whole interior received several layers of hairspray. After a couple of minutes the white interior colour was applied, but in a way that the black still showed through to create the effect of worn paint. Using a brush the freshly applied white layer is moistened to dissolve the hairspray underneath. In selected areas the paint was removed using a fine brush moistened with tap water. When happy with the result another layer of Purity seal was applied straight from the can to protect the paint layers underneath. The details were hand painted with Lifecolor acrylics. Some washes and pinwashes with black and Dark brown oil paint give the interior a used and filthy look. The next step was to hand paint all the rust spots on the interior. Various rust tones from Lifecolor were used to build up the rust effects but always starting with the darker colors. This immediately brings life and color to the interior. Local dust effects were created by earth colored pigments.

After this time consuming process the model received another layer of Purity seal to protect the layers applied earlier. The added plates of pewter sheet were painted separately in various light blue-gray tones for the panel on the roof and matt aluminium for the rear hood. Both panels received some light orange filters to obtain a rusty look. Around all the weld seams and the added panels a rusty wash was applied and when dry these weld seams were slightly metalized for a realistic finish. The panel lines were accentuated with a brown colour and streaks were painted on, mostly on damaged areas, with thinned oil paints.

Exterior A dark green colour was sprayed on first in a cloud pattern so some white of the plastic was still showing through. The rusty coloured acrylics were used again to hand paint numerous rust spots on the model in various different rust tones. Now a layer of Purity seal is sprayed on followed by a layer of hairspray. Tamiya flat white was thinned with tap water and sprayed on in several thin layers until the whole models is covered. Again

The hood will be the center of attention and receives special treatment. First it was painted black and next a mixture of orange and rust pigments was painted on in selected areas. This is done to create the effect of heavy rust. When dry the whole bonnet was sponge chipped with rust tones, sealed with Purity seal and finished with a layer of hairspray. Next a coat of blue was applied and most of it removed with the technique explained earlier. The whole process was than repeated with a light green tone and then finally black. Base A little simple base was made to present this model. Stalton plates are rebuilt in scale with the use of ceramic plaster and Evergreen profiles. A grey pigment was mixed into the plaster to obtain the look of concrete. Accessories and tools are taken from the sparebox to fill up an empty corner and a helmet was placed on the roof of the car to provide a human touch.

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On some spare pieces tests are carried out. A combination of pigments, sponge chipping and hairspray technique is the path we need to follow to obtain a realistic finish. The white walls on the tires are given a faded look with the use of the hairspray technique.

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The engine block is painted in black metallic colors and given a wash to create a old and used appearance.

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5 The wiring on the engine is done in bright blue to bring some colour to the picture.

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6 The gear lever on the gearbox is simply made with a needle.

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Rust colored pigments are mixed with paint and applied on the bonnet after it received a black base coat.

9 10 The whole bonnet is sponge chipped with several tones from the rust and dust set from Lifecolor.

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The result of these steps is a rusty looking piece of metal including some texture to represent heavy rust.

The whole bonnet is sponge chipped with several tones from the rust and dust set from Lifecolor.

Flat blue from Tamiya is thinned with water and sprayed on.

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Most of the blue paint is removed by dissolving the hairspray with water and scrubbing with a brush.

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15 16 This is repeated with a light green tone. Don’t forget the layers of Purity Seal and Hairspray with each step.

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And finally we do the same with the final coat of black.

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The finished bonnet. A final coat of Purity seal is applied to protect these effects.

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27 Eventually I did a second bonnet with the same techniques but more refined. I learned from earlier experiences as I like to test techniques to, and sometimes beyond the limits.

28 The small holes in the bonnet are done with a fine burr in a motor tool and look very realistic once painted.

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29 After we sprayed on a dark green color in a cloud patterns we hand paint the rust effects with many tones of rust.

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Variation in rust tones is very important to obtain a realistic rust effect.

33 The lefthand side headlight is removed, only some holes remain.

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35 34

The chassis and bodywork are finished and ready to be put together.

With lead wire some cables are make in the engine compartment.

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The detail painting of the interior is finished. A layer of purity seal is used to seal of the paint.

35 36 The interior finished.

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The helmet is painted with care as it will be the main accessory.

The slogans are hand painted, using photos of the real vehicle as reference.

39 The engine is hardly visible but nevertheless time and effort is need to make sure that the engine looks as real Ceramic plaster mixed with pigment to fill the plates as the rest of theismodel. and achive realistic looking concrete plates.

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Some plates are damaged and some copper wire was added and covered in gloss varnish to represent water.

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Accessories are always use full to fill an empty corner.

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Shore's Cafe 1/12th scale

I love American landscapes especially West coast – California, and European traditional streets, too. Both of them are exotic to a Japanese me. Hasegawa’s new kit Nissan Sunny truck gave me an idea to make a scene featuring a Japanese small truck but looks like being in my favorite western world. Japan is the country of islands surrounded by sea. There are many beautiful beach where we can surf. Nissan Sunny trucks were often seen in 80’s in Japan. The decade 80’s is my ‘Good Old’ youth days. I got a driving license on 1983. I often went to seaside by my car. My good old days were always together with a car. I entered into my imagination world when I got the kit of the Sunny truck. A young guy drives his sunny truck to the seaside, there is a small café giving nice coffee, and it will be a bar in evening. It was a day from the good old days, 80’s...

Nissan Sunny truck B120 series is one of the most successful truck in Japanese car manufacturing history. It had been produced since 1971 until 1994. B121 is middle production model, 1977- 1989. Hasegawa’s Sunny truck GB121 is longer body model which released on October 1979. Hasegawa’s kit is a very good kit, details are correct, sharp, and easy to assemble. It

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shows the shape of real car very well, and it must nicely fit to the diorama of the scene in ‘80s. It must give a lot of inspiration about diorama to many modelers. And I got a lot. I like weathered car models. But it does not mean ‘wrecked’ or ‘ruined’. I like the live car which using for daily jobs. Sunny truck is an utility car, very suitable for my favorite modeling style.

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The structure was made by wooden plates glued on foam board. Next I painted white, scratched the surface with a file (sanding stick) rough Nr.180.

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This concrete wall was cut out from a wooden plate with using laser cutting machine by Cobaanii manufacturing. This concrete wall is typical in Japan. We can see it everywhere. http://cobaanii.com/

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I splayed flat white after primed with white surfacer.

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I used old wooden plate for base. This base plate looks like a part of café’s wall. The frame was cut out from an acrylic board by laser.

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7 I glued form board into the frame.

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I Painted flat black on chassis.

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I painted surfacer on the wall.

I masked the base plate.

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Also I masked the place where the structure will be built on.

The texture of ground was made with modeling paste, (The name of this paste is ‘Coarse pumice gel’ in Japan).

14 15 I masked the truck.

I sanded the road part to make it flat with sanding sponge.

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I painted the body with Vallejo color 70961 Sky blue by airbrush.

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I splayed Tan over the ground.

I washed lightly.

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I glued small stones on the ground.

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Road section before painting.

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I designed the manhole plates by PC, and cut out from cardboard paper by laser.

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I glued grass powder.

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After basic painting, I washed the ground with black and brown. I paint some highlights with bright tan color from Army painter.

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I made a model tree with using small branches from tree in garden. I glued dried flowers(we call it as ‘Holland’s flower’) at the tip of the branches.

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I used paper leaves (White birch) from Kamizukuri. http://www.kamizukuri.jp/

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The tree was primed by surfacer splay before washing.

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Washed with brown.

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The bottom of the tree was made with epoxy putty for woods.

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The behind side of leaves were washed with brown slightly.

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Tree was washed dark brown and painted some highlight with light mud color.

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Some grass helps to fit the tree naturally on the ground.

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Water in the ash bin is Modeling water from Koeido. http://koeido.jp.net/youto/ syouhin/water.html

35 I drawn signboards in old American style. They were drawn by computer and printed on decal paper by Alps printing machine.

36 37 I placed the structure and accessories before fixing the truck.

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Washing body part of truck with dark brown. I painted XF-1 flat black along the rubber edges of the windows with brush. Thin silver line in the windows are painted with acrylic chrome silver.

I washed these parts with dark brown.

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The bench chair is the item of Cobaanii. You will find cigarette and Zippo lighter near ash bin.

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The letters on the window glass were sculpted on the acrylic plate by laser.

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Chipping with AK pigments thinned by acrylic thinner. My Sunny truck is working everyday, not ruined. Too less chipping is better than too much dirty.

Washing black chassis with gray color.

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46 Applied dust on the wheels with AK022 Africa dust effects. Radio antenna rod is wire needle No.0.

47 I put the brass wire into the wheels to fix the vehicle on the ground.

I put minimum item, only a wheel, in the luggage space. I think it is better than nothing.

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1/12th scale This is my first diorama work in 1/12th scale. Fortunately, I met a Taiwanese talented art worker Ms. Kuang-Chen Kuo, and she kindly gave me very realistic model breads in 1/12th. (She gave me a lot!) Those model breads were not only realistic but also looks delicious. Her kind gift encouraged me to make a diorama in larger scale. There are many bakeries in Japan, but all of them are only for selling the bread, not enough special for diorama, of course. I wanted to make something special. I found some pictures showing

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‘cool’ bakery in my favorite Western style. It looks like ‘Bread industrial’, just like machine factory but they produce bread not machines. Making larger 1/12th scale caused me some strange troubles. I often made the items smaller than correct 1/12th size. I tried another attempt at first time in my life. This is, I used one old wooden plate for the base plate and the floor of the scene. I hope you like it. I will make another bakery in something other style, because I still have a lot of model bread thanks to Ms. Kuo!

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Beach House Bar 1/24th scale

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I like tiny houses. I made this ‘Beach House Bar’ as a small bar on the hill near beach. What I always keep in my mind when modeling is whether if this work can nicely fit to the

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room, just like a comfortable furniture. I wish my model work can entertain the people anytime when they look it. No matter it is first time to him or 10 years – 20 years after.

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Gee Bee Cafe 1/32nd scale

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The shape of Gee Bee racer airplane is unique. I wanted to make something unique diorama with using this kit, not in the airfield, not repairing in factory. They are not my style. I imagined a café for airplane lovers in my mind and realized it as a diorama. I wish the people, not only modelers but also other people, enjoy this diorama in the room, just like a painting on the wall. Perhaps, this diorama has a small advantage than painting on the wall, because you can put a coffee cup on the empty space in right side of this base.

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extreme Reality www.ak-interactive.com Phone: (+34) 941 44 52 28 [email protected]

AK307

Realism is usually the goal we, modellers always want achieve. It becomes very difficult as we have to bear in mind many details, but these small details are the ones that give our model its realistic appearance. Extreme Reality shows how this realism can be achieved in scale modelling. Follow the talented artists through a journey from models to real life. Divided in step-by step articles showing you from well known techniques to some of them rare or even just made for its specific model. They will show you how a bulldozer can be as extracted from the scrap yard or a bicycle abandoned to its luck somewhere in the countryside. Extreme Reality is book of masterpieces and it is mean for all of us who enjoy and love this great hobby.

ANDREW ARGENT * KRISTOF PULINCKX * EDOUARD NOUAILLIER * JOHN SIMMONS * GERT MERTENS * DOOZY

AN INCREDIBLE APPROACH FROM SCALE MODELLING TO TRUE LIFE