Initial assembly of the hull has been completed. Some filling and sanding was required but nothing grounbreaking. I added various handles using copper wire
Some further assembly has been done. I finished many of the hull details and started with the rather complex turret. I think making those copper-wire-handles might pay out in the form of some nice looking details later...
Some further progress: I built an extra stowage bin I had seen on some reference pictures. Now, I am only missing the suspension parts and some final turret details
The lower hull was also heavily pre-weathered using the same method. This darker dust layers will serve as a foundation to be enhanced with some lighter dust weathering simulating more recent dust and debris
Now, the next steps will be a pin-wash and some chipping. As I have a good foundation for the weathering effect I am after, I can then use some final enamel effects and/or pigments to tie everything together
Chipping has also been done using dark brown acrylic paint. I tried to be smewhat restrained here, which apparently was a good decision 🙂
Now, it´s onto some final effects like painting periscopes, adding some rust and exhaust-stains etc.
Had an issue with some wheel-alignment, which means I have to pose the vehicle on some terrain... Here you see some tinkering with a piece of styrofoam
The vehicle itself is practically finished. I have yet to do some work on the diorama terrain and decide wether to put a ditch in front of the vehicle and a small hill or a wall/ fence behind it
Basic construction of the base: it is made from a foam base covered with air drying clay to match the vehicle´s wheels. Texture will be refined with acrylic pastes.
I wanted to experiment and coated the sides with some concrete-texture instead of framing them with balsa... I´m curious how it will look in the end or if I´ll have to sand it down
Some painting on the base: Tamiya paints for the basic earth tones and AK acrylics for details as such as individual stones etc.
I also smoothed out the texture on the sides as I was not entirely happy with it. It then got painted using some black craft-store paint