[WIP] Dinomania build slight progress

As you can see, there has been quite some progress over the last two weeks. To summarise:

• Triceratops is done
• Panzerhoudah (for want of a better word) is in progress, with a new floor and sculpted padding. Need to add seats, boxes and cargo.
• Panzerhoudah driver and riders built (using a kit from Miniart), need to clean up and then paint.
• Two of the machine gun walking figures are built, I have started painting one, but not too happy with how the face is looking (I HATE painting faces, just can't get it right!).
• The diorama base is nearly done. I have sculpted additional cobblestones and need to lightly sand and add some of the details before painting.

So, it's slowly getting there - good job there's still a couple of months left before it needs to be completed!

Nutrocker!

Not the song by B. Bumble and the Stingers mind you, but an AI hovertank employed by the SDR to hunt and destroy Mercenary SAFS troops.

This is a 1/76-scale kit (the only official Ma.K kit at that scale sadly - there are some garage kits but they are very hard to get hold of) which consists of the Nutrocker itself (with photoetch wide-band antenna) and an in-scale SAFS (teeny tiny!).

I managed to pick this one up for a fiver on eBay and figured, as I was getting peed off with lots of sanding and filling, I would quickly knock it together to get me out of the modelling blues.

The paint scheme is simple. I first assembled everything (using stretched sprue for the thin antenna) although didn't glue the turret to the main body. Everything else is out of the box.

I then primed using Halford's Matt Black (it's all I had to hand at the time) and then did a light base coat using Vallejo Light Blue Grey. I then masked out the camo pattern using Winsor & Newton Artist's Latex Masking Fluid and applied the mid colour, GW's Codex Grey. Once that was dry, I masked off some more patterns with the latex and applied the dark colour, one of GW's foundation paints (the name escapes me at the moment, I think it's "something" Granite).

I then peeled off all the latex (which was very therapeutic) and rubbed any flaking edges with a cut-down old toothbrush.

Gloss coated with GW 'Ardcoat and applied decals. The numbers and elephant are from a 1/35 Tiger kit and the SDR Sun Wheel is a homebrew decal using Roggenwolf's insignia design (I want to tie all my SDR stuff together and this is a good thing to use - thanks to Roggenwolf for letting me use it).

Once the decals were dry, I put some satin gloss on (GW again) and then used the Promodeller dark wash on it. Worked like a dream, as long as you follow the instructions on their web site. Once this was rubbed in and off, I put on some of their dark mud round the bottom.

I then gave it a flat coat (Dullcote) and used a Tamiya weathering stick and some MIG pigments to simulate the dust and dirt that gets thrown up around the skirt as it hovers.

This will eventually be part of a large diorama, but I haven't thought that far ahead yet - I just wanted to finish something!

More pics on Flickr