Armortek

wow & amazing 5 years of wonderful work.

Hi Stephen
I have loved every second of your build on the Cent. But please now get on the Comet again

Regards

Derek

Thanks all for the kind comments. Grateful you took the trouble.

It's not always appreciated that there was a truly ANZAC presence in Vietnam. The New Zealand contribution to the Australian effort was comprehensive and enduring, lasting from 1964 to 1972. It was a remarkable effort given the limited military resources available at a time when NZ was committed to the confrontation campaign in Malaysia.

Allan Bowers has already contributed from NZ with all his drawings and now Malcolm Te Moananui has been in touch again with an update of his Index to this thread. I use it a lot and it's very timely to get an update at this point. Thanks Malcolm.


Now for the weathering and stowage.

Stephen

Thanks Stephen & Malcolm.
That index is very handy and a great idea.
An index for your panzer iii ausf.N build would also be good.

Cheers
Tim

5 years, wow! time is the enemy, a display of quick learning, enjoyable posts, and a superb result, thanks for taking the trouble, regards simon.

I have been waiting to see how you would do the mantlet canvas , for me it is the best detail on the cent and yours looks superb , doesn't get any better
David gray

Stephen.

A masterpiece, and a masterclass. Thank you for so diligently recording each step and sharing your wisdom, while doing so many other jobs to help the Armortek community. Top effort.

Perhaps you could allow yourself the afternoon off?

Look forward to meeting Phuoc Me in the flesh, as it were.

Kind regards
Fabrice

Thanks to everyone who took the trouble post their comments, all of which I appreciate. Fabrice, it's great to see you back on the Forum.

Yesterday, I had final notice from Photowhatsit that if I failed to pay their ransom, they would unilaterally suspend their service in 30 days. Since it is HMG's policy not to pay ransoms, I can only follow suit with a very respectful:


I'm busy extracting the photos but with 4500 over this and the Pz III and Comet threads, I'm not sure I've got the stamina to upload them all again. A fair few people have followed the build threads. Thanks, if you want to save a copy, now's the time.

All the best and thanks for following.

Stephen

I've just received from Frank Breitenbach and Günther Gäbelein the finishing touches to the Cent IR searchlight, a sheet of very detailed photoetch. The parts form the retaining clasps for the lens ring and the three stiffening plates at the back. Frank described assembling them as a "horror". They have to be made in unusually stiff material to be functional, which means you only get one go at the bending. I chose to etch prime the parts so that solder wouldn't adhere when the 1mm and 0.8mm rivets were inserted and retained. The parts are a perfect fit for the 3-D printed searchlight body, testimony to the accuracy of combining CAD and 3-D printing. Vielen Dank, Frank und Günther.





To achieve the bends, this was useful, a Mission Models Etch Mate, together with plane jawed needle nose pliers:







Method of achieving the curves. Having the CAD dimensions meant that the exact diameter drill bits could be used to get the correct bend radius for the rivet pins:





The oversize washers were turned on the lathe:



The clasps are functional and assembled with brass rivets, retained by a small blob of soft solder, a challenge in order not to solder up the whole thing:







Final assembly, paint, fitting and testing:









All for now. Thanks for looking. Stephen

Stephen,
A very nice finishing touch!
Is the material nickel-silver aka german silver? I have been interested in using it instead of brass for a while. Can you experiment on the unused frets and report back if it can be annealed to soften for bending? Appreciate you would not want to blowtorch the actual parts.
cheers
Fabrice

Kudos to Frank and Gunter too!

mega-superb if there is such a phrase, imagine in the future, spotlight gets taken off the tank, left to one side for a small repair, time lapse, where do the batteries fit on this torch, must be broken, bin it buy a new one, you need preserve the build log, regards simon.

Hello Fabrice
You are right. The photoetch parts are nickel-silver - so the information from Günter.
Kind regards
Frank

I'm now starting the weathering.

064 was operating in the 1ATF AOR in Phuoc Tuy province, NE of the Mekong Delta, in an area characterised by the Terre Rouge, or red laterite soil.



Vietnam Soil Map:





I've depicted her in October 1969, at the end of the wet season, the beginning of winter. Mud and dust cover the vehicles in many original photos. It helps to build up what the fashion industry calls a "mood board" of photos to create the overall look you're after.









The weathering is in two parts, first, to highlight detail and give depth and contrast, using oils as washes, filters and shading. This process is called rendering, a term taken from art and computing, meaning "the processing of an outline image using colour and shading to make it appear solid and three-dimensional". Then using oils and pigments, the second part applies the terrain and weather effects.

I begin by grouping the oils into related hues and putting them onto card. After 30 mins or so, the linseed oil will begin to leach out, allowing the oils to dry faster and matt.

A wash is a wet application of thinned oils to bring out detail by highlighting contrast between light and dark. Here, the roadwheel mud channels are darkened. The ridges will then be given a light filter to bring make them stand out.







I'm also using light and dark filters to contrast the surfaces and curves of the roadwheels. There are some notes on selection of hues for filter in the Knowledge Base topic on Weathering (part one). The filters are a dry application. I apply the oil undiluted, in small, fine strokes, then take a clean brush, damp it in thinner, dry it on a paper towel and then blend the colour in. The beauty of oils is their controllability. You can alter the translucence with thinners in order not to compromise the underlying base colour hue, which is important, if you've gone to a lot of trouble to get an historically accurate colour match.












This is a bit stark but will provide a colour basis for the pigments to follow:





You can apply the filters and washes in any order and repeat them until you're satisfied. You can also remove oils if you're not happy.

The aim of this first stage rendering with oils is to bring the model to life by creating an impression of light and shade, to draw the eye into the detail. The second stage applies the impact of environment and use. The purpose is to put the model into its operational context, to give it a history. I make up three pigment mixes, no more, using a variety of pigments appropriate to the geography of the operational area, here the oxidised soils of Vietnam.

Apply the pigment mixes, then fix using either a dedicated pigment fixer or an acrylic thinner. The latter isn't permanent but you can fix the pigments temporarily and then airbrush the permanent fixer in place once you're finished. Because our tanks run, it's more important to fix the pigments than for a static plastic model.









There's always a temptation at this stage to keep going and overdo it. This is where the mood board comes in, giving the overall look and helping decide when enough is enough.









Eleven more to go.

Regards.

Stephen

Nice work boss, now there's a coincidence I have just put something up regarding weathering to, great minds and all that we can have a veritable feast of weathering techniques, the advanced from you and the easy from yours truly!

Phil.

good subject to talk about down the pub, replacating mud from 8,000 miles away, watch for the reaction. the last two photo's are very convincing, i new you'd get on top of this part, regards simon.