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First model of 2010 done
- Thread starter iowabrit
- Start date
Sherman 18
Master at Arms
GREAT job!
Really nice job, wonderful paint job.
AndyFettes
Master at Arms
Nice one mate It looks great !!!!
How did you do the tarp then ?
How did you do the tarp then ?
Jenny Croft
Banned
That has to be the neatest , coolest hand made tarp I have seen 
, can you give us an SBS on how to do them ?
Jenny :kiss:
, can you give us an SBS on how to do them ?Jenny :kiss:
Matt Beattie
Member
Cool , look's great , this is one kit i would love to do sometime soon
cheer's
Matt
cheer's
Matt
ok, the tarp....
Apoxie clay (this is the correct spelling) is a two part putty similar to milliput. You will need a can of talc (I use Johnsons baby talc) stretchy surgical gloves, a straight edge (eg a 12" metal rule) and something to use as a rolling pin. I use a piece of copper piping. First get a rough idea of how large a piece you will need by measuring the model, for the FAMO this worked out at 4" x 5" plus a 3.5" x 1.5" piece for the front end. I thoroughly kneaded the two parts of the putty and then rolled it out as you would do with pastry ensuring that I used LOTS of talc to prevent it sticking to the work surface or roller.(this is also the reason for wearing surgical gloves, this stuff is REALLY sticky) Once I had it down to about 1/16th or less thick I marked out and trimmed the sheet to the size required using the straight edge as a cutter.I CAREFULLY picked up the sheet and draped it over the model (I made copper wire hoops to replace the fragile plastic kit ones just to use while getting the tarp right). The putty stays workable for over an hour so don't try to rush it and any minor flaws can be corrected with a wet fingertip or tools such as toothpicks or scalpel blades. Once I had it draped how I wanted I lightly pushed down around the edges of the kit so the positions of the tie downs and so on were visible in the clay. When I was happy with how it looked I simply left it in place overnight. I did find that this clay (it's the first time I've used it) took 2-3 days to harden and even then was very susceptable to breaking... much more so than Milliput which gets rock hard overnight. For the end piece I simply cut it out to the size required plus 1/4" and left it to dry flat. Because of the talc, the clay does not stick to the model and can be easily lifted off once it has hardened. As I had impressed the outline of the tie downs and side panels I was easily able to trim the tarp to the correct size using a scalpel and wet & dry paper (note, however, that using water while working on this clay does seem to make it soften and therefore break fairly easily). I then marked the curved end shape on the second sheet of clay and cut it to fit the main piece, glueing it in place with superglue. The tie downs are small sections of very thin plastic card superglued to the tarp where they are marked by the impressions and have wire hoops added through holes drilled through the plastic and tarp. The retaining leather 'pins' are small sections of lead foil. Except for one which I puposefully removed and replaced with a wooden 'peg' to simulate some wear and tear.
I'm still not sure if I prefer this stuff over milliput but it is certainly easier to mix together and work with.
Once set, this clay can be carved, drilled, glued and painted.
The tarp was finished with a couple of coats of light grey Modelmaster acrylic airbrushed on. Once dry, I hand painted a rough coat of sand coloured Windsor & Newton watercolour using a wide flat brush. I let this dry overnight and then worked on it with SLIGHTLY damp q tips and bits of kitchen towel (just as I did with the kit itself) to give a worn uneven look. The tie down loops were picked out with brown acrylic and then the whole thing was given a coat or matt acrylic varnish before being worked on with MiG pigments.
I had several problems with the clay cracking in places and had to replace the flaps over the tool box doors with lead foil, but that was due to me not planning ahead (I hadn't allowed for the thickness of the doors OR for the fact that I wanted to have one of them open DUH?).
Apoxie clay (this is the correct spelling) is a two part putty similar to milliput. You will need a can of talc (I use Johnsons baby talc) stretchy surgical gloves, a straight edge (eg a 12" metal rule) and something to use as a rolling pin. I use a piece of copper piping. First get a rough idea of how large a piece you will need by measuring the model, for the FAMO this worked out at 4" x 5" plus a 3.5" x 1.5" piece for the front end. I thoroughly kneaded the two parts of the putty and then rolled it out as you would do with pastry ensuring that I used LOTS of talc to prevent it sticking to the work surface or roller.(this is also the reason for wearing surgical gloves, this stuff is REALLY sticky) Once I had it down to about 1/16th or less thick I marked out and trimmed the sheet to the size required using the straight edge as a cutter.I CAREFULLY picked up the sheet and draped it over the model (I made copper wire hoops to replace the fragile plastic kit ones just to use while getting the tarp right). The putty stays workable for over an hour so don't try to rush it and any minor flaws can be corrected with a wet fingertip or tools such as toothpicks or scalpel blades. Once I had it draped how I wanted I lightly pushed down around the edges of the kit so the positions of the tie downs and so on were visible in the clay. When I was happy with how it looked I simply left it in place overnight. I did find that this clay (it's the first time I've used it) took 2-3 days to harden and even then was very susceptable to breaking... much more so than Milliput which gets rock hard overnight. For the end piece I simply cut it out to the size required plus 1/4" and left it to dry flat. Because of the talc, the clay does not stick to the model and can be easily lifted off once it has hardened. As I had impressed the outline of the tie downs and side panels I was easily able to trim the tarp to the correct size using a scalpel and wet & dry paper (note, however, that using water while working on this clay does seem to make it soften and therefore break fairly easily). I then marked the curved end shape on the second sheet of clay and cut it to fit the main piece, glueing it in place with superglue. The tie downs are small sections of very thin plastic card superglued to the tarp where they are marked by the impressions and have wire hoops added through holes drilled through the plastic and tarp. The retaining leather 'pins' are small sections of lead foil. Except for one which I puposefully removed and replaced with a wooden 'peg' to simulate some wear and tear.
I'm still not sure if I prefer this stuff over milliput but it is certainly easier to mix together and work with.
Once set, this clay can be carved, drilled, glued and painted.
The tarp was finished with a couple of coats of light grey Modelmaster acrylic airbrushed on. Once dry, I hand painted a rough coat of sand coloured Windsor & Newton watercolour using a wide flat brush. I let this dry overnight and then worked on it with SLIGHTLY damp q tips and bits of kitchen towel (just as I did with the kit itself) to give a worn uneven look. The tie down loops were picked out with brown acrylic and then the whole thing was given a coat or matt acrylic varnish before being worked on with MiG pigments.
I had several problems with the clay cracking in places and had to replace the flaps over the tool box doors with lead foil, but that was due to me not planning ahead (I hadn't allowed for the thickness of the doors OR for the fact that I wanted to have one of them open DUH?).
mike walsh
Master at Arms
Thats a great effort on the famo.
Very nice.
Cheers
Michael
Very nice.
Cheers
Michael
carabinier
Member
That is absolutly stonkin mate beautiful job love that finish on the tarp :woohoo:
shawngehling
Active member
Looks great, well used and worn but maintained...
Just the way I like them.
Shawn
Just the way I like them.
Shawn