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Messages - Wizzel

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1
Modelling Projects / Re: Derelict Barn
« on: January 28, 2024, 06:02:37 PM »
I decided I should at least start planning even if I didn?t feel well enough to start building yet - but then, anything in my head always turn out completely different anyway and it tends to just throw itself together so I gathered a few bits of balsa, mounting card of varying thicknesses and got the bare bones down. The full barn is too big for what I have in mind so I?m building just a section of it and my (not yet finished) Jagdpanzer will be the proud new occupant.

The pre-cast concrete base is a couple of bits of dense foam which I finally got to use my lockdown purchase hot wire cutter on and I?ll be building the structure from there. No idea what direction it will take but that?s the wAy I roll  ;D

2
General Discussion / Play Day Aplogies
« on: January 28, 2024, 08:31:32 AM »
Hello all,

After a long absence from modelling and from attending club events, I was very much looking forward to getting back into things at today?s play day but, wouldn?t you know it, I picked up a particularly nasty illness which is doing the rounds and have spent the last three days in bed, all the time hoping I may be able to perk up enough to make an appearance but I?m afraid it?s not going to happen. Lazarus I ain?t!

Hope you all enjoy the day and hope to see you again at the Feb meeting.

3
Modelling Projects / Derelict Barn
« on: January 16, 2024, 07:19:25 PM »
Hello all,

when I was visiting family in Somerset for Christmas 2022, I saw this derelict barn just South South West of the A358 off the roundabout to Cosford St Luke, about 300 yards down Dene Road.  I thought it would make a smashing project for a 1/72 scale vignette so I reversed into the bit of hard standing in front of the tubed steel gate and had a wander over to take some pictures, which are attached for your pleasure.

On my visit last Christmas, I was a bit cross to see it had now been demolished and a huge pile of sand and some modern building materials had been dumped in its place.  I didn't take any pictures of that lot, but you can still see the barn in all its former glory on google maps if you type in "Dene Road Somerset"  You can be sure I'll check back regularly to see when this is updated.

Anyway, I'm currently gathering materials to beging the planning and construction so will update you as things progress.  This is likely to be slowly at the beginning but once things start getting glued together, momentum will build.

4
General Discussion / Re: Dave Mitchell is back
« on: January 16, 2024, 06:39:20 PM »
Okay, thanks for the replies and apologies I didn't make it to the Jan meeting - in the middle of enrolment, exams and graduation so it wasn't the perfect time BUT I do have the play day firmly in the diary and have my subs all bagged up too.

Got plans to visit some shows as well so will soon be back to normal - as normal as I can ever be anyway!

5
General Discussion / Re: Dave Mitchell is back
« on: December 21, 2023, 09:27:00 AM »
Hi Dave,
Glad to hear you are okay and planning on getting back to modelling.
Look forward to seeing you at the January meeting if you make it.
In the meantime you could still post your latest/current project on the website.........maybe?
All the best,
Kevin
Hi Kevin, yes I'm working on posting some stuff this weekend - home pc is poorly and my work laptop may not let me install photo compression software if that's still how we need to do things but all being well, I'll figure it out  :)

6
General Discussion / Dave Mitchell is back
« on: December 20, 2023, 04:01:14 PM »
Hello all,
apologies for my lengthy absence - I've been through a bit of a difficult time this year and was at one stage going to completely give up modelling however all is now well and I'm a changed man  :D
I'll see you at the January meeting all being well and maybe even have something to bring to the table.
Have a good holiday and toodle pip for now,
Dave

7
Modelling Projects / Re: Israeli M51 Sherman
« on: February 06, 2022, 12:06:32 PM »
This is going "great guns" Bob!  Thanks to seeing some of your builds, I'm thinking of venturing into 1/35 scale.

8
General Discussion / Re: Northern Model Show - 5 June 2022
« on: February 06, 2022, 12:04:46 PM »
Excellent, I'm really pleased about this.  I would have been going anyway but it will be great to be there with my friends from B&WSMC too!

9
General Discussion / Northern Model Show - 5 June 2022
« on: January 29, 2022, 11:08:30 PM »
Hello all,

looking ahead to June, I'm hoping all will be stable enough to get out to a model show again and have made plans to go to one of my favourites - Northern Model Show in North Shields.  As it would be a ridiculously early start from Withernsea, I'm doing my usual and making a long weekend of it and bringing DCOS too.  We're staying in a little place called Hartley, up the road as our faourite guesthouse in South Shileds is available BUT the prices have quadrupled since we last stayed there 3 years back!  A combination of inflation and recouping losses from a good 18 months of no custom I guess.

Anyway, here's hoping our club will be supporting this show again and if so, I'll be there with some stuff for display.  If not I may see some of you there in a guest capacity.

10
Modelling Projects / Re: Revell 1/76 Chaffee
« on: January 29, 2022, 08:48:41 PM »
Pictures of the stream and ice, and the Chaffee.

11
Modelling Projects / In the bleak mid winter...Revell 1/76 Chaffee
« on: January 29, 2022, 08:31:48 PM »
Hello all,

I fancied summat quick and simple over the festive holiday to try and revitalise my plastic pledge so I picked up the 1/76 Revell (ex Matchbox) kit form our local hardware shop.  Including the little diorama base these old Matchbox kits came with, I had it assembled and painted in just over 3 days.  Then I decided not to be satisfied with the base and the quick build became a long drawn out project...

I've wanted to have a play with snow and frozen water for a while so decided to have a go at a "Battle of the Bulge" style diorama.  Apparently, there were Chaffees there but even if not, remember the old 1965 film where they used Chaffees for Shermans?  And of course it would upset the rivet counters too.  A real added bonus!

Anyway, I started with a block of that dense foam and cut it to a rough profile, chucked a bit of course turf scatter on and some various sprinkles of scatter, static grass (just dropped on, not applied with the magic machine) and decided to make some tall pine trees to go on there too.  To make the trees I started off with a coconut matting hanging basket liner cut into strips, then squares, then with the corners snipped off to make them roughly round, I pulled them apart a bit and stuck them onto a wooden barbecue skewer with spray glue.  A blast of dark brown aerosol was next, then more spray glue and some coarse foliage thrown over finished the tree top.  The trunk is a bit of balsa dowel, tapered off and scrubbed with a wire brush for the bark effect, sprayed brown and dry brushed with light grey then a hole drilled in the top to take the snipped off barbecue skewer.  Some bits of the coconut matting and small twigs were then glued in to holes drilled in the trunk for the dead branches.

The stream was a multi-stage project in itself.  First I blocked off the ends of the stream and poured in some clear cast resin with a touch of green and sand paint to give it a muddy look.  As it was drying I thought to shove some branches into it too.  Once cured, I needed to make the frozen top layer.  I dammed off the centre section with Blu-Tac, shaping the outer edges into hard, straight edges with a bit of acrylic so that when removed the inner edges of the ice would have hard, straight edges too.  I mixed more resin and into this stirred some Krycell snow powder (I'll review this product soon, once I've used it as snow) and a dash of white paint.  This was then poured either side of the Blu Tac dam.  A third slab of the ice for the centre section was poured into a foil tray.  Once this was all cured, the Blu Tac dam was removed and the edges cleaned up.  It worked much better than I thought it would have done!  I then sanded the centre slab down to the same thickness as the two end bits and cut it to profile to fit the hole, gave it a slight dry brush with green paint at the edges, laid it face down on some masking tape and smashed it up!  The plan was to then reassemble it in the gap and flood that with Vallejo still water, suitably tinted to match the water under the ice.  Schoolboy error - to set it in at various angles, some of them would need to be under the level of the set water so I had to chisel this out a bit.  An accidental by-product of this though was that I ended up with lots of bits of clear resin shavings which made perfect crushed ice to throw into the gaps between the slabs. 

The still water took a fair few applications before it filled the stream to the right level as it wasn't quite watertight where I'd chiselled the resin away but it leeched realistically into the tank track ruts on the nearside and slopped onto the ground on the far side where it would have spilled from the tank.  Pity it will be covered with snow soon!!!

I then decided the tank needed wintering up a bit and it was looking a bit on the bare side too.  I ordered a set of tank stowage items from a company called Value Gear.  I normally stay away from places with cheap sounding names like that but thought I'd take a chance and was glad I did.  There was enough for at least 4 tanks and the quality of the stuff is excellent too.  With my Krycell snow powder, I got a little pot of winter white wash cammo which went on very realistically. Once dry, it was scrubbed about a bit to show wear and then sealed in with matt varnish.  The stowage items were selected, primed and painted then glued to the tank.  They've just been given a coat of gloss varnish ready for a dark wash and picking out the details then they'll be matted over, then the antenna to go on and that'll be done - other than some snow in the wheels and over the tracks but that's for another installment, once I get to putting the snow on the ground.  Oh, I also made a canvas cover for the .50 cal on the turret out of a square of blue roll dipped in PVA bond coloured with khaki paint.  Pity to hide that brass ammo belt...but I know it's there.

Still to come are some resin GIs from Millicast which will be trudging behind the tank, then branches, bushes, ground cover, fix the trees in place and finally, the snow.  I really hope to have this done for the Feb meeting...

12
General Discussion / Re: Playday 6 - Jan 2022
« on: January 29, 2022, 07:40:59 PM »
Sorry I missed this.  I was full of all good intentions, but events conspired!  :(

13
General Discussion / Re: 3D printing
« on: January 29, 2022, 07:39:24 PM »
Blimey, marvellous what they can do nowadays!  I'll need to have a chat with you Chris.  I have been thinking about investing for a while but wanted to get a recommendation first.

14
FAQ / Re: East Riding of Yorkshire Model Show 2022
« on: January 29, 2022, 07:37:21 PM »
Excellent.  Have we booked the weather too?

I look forward to all our shows but in the interest of fairness, I'll try not to be too excited about this one just because it has a zero at the end of the anniversary year!

In all seriousness though, having that zero will give us a good lever for some great publicity - we should milk this for all we can.  That and it being the first post-apocalypse show too!

15
General Discussion / Re: Members List
« on: January 29, 2022, 07:32:05 PM »
Well, I didn't get there in the end did I?  A combination of factors, but I hope you all had a good time anyway. 

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