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So, just what happens when you take the desire to paint some sort of armoured vehicle or tank, and a rather fondness for gnolls? Well, you say screw it, let's see what would happen if gnolls STOLE A TANK! (and a LAV). This definitely isn't going to be NATO greens, or even remotely close to JGSDF colours. Green may be involved at some point, but not any actual real world colouration patterns... Naturally, ignore the obvious answer of "why not?!?!" what kinds of things give a fox inspiration for this project? Ghost In The Shell (the original video/movie) Akira also arguably has some inspiration for this too (both the manga, as well as OAV/OVA) Shenanigans and mischief Various musicians, but Daniel Graves especially (Aesthetic Perfection). A LOT. Borderlands, specifically Borderlands 2 Or, in short, I'm going into this with a few ideas, but not necessarily any particular plan... ^First up, is the initial haul. There's more in the mail (Toghra, as well as Reaver of Kargir), and they should hopefully be here in a few days. So up for contemplating I have two 1:48 scale kits from Tamiya, the JGSDF Light Armored Vehicle (aka LAV) as well as the Type 10 Tank, also from the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force. Miniature options include two different sets of Wizkids gnolls as well as the Pathfinder Deep Cuts, and for Reaper options we have a Krokuta, Bones Blacktongue, Bones Bloodmane 77236, as well as Bones Gnoll Warrior 77012 (to me he looks likes the Bones version of Boneflayer 14580). So yeah, seems like an easy-ish task right, take something that's 28mm scale and pair it with a 1/48 scale model. what could possibly go wrong? ^Okay, didn't quite realize the words "challenge accepted" would actually mean I'd have a decent sized challenge on my hands. Looks like my initial ideas are moderately out the window, or, uh.... Stuck in said window. Original idea was for dual knives/stabby blades gnoll to be the LAV's driver, with Blacktongue poking out of the gunner's hatch... And for the tank, Toghra to be poking out of the commander's hatch directing things.... And then Krokuta and others hanging out in the back or off of the back of either vehicle... I... Uhh... Might be rethinking a few things. Alternate caption for tank: Here's JOHNNY! Seriously, I've never watched the shining, but that's definitely the first thing I saw with Toghra's expression at that picture's angle... ...I probably should have thought about the fact that these vehicles are designed for a nation who's average height is 5'2" (yay Google!) and also according to Google (and the Forgotten Realms Wikia) gnolls are 7' - 7'6". Hmmm. Okay, so it's going to be cozy. Let's start with the LAV, as for some reason that one keeps really snagging my attention, as well as ideas and inspiration... ^Wait a moment, the Pathfinder Deep Cuts ones are noticeably shorter... Well now. He'll fit, more or less, and with some work I could probably get dual stabby guy poking out of the roof.... ^Two-ish hours of arduous assembly later (it's my first time doing up a model kit AND my first time using plastic glue, and there's six bajillion parts for some reason), and we're looking at this. Dashboard isn't attached, and the bases have been trimmed off of the two gnolls in question in order to better fit them. This is my basic premise... And where I left off last night. ^So first off, a basic test fit of the larger, stabbier gnoll. He barely fits... Good. Things will get tighter once the hatches go in, but I'll worry about that when that particular time comes... ^A while with some tools, and we're now here. Ignore the crooked dashboard, that happens when it's just sitting in place... ^Currently how things are looking in order for me to mostly fit the driver in. As eagle eyes might notice, I'm going to have to redo the legs, or more appropriately, the LOOK of legs. Since they tuck down into an area where they won't be seen, I went for the cruder approach. Sure, it isn't as pretty, but I did specifically purchase these minis with the impression that there might be some cutting involved... Odds are though he won't be keeping the axe (that formerly was a polearm or halberd?). So that's where things are at the moment... I've also been thinking about how to explain the smaller sized gnoll, and how he's part of the raiding party, since they're known for being more of a cruel society, especially to outsiders. Well, in short? I've come up with the basic premise that the smaller ones not only survive through perseverance, but also since they're smaller, they're able to get into tighter nooks and crannies, and therefore picked up skills that would make them not only useful to raiding parties, but also considered an essential, even valued partner. That's right, they taught themselves... to HOTWIRE VEHICLES. Sure, there are many ways of building vehicles, but it's nowhere near as much fun as just outright stealing them from someone else, and then using such for their raids, and cause a great deal of mischief and mayhem, potentially being able to raid even more through the initial confusion...

Howdy all, This is Tamiya's 1/35 scale Sherman Jumbo - a significantly up-armored Sherman tank designed to be at the head of advancing columns and function as an assault tank. Two hundred and fifty-four were built through the spring and summer of 1944 with the first batches hitting the European front in the fall of '44. All were initially armed with a 75mm gun. A number were later converted to the long barrel 76mm gun because it fired a more effective high-velocity anti-tank round. The Sherman Jumbos served through the end of the war in Europe. Tamiya's kit dates back to 1987 and is based on Tamiya's standard M4A3 Sherman tank issued in the early 80s. Tamiya added a new larger turret, new armor plates for the upper hull sides, and a new glacis plate for the hull front. Unfortunately, they neglected to provide a new and much larger front transmission cover. Numerous reviews have also mentioned the turret shape and size are off, but I've yet to read/hear where it's off or by how much. I spent some time looking over book and interweb pics and the height of the turret might be a bit low. Maybe. I believe the Jumbo is out of production, but the originall M4A3 is still available. Not worry; new, more detailed and more complex Jumbos are available. I've built a new transmission cover using the old cover as a foundation, then adding sheets and strips of Evergreen .040 plastic to beef it up. The turret height was raised with .030 strips of plastic between the upper and lower turret halves. Additional details were added to the hull and turret - basically anywhere you see white, copper wire, brass, or green putty. I also used a Dremel tool and a small dove-tail cutter to enhance the very prominent hull weld beads. The case transmission cover and the turret sides were coated with liquid glue (in sections) and stippled with a siff wire brush to replicate the cast texture of the real items. You can see the turret texture in the photo. The pic shows the mocked up upper and lower hull components and the turret, three of the six bogie wheel assemblies (three more on the other side), the mantlet, and turned aluminum gun barrel. Painting next - any color you want as long as it's olive-by-God-drab. Qs and Cs welcomed; no secrets here...

This is Tamiya's 1.35 scale Centaur, a 95mm howitzer support tank designed to support British and Canadian troops on D-Day. It's based on the Cromwell I built earlier (Ordnance 2, I think). Apart from drilling out the MG barrels and stowage, it's pretty much out-of-the-box. Aeromaster (no longer in business - ) paint with Reaper MSPs, colored pencils, and chalk pastels for the weathering. The boxes on the engine deck are resin, while the tarp, netting, and small cans are scratch-buit. Still no mud, sorry... Qs and Cs welcomed. See you on the RC ordnance tables. Glen

Here's another bit of ordnance - a WW II Japanese Type 97 Shinhoto Chi Ha Tank from Tamiya. 1/35 scale, all plastic, with flexible tracks. The kit dates back to the 80s. Fairly easy cleanup and assembly. Paashe VL airbrush and Tester's Model Master, et al, paints. Colored pencils for the paint chips, scratches, abrasions, etc. Reaper acrylics for the various oil, gas, dirt, and dust stains. Finished off with chalk pastels (old school). The base is a cutup, sanded, and stained oak plank from Home Depot. Name plate from a local trophy shop. Now everyone can join in the fun in RC's Ordnance Category. Qs and Cs welcomed. Glen

I'm getting ready to paint my Kyphryxis Dragon in the Translucent Bones, and wanted to test how the different colors of the Tamiya Clears looked on the Bones translucent material. So I picked up some of the 77306 Translucent Slimes. These are literally quick paints - I just slopped on the Tamiya Clear on each one. I'm posting them here not to show off, but for your convenience and reference. Warning - Pic heavy First off, a plain, untouched translucent Bones slime: The Tamiya Clear Gloss really makes the Slime translucent: The effect is much more noticeable when you see them side by side: Next, painted in Tamiya Clear Yellow: Next in Tamiya Clear Blue: Tamiya Clear Green: Tamiya Clear Smoke: Tamiya Clear Red: Tamiya Clear Orange: And finally, my actual test piece, which I'm calling a "Fire Slime". I will probably be using a similar scheme for my Kyphrixis: As you can see, the Tamiya Clears are really good at literally changing the color of the translucent Bones material, while maintaining the translucency. At some point, i think I'm going to try and pick up multiples of some of the other translucent colors, and do similar test pieces. I already know from the fire elementals that it will change the tones of the red/orange Bones.

This will be the last of my experiments, at least until the Grey Ooze in Bones IV is released in retail. First off, as it appeared in the Burning Sphere ones - the Orange translucents are not as friendly to the Tamiya Clears as the other colors. Also, I didn't do a full color range test with this one. The only reason I did it is my FLGS had one in stock when I was there on Saturday. Again, I'll start off with untouched: The three of these here are part of my original experiments with Tamiya Clears a couple years back. I'm showing them all together, because I honestly don't remember which was painted with which. I'm not sure if there is one of each - Yellow, Orange and Red, or if I did one in Orange, and two in Red. The Red, Yellow and Orange clears do work fairly well with the orange Bones - I used them to tint my large fire elementals originally. But the tinting is subtle. Since I only had the one untouched figure to experiment with, I chose to see what the blue would do with it. Not real pleased with the results: It doesn't really retain the translucence, unless you hold it up to the light, in which case I ended up with a sort of purple splotchiness. I tried to get a shot of that, but it doesn't show up on the camera very well: Assessment of Tamiya Clears and the orange translucents - you're not going to get the nice color changing effects that the clear, green and purple Bones get. Stick with the Red, Orange and Yellow Tamiya Clears for these Bones.

Next up in my Tamiya Clears experiments - the Green. The Green behaves much like the purple does, meaning that the clears can almost completely recolor it, if the piece is thin enough. First up, untouched: With the Clear Gloss. Again, it really brings out the translucence: With the Smoke. Out of all the colors I've tested so far, the smoke works best on the green. With the Green: With the Red: With the orange: With the Yellow. This one seems to have the hardest time with the green: With the blue: And all of them together:

This one is cool, IMO. Ever wished that Shadow Demon came in a different color than Purple? Once again, presenting my experiments with translucent Bones and Tamiya Clears. Warning Pic Heavy First off, an untouched Shadow Demon: With Tamiya Clear Gloss: Untouched next to the one with the clear gloss: Tamiya Clear Red: Tamiya Clear Orange: Tamiya Clear Yellow: Tamiya Clear Green: Tamiya Clear Blue: Tamiya Clear Smoke: All of them, in all their glory: As you can see, the Tamiya clears can actually change the color while maintaining the translucency on the smaller and thinner parts. The only one that doesn't do this to the same degree as the others is the Smoke. Hope people find this useful.

To follow up on my experiments with Tamiya Clears, I present its effects on the Orange Translucents. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as well on the thicker pieces. At some point, I think I need to go back and retry this with a different orange mini, like the medium fire elemental. Warning, pic heavy I don't have an untouched Burning Sphere, so no picture of it untouched. First up, Tamiya Clear Yellow Tamiya Clear Blue: Tamiya Clear Green: Tamiya Clear Smoke: Tamiya Clear Red: Tamiya Clear Orange:

Some of you may remember this. Well, basically, I'd painted it, weathered it, everything finished... and then I said I'd sculpt crew for it. Well, that's taking too long to get acceptable results, so I ended up buying two 1/35 figurine kits. Now, the one hugely annoying thing about scale modelling is for some reason it is basically impossible to find female combat troops. There's the occasional orderly, nurse, the not-so-occasional pinup, and strangely enough there's a lot of "the one woman in the kit getting hit on by all the men in the kit." Which basically boiled down to, "if you want it, you have to make it." Or at least do some major modifications. So, the base models in this kit are ICM's Soviet Servicewomen 1939-1942, which is three women in uniform screwing around except one is getting yelled at by a male officer, and Zvezda's Soviet Medical Personnel, which has one female medic cradling a dying soldier's head. Not the best starting material, but that's what creativity is for. Two of the ICM models and the Zvezda medic. With some breaking of wrists and Tamiya's weapon kit, I've changed one from holding a tea kettle to a rifle, and the medic from cradling a head to holding her rifle sling. The diary writer is essentially the same, just with added kit and cradling a submachine gun. An unimpressed military servicewoman getting yelled at, with a simple arm flip and a flare pistol glued into her hands, becomes a tank commander. I may add headphones, we'll see. You may have noticed that I only named four figurines, so where does this fifth one come from? The answer is an unholy kitbash of the ICM (male) officer's torso and cap, two of the Zvezda male casualties' arms, the medical satchel from the Zvezda nurse, the head from one of the Masterbox pinups I'd gotten a while back, and the legs and skirt unused from the tank commander. With a few accoutrements, she looks the part of a young courier or runner.

In my order of clears, I had the cube! I sculpted the flagstones with some greenstuff and a toothpick, and conveniently my cube is a snug enough fit on the inside bit that it'll stand quite comfortably on the base without slipping off. I wanted to get it seperable so that I could use it to eat other minis =] I did make a bit of a mess of painting the inner piece, because I just couldn't figure it out well enough ^^; but it's going to be fairly rarely seen, so I don't mind too much. I used Tamiya's Green and Yellow clears, and an assortment of Citadel for the solid bits... Screaming Skull, White Scar, Fenrisian Grey, Steel Legion Drab, and another blue and red that I can't currently remember. The flagstones are painted with Standard Mechanicus Grey, Dawnstone, and Agrax Earthshade. I also used Tamiya's Shadow clear to add some extra depth. I was really surprised by how big the cube actually was ultimately, I had to order new bases for it to fit on xD

So in my last Reaper order I ordered some big shiny stuff for other people, but for myself, I ordered a few translucent Bones, as I've had my eye on them for a long elf time. As I have the translucent dragon from Bones 3 eventually making its way to me, I decided to get some practice in too. So there was a thread around at one point about using Tamiya Clears on the translucent Bones minis, so I launched into painting mine with a similar approach =] I also got fed up with my SLR and its hatred of shooting indoors, so woke up its inbuilt flash and cobbled together the world's most slapdash flash diffuser, and was ultimately kinda pleased with the results. Annoyingly, a lot of photos are underexposed because they look fine on my camera, but the screen on that is weirdly bright and everything tends to be dark as all hell when moved onto my laptop. It is possible my laptop screen is funky, so I do apologise if the following image is now hugely overbright *facepalm* He's painted with Red and Shadow Tamiya clears, and then drybrushed very lightly with Citadel's Genestealer Purple, Khorne Red, and Evil Sunz Scarlet. His eyes are Evil Sunz =] I'm actually really quite proud of how he's come out.

So, this is a bit different than what we usually see on the forums, but... If you've seen my topic in the Conversions and Terrain subforum, you know what this is, but to recap for those who haven't... I took an old Tamiya 1/35 Panzer II kit from the 70s, pieces of a broken resin Verlinden 1/48 Pak 43 gun, a bunch of blank styrene, and scratch built pretty much everything above the hull (and bits of the hull as well).

Somewhere someone on this board used the clear tamiya paints on their translucent bones, I can't remember who it was offhand, and I tried it and have painted all of my translucent bones with this paint first. I though I'd show the difference that this paint makes on these figures by painting two fire elementals. I slathered Tamiya clear red onto both figures generously. Unlike most basecoats, a thick coat won't obscure details like regular paint would, it just take longer to dry. A word of warning, while this paint does clean up with water, it is still a solvent based paint and does have an odor, take precautions and use in a ventilated area, also don't use your good Kolinsky brushes as this paint WILL STAIN brushes (and Jeans). I used a synthetic flat bristle brush size 2 for the basecoating. So, on to the Pictoral commentary... This is the Medium Fire Elemental right out of the package. And this is the same elemental after being painted in Tamiya Clear red paint. Bear in mind that this paint is dried when the picture was taken. Here is a (Hopefully) better side by side comparison with the Large fire elemental. And here is just the large fire elemental after being painted. I will be adding other fire colors as I go, I've already started adding some yellow details to the large Elemental and I'll post and update as I get each color added. hopefully this helps some of you who are looking to intensify the coloring of your translucent bones. This also works with the Green translucents and tamiya clear green.

Hello all! While I'm waiting for my dull coat to dry so I can finish basing, I was curious if anyone has any experience with weathering pigments. I came across these at Hobby Lobby today: http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/87080weathering/ Our Hobby Lobby recently upgraded its inventory, so there's a LOT more Tamiya, Vallejo, etc. products. I've seen similar products over at the Secret Weapon website: http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=37_38 So, what's the sitch? These look like they could be useful....

Has anyone tried these paints on the bones yet? Just picked up an airbrush and was wondering if anyone used these yet.