Waiting for the Home Front

First photos I have of the project. The tank is mostly built, and I was doing some modifications on the build itself to add weld seams and irregularities on the cast hull. I'd been watching some youtube videos on scale modelling and was excited to copy some of their techniques. Neither of these turned out as well as I wanted them to in the final product, so I haven't tried them again since. Maybe I should give it a go again.  

Here's the base I made entirely off-camera. Balsa wood box, extruded polystyrene for the form, and a sawdust and plaster mix for the ground. I made the telephone poles and the torii myself. 

Here are my first two attempts at camo, both pretty bad as I'd never used an airbrush before. 

Here's the final camo on the base. I put down static grass in clumps and messed up the base a lot because the terrain mix was a bit soft. 

You can see the scenic accents glue in the top there, it's good but it dries very glossy, so I've switched pretty much exclusively to modge podge. 

Here is the base with nothing on it. 

Another angle. 

The two tankers who will be hanging out with their tank. Unpainted for now. 

Psyching myself up for tiny decals. 

Decals and a second gloss coat applied. Not too bad I think. 

Another angle. 

And another 

This is actually gloss medium, something that artists mix with their paints to make them glossy, but it also dries completely clear. I cut out all of the cleanup, but it was kind of a nightmare to fix as it curled up at the edges and revealed unpainted terrain. It's supposed to be a rice paddy, but all the grass dried at random angles so it's a bit ugly. 

Here's the final project, I'm just holding it under the light in a random room.  

Another angle. 

And another. Thanks for checking this out. When I get some time I'll upload another one of my old dioramas. I only have 3 more before I get to what I'm working on right now but they do gradually get more ok.