The experiment has begun... a black and white police Humvee (ala the 1996 scenes in
Demolition Man).
I purchased a 1/48 scale Tamiya M998 "turtleback" kit from Amazon.jp a bit back, finally sat down a built up the major components.
I started with a plan for painting black: it would be painted with German grey for the black mid-tone. With the goal of making the black as easy as possible I'd plotted the following battle plan:
German grey base > black shade/wash > watercolor pencil highlights > flat topcoat.
Let's see how this works.
...
Well... um... it looked grey and white... not black and white. The shade made the grey more 3D, but still read as grey.
*sigh* Into the Simple Green and scrubbed with a toothbrush for the hood and wheels. Chassis got a silver drybrush on the mechanicals. then, out came the black gesso.
The frame and swingarms, and shock mounts were gesso'd black, as was the hood, wheels and body work.
Here's where it is now... I need to touch up the bottom of the B pillars, a few points where the gesso contracted and exposed the under color, and clean up the roof line where it meets the black. The glass (not shown) has been gesso'd black on the insides; blackened windows allow models, diecasts, and resin casts to blend better on the table than some black, some clear - it also saves me from having to worry about the crew compartment. I also clipped the side view mirrors, they'd never survive on the table, and sans them, the Humvee will blend better with my other vehicles. Along the same lines, it's brush painted, not airbrushed or sprayed - bit easier to do here in Japan, and the same way I paint my people and bikes.
It's still in subassemblies, Chassis, hood, A pillar structure, roof/hatch, body, doors and glass. I'd like to give the first drybrush before fixing the glass in place, and that will come after the decals are placed, which need to be ordered/created. I also need to order emergency lights. When all that is done, the quickshade, pencil highlights, and then dullcote.
Not sure when all that is going to play out, but I do have ideas for an open bed model (like the Hummer below) kitbash... so hopefully not so long.
In command post carrier mode she measures:
The air defense missile carrier version measures:
The model is a BMW 7 series (E65), however I am toying with the idea of converting the split grill into a single one, and blending away the trunk-lid halves of the tail light assemblies - leaving the sedan more generic. We'll see when they get here. Aside from that, I'm planning to add Valor-type lightbars, front push bars, and grill-mounted emergency lights (not the headlight modifications seen in the sketch).
After much back and forth, I decided on a conventional black and white scheme, with simple text markings. There are subtle nods to Hill Street Blues and the Blade films, but the design is original.I'd toyed with golden-yellow fender markings, but the sketches look much better with white, perhaps because the design is so simple.
So, that's what I've been up to this week. I guess I should also mention that this is the 100th post. Woot. What started out years ago as a page to support my Delta Green Realms of Cthulhu game, morphed into a Savage Worlds weapons supplement (subsequently spun off on its own), and now serves as my general hobby journal. Hope you all enjoy what I have put up. I'm hoping the year ahead will lead to more regular projects and posts after we get settled in the new house. Fingers crossed.
Oh... models (and a BluRay of Shaun of the Dead)... specifically Kotobukiya Mechanical Chain Base diorama sets. each has a 6" x 6" footprint, and they clip together. When complete, they will form my miniatures photo backdrop. Need to mount it to something... the floors bow up in the middle, and lots of peg holes to fill.
