In Progress » Martian Light Hovertank » Painting

I received my first Hovertank kit to paint up for the box art, but not before finding out my deadline is the 20th. Yikes! Needless to say that it’s been a busy weekend here in my workshop. (Thanks for understanding Rachel!!!) The Hovertank arrived on Thursday morning (12th) from Adam at Mig Productions and immediately found itself in a bath of Purple Power to soak off some of the mold release. Later that evening I scrubbed the parts with a toothbrush and  set them to dry overnight. At this point I didn’t get much chance to look them over.

Friday I spent cleaning up the parts and I must say, all bias aside, this is a VERY well casted kit. I’d make it my second-best cast ever recieved, the first being Francesco’s Hard Boiled AFS cast which was near perfection. My cast had no bubbles and everything looked just as it did when I sent it. The clean-up was a breeze! In fact it took maybe 3-4 hours total to clean-up and pin. The only problem I found was that I was missing two parts (front eye and gun-hose couplink) which are in the mail as I write this. Doh! The Photoetch parts are FANTASTIC! Sooo glad I decided to go that route when designing this.

Friday afternoon/evening I managed to not only texture and prime the kit, but to put down a dark-rust base-coat as well since I planned on doing the hairspray/salt chipping technique.

Saturday I salted/hairsprayed everything and painted the camo, markings, and other misc parts. I wanted a Kondo/Kobayashi-like camo and I think it turned out better than I expected. I love my Iwata HP-BH airbrush! Thanks to Rick for teaching me the mottled AB techniques! Really helped here. I also painted the metal parts using Alclad 2 lacquers. Saturday afternoon/evening I was able to apply 2 filters then let it dry overnight.

Sunday was spent doing oil-paint discoloration and washes and working on detail-painting the engine.

And that leaves me at today, Monday, and 4 days until my deadline. At this point I’ve gotten my pre-dusting done using pigments and airbrushing a Martian dust color. At this point all I have meft to do is my general pigment dusting, finally using Mig Productions Martian Sand color. I’ll be using African and Vietnam dirt to vary the tones and possibly some Gulf War sand mixed with Martian Sand as well for lighter dust tones. I don’t want to apply those final pigments until the parts arrive. Hopefully I’ll see them on my doorstep tomorrow or Wednesday. Either of those days gives me enough time to meet the deadline and take my pics.

So keep an eye out for this kit in your Local or Online hobby shops next month and show me your finished builds!