{"id":1752,"date":"2006-09-08T06:20:56","date_gmt":"2006-09-08T14:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/?p=1752"},"modified":"2009-02-12T07:20:23","modified_gmt":"2009-02-12T15:20:23","slug":"in-progress-%c2%bb-tactical-armor-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/in-progress-%c2%bb-tactical-armor-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"In Progress \u00c2\u00bb Tactical Armor Deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"

01.28.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Concepts \/ Intro<\/p>\n

Finally! Here’s another diorama project that
\nI have been planning for well over a year, but just haven’t
\ngotten around to. The excuse for this one is good though.
\nI really needed practice at armor and to become a better modeler
\nto pull it off. With the completion of my KV-2<\/a>,
\nand while my mindset is with AFVs, I think it’s time to finally
\nstart this one.<\/p>\n

This diorama will consist of the Tamiya JGSDF
\nLight Armored Vehicle, Tamiya JGSDF Iraq Humanitarian Assistance
\nTeam, Academy Mutt Jeep, and 2 Bandai Raiden Tactical Armor
\nType 17’s from the anime ‘Gasaraki’. The setting will be the
\nMiddle East and will depict a deployment of the TA’s based
\non intel from a local security officer. The officer will be
\ndriving the Mutt Jeep which (in my alternate universe imaginary
\ntimeline) was part of some long-ago U.S. arms deals where
\nold surplus equipment was given to Middle Eastern countries\/freedom-fighters\/whatevers
\nin exchange for intelligence\/etc… The Jeep has long since
\nbeen repainted and will have a worn desert feel. The JGSDF
\nequipment will be painted in desert camoflague in buff and
\ngreen as seen below.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00c2\u00ab LAV not to scale with TA<\/p>\n

I’ve been wanting to do a desert setting for
\na while now and I think this is just the project to do it
\nwith. I’ve got my desert MIG Pigments ready (Beach Sand and
\nGulf War Sand) and am raring to go! I’ll be making little
\nmodifications to the TAs to make them look more in-line with
\nthe LAV. I’ll likely make a new weapon for one and also do
\none with more armor as more of a “point-man”. The
\nknees in particular are screaming for more defensive armor.
\nThey look like an RPG could take them right out. I might make
\nsomething like hockey-goalie shin-gaurds with reactive armor.
\nMaybe… It’ll be a try and see thing and only used if it
\nlooks good.<\/p>\n

Base-wise this won’t be an excessively large
\ndio. Only about 13-14″ x 8-10″. That gives me enough
\nroom for the jeep, LAV, one sitting Raiden and one walking,
\na wall, some refuse\/rubble, figs, a palm tree, and a nice
\namount of “white space” to boot. The ground-work
\nwill be a sandy, dusty lot with small stones strewn about.
\nThere will be rubble from the old wall and a fridge and other
\n“garbage” from a resin refuse set p-trax picked
\nup for me. The sitting TA will have the pilot climbing into
\nthe mech from the rear hatch. I’ll have to heavily modify
\na fig for that. The arab jeep driver will be the driver that
\ncame with the jeep, but with a beard and head-wrap and a modified
\npose.<\/p>\n

01.30.2006 \u00c2\u00bb M151A2 Mutt<\/p>\n

I decided to start on the Mutt jeep first as
\nit needs the most work and will likely be dropped if I did
\nit last. It’s just so poorly molded with huge pin-marks, lots
\nof flash, and inaccurate as well. Normally as most of you
\nknow, accurracy is not my thing, but then why be accurate
\non a giant robot that doesn’t exist anyway? I made the mistake
\nof looking for photo reference of the jeep and found a lot
\nof things that I’m changing. Other things I’m removing or
\nscratch-building just because the original parts are so bad.<\/p>\n

First off image-wise is the lower chassis with
\nthe rear and side-walls glued on.<\/p>\n

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There’s gaps of course on the front fenders
\nwhich added shims of sheet styrene to to fill. I thinned the
\nhood underneath in order to make a dent. This will hopefully
\nhelp the kit to look more old and beaten. I also removed the
\nguide-tabs on the rear fender-tops that were for the antenna
\nbrackets.<\/p>\n

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The tires are wreird in that the back-sides
\nare a seperate piece that you glue in and fill the seam on.
\nPersonally, I’d rather have 2 halves for these than have a
\nweird spot to sand, but it’s not a huge deal. Although I say
\nthat having not sanded them yet. I used an exacto to scrape
\noff the flash around the tires. I drilled out the molded-in
\nheadlights on the Jeep and have since filled them with apoxy
\nsculpt to make concave surfaces. I’ll use clear Wave lenses
\nto make new headlamps.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

A comparison shot of the Mutt to the JGSDF Light
\nArmored Vehicle. I can’t wait to start the LAV as you can
\nsee, the body is molded so nicely and crisply. Unlike the
\ndamn bad-molded Mutt.<\/p>\n

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Next up is a shot of the Mutt looking more jeep-like.
\nI’ve since replaced the brace-bar for the machine gun stand
\nwith wire and made a new mount for the pole. I need to take
\nmore pics as I’m a few days behind on in-progress images.<\/p>\n

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02.01.2006 \u00c2\u00bb M151A2 Mutt Customized<\/p>\n

I was looking through a box of M-10 tank parts
\nthat I use for details and such for a set of headlights to
\nreplace the Mutt kit ones with. The Mutt ones were horribly
\nmolded so they needed replaced or a lot of work. I opted for
\nreplacing them. While looking through those parts, I came
\nacross the machine gun for the old WW2 tank and thought it
\nlooked way cooler and more menacing than the one that came
\nwith the jeep so I modified the stand and cleaned up the tank
\nmachine gun to use instead. It’s bigger, beefier, and well…
\ncooler. I had some resin ammo boxes for it so I set those
\nin the back of the jeep along with a backpack. I made straps
\nfor the jeep from lead-foil. (Thanks Bill and Barry!) I liked
\nthe steering wheel for the tank better as well and replaced
\nthe kit shovel with one from an M-8 Greyhoung that had the
\nmount staps molded on. Antenna was made from stretched sprue
\nand coiled wire. Aside from finishing the main headlights
\non the front, this is about ready for primer. Here’s some
\npics:<\/p>\n

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02.01.2006 \u00c2\u00bb JGSDF Light Armored
\nVehicle<\/p>\n

Man… I am so glad that I built the Mutt jeep
\nfirst because it’s poor molding and part-fit is making me
\nappriciate just how wonderful the JGSDF LAV from Tamiya is.
\nI believe this kit came out on 2004 or so. I’ve had it for
\nabout a year I think. Very nice crisp molding. REALLY nice
\ncrisp molding. I’m impressed enough that I might pick up a
\nsecond one and build it later and I’m only about 1\/2 way through
\nthe first. Enough gushing… onto the pics:<\/p>\n

First up is the body test-fitted to the pre-primed
\ndie-cast chassis. That’s right… METAL! It’s nice and heavy
\nand seems to work rather well. Some of the suspension parts
\nwill actually screw into the chassis. The body as you see
\nin the first pic is all molded in one piece. I’m not sure
\nwhat kind of crazy multi-part mold they used, but its vents
\nare hollow\/see-through and the tow-rings are molded onto the
\nbody. At least those ones, there’s more to come. It has a
\nnice non-slip texture molded into the body, but I’m not sure
\nhow well it’ll show-up after priming and painting.<\/p>\n

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Next is a few shots of the beautiful suspension.
\nIt was designed so well that I only had 8 tiny seams and some
\nflash to clean-up. It looks very nice and detailed as well.
\nIt’s a shame that a lot of that will be hidden once the tires
\nand rest of the body are attached.<\/p>\n

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The tires are molded in a soft black vinyl.
\nThey’re really nice and the metal chassis gives weight to
\nthem. The wheels actually have metal pins that push into polycaps
\nin the suspension which is just awesome to me as a Gundam
\nmodeler. The tires have a very small line of flash down the
\ncenter that I’ll try to sand off later. Real tires have some
\nflash, but this is out of scale and would be worn down after
\nuse anyway.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

The interior is very nice and will provide a
\nnew challenge to me as I’m so used to painting everything
\nat once. I’ll have to build\/paint\/weather the interior first
\nthem do the outside. Fun! The dash (not pictured) is very
\nnice and detailed and the seats just look beautiful to me.
\nThe only problem there is minor injector marks on the back
\nwhich are easily sanded, puttied and sanded again.<\/p>\n

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02.08.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Boxed up<\/p>\n

The LAV is ready for primer and paint so is
\nbeing set aside for now while I work on the next parts of
\nthis project. I wanted to make this base resemble a staging
\nand resupply area in the desert. To do that I went looking
\nfor armor updates sets for stowage and whatnot. There’s a
\nlot of expensive stuff out there that looks good, but can
\nbe made myself for cheap. One is cardboard boxes of MREs and
\nbottled water. In Illustrator I made a box template then added
\nthe text and such based on reference images I found. The MRE
\nboxes are US, because I couldn’t find references for JGSDF
\nones. The bottled water ones are of my own design based on
\nthose I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

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I need to get some thin and smooth brown paper
\nfor the MRE boxes. I used brown packing paper for the test
\none and it’s too grainy in texture. See below.<\/p>\n

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Below are the templates I made for the boxes.
\nAt some point I’ll make a PDF of these for everyone that’s
\ninterested.<\/p>\n

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I have an old scrap of MDF board that I’m using
\nfor the base. I’ll add a frame around it later to make it
\nlook nice. I sketched on top of the board where I want everything
\nto be placed to get a rough idea of how everythink will fit.
\nThe Ishtar is sitting where the sitting Raiden will be. The
\narrow below the scribble to the left is where the walking
\nraiden will go. Behind the wall will be a palm tree and more
\nstowage\/rubbish. You can also see a few crushed water bottle
\nboxes. One is flattened, the one behind the jeep has some
\nflattened clear-plastic heat-formed tubes I made to be smashed
\nwater bottles.<\/p>\n

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To add to the piles of stuff I used an extra
\nwheel, oil drums, german tank ammo crates and a large wooden
\nequipment crate I made from styrene strips. I’ll be adding
\nmore to the piles later such as tarps, ammo cases, and more.<\/p>\n

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Finally for this update I needed the driver
\nfor the jeep. I found some pics of Afghan and Taliban fighters
\nand am modding a Tamiya German Tank Loding Crew fig to be
\nmy arabic driver. One of the figs was bending down to pick
\nup a shell from one of the crates. I decided to use him and
\nmodify him to be loading an MRE box into his jeep. Click
\nhere for some figure reference from Armorama.<\/a> I need to
\nmodify his clothing a but to add the vest and long shirt thing.
\nShouldn’t be any more difficult than the batman I modified
\nfrom a US soldier fig. I’ve already started the beard, mustache
\nand head-wrap.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/p>\n

02.09.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Modified Color Schemes<\/p>\n

This was talked about and figured out in the
\nforum, but I wanted to put it in my in-prog page as well.
\nI went searching for a JGSDF desert camo scheme and that search
\nwas not easy. A few friends of mine in Japan had no idea and
\nno amount of searching came up with anything. Finally I found
\nan image of a JGSDF Type 82 with a brown\/tan scheme so based
\nthe next images off that.<\/p>\n

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I’ll be using the last scheme for the Raiden
\nand LAV as I found the one in the pic to be somewhat darker
\nthan I’d like. Then BK gave me an idea to make some of the
\nleg parts on one Raiden green to suggest that they were recently
\nreplaced and still had the factory paint-scheme. That scheme
\nis below and you can see the green on the lower left leg.
\nI think it adds a nice bit of visual interest.<\/p>\n

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08.29.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Back to work…<\/p>\n

Been a while, but I’m back on this project.
\nIn order not to have it become an overwhelming project, I’m
\ntaking it a little at a time. First I’m almost ready for weathering
\nthe LAV. When that is done I’ll finish up the Jeep since it
\njust needs painted as well. Then I’ll do both the Raiden TAs
\nand finally the figures and diorama.<\/p>\n

But first off the LAV. I primed it with dark
\ngray duplicolor then gave it a base coat of Tamiya Khaki,
\nfollowed with XF-73 JGSDF Dark Green. This is different from
\nwhat I planned above, but give yourself 6 months and ideas
\nwill change. Not completely mind you, one of the TA will be
\ndesert and the other will be painted in this same scheme just
\nto mix it up as if the JGSDF was brought in as a humanitarian
\nforce, thus the non-desert color, but got dragged into a broader
\nconflict. This was some machines, the ones that were there
\nlonger haven’t gotted the full desert scheme painted on them.<\/p>\n

I hand-painted all the little details then gave
\neverything a gloss-coat of FFA to smooth the surface for the
\ndecals. When all the decals and small bits ere painted I gave
\nall the armor a satin finish. Normally I’d do flat, but the
\nMig FAQ book suggested satin so I figured I’d give it a whirl
\nand see how it works. I actually like the satin as it’s flat-ish,
\nbut still has a “sheen” to it which helps with the
\nrealism I think. Here’s a few pics, none with the satin yet
\nas that’s curing.<\/p>\n

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08.30.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Satin and Filters<\/p>\n

Today I added a few filters to my LAV today.
\nThis was my first time trying the technique so it was hit
\nand miss. My first filter’s result was not much of a change.
\nI used a very thin sandy color. My second filter (yellow-orange)
\ndone much later did better to filter the color, but the end
\nresult was similar to that of a wash in places. I believe
\nthe problem was that I left too much of the filter pool in
\nplaces. The good news is that it looks like a sandy wash which
\nweill happen next anyway so no worries.<\/p>\n

Anyway here’s a few pics. The first 2 are of
\nthe LAV with just the satin-coat. The last image is after
\nboth filters were applied. Sadly they’re not showing up in
\nthe images, but believe me, they look nice and add to the
\nlook.<\/p>\n

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08.31.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Lights and Mirrors<\/p>\n

Today I added the lights and mirrors as well
\nas masked off\/painted the amber lights on the front and front-sides.
\nThis was done with a base of Alclad Aluminum covered with
\nTamiya Clear Orange. The mirrors were painted with Alclad
\nChrome and look fantastic!<\/p>\n

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09.01.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Chip,
\nand Fade<\/p>\n

Armor chips were added to this Light
\nArmored Vehicle using a mixture of Tamiya Flat
\nBlack, Nato Brown, and Dark Gray while aluminum
\nchips were done with Rub-N-Buff. These were done
\nwith a very small paintbrush and very carefully.
\nI didn’t add too many for verious reasons. The
\nvehicle would not be too old and would be well
\nmaintained, plus there will be a lot of sand dust
\ncovering the vehicle. I’m going to mask though
\nso that I’ll have some scrapes of the sand revealing
\nthe base-coat. I also put the interior together
\nand dusted it with a Mig Pigment mixture of Beach
\nSand, Gulf War Sand, and Light Dust. Here’s a
\ncouple pics before the fade info…<\/p>\n

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09.01.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Chip,
\nand Fade – Part 2<\/p>\n

Next up on the Light Armored Vehicle
\nbefore I do a sand-colored wash was “fading\/discoloring”.
\nThis is a technique I learned from Xtreme Military
\nModeling and from my FAQ book. It worked great
\non my KV2, Mosquito, and Raptor so I used it here
\nas well. Basically you dab some oil-paints on
\nthe surface, I used UM Blue, White, and Sand,
\nthen blend them into the surface with clean thinner.
\nThe result is fantastic and gives you a surface
\nwith a nice worn look. Here’s some pics. Next
\nup will be a sand-colored wash followed by rain-marks
\n(yes, the desert gets some precip) airbrushing
\nsandy dust along the lower half and rear panels
\nof the vehicle.<\/p>\n

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09.01.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Grit
\nand Wash<\/p>\n

Before my wash, I added some finely
\ncrushed talus on the underside of the Light Armored
\nVehicle where mud and crap would get kicked up
\nand stuck. I applied it by first brushing on flattened
\nFuture then pouring on the grit and brushing off
\nthe large chunks. This will later be painted over
\nwith a sand color.<\/p>\n

For my wash I mixed up a sand color
\nfrom white, yellow and burnt sienna oils with
\njust a slight touch of blue to dull its brightness.
\nThis was mixed with mineral spirits and washed
\ninto crevases and all over. the end result looks
\nfantastic. As if dust collected around every bolt
\nand jutting object, but it also left splotches
\nof what looks like random dust all over. I’m thrilled
\nwith the result. Next-up pre-dusting…<\/p>\n

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09.02.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Pre-Disting<\/p>\n

The next step was a predusting with
\nmy airbrush and a sand-color I mixed from Tamiya
\nBuff, Desert sand, and white. This mixture was
\nthinned with Tamiya Thinner at a ratio of about
\n20:80 paint:thinner to get a very thin mist. Before
\nI could spray it on however I needed to mask off
\na few things. I masked off the centers of the
\nwindows as if they were wiped clean. I also masked
\noff the large insignia on the side and back doors.
\nThis was common for JGSDF personel operating in
\nIraq. I also masked the lights as if they needed
\ncleaned too to function properly. I also taped
\nthe doors on from the inside so that I could remove
\nthem afterwards and position them open or closed.
\nI then sprayed the dust mix randomly all over
\nthe vehicle, but concentrating on where it would
\nbuild up the most such as the rear panels and
\nlower half of the vehicle. Next up is the Mig
\nPigment dusting to add to the effects.<\/p>\n

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09.03.2006 \u00c2\u00bb M151A
\nMutt Time!<\/p>\n

In case you don’t know, the LAV
\nis done! Click here
\nfor pics \u00c2\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n

The next vehicle for painting in
\nthis diorama is the M151A Mutt… your basic and
\nclassic Army Jeep. This one was sold in an arms
\ndeal to a Middle Eastern country. Years later
\nand long after a new coat of paint it ended up
\nin the hands of some militia. Retrofits were made,
\nblah, blah, blah… basically I have a Jeep I
\nwon in a raffle and this seems like a great place
\nto use it!<\/p>\n

I built this the same time as my
\nLAV so all I had to do today was a few minor tweaks,
\nprime and paint it. Before painting, I decided
\nto try a new technique using the same grit for
\nunder the wheel wells. This time I mixed the grit
\nwith Mr. Surfacer and dabbed it around the wheel
\nwells. This turned out great! Afterwards I primed
\neverything and 6 hours later decided I couldn’t
\nwait any more and started painting.<\/p>\n

I painted the main body of the Jeep
\nwhite with my airbrush. The underside was later
\nhand painted with dark gray. When the white dried
\nenough I mixed some black, brown, and gray and
\nstarted on the paint chips. I want this vehicle
\nto have a VERY worn, out of date, and poorly maintained
\nlook so a lot of chips were in order. I first
\npainted chips onto the entire vehicle with a small
\nbrush. Then I took a small ripped-off piece of
\ncheap spounge and dabbed the smaller finer scratches
\nand worn areas. Here’s the result. There’s a sharp
\ncontrast, but after filters and weathering, they’ll
\nall blend in better. I absolutely love how they
\nturned out in the bed!<\/p>\n

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09.04.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Painting
\nis done!<\/p>\n

Almost of the painting and paint
\nchips and clear-coats for the Mutt are done. All
\nI have left are the clear-colors for the lights,
\nbut need to do them after the filters, but before
\nthe washes. Below you can see all the parts laid
\nout awaiting a plethora of filters tomorrow when
\nthe satin coat dries. I tried to vary the colors
\nI used for the accessories to give it some more
\nrealism and depth. I think I used 5 different
\ngreens, 4 grays, etc… I especially like how
\nthe wheels paint chips turned out.<\/p>\n

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09.05.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Filters<\/p>\n

Today I applied the Filters to the
\nJeep. The first was a yellow-orange (pic 1) and
\nthe second was a grey-orange color (pic 2). Again
\nI used oil paint thinned with lots of oderless
\nmineral spirits. The change to the color is subtle,
\nbut it makes the tone look more desert-like. As
\nif a buff-color was very faded after years in
\nthe sun. It also shows up better than the one
\nI did on my LAV. While I waited for the first
\nfilter to dry, I started on the two 1\/35 Gasaraki
\nRaiden kits. No pics of them yet as they’re just
\na pile of parts.<\/p>\n

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09.06.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Discoloration
\nand Base Layout<\/p>\n

I applied the “discoloration”
\nto the Mutt. This was done as I did with the LAV,
\nbuy applying dabs of oils and blending them with
\nclean thinner. The result of the filters and discoloration
\nare great and make the white jeep look very “deserted”.
\nNext up is the sandy wash, but this needs to sit
\nand dry for a while before that.<\/p>\n

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So while the Jeep dries I started
\nmessing with the base layout and building the
\nTA Raidens. I placed the main items on the base
\nas I initially intended and noticed a problem.
\nThe standing Tactical Armor obscures the LAV.
\n(image 1 & 2) I wasn’t sure how I felt about
\nthat so I played with the layout a bit. I basically
\njust swapped the Jeep and LAV and 2 Raidens, but
\nthis layout gives me more base room for figures
\nand puts the things I want to show off in the
\nfront which is the sitting TA, figures, and LAV.
\nPlus the taller items end up in the back like
\nthe palm and standing TA. This however REALLY
\nobscures the Jeep.(3 & 4) I like this layout,
\nbut as I gather boxes and such for the supply
\ndepot, I’ll have to play with it some more.<\/p>\n

\"\"1<\/p>\n

\"\"2
\n\"\"3<\/p>\n

\"\"4<\/p>\n

09.08.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Filters<\/p>\n

Last night I added my sand-colored
\nwash to the Mutt. This really brought out the
\ndesert feel of the kit. Scroll up and compare
\nthe image below to one of my first white ones
\nto see the difference the filters and washes made.
\nNext up is initial pigment powders for the rust
\nthen predusting with the airbrush.<\/p>\n

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09.08.2006 \u00c2\u00bb Rust
\nand Dust<\/p>\n

Now for the final steps of this
\npiece which is the weathering with pigment powders.
\nFirst I added the rust pigments I did these first
\nsince realistically they’d be covered by the layers
\nof dust. I applied them mostly with water then
\ndry-brushed them with a clean dry brush to fade
\nthem out.<\/p>\n

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Then after the rust was applied,
\nI added a pre-dusting of the same sand-color-mix
\nused on the LAV with my airbrush. When that dried
\nI began applying the various dand colored pigments.
\nI still have some of the Jeep, the tires, gun,
\nand the extras to go, but here’s a pigment progress
\nshot:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n