The Creative Explorer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^those were the pictures from 2009, that is how far I got And this is where I started yesterday:

The Rommel's Rod is almost finished and it has been a while since I had a true challenge for me and my airbrush, so instead of going for an easy paintjob, I decided to go way difficult and over my head haha. I started this van somewhere in 2009, but quickly stopped due to poor fitting and so much work that has to be done, but since it is the perfect canvas and I want to enter a contest with it in March, I decided to take it and go full on. Most of my day yesterday and today, I've spent on sanding, sanding and sanding. And I am still not done, but I think the biggest obstacle on this build is getting it prepped, other than that, I should be able to handle it within a month. So, my goal is to get the car it's basecoat the latest on sunday, which is a challenge, since the outdoor temperature is about 0 fahrenheit and it is quite cold in the attic. I can do assembly work in the livingroom, but prefer to do all the sanding and painting up in the attic. My plan is to go wild custom on this build, make it a bit more modern and use a lot of custom-things. I have no idea which way to go with wheels and stuff, but see that later, when the car will have it's graphics. Some pictures:

the computer it is my biggest distraction.

Same here, but not 610

Thank you guys! Somebody on another board gave me a nice idea; spiderwebs. But it is a difficult thing to make in 1/24 and haven't been able to find a tutorial on the interweb. Due to someone in I think trainmodelling, it gave me an idea. To work with Humbrol Clearfix and some toothpics to add small litte wires and make it look like spiderwebs. I didn't put too much in, but just enough to be noticable and look nice. Now I need to do the last difficult challenge; making the car appear from the hole in the Desert. Even wat foto's van de spinnenwebben:

I'm a member, so shoot

Thanks! I also like how it is coming together.

ok, over here it was a bit cheaper, around 300 euro's. But when you look at HLJ, the diecast version is around 550 dollars. I know I am whining, but still: it is more expensive than a already built version! I'm sorry, but I think Tamiya is in the wrong here.

Don't forget that the semi-diecast was retail around 300 dollars, same car. and that the other 1/12 models were around 160.

I made some holes in the dashboard, to simulate the area where normally the dials are. I made a few wires, to give the look of fallen out dials. It is a little hard to see without flash But a lot better with I added the battery and the radio, together with some wiring. I think I need to wheather the wires a little bit more.

And another small update, I am having the feeling that I am to the end of this built, I only need to do a few small changes and add-ons and I think I am done. Edwin got himself a little in a mess in the back; I added some detail by some tools, just gives it a bit more weathered feel to it. Seen from the top A little bit fuzzy, but this is the drivers compartment. I made with tape the hood-straps, and with paint gave it a little wheatered look.

I seriously think 610 is way over the top, i mean; the 1/12 Porsche 935 went for around 165. Revell just came with an all new tooling 1/12 for 50 bucks, sure, not with the Tamiya detail, but certainly not 12 times less. I think it should've been around 200 bucks, fair price I think

sucks, never mind

hmm, looks more and more interesting. That Lotus has 12046 as productnumber, I am getting excited! I also want the Caterham back in 1/12 from Tamiya, make it so!

That is what I thought too at first, but then I looked at the kit numbers, the Semi Diecast all starts with 232XX, and the plastic bigscale modelcars are 120XX. Take the Porsche 934 as example, it was both semi diecast and plastic model.

I read today on the internet Tamiya might going to release a Enzo Ferrari 'Special Edition'. They have ofcourse the 1/24 modelkit and first I assumed that it was going to be a special version of that one. Until I saw the kitnumber: 12047.....Tamiya-enthusiasts know that 120XX is the number series for their Big Scale racing cars, is there going to be a brand new 1/12 modelkit from Tamiya?

A small update, because i've been busy, I couldn't do a whole lot, but my new paint came in and I was able to work on the floor. In this picture I added the first layer of paint with a brush, since it is too thick for an airbrush. After a second coat and some more color, the desired effect started to shoow. And 1 in daylight.

it looks oh so easy..... I've been thinking of getting the Micro Mark system for a year now, but I am still doubting on my own skills and what materials I need for using it. how much film etc...

you can fill it with paint, but it will be noticable. Best is to spot repair, just like real cars. mask the area around the trunk, sand it flat, prime, color and clearcoat it. It is the most extensive way to deal with it, but also the best.

After they got finished, I do take them to modelshows (not competitions) I take the latest ones with me, like the last 12-15 and share them with others.

Please Harry, by all means, I am not interested if you showed me your 'whatever'.... Let's just stick with plastic modelcars and keep the whatever-parts to triple-X websites.....

After an hour or so of drying, I took it to the paintbooth and sprayed it beige, the darkbrown/black shows the hole where Rommels shoots from into the air. I also changed the configuration a little bit, the car was too much too the back, it looked like it was sitting on the sandbank rather than come out of that hole.

This was the result: When everything dried, I started with adding sand, I used 'shell-sand' and it took me an hour to cover everything with white glue and sand.