Analog

Like most everyone, I made the switch to digital photography long ago. And why not? Picture albums can be shared online, the expense of development is gone, and even bad shots can be resurrected through some clever editing. Yet I still think I always took more interesting shots on 35mm film.

Why might that be? I'm sure it has a lot to do with patience. With film, I wanted to conserve my shots and choose the proper exposure. While many shots were sadly too dark or too light, the composition was generally better than what I've shot recently.

Rummaging through boxes packed in the basement, I came across my Olympus 35RC. It's a yard sale item that I actually never used. After some clean up, the little rangefinder didn't look too bad. Surprisingly, the battery still had some juice to power the light meter!

I've been inspired lately to try my hand at black & white film. Maybe it's a big waste of time, but I'm hoping this exercise will help teach me the patience for better composition. With all the ice and snow, it's the perfect season to find contrasting images.

Lacquer and acrylic paints

Did you know that you can mix Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinner? Sure enough, it actually works – and it works pretty darn well.

I've had nothing but headaches with Tamiya's metallics. They're just too thick. Relegated to the back of my paint drawer, I had forgotten that I even had some until earlier today.

I was reading about painting tank tracks when I came across an interesting thread on Armorama. One reader posted that he often mixes Tamiya metallics with lacquer because it thins easily for an airbrush. I had to try it for myself:

In the image above, the track was painted with a 2:1 mix of X-10 Gun Metal and XF-10 Flat Brown. I've got to admit that I was expecting a real mess, but it was no problem at all. The paint and lacquer mixed easily and sprayed very well. I used a 1:1 mixture of paint:lacquer and airbrushed at about 20 psig. When I was all done, I even cleaned my airbrush with Windex. I can't believe it actually worked.

Although Alclad still remains to be my favorite metallic paint for an airbrush, it's good to know that Tamiya's metallics aren't that bad after all.

Itty bitty tanks

I recently picked up a copy of Memoir '44. It's a simple skirmish game with fun little miniatures. While the game components are pretty nice, I decided to paint a few replacements from GHQ.

Here's a shot of the Churchill Mk VII:

Finishing these little guys is a snap. Although there are numerous steps, they're quite easy and lend themselves well to painting models en masse:

Prime with a grey automotive spray.

For the base color, airbrush a 3:1 mix of Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab and XF-59 Desert Yellow.

Highlight by airbrushing Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green.

Seal with a gloss lacquer.

Spot wash with a 1:1 mix of black and burnt umber enamels.

Lightly drybrush with artists oils. I chose a light khaki color.

Using artists oils, blend black and grey on the muzzles.

Seal again with a gloss lacquer and then flat lacquer.

I also painted the tracks grey and picked out the details using the spot wash. Even though it's hard to see, I wouldn't choose those colors again. Next time, I think I'll substitute a dark brown for the grey and follow-up with a drybrush of orange-brown to imitate rust.

At a scale of 1/285, the tanks are tiny (about 15 mm in length). I suppose you could paint additional details, but it would be a struggle.

A minor quibble of GHQ models is mold seams. On the Churchill, you can see the seams on the turrets and somewhat on the sides just above the wheels. Unfortunately, it's impossible to remove this casting defect without destroying the terrific details. I've observed this to some extent on nearly every GHQ model I've purchased. Honestly, at such a small scale, I don't know how GHQ could minimize it further - just a fact of life I suppose. Once the models are painted, you look past it anyway and forget the seems are even there.