Modellours Workshop

Historic figures in 54mm scale

2012-01-16T21:52:00.005+01:00

by Michael Rieß

I painted these 3 figures within the last weeks, all were white metal figures in 54mm scale (1/32).
The first one shows a Roman infantry officer of the 4th century A.D. The figure is from Soldiers.
The second one depicts a dismounted Byzantine knight of the 13th century. It was my first kit from the korean manufacturer Seil models
The last one shows a Japanese Samurai of the Momoyama period (1574-1602) from the well known manufacturer Pegaso Models.

Stug IV Vs T-34. Kirovograd 1943.

2012-01-04T09:52:00.014+01:00

By Francis Lee

Models:
Academy Stug IV
Tamiya T-34/85
ESCI figures

Happy New Year to everyone!

During Christmas day, I built up this diorama. Without a heater at home, the recent cold weather of 8-10c in Hong Kong. (It is already COLD temp. here.) it brings me the mood to make a winter snow diorama. I try to call back my feeling of snow which was 2009, december. I was in Rovaniemi, Finland.

Start with layers and layers of toilet paper to create the slopes on a base board, I poured a layer of gesso paste (I brought it at art material shop), after it dry out I sprinkled alot of gypsum power and spreaded it smooth by a tiny tea spoon. Finally I place the tanks and figures there.
I try not to sneeze or I will blow my snow away! Please let me know if you have better way to make it! And I am sure you guys have it!

Beside, I this is my first time to use the Tamiya zimmerit coating applicator, my feeling of it is fine, but I guess a pack of handsaw blades may work the same but cheaper than the Tamiya, and this time I try not to use the epoxy putty to make the zimmerit but using a very common office stationary of "Blu tack" or "Bostik ". They are soft enough for me to apply the texture and it gets harden after I painted on it. Although it wont as hard as putty but it is still OK.

Video of this diorama:

Happy Happy 2012

2011-12-31T07:46:00.002+01:00

Dear all,

Wish you a very Happy New Year!

Build more & buy more nice

models & dioramas in

coming 2012!

Francis Lee

Danish Centurion tank

2011-12-24T11:10:00.008+01:00

by Michael Rieß

This time i made a Danish Centurion tank from AFV-Club in 1/35 scale. I built this kit for Modellours Workshop. Thank you for sending me this kit! The kit is fantastic, there are only a few better tank kits available. I made 3 videos about the kit and the built of this model, i hope it is helpful for all fellow modellers :)

Weathered tank wagons from Modellours Workshop.

2011-12-23T15:06:00.004+01:00

by Michael Rieß

Modellours Workshop sent me two Märklin railway tank wagons in 1/87 scale. I had the free decision what to do with these.
I decided to add a heavy weathering to the first wagon, with lots of rust and dirt. It was a big challange because i never weathered an object like this. Some research was needed in order to find out which types of weathering are common for railway cars.
I used pigments from Vallejo and MIG aswell as various chipping techniques, like dipping a sponge into acrylic paint or drybrushing.

I thought that weathering the second wagon in the same way would be a little bit boring, so i applied some "nose art" and other colourful decals to give that wagon a unique look.
It was a very funny work :-)

Merry Christma to you all !!!

2011-12-22T15:17:00.003+01:00

Dear all,

Wish you a wonderful Christmas

and a Happy New Year !!

Francis Lee

"City of broken glass" diorama

2011-12-10T21:01:00.005+01:00

by Michael Rieß

This diorama shows German troops in an occupied Ukrainian city in summer 1941. The tank model is a Panzerkampfwagen Mk IV, 744(e) (A13) from Bronco Models. The kit is quite nice, but some large parts were twisted and it required many nerves to assemble the model. Most parts are very small and thin, so there was always the danger of breaking parts. Usually it takes me 1 week to assemble and paint a 1/35 scale tank, this one took me 4 weeks. Therefore the kit is good for long dark winter evenings, but it is bad if you want a fast result.

The diorama from MiniArt had the usual quality. The details are nice, but the walls of the house have a very bad fit. Thats not a big problem, it is only a matter of filling the gaps. Overall i´m very satisfied with the MiniArt houses, they are beneficial (compared to other house kits) and they offer a large variability.
The soldiers are all from Dragon, taken from different sets and dog is from Tamiya.

I painted the models with acrylic paints from Revell and Lifecolour. Oil paint washes and MIG pigments were used for the weathering.

Pegaso Models "Greek Hoplite"

2011-12-03T11:58:00.003+01:00

by Michael Rieß

This figure from Pegaso Models shows a Hoplite of the 5th century B.C. The assembly of the white metal parts was easy, no filler was needed. I painted the figure with acrylic paints from Revell and Lifecolor. Oil paints and pigments were used for shadows and dust effects.

US. M101 Howitzer & Jeep

2011-11-30T09:02:00.010+01:00

By Francis Lee

1/35 Italeri Scale Model

Diorama background:
This is second part of my previous diorama of a German Panzerjager Marder 1 of Battle of Carentan 1944, On 12 June 1944, German Wehrmacht & the US troops started streets war in Carentan City of France, the defending German were lack of ammunition & withdraw from the city centre. This M101 Howitzer was very common field gun since World war II, the gun crews quickly set up the gun and prepare to fire shortly after the German & Marder 1 withdrew from the same broken hut.

Video of this diorama:

The Raetian Limes, 2nd century A.D.

2011-11-28T16:36:00.007+01:00

by Michael Rieß

I painted some Roman legionaries a while ago and was thinking of building a diorama for them. The Raetian Limes is quite close to my hometown, so i decided to build it and to add the figures.
The figures are mainly from Caesar Miniatures, the barbarians are from various manufacturers like Italeri, Revell and MiniArt.
I painted them with acrylic paints from Revell.

The watch tower is a laser-cut kit from Fredericus rex and consists of cardboard and thin wood. I tried to add a dark wash, but i soon realized that the thin material starts to disintegrate and to bend, so i stopped the procedure.
The research and construction of the diorama made a lot of fun, maybe i will do more of this stuff, like a Roman fort or harbour scene.

The diorama shows Germanic bandits who raided the back land and now try to return into the safety of Germania. To get there they have to cross the Limes border. Unfortunately they are hunted by roman Legionaries and have a unit of roman watchmen in front. Now they have to fight their way through, which is almost impossible considering the numeric superiority of the romans.

I made a quite detailed video about the history of the Limes and the construction of the diorama. Enjoy!

"Tour de France" in 1/87 scale

2011-11-21T20:15:00.004+01:00

by Michael Rieß

I saw this diorama on the exhibition "Faszination Modellbau Friedrichshafen 2011". In my opinion it is one of the best dioramas i have ever seen. Despite the very small scale it looks almost photo-realistic and the sheer amount of details is stunning. Enjoy!

German Panzerjager Marder 1

2011-11-20T10:54:00.010+01:00

By Francis Lee

1/35 Trumpeter Scale Model

Diorama background:
On 10 June 1944, German Wehrmacht & the US troops started a bloodly war in Carentan of France, the defending German force attempted to hold the city long enough to allow reinforcements from the south to arrive. This tank hunter; Panzerjager 39(H) Marder I & crews were hidden in a broken hut and wait for it's prey.

The model:
This is rather old product of Trumpeter model that the box art illustration was very ugly, but the small photos of this completed tank look very nice at
one side of the box so I decided to buy it finally and the quality is nice.
This tank is very small & funny, all bits & pieces are crowded together in a little captured French Hotchkiss tanks. the hulls were converted to serve as the self-propelled mount for the 75mm PAK 40/3 anti-tank gun. This vehicle was designated Sd.Kfz.135 Panzerjager 39(H) Marder I.

The broken hut was full scratch built by card board paper. While I cut out the card board I cut my fingers as well!! Oops~

Video of this diorama:

Faszination Modellbau Friedrichshafen 2011 - H0

2011-11-14T10:20:00.005+01:00

by Michael Rieß

This time i will show you some H0 railways and landscapes. These large constructions are made with great attention to detail and are very sophisticated. I stood a long time infront of them and spotted small and funny details again and again.

Faszination Modellbau Friedrichshafen 2011

2011-11-07T22:21:00.004+01:00

by Michael Rieß

I visited this exhibition last weekend and was very impressed by the work displayed there! fantastic stuff and eye-candies everywhere.
It was not easy to take some good pictures of the models due to the light conditions.
I will upload some more pictures soon, they will mainly about H0 railways.

S.O.S. Special Category - C4 Open

2011-11-03T08:43:00.000+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

Every year the people behind the C4 Open contest comes up with a special theme category and this year is was called S.O.S. The theme should be pretty obvious(medical vehicles) but it's open to personal and creative suggestions. I was especially amused by the fighter diorama above but almost all the entries were superb.

Cars & Trucks - C4 Open

2011-11-03T01:24:00.001+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

Here is the cars and trucks from the C4 Open. It's not really my category because I don't have any affection for cars. To me cars are just something that gets you from point A to point B but I must admit the models are very well done and quite impressive.

Amour En Masse - C4 Open

2011-11-01T11:16:00.001+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

Well here's the rest of the Armour from the C4 Open show. There's some stunning pieces among them and it really took a lot of time to take pictures of them all. There's a few missing because the pictures didn't turn out too good but I got the bulk of them and you can really see the quality of the models entered in the contest. Hope you enjoy the pictures, guys.

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 - Diorama of the Day

2011-10-31T12:01:00.001+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

This astunishing diorama was the Best of Show in the IPMS 2011 Danish nationals. It was entered in the Documentation class and depict SAS Flight 751 that crashed in Sweden in 1991. The airliner had just left Arlanda airport when both engines cut out on the brand new, state of the art DC-9.

The Danish pilot managed to crash land the aircraft in a field in the secluded forest of Gottöra and amazingly everybody survived.

The diorama was build by Albert Tureczek and is mostly scratch build in 1/72 scale.

Polish Winged Hussar (17th Century)

2011-10-31T11:22:00.007+01:00

by Michael Rieß

This white metal figure from Andrea Miniatures is in my opinion the best kit in 54mm scale (1/32) I have ever seen. The kit consists of 74 parts, so the amount of details is stunning. I was scared by the number of parts, but in the end the figure went together very nicely. Some filler was needed on the back of the horse.

I painted the figure with acrylic paints from Revell and Lifecolor. The pattern of the leopard fur was created with oil paint.

The flag on the lance paper and was included in the kit, aswell as a different version of the flag.
For the base i used a very small picture frame and filled it with modelling clay "Fimo air basic".

To create a quite realistic soil i mixed white glue, water and dirt from my garden together and applied it on the base. Some grass from "Fredericus Rex" and herbage from my garden completed the base.

C4 Open - Vehicles 1/35 scale and bigger

2011-10-31T07:55:00.001+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

Here we go fellows. This is some of the amazing tanks, trucks and AFV's from the C4 Open competition. There's a lot more to come over the next week and I haven't shown you guys the best yet. The cream of the crop is still to come. Again, I'm not really sure how the tanks are categorized but I think it's either by skill level, if it's 'out of the box' or scratch or highly modified. When the official C4 site is updated and all the winners are posted there, I will come back to that and show you the many winners.

C4 Open - Small scale vehicles

2011-10-30T06:43:00.002+01:00

by Kasper Fischer

This is some of the best small scale vehicles from the C4 Open. It's is actually 3 different categories but I not sure which is which. The first class is kinda easy to spot because it all in 1/48 scale. I especially like the first one because it's not often you see this type of paint-job. It's is from the Prague uprising in 1945. I have never see this scheme before but I'd really enjoy it. It might be a bit too clean but that's OK as long as it looks good.

The rest is 1/72 scale or smaller. This is two categories but I can't really distinguish between them. It's about skill level or detail level but I'm not sure. No matter what I was completely stunned by the level of details on some of the pieces. Especially some of the dioramas caught my attention. Amazing work...

C4 Open 2011 in Malmö

2011-10-29T21:10:00.002+02:00

by Kasper Fischer

I just got back home from the 20th edition of the C4 Open contest and MAN am I impressed. It has really been a long day and my legs/feets are killing me. I have been running around like a headless chicken because there was so much I had to see. The competition is held at Teknikens och Sjöfartens Hus(Technic & Seafarer's House) in Malmö, Sweden so I had to check out the Museum too. Not just the competition.

It is only 9 o'clock in the evening now but I'm of to bed. I think this will be the first time in years I will turn in before 10 but I gotta get up real early in the morning and get back over there. I will of cause post as many pictures on the blog as I can but you can deferentially also expect a few videos from the show too. I hope I can get the first edited during next week but my computer is all stressed out so I'll have to see what happens. ANYWAY, here's a couple of pictures from the event. Hope you will enjoy them...

Berlin, Spring 1945 - Diorama of the Day

2011-10-29T07:22:00.000+02:00

by Kasper Fischer

I found this fantastic JSU-152 diorama on AFV-News.com. I can only recommend the website, if you are interested in tanks and AFV's. This is an entries in their new "Art of War" contest and I'm really enjoying it.

The model builder has unfortunately not signed with a name, only an alias, so I'm not able to tell you who actually build the tank but I really think it looks stunning and the base is beautifully done too.

I will only show a couple of pictures here but if you wish to see more, just follow this link. There's many more pictures and even some of the build it self. I promise you won't regret it.

How to make cheap scale leafs for your diorama

2011-10-28T15:11:00.003+02:00

by Kasper Fischer

I have never seen this done before but I really like the idea of using real leafs to make your diorama stand out from the crowd. I'm also a BIG fan of every idea that is cheap or free since modelling is becoming more and more expensive with all the photo-etch and pricey resin aftermarket parts available in stores.

I found this great idea on AFV-News.com and I really got to give Oleg Uliskov credit for it. Simple but what a brilliant idea.

Lkw gl leicht "Wolf" from Revell

2011-10-25T17:24:00.006+02:00

by Michael Rieß

This new kit from Revell can easily compared with Tamiya or Dragon with regard to the quality of the kit. All parts fit very nicely together and no filler was needed. For about 13€ this kit is affordable.

I painted the model with Revell acrylic paints. For weathering i used MIG products.