Luft46's Blog

Above are the nearly finished figures. Still not happy with the eyes but more work soon. Today I thought I would kick off with a quick review. Firstly these figures have been done in a fairly basic manner of main colour, wash for deeper parts in main colour plus Black and drybrushed highlights of the main colour plus white. The black and white are Citadel paints with most of the rest being Lifecolor. These are ok paints for brushing but horrible for airbrushing. Though I hear others have had more success. Most colours are from the figure painting set being flesh and various darker/lighter versions for doing figures. I have used some other colours being Citadel Regal Blue mixed with black for the jeans, US Drab (LC) a Citadel silver for the belt buckle and Citadel Lahmina Medium for glossier skin on the female figure. RLM 23 Red from Aeromaster supplied various pink tones for lips and the dog’s mouth. A couple of other browns from LC were also used. The guy’s hair is a Raw Umber large tube from an art shop. All paints are acrylics for figures and much of the other work.

OK I also wanted a quick recap of all supplies used so hear it is –

PC Station (224) from Plus Models or the chair, computer stuff except the mouse which was Milliput.The bookshelves and binalso came from this source.
Rug – Modern Arrmies in Miniature – MAIM065-331
Wallpaper – Reality in Scale – this is 1/48 to 1/35 35039
Magazine cover on left is from the Verlinden set including Movie Posters and Playboy Centrefolds – 274
Desklamp – one came from a Verlinden – silver one
Lamp and some tools and desk – Diopark Factory Tools set 1 – 35006
Centrefolds – Archer Transfers set AR35360
Stack of magazines – possibly the PC station set but not sure
Water bottles in bin and desk – now it would be the Meng set but then it was Accurate Armour
1/200 figures female – AMRI architecturl figures – in the railways section of my local hobby store
Paint jars, tubes, coffee cup, trophy on bookshelf, brushes, sandpaper, green desk blotter are scratch built or made from real materials in the case of the latter two.
Computer / lights wiring is wire from my stash
Planes on the bookshelf are from 1/350 or 1/700 sets painted up
Books on shelf – can’t remember – probably buried somewhere earlier in this blog

Weathering of room and carpet by various pastels/chalks to my eye.

That’s about it until I finish it off in the next few days.

The above is a photo of my two figures, despite lots of painting over the last 3 days it is unlikely I will finish this diorama this year, though I will be counting it in the 2013 total as it is over 97% complete and apart from an issue with the buttons on the dress there are no forseeable showstoppers.
For the year I can recall doing the Minenraumer and the locomotive but there may be others once I do a quick review of my blog. Once this is finished then the He P1080 is the next kit, being the first for 2014. The D9 bulldozer when it arrives will probably be the next project after that though it will depend on the surface mail Lotto.

Well bugger me but I went to do this quick update tonight and WordPress came up with the stats that 5 real people had viewed this blog today, poor deluded souls 🙂 Anyway above is more work done, unseen is a semi replica of a Phoenix Phollies kit on the centre of the workspace. From front to back in this photo is a section of a Meng boxtop to be added to the 8 lumps of resin further back that with the white boxtop will represent some figure kit boxes. Behind that is a Master Box figure composed of a torso and 2 arms from 2 other figures, this was very mix and match to get the right look. Well must away to the last bits of Oz Big Brother, quality viewing 🙂

Yesterday was all about little details. The desk is now solidly in with paint pots and tubes as well as a bottle of white spirits, a screwdriver and cutting tool also added. The paint brushes are mostly done and ready to add. Still a few more details but that will be for this week.

The display cabinet is nearly finished and I have started work on the two figures. The books are from one of the previously mentioned resin sets and apart from painting them titles were added from various 1/72 aircraft warning signs decal sheets, so mostly the titles are Achtung and similar but this is impossible to see from any distance. The figures are 1/200 Preiser architectural ones painted very carefully with a magnifying glass light. Almost definitely overkill but it makes me happy! I’ve also done a playboy magazine for on top of the magazine stack. The male figure is an amalgam of a couple of Masterbox figures with parts glued together by Milliput. This still needs more work before painting commences.

Somewhat disappointingly this mainly online modelling business is closing. Back in the 90’s I bought a lot of resin kits from Earl especially Planet Models Luft 46 stuff. I also bought other stuff but it’s mostly the Planet and Special Hobby limited run injection moulded kits that I still have in my cupboard. A degree of envy from other hobby shops in Australia closed down his Czech connection and left him with a reduced range in recent years. Apart from being cheap he was also very quick in his postage and often double packed his parcels to reduce postage for his customers. Like much of those glory days in the Luft 46 modelling field this aspect is now over. I used to joke that he had a secret pact with the Devil that enabled his kits to come so quickly.
Those days and NKR models will be sadly missed by L46 afficionados.

After some slow progress recently making good progress at the moment. Have selected a figure from a Masterbox set – head is from one figure and the body is from another. I was originally going to use a Hornet head but when offered up to the body it appeared undersize so it was discarded. The chair is now back together after replacement parts were kindly sent by Petr from Plus Model. The figure has been part fitted to the chair with some Milliput added and needing more fettling before placing it on the chair. The books are being slowly painted with decals for the spines of the books to follow later. The desk still needs paints and brushes but is approaching completion.

A progress shot follows

I have been steadily beavering away on this project recently with some progress. Nothing startling done, but just attacking each aspect. The desk is nearing completion with another lamp ready to be added. There are still books, paints etc to add but these are all doable. I can’t see any show stoppers now, just a matter of doing the work. Below is a closeup of the shelves with some figures and planes but the figures need more painting as the size is too big to skimp on detail painting, I wasn’t sure about this till I put it all together. More work is needed but it is getting there.
By way of scale this shelf is 50mm high by 24 mm wide. This is extreme closeup