Session XVII

A priming process in two acts

First

As usual, I blasted the primer on the model in two subsessions. I chose my starting side so that I'd have the most coverage. To achieve that I thought that the bottom part of the tank would be good, and as for the turrets I decided to prime the tops first. Naturally I forgot the cable wheel totally and that was the bit I intended to start with.

Second

When I was done I left the bits to dry overnight and to my great surprise continued my priming the next evening. This time I started with the cable wheel, then finished up coating the turrets and finally the tank itself with the most weird bits and shapes. The side armour plates on the tank weren't up to my made-up requirements, so I gave them another layer of primer.

To wrap this session up I present a top-down image - and to break up the monotony of my photography a bit. That gave a pretty wintery feeling. Now it'll be nice to get back to the basic green painting.

Session XVI

Straightening up

A part of the armoured plates were grinning uglily, so I wanted to take care of them before proceeding. I didn't try anything more complicated than applying glue and squeezing the bits tightly together. Most of the bits got fixed, but I wasn't left with perfection, anyway.

A coin for scale, again

PuTTY

The rest of the gaps I was going to fill up with putty. But what did I find when I finally sat down and started unscrewing the cap? I immediately got a flashback (to last or even the previous year, maybe) when I touched the cap: I had only left it just a bit closed, so that it wouldn't dry up while I was applying the goo on something.

Apparently what I had used had been enough and I hadn't realized that it was still openish. All that remained was stuck inside the tube and utterly useless. Sigh.

So I went by the LHS on my way from work the next day and bought a new tube. I didn't care about the brand, so I picked up the first one I saw. The one I had earlier was Tamiya's, this was something called Mr. White Putty. It was a bit runnier than the thickish old one was, based on one trial run.

Sanding it all down

Erring on the side of caution I allowed the stuff to dry overnight and sanded the excesses off the next evening, resorting to a file in the more annoying corners. The left front of the tank looked a bit off, but that was caused by the extra gluing, not by putty that didn't feel like obeying abrasive behaviour.

I'd be priming this beast the next time(s)! On the seventeeth round, which'd be a questionable record even for me.