AK Interactive Ultra Matte Varnish

Final report … Today I got the AK Interactive Ultra Matte Varnish and gave it a try on my M60A3 that felt was still too shiny after first trying Vallejo Matte Varnish and then Testors Dullcoat. As you can see in the photos below, the AK Ultra Matte is fare superior to the other finishes. I REALLY love this product and will be using it quite a lot in the future.
One of the interesting things about this product is that you can control the amount of effect it has by controlling how much of it you use. I think I’ll test this theory on another model … I’ll just keep applying it till I see how far I can take it.
 
Photos were all taken in the exact same light with the camera on manual mode with same shutter speed, f/stop, and ISO. Images all received the exact same post processing in Adobe Lightroom. I tried to make the best comparison possible.

Done with the first M60A3

Done with the M60A3. I’m not happy with the Vallejo “Matte Varnish”, it still looks a little shiny to me. I’ve got some AK Ultra Matte Varnish on order,, when it gets here I’ll give it a try and see if it’s better.

Another Blast From The Past

Thirty two years ago (1984) I scratchbuilt this Pershing Missile trailer/launcher.  It’s mostly tiny bits of thin styrene plastic.  This thing has been bouncing around in my miniatures box ever since.  I never actually made the missile because at the time I was working only with hand tools and could not come up with an easy way to make a missile.

Pershing-1 Pershing-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, 32 years later, I found this old model and decided to make a missile for it. Fortunately technology is going to make this task very easy.  I’ll just print it on my Stereolithography machine  🙂
2016-01-21_221528
PS:  Anyone know where I can find one of the 4 axle trucks that used to pull these in 1/285th scale?

 

 

 

 

 

Update: (2 hours later) The missile has been printed and it came out nicely.  When I designed it, I was pretty sure I was making the fins too thin and they might not come out well in the print … I was right.  They will be cut off and replaced with very tiny pieces of plastic stock or something very thin.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your own super high resolution stereolithography machine?  I’ll give you a hint, it’s pretty awesome.
Shapeways?  I don’t need no stinking Shapeways 🙂
PershingMissile-1

1/285th Scale Aircraft Tug

Something I’ve been needing for a while for the deck of my USS Wasp.  Just a little fine tuning to do on this one and then I’ll start casting it.  I’ll probably make about a dozen of them for the Wasp and if anyone else is interested maybe I’ll put some on cgmini.com
These could also be cool for my airport boards if I ever get them done.

Tug-1 Tug-2

 

M4 C2V Conversion Kit

Here’s something new I’m working on.   The M4 Command and Control Vehicle.  This vehicle was developed by the USA Army and BAe Systems.  439 vehicles were meant to be delivered to the US Army but the program was cancelled in 1999 after only about 20 were delivered.  This is a pretty cool looking vehicle, so even though it never really got fielded in any great numbers, I want to make one.  Perhaps I’ll just say that the Republic of Malakastan ended up buying the 20 units from the US Army.

This is a work in progress and much fine tuning and detailing is yet to be done on this model.  The piece I’m making is just the rear enclosure and will be cast in Pewter, I’ll put them on GHQ MRLS chassis.

The M1070 and M1000 is done … Finally

M1070 HET Tractor and M1000 Trailer in 1/285th scale (6mm). Available now

You can get it here:  http://gcmini.mybigcommerce.com/m1070-het-and-m1000-traile…/

New GHQ Minis On The Way

This week I ordered the following new GHQ minis:
W-101 T-72 TUSK
N-577 CV90105
N-578 Challenger 2 (TES)
N-579 M977 HEMMT Armoured

I got an email from Channing at GHQ today telling me that my order was being processed today … so I expect to see these new minis sometime late next week.  I’ll post photos of these the moment they arrive.  I’m real curious what the T-72 TUSK will look like, I’ve seen a few versions of the real thing on the Internet … so it’s still anyone’s guess what the GHQ model will look like.

GHQ has already posted one photo of the new Challenger 2.  It looks pretty cool.

N578-a