Vietnam River Crossing *Updated*
Tamiya 1/35 M48 Patton. Just finished this week. I was inspired by a photo I saw of a Patton crossing a very deep river, but modelling water scared me! Was recommended to use Woodlands Scenic Real Water so crossed my fingers and it worked (not without trial and error, and a few harsh words trying to sort air bubbles). I'm pretty happy with it, I wanted to have the whole crew on the turret as the loader/radio operator doesn't have his own hatch but would not want to spend all day inside the tank in the heat. I also gave the Commander two 50cal machine guns as I have seen this set up in a few photos, and to be honest, if you have two gun mounts and a friend in the armory to get a second machine gun off, why wouldn't you? I hope you enjoy looking. I just have to work on my photography skills now. Also cat wasn't real happy I used his chair for back drop so quickly calmed it back once I was done, hence last photo!
Update
After some helpful feedback from Hans Fischer I revisited the water effect i had done and have now made the water go to the edges and not have the big black boarder around it. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried you can still see the boarder under the water due to the way it shrinks as it dries but it still looks OK, and does look better than it did before. Three changes are in the last 3 photos.
15 additional images. Click to enlarge.
I like it...appropriately muddy 'Nam water, too. Looks good!
As an old US Army Tanker, I can say from first hand experience that you captured the "Look" very well. Your water turned out very convincing too... I especially like how you have small ripples in the water, similar to how a boat would leave a wake as it moved through the water. That's a nice touch.
Top notch all the way around Sir. I like it !
I'll bet "kitty" is happy to get the chair back ...
Yip, little bugger was trying to get up while I was taking the photos. That would have ended badly for both of us haha ?
Also, his name is Sherman, I managed to get that name past the 'boss at home' without her realising it's a tank name! Haha.
Good one ! How did you manage that ? 🙂 🙂 🙂
Not sure... however if I try for Panzer for the 2nd cat she wants she might get suspicious...
Carl, outstanding! Ya got that Vietnam river look down pat! You can almost smell it! The angle of the tank entering the water is just classic! The driver don't look happy! We'll hope there are no sprung seams from the thunder runs down QL 4.
Just a beaut all around, congratulations! Museum stuff!
Thanks Bernard.I hoped I got the water right.
Pat the kitty for me, Mine is asleep in my computer chair, I'm using a folding chair, instead. Cats!
At least the cat doesn't sit up on the shelf among built models like mine is sometimes prone to do. Although...she's very agile and has yet to break anything. Whenever I spot her up there (which isn't often), I do NOT attempt to coax her down lest she gets antsy and DOES produce a cat-astrophe. I figure she got up there with no mishaps - she'll get down the same way (and does). Luckily, the clumsy, overweight one (sister) doesn't try to mimic her - she definitely WOULD cause damage.
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Very well planned out diorama Carl, nice water work.
Great work, Carl, it looks very convincing. I like the positioning of the figures, and, of course, that muddy water, just marvelous. How about "Tiger" and "Churchill" for cat names?
Lovely work Carl, as Bernard put it, you can smell the water...
Great to see the cat Sherman make an appearance .
But don`t call your next cat T 34, otherwise the "Boss" will wise up.
Excellent diorama and build. I guess the name Patton would be a dead give away.
Looks really good - seems like you got the ripples about right for a slow-flowing river. The muddiness also looks convincing.
Outstanding Carl, the muddy waters came out great! Of course the driver hopes the river doesn't get any deeper.
Not much to add. Very fine diorama, especially the water.
Just one slight critique. You have an "open" watersurface. Why did you put a rim around it, that gives a border to it like a Swimming-pool? (sorry didn't find a better comparison.)
The water product I used has the consistency of water while it dries so unfortunately I had to use a boarder to contain it.
I've taken some thought re your comments about the boarder and your right (Damn it! Haha?) so watch this space I'll try something I think might work and post photo's as an update once done.
Looks much better now.
Maybe for the next time one could try a wooden frame with the upper rim thinned out.