WH40K Intimidator

[rockpaperscissor]

I finished this most recent WH40 tank build a couple of weeks ago after 6 weeks of effort, which included recoloring and assembly. It's a big 'un with 7 pages of parts. By the time I reorganized the parts, segregating those to be laminated onto their own pages, and fitting everything onto letter sized paper, the page count grew to 10.

The vehicle was obviously inspired the French B1 bis heavy tank from the early days of WWII. I didn't encounter any problems during the build, with only 1 small part requiring a bit of redrawing for proper fit. The designer has difficulty occasionally with angled parts that fit against other angled parts.

The only disappointment was with the paper: I recently purchased a package of 110 lb. premium card stock by Hammermill and I don't like it at all. Surface fuzziness becomes evident after inkjet printing and clear coating, and when scored and folded, the paper fibers break and things get really fuzzy on the edges. I've got 200 sheets of this garbage and will probably wind up throwing it away. Do you guys have any paper brands that you particularly like to work with?

The photos vary widely in color for some reason - there's no consistency from one shot to the next. I don't know what happened there. The tank is a shade of olive green, not yellow or brown as the images would lead you to believe.

I'm starting to get Warhammered out. My next model will be of something different. Perhaps a vintage castle. Enjoy the pics.

[Michael Mash]

Excellent work. I am not familiar with the series, but this looks nicely detailed.
Mike

[Vermin_King]

You always do such great work on these. This may be a case of having to invest more time and effort than anticipated. I find that I often am 'ready for a change' after a situation like that.


Have you considered doing one of Sunto's Assassins Creed figures?

[rockpaperscissor]

Thank you for your kind comments, gents. Actually, I haven't considered doing a figurine, VK. I'll have to put some thought into it.

[cfuruti]

Nice work Don.
Yes, a Char B1 with parts of a Mk.IV "male". Beautiful work with all tubes and raised surfaces, and the simulated texture is excellent as well (perhaps inverting the rivets in the front hull could improve looks a bit?).
Regarding the inconsistent tones, how was white balance set? Some cameras have difficulty with auto balance when there are large areas of "unusual" color.

[rockpaperscissor]

Good eye, cfuruti. I see a few inverted rivets in photo #5 that I hadn't noticed. When I recolor I try to visualize a light source coming from overhead and very slightly to the front - maybe 10 to 15 degrees from perpendicular. This way I can avoid the very un-3D "donut" rivet look on flat surfaces. It can become confusing when looking at a 2D part that has to be folded in multiple directions - ok, the light is coming from above/front on this panel, this other panel is folded down, so the light comes from directly above, etc. It gets doubly confusing when parts are rotated on the paper for best fitment. Sometimes I have to rotate the page 90 or 180 degrees to help me decide which side of the rivet should be highlighted, and which side should be in shadow. A few mistakes always get through, but I'm getting better at it. I've seen published kits where the entire page assumes a light source from the same direction. That might be a time saver for the artist, but it never works when a 2D page is converted into a 3D model. When assembled, it appears that there are multiple light sources coming from different directions. Very confusing to the eye.

[cfuruti]

If your camera was in auto white balance, try fixing it in a way compatible with your lighting setup (fluorescent or LED, I guess) and check whether it makes color consistent across shots.

[Texman]

Very well done Don!

[Amccombs3]

Always fun seeing these “fantasy but credible” tanks.

[rockpaperscissor]

Thank you, Ray and Ann. cfurti, my "camera" is my vintage single lens Motorola android phone. I do own a digital camera, but have yet to take the time to learn how to operate it - too busy recoloring and building paper models, I guess. Considering the stone age equipment I use to take photos with, I suppose I really shouldn't complain about how they come out.