The "Cat from Hell" work: Eduard 1/72.

This is how the finished thing looks. The hangar deck catapult base is made from styrene sheet, I think it is a nice display for the Hellcat. I remade the antenna wire, added the missed pitot probe and made the light blue a little brighter with diluted white oil paint to enhance the contrast with the dark blue. I think that the whole thing looks better now.

Diego Quijano.

 

This F6F-3 Hellcat is a magnificent kit from Eduard (thanks Jindra). I wanted to try some heavy weathering with this little one and no spend much time detailing so it is built straight from the box.

I only added the barrels of the machine guns made from metallic tube, the antenna wire made with stretched sprue and the landing gear wires also from stretched sprue. 

Oh, and I riveted the surface with the spur riveter, as usual.

The dark blue is painted with several transparent layers of much diluted paint, that was an idea I had after a conversation with Mark Smith about dark schemes (thanks Mark).

The degraded paint effects are mainly airbrushed, is amazing the fine effects that you can get with Tamiya paints diluted with lacquer thinner and a 0.2mm nozzle.

The undersurface is entirely painted with airbrush. As usual, this zone is hard to appreciate, so I exaggerated the weathering to get a noticeable effect.

The dirt effects on the upper surface are made with enamel products (AK, pigments, and so).

The new antenna wire made from thinner stretched sprue works better than the old.

The hangar deck base. The pipes under the deck floor are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to the real thing is purely coincidental. It is just a way to decorate that zone.

A picture just to make the size comparison...

GUEST GALLERY: "Never Ending History?" 1/32 by AITOR AZKUE.

Aitor Azkue is one of the best Spanish diorama masters.  He began building AFV dios but he has been making aviation related works for some years.

This is one of his best pieces. I love everything; the attention to detail and painting skill are awesome but, maybe, the best point is the composition of the scene, searching diagonals in several levels and channeling the sight to the small characters. This is the result of much study time. Either the pose of the figures as their placement is casual while not losing the photography pose “touch” that every artwork must have to attract the attention.

“Never Ending History?” is a gang of children playing war between war debris. And, as in every other war –even game ones- someone ends up been injured, while the others look at him impassive.  

Will the children play again the following day? Will the world be filled with war debris once more? Are we doomed to repeat history?

“Never Ending History?” asks us about the human condition.

These are questions asked many times before, but, as well as every other great question, we should not stop asking ourselves.

Never Ending History?...what do you think?

Q

The "Alien vs Predator" work: Vinyl 1/6.

Ok, a little bit of Sci-Fi again. I love the Alien saga and the Predator saga so the conclusion is obvious; I also love the Alien vs. Predator saga.

This diorama was a commission work I made some years ago with a bunch of 1/6 vinyl figures. There are five Predators and two Aliens, the Predators are designs from the “Predator” and “Predator 2” movies except the sitting Predator that I think is a comic design. The Aliens also have a comic look but are based in the James Cameron´s “Aliens” design.

Of course it was really fun to build, especially the pile of bloody skulls! I tried to combine the poses of the figures in the most natural way possible though it was not easy and I had to change some pose. Anyway a think the result looks nice.

They are supposed to be in the middle of a human hunting post-celebration when suddenly the Aliens attack.

You know…shit happens!

Diego Quijano.