Scratchbuilding Tutorial: Part II

(Spanish version)

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V

I am going to continue working on our turret. Now I am going to cut a strip of styrene to do the turret's top.

I'll use a steel ruler and a square set in order to make a straigh cut.

I cut the strip...

Cut another piece a little bigger than needed, place it on top and mark it with a pen.

The mark is going to be a little bigger than the actual top piece size, so I compensate it by cutting a little more than really needed.

Now I use a circular cutter to open a hole for the hatch.

Fits perfectly.

I observed, hovever, that the top piece was not thick enough. To correct this, I glue the top to another styrene piece.

I now wait some minutes to let it dry and cut (no need for rulers now) out the excess.

I carefully cut the hatch hole again.

As I plan to cast the turret, I need to close this hatch hole. I'll do that with a thinner styrene sheet.

I cut another strip and wind it tighly around my cutter.

I cut it roughly to measure, put it in place and glue it.

Once some minutes have passed, I cut out the excess styrene.

It's a bit crude, but we are going to solve it.

I dillute green Squadron's putty in industrial acetone (the kind used for cleaning nail polish doesn't works). The putty should be thin enough to be painted with a brush.

Now I seal every gap and imperfection with thinned putty.

This is the result, ready for sanding.

Now I am going to do a fake welding mark. I put plastic cement in the desired zone.

And I texture the plastic with a modelling tool.

Applying more cement will make the plastic softer.

Now it's time to work harder in the steel texture.

I play with the resulting texture alternating Tamiya's and Squdron's putties. I also use a hard bristle brush with a little acetone to add more texture.

Now we take a trip to the bit box...

And integrate the bits in the ensemble with a little putty thinned down in acetone.




Next day, we'll start working in the cannon's mantlet.

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