5 International Youtube Channels Modelers Can't Miss!

Model building is an international hobby and perhaps the best expression of this is the wealth of channels dedicated to the hobby available on Youtube. The following channels are (in no particular order) some of my favorites related to modeling from the international community.

 Laser Creation-World

Laser Creation-World is a German modeling channel specializing in dioramas with a focus on scratch builds and customization. Building, painting, and weathering are all demonstrated against the backdrop of relaxing music while instructions appear on screen in both English and German. 

Black Magic Craft

Black Magic Craft is a Canadian modeling channel for tabletop gamers. Jeremy's videos primarily consist of terrain building tutorials but also cover miniature painting all while maintaining a budget friendly environment. What I appreciate most about this channel is Jeremy's transparent approach. Throughout each build he shares his successes as well as his failures and the steps he took to overcome those happy little accidents.

Luke Towan (Boulder Creek Railroad)

Boulder Creek Railroad is an Australian channel which produces outstanding tutorials on building realistic scenery and dioramas. Luke covers everything from assembling laser cut kits to building trees from scratch to fully realized dioramas.

PLASMO

PLASMO (Plastic Models) is a Czech English language channel focused on model building and dioramas. Videos are step by step and include information regarding the specific products shown.

Paepercuts

Hailing from the Netherlands, Paepercuts is a hobby channel focused on creating realist scenery terrain, diorama building, and miniature painting tutorials. A number of the tutorials involve dinosaur and animal dioramas but there are a few Games Workshop miniatures featured as well.

Bard's Craft

Okay so this is number 6 but I couldn't help myself. Finland is the home of this Youtube channel which specializes in terrain, buildings, and custom miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons as well as other tabletop games.

The above channels not only provide hours of hobby entertainment but nearly limitless techniques, skill sets, materials, and product suggestions you can integrate into your hobby repertoire.

Know of any great international Youtube channels that aren't listed here? Please link to them in the comments.

Ork Dakka Jet 2.0

I have previously used a Hasegawa Egg plane as the base for an Orky conversion. I have quite a few of these kits waiting in the winds for their turn to be converted. As with the last conversion this one is based on the Corsair. I used a Grot for the pilot and made a few modifications. A pair of shades, adjusted his arms and later added a scarf flapping in the breeze. 

I swapped out the wheels in favor of some sturdy sleds. I thought perhaps the tires blew out on this at some point and the Orks swapped out the weak rubber for more metal.

 

I wanted a different look for this model and so I went with a bi-plane. Here I imagine the Orks wanted more lift so they pieced together this wing and slapped it in place. I made the wing out of 2mm thick PVC foam board. This material takes impressions well and allowed me to press in the panel lines with sculpting tool. I used various methods to create the fasteners. Rivets were pressed in place using a burnishing tool to create a recess, some of those recesses were left hollow, others were filled with micro beads. On some panels I used rivet and nut/bolt details from Meng.

For the points where the vertical supports met the wings I used polystyrene tubes and the supports locked into these points. The opposite sides of these were detailed with layered polystyrene disks. Half rods were used to create the hinges. Greenstuff was used to detail welds.

I replaced part of the tail section with wood and detailed spots of battle damage with putty to replicate the displacement of metal from the impact of kinetic rounds.

 

I used bombs from two kits and detailed them with a bit of styrene. All parts got some wear and tear by cutting out notches with my hobby knife.

I used paperclips for the foot and hand holds. For the vertical supports I used a combination of toothpicks and various types of extruded polystyrene. I used a lighter to soften some of them to introduce bends and curves. Various bits and styrene were used for other details.

 

 

For the base I laid out some scrap bits surrounded by putty and sand. A hole was drilled for an acrylic rod. The base was painted with crackle paint, painted, washed, highlighted with dry brushing, and then rust was added with a sponge method.

The model itself was first primed grey and then sponged all over with various rust colors. Water was laid down over areas where I would later want rust to show through and then salt was sprinkled over the wet areas. Once the salt was dried I painted the base colors with Vallejo and Army Painter acrylics. The overall tone was Army Painter Dragon red. Individual panels were tinted with various reds and oranges to give the impression they were painted at different times. The salt was then rubbed away to reveal the rust tones underneath and to add true depth to the paint.

The details were painted by brush and a gloss coat was applied to seal it all and to provide a smooth surface for decals. The checker pattern decals came with the model and were applied over the gloss coat with the aid of microsol and microset. Rust and chipping effects were applied over the decals using a sponge. 

Following that another gloss coat was laid down and then oil paints and washes were applied to achieve the desired weathered appearance.

 

 

Use a Scrapbook Machine for Scratchbuilding!

A little while back I picked up a Cricut Maker. The tool is generally used to cut card stock for scrap booking projects but this particular model can be used to cut anything from paper to 2mm thick chipboard. I thought the Mrs and I could get dual use out of it. She could use it for scrap booking and arts/crafts projects in her classroom while I could use it to score polystyrene and cut custom stencils for model builds.

I've made a few stickers and stencils but until now I hadn't used it for making model parts. Today I gave it a go and made the set of landraider doors you see above for a conversion I'm working on.

If you're considering using a Cricut, or any other vinyl cutter, for model building your likely looking for precision and uniformity. With that in mind the first step is to obtain the measurements of what you are planning to build. In my case I wanted to make a substitute for an existing model part. So I went about measuring all dimensions (x,y,z) with a set of digital calipers.

I worked in metric as I find it easier to work with at this scale.

The next step was to transfer my measurements into a graphic which would be accepted by the Cricut. The best, free, tool I have on had for that task is Google Sketchup.

This is a great free drafting program and I've used it for home remodels, furniture, and model design. I drew the doors anticipating multiple layers in order to build the thickness I needed. I am using .5mm polystyrene and need a final thickness of 2mm.

The square in the upper left corner is important for later. That is a 1 inch by 1 inch square for scale. Once the drawing is completed I exported a 2D .PNG file. I like PNG because the transparency works well in the Cricut software. Below is the .PNG file for a set of two landraider doors.

Note: the first picture is for plain polystyrene. The second photo is for a textured polystyrene. In my case I used diamond plate. Please feel free to use this files in your project!

The photo is then loaded into Cricut and inserted into a new project. On the artboard of the new project I make a 1x1 square a quarter of an inch into the board on both the x and y access. I use this to help me adjust the imported graphic to the appropriate scale. It is important that once you have this layout set to your liking that you 'attach' the square that you made to the imported graphic. This ensures that the dimensions and location carry over to the next step.

I've been using the settings below and 4 passes to cut my projects. Your results may differ, perhaps a the knife tool would be better suited for this but I'm using everything as it came out of the box for the moment.

Be careful when loading the tray. Any pieces of material that aren't adhered to the cutting mat have will likely get caught as the machine calibrates.

Once the machine does its work you'll have some beautify scored polystyrene which, after a quick pass of your hobby knife, will pop out nicely. Again, this is where perhaps the heavy duty blade would make better work of the polystyrene, but at this moment I haven't used one yet.

As you can see the work is clean and precise. One could easily design an entire model using sketchup and a Cricut!

Tip: Looking for a good source of cheap polystyrene? Look no further than your local sign maker. I was able to pickup a .5mm 4 foot by 8 foot roll of polystyrene for less than $10!

Salamander Commission

Recently I had a reader reach out to me about completing a commission piece. He wanted a Salamander Command Vehicle made and painted to match his existing army. At first I was apprehensive, knowing the amount of time it often takes me to complete a project. But we worked out the terms and I set to work. 

I already had two converted/scratch built Salamanders awaiting paint. I took my favorite of the two and set about making a few more tweaks. I made a spare link of tracks and attached it to the side of the hull using some lead foil. I also updated the antenna on the coms unit, opting for some needle and high tension model aircraft wire for strength.

I also removed and replaced the barrel on the pintel mounted cannon in favor of a metal one.

All the weapons were magnetized to allow for easy swapping depending on his preferred load-out.

The model was painted in Vallejo paints to match the scheme of his existing army. I started with a pre-shaded primer coat and then followed up with light coats of the base and high light colors he had provided making sure to let the primer shading show through. All the metallic parts were made by applying graphite over flat black. The red stripe was masked and painted and then it was time to start weathering.

Looking at pictures of his other tank I noted the level of wear on the vehicle and went for something in that ballpark. I applied a light layer of chipping in the areas of heaviest wear using the sponge technique. I then applied a coat of clear gloss. Atop the gloss I applied Tamyia Panel Line accent to all the panel lines and rivets. Were appropriate the panel liner was dragged downward with a brush. Elsewhere, extra wash was removed with a Q-Tip. Once I was satisfied with the level of weathering a mat finish was sprayed over the model. 

Gloss finishes were applied to the lenses and a fresh rubbing of graphite was applied to the metal bits. The gunner and commander received the same treatments as the Salamander.

I'm always open to the idea of commissions. Between work and raising an 8 month old I can't say I'll always say yes but I find this kind of work quite fun. It gives me a deadline I feel much more pressure to beat than my own arbitrary goals, and it gives me a reason to paint something outside of my norm, plus I don't have to find a place to store it afterwards! If you have a commission request feel free to shoot me an email and I'll get back to you with pricing.

Ork Looted Tank

I finished up my this looted tank in a traditional red paint job to ensure maximum speed! 

The tank commander was pieced together using the torso from the GW Grot kit and a head from my bits box. The arms were sculpted from green stuff as were the sleeves and collar of his shirt.

For details on how I pieced together this build check out my previous two 'Work in Progress' posts linked below:

WIP - Ork Looted Tank 2

WIP - Ork Looted Tank 1