clt40k

So I’ve had some folks ask on the Gaslands Facebook page about some of the materials and the process I’ve been using on my Gaslands conversion.

Materials

Diamond Plate Plasticard – Just google JTT Scenery 1:100 Diamond Plate
Dremel 9905 1/8″ Ball Head Tungsten Carbide Cutter Bit (1/8″ Shank)
Vallejo Light Rust acryllic paint (from the panzer aces line)
Vallejo Light Rust wash
Vallejo Iraqi Sand
GW Agrothax Earthshade Wash
AMACO AMA50004D 1/16″ Aluminum Wire Form Metal Mesh
Paperclips
3/16″ drill bit
Wire cutters
Sanding block
Gun and other post apocalyptic bits
Badass decals from other racing model kits
Testors Dullcoate lacquer

So the cool thing is petty much all of this can be ordered off of Amazon.

Prepping the car

So first thing you will want to do is to drill out the two posts on the bottom of the car. This will let you pop the windshields out.
I use wire cutters to create the window supports from the paperclips.
The mesh is cut into shape and super glued into the windows
I sometimes use diamond plate to fill windows or to create bumpers

To get the bumpy effect, I take my dremel and the ball head cutter set at low speed and just start tapping the surface of the vehicle. I try to stay away from lines (like the door outline) and just keep going. Once done, I’ll hit it with a very light sanding… this is intended to knock off any sharp bits…. Note – every time I do this I’m afraid I’ve screwed up the model and will end up throwing it in the bin…. but I have to have faith and believe it will all turn out in the end.

Base coat and rust wash

I start each car by painting it in the vallejo rust and then washing it with the rust wash. My thought is that when I actually start painting the car I do it with a technique called stippling… ie, I take a fairly stiff brush, stab it into the paint, then cover the car by doing lots of little stabbing actions (as opposed to brush painting) You can tell from the two pictures above, at this point I give no fucks about being tidy…

Do the paint and decal things…

So I decided to paint the bug orange because one of my first cars was an orange bug (it was badass… it had a Porsche engine and we had to put weights in the front to keep it from lifting once you got it up around 70-80 mph) I put the decals on and once they’ve dried, I will hit the area with the testors dullcoate. I will also do the first layer of chipping (ie, dab some rust paint and then some gunmetal over it)

Here’s another example I used on my Porsche and some final pics of my bug….

Final touches

I start with a fairly heavy wash of GW Agrothax Earthsade. Then I mostly just do a light drybrush of vallejo Iraqi Sand and hit the headlights or brake lights. I might also go back and hit the chipping areas with some gunmetal.

Bumpers

I use the diamond plate mostly for making reinforced bumpers…. I cut it a little big then trim it into place with my hobby knife.

Sourcing bits….

Stowage and Oil Tanks – I got my stowage bits from http://www.valuegeardetails.com/ – great service and quick turnaround.

Weapons and Tires

If you’re on the Gaslands FB group, check out Ken Overby – he sells wheels and some really great bits….

Weapons and Crew

I picked up the crew and the weapons packs from http://www.stanjohansenminiatures.com/Road.htm Again, great and fast service.

Final thoughts

There is really no wrong way to play with your toys…. Don’t take it too seriously and don’t be afraid to trash a model. The yellow porsche above was a repaint of an earlier model I did and just didn’t like. Also, I decided to go with a NASCAR meets Carwars theme for my Gaslands project. I’m not super big on “over the top” mods… but that’s just me. So I am trying to maintain some continuity across my builds.