Scalemodelmedic's Meng FT-17

[Scalemodelmedic]

Hi,

After my long hiatus building the workshop I recently got back to work and picked up some current builds for filming, but realised I needed more models ready to paint for future filming. I had seen Meng mentioned all over the place in my downtime and heard good things, so at ipms Telford I seized the opportunity to grab their ft-17 and set to work.



The interior and engine were a nice introduction back into armour modelling. Fit was excellent and only a few details will need adding once I get close to closing up the hull - just a little wiring and plumbing to put in.



It was obvious I'd need to stagger painting of areas as they just wouldn't be accessible to paint later, so black stynylrez was used to prime the interior. Here only the back is done but I later decided to prime it all black.



I used the black primer to carry out some forced shadows in much the same way as you would when pre shading a plane, here the interior is sprayed with mig ammo Matt white



You can see that the lower areas are darker



Now for the fun bit, I used the dark rust and rust shadow colours from AK interactive's rust colours set for chipping along with mig ammo black. I bled it around chips with a little water to give some softness too, and I also used a bit of grey and brown oils here and there.



The seat cushion was painted with quite stark highlights and black blended with the brown because I thought the interior needed something with a fair bit of contrast, its small in there and not particularly packed with features.

That's as far as I've got but I'm hoping to get more done soon!

Cheers

Jon

[Paul]

Nice work so far Jon

[chief5437]

Good to see you back at it looks very good so far

[Joesdad]

Great to see you're back Jon. Nice job as well.....obviously

[mincemeat]

Welcome back! You've got some great stuff on your channel like the demo on different chipping techniques and one of the only color modulation demos. I look forward to following this one.

[Scalemodelmedic]

Well I got to do a little bit last night. I put a lot of weathering into the engine but kept the colours realistic, so the low contrast hides a lot of what's going on.

The engine block was painted dark rust tones, then I used a little Citadel Typhus Corrosion to add a bit of texture here and there. I then hit it with Mig Ammo chipping fluid and overpainted with Mig Ammo satin black. A little water later and the block is chipped showing the rust (just about).

The metal components were painted with Citadel Leadbelcher which is a dark silver metallic. This was then washed heavily with Citadel's Agrax Earthshade which is a really nice wash that has a oily/rusty brown tint to it. This was then added to using AK Interractives rust colours here and there, and areas where oil would congregate were touched in with a little gloss varnish to really darken them off. Edges were picked out with a pencil to give a little metallic tint.





The cylinder head was left in its original Stynylrez black primer but washed heavily with grey acrylic and water followed by a more localised wash of tan acrylic and water to replicate the hotter, dryer top end of the engine. Over the top of this I tapped in some mig ammo satin black and then over that I also tapped on some gloss, to give the appearance of peeling paint or at least a bit of texture. The silver strip on the side was painted much the same as the other metallics in the engine bay, but if you look carefully I touched in some very small spots of rust. Little details were touched in with Mr Colour buffable brass.





The rest of the interior was given the usual chipping/rust treatment using AK Interactive's rust colours set and the footplate under the commander was washed with grey first, then detailed with browns. You can't see it in the pictures but the raised pattern was also brushed with pencil in certain places of heavy wear so it gleams like metal when you catch the light.

I will be leaving the transmission black as it is invisible when buttoned up. I just need to paint the radiator and its housing then weather the sides of the engine bay. I haven't decided what to do with the radiator and the connecting hose just yet but I would like to add a bit of contrast.

I also just noticed in that last pic that my brass clipped the engine side a little bit - I need to tidy that up with a touch of black!

cheers
Jon

[Gav0909]

Excellent work Jon. Great to see your models again. And I followed your man cave build on FB, very nice space indeed!

[OneSmallStep1966]

Superb stuff. I'll be following this build thread closely and use it for reference when I build my Meng FT-17.

[Scalemodelmedic]

A little more progress.

With the numerous small components glued on after painting the main engine (left them off to get access for weathering) it was time to add the plug wiring and the protective brass tube across the top of the head which carries them.

I hollowed out a small section of styrene rod


Painted it with gunze mr metal color


Made a little loom out of thin copper wire


Then started forming the wiring up


The wires don't just go straight to the plugs, there's a rubber cover, so I made some rudimentary ones out of the old ammo which was to be fitted on the hull sides if I'd built a different option. Very handy.

Here's the finished engine:







Now the tedious bit begins - constructing the suspension. Lots of fiddly little wheels and cleanup etc. I hate this part!

Cheers
Jon

[Coen]

Just when I thought that his couldn't get any more fantastic.... It does.
Stunning work Jon.

[OneSmallStep1966]

Superb stuff

[Tiger131]

Yes the armour god is back in build mode.u got me into the hobby with your early builds on the tube..really looking forward too seeing your vids again..

And stunning work on thus engine looks good enough to run

[TheTroyster]

This is awesome, so apparently I bought the wrong Meng kit, as mine didn't have an engine.