Tamiya 1/35 Achilles M10

[alextheblue]

Loving seeing all the bike and car builds on the forum at the moment and it's a far cry of when I first joined, where most of the builds were either aircraft or armour. Especially enjoying all of the Ducatis and the varying opinions of what colour they should be.

It's red! It's always red!!

Kidding, they are beautiful bikes in any colour. As a dyed-in-the-wool, pocket-rocket, rice-burning, race til you die, sports bike fanatic, I've never fancied owning a Ducati. Don't get me wrong, the power you get from a V-twin is immense and the oomph is there from the moment you twist your wrist, but they are just a bit too small for me. I owned a Honda SP-1 for a short time, but it wasn't a patch on a Ducati, performance wise. No, it's 1L straight 4's all day long for me. Wind them up to 9K revs and beyond and hold on for dear life.

But do you know what - I've never fancied building a 1/12th version. Funny that! No idea why - maybe I should give one a go.

Anywho, back on to to the subject of the thread.

I started building the Achilles during the hovering things SiG. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I love building armour and I don't like to be too far away from something heavy and metal in some sort of part-build sequence.

The Achilles is exactly what you would expect from Tamiya - excellent engineering and everything just falls together. No problems any where and the build fit is excellent. EPM's are mostly out of sight and clean-up is minimal. If I was to find one gripe, and it's a minuscule one, the thread that is supplied for the towing rope isn't much cop as it unwinds as soon as you cut it. This is easily remedied with some wire from the spares box (left over from a Dragon kit probably).

I must apologise at this point as there is no step-by-step build as I'm almost done with this one. I haven't posted anything for a while and I wanted to put something up. Plus, I had been dropping the odd pic into my Hovering Things SiG build thread, so felt I should at least update my progress.

Paints are mostly Tamiya and weathering is all out of the airbrush, apart from a little bit of dry brushing. A bit of matt black here and there to "metal-it-up" on certain surfaces. Interior is done, figures have a base coat down and accessories just need washing and weathering.

Pics...........













Thanks for taking a look and apologies again for the unrelated drivel at the start!!

[Kevthemodeller]

Superb build Alex, you've perfectly captured the correct shading and weathering

[digger303]

Excellent build and paint Alex

[Hawkmoon]

Looks good to me and very nice work

[Quax]

Super build as ever Alex
Paul

[Tomcat64]

That's lovely work as always Alex, the tonal modulation on the armour us just superb! Cracking result

[alextheblue]

Superb build Alex, you've perfectly captured the correct shading and weathering

Cheers Kev, it's all clever lighting and shadows!

Excellent build and paint Alex

Cheers digger! Hope the clean-up is going ok - saw the pics!!

Looks good to me and very nice work

Thanks Hawkmoon, appreciate it.

Super build as ever Alex
Paul

Thanks Paul, appreciate the kind words.

That's lovely work as always Alex, the tonal modulation on the armour us just superb! Cracking result

Cheers Tomcat. I know a lot of people aren't keen on modulation, but I like the effects it can give.

[CygnusX1]

I think that looks really great; subtle paint job really well done.
Great Achilles.

[alextheblue]

I think that looks really great; subtle paint job really well done.
Great Achilles.

Cheers CygnusX1!

[alextheblue]

Bit more progress on this one, slowly chipping away at at. The figures are now mostly done, just some details and touching up (quite a lot of touching up!!).

Nuff said. Pics.









Thanks for taking a look!

[Kevthemodeller]

Those figures Alex are just stunning, the leather jerking looks well real

[Stokesy44]

Looking good. Figures are cracking. Did they come with the kit? I built the M10 with the 76mm from Tamiya and I cant remember if it came with a US crew or not.

[digger303]

[alextheblue]

Those figures Alex are just stunning, the leather jerking looks well real

Thanks Kev! For leather, I use Vallejo Model Colour, brown leather, then dry brush red leather and saddle leather over the top. Buff the high points with a a cotton bud util your happy with the right amount of "shine".

Looking good. Figures are cracking. Did they come with the kit? I built the M10 with the 76mm from Tamiya and I cant remember if it came with a US crew or not.

Cheers Stokesy! The figures come with the kit and they are newer moulds from Tamiya. I like Tamiya's newer figures, there's some nice detail and they paint up nicely.

Cheers digger! I always appreciate your kind words - well, emojis!!

[digger303]

Those figures Alex are just stunning, the leather jerking looks well real

Thanks Kev! For leather, I use Vallejo Model Colour, brown leather, then dry brush red leather and saddle leather over the top. Buff the high points with a a cotton bud util your happy with the right amount of "shine".

Looking good. Figures are cracking. Did they come with the kit? I built the M10 with the 76mm from Tamiya and I cant remember if it came with a US crew or not.

Cheers Stokesy! The figures come with the kit and they are newer moulds from Tamiya. I like Tamiya's newer figures, there's some nice detail and they paint up nicely.

Cheers digger! I always appreciate your kind words - well, emojis!!

Sometimes it words seem a little repetitive given the high standards of a lot of the builders. I try to be imaginative in that dept even with emoji's and a lot of the time they can convey more of your feelings than words in a short message. When I'm tired and don't have too much energy they are pretty handy too....

[alextheblue]

Cheers digger! I always appreciate your kind words - well, emojis!!
[/quote]

Sometimes it words seem a little repetitive given the high standards of a lot of the builders. I try to be imaginative in that dept even with emoji's and a lot of the time they can convey more of your feelings than words in a short message. When I'm tired and don't have too much energy they are pretty handy too....

[/quote]

Couldn't agree with you more digger! It's difficult to always find the right words when you want to express your admiration for people's work and as you say, the standard is always so high on ISM. Sometimes the emojis just say it better!

[alextheblue]

Another quick update. Most of the stowage is done now.










Just a couple of bits to add - tin hats, antenna, tow rope. Oh, and the light surrounds!! I forgot those for some reason and keep forgetting to add them. Bit of touching up, quick mist of matt coat and I'm going to call this one done.

Thanks for taking a look!

[alextheblue]

Another quick update. Most of the stowage is done now.










Just a couple of bits to add - tin hats, antenna, tow rope. Oh, and the light surrounds!! I forgot those for some reason and keep forgetting to add them. Bit of touching up, quick mist of matt coat and I'm going to call this one done.

Thanks for taking a look!

[BigWall]

Very nice work!

[digger303]

Nice work Alex

[Tomcat64]

The lads already said it but those figures are just awesome work Alex - and the stowage isn't too shabby either!

Cracking job mate, absolutely superb!

[Toto]

A fantastic build and the decorating is exquisite. ..... so much so ...... I had to have one..... just ordered.

A great reference thread.

Well done

Toto

[robwuk]

very very nice work - figures and stowage are superb - would love to know how you do them....

[digger303]

Marvelous figures.

[Toto]

Just a quickie,

Was this built entirely as supplied out the box or have you added any of your own extras ?

Looking forward to whatever is next

Toto