Forgotten armoured cars

Due to my attic 'man cave' having been out of action for quite some time due to house renovations I was surprised to find quite a few forgotten bits and pieces on my work desk when I started to tidy it up. Among these neglected projects were a finished  project set - my Finnish BA10 & BA20 armoured cars.

So, rather be-latently, here are the completion shots...

ACE BA-20 Light Armoured Car...

UM BA-10 Medium Armoured Car...

The Rapid Fire war game rules and the Finnish armoured cars
Quite why I forgot that I completed this set is a little puzzling because - for me - it's quite an exciting landmark. These two armoured cars represent the very first completed unit in my Finnish Continuation War collection using the Rapid Fire war game rules.

These two models make up the 'Finnish Armoured Car Company (1941-1944)' with the BA-20 being the HQ vehicle (15 points) and the BA-10 representing 'the company' (30 points). The company could be upgraded to 'elite' for 20 extra points, or the BA-10 could be replaced for the very similar BA-6 for no extra cost.

Link back to full project threads:
• UM BA-10 Medium Armoured Car
• ACE BA-20 Light Armoured Car

Insert pun about grass here!

...Lazy I know (sorry Tim) but I couldn't think of a grass related pun for my post title today. Anyway, this post is about making scale grass for your bases...

As a beginner it is sometimes a little over-whelming the amount of things you seem to need to become adept at just to get a model finished. You need to be a bit of a sculptor, a bit of a painter, a bit of a make-up artist and a host of other things. This is evident when it comes to making bases or dioramas for your models.

Take grass. So far I have been the 'sprinkle it on' newbie, not paying that much attention to it and relying on the quality of the stuff I get 'out of the bag'. But in my latest project I wanted to push my grass-making skills just a little further. I wanted to make realistic 'multi-tonal' grass.

Now, so far I have used Citadels 'static grass', this is both multi-tonal (contains a range of coloured particles to add depth) and is a strand based scale grass medium...

In the above photo you can see my 'test palette' where I have daubed some of the mediums I want to use in my model bases before I started so I can visualise the kind of effects they will produce. The Citadel static grass is the medium on the bottom right. As you can see, unlike traditional model railway 'flocking' it is tiny strands of fake grass and so, in theory and when used properly, mimics the nature of real strands of grass.

I have had two problems with this sort of 'strand' medium. First of all I am dubious about it's scale - at 1/72 or lower it looks a little too big and fake (I think). For although wild grass can get long generally speaking it is shorter than this, particularly in farmed land where it might be grazed on by cattle. The other problem I have with it is that when it's just sprinkled on - as it is above - it just lays flat, like it has been cut, and again looks a bit silly.

So, I have reverted to the traditional - and very cheap - railway modeller flocking. The small granular and mossy medium does not have the realistic advantage of strand-based fake grass, but it's smaller size does - I think - compliment braille scale projects better.

The main problem with the type I bought is that it is one flat uniform colour which is not so realistic. Natural grass is a range of tones and shades, it can be dry grass in which case it can have a brown tone to it or it might be new grass in which case it might be a more vibrant green.

To add this effect to my granular flocking I decided to add some additional colouration by using some oil paints, artists chalks and washes...

The effect is quite subtle - hopefully - but adds some depth and shade to the grass. I daubed on some ochre and brown oil paint using an eye-shadow applicator (a small sponge) and I added highlights using a very light beige artists chalk. Either medium can then be blended into the grass using a fingertip or another eye-shadow applicator. The end result is a multi-tonal mossy effect...

As I said, I've gone for a very subtle variation in tone, but you can go in heavier if you wish adding more contrast and shadow tones. I could have - for example - added a dark brown wash to increase the three-dimensional look, but I decided that the dark muddy browns of my actual finished bases would suffice for the underlying shadow tones.

Postscript - using static grass properly
Looking about at other far more advanced scale modellers static grass (the strand type) seems to be a medium worth persevering with but only if it's applied properly! By 'properly' I mean getting the tiny strands of fake grass to stand up as real blades of grass do.

So I did some research and again railway modellers seem to have the solution to this, and the clue is in the name - 'static' grass!

Take a look at the following video about a device called the 'GrassMaster' made by a company called Noch...

I intend to revisit my grass-making techniques later, but in the mean time and in particular my current Finnish Army project I shall stick to my granular flock technique (particularly when the Noch Grassmaster is a whopping £129). But it's worth knowing how to apply static grass properly for future projects, and if I win the lottery!

In case you are still unconvinced about the use of static grass in Braille Scale (and I concede that if you are making a wargaming base static grass might be over-kill) just take a look at what a difference static grass done properly can make to a scene...

(The above scene is by Rato Marczak © 2013 - and more shots of this exquisite display model can be seen here: RPM Renault FT-17 in 1/72)

Making a wargaming vehicle base

I have decided I want to have my vehicles on bases - I'm using the Rapid Fire! game rules as a guide for my collection - and although this isn't obligatory I personally like the look of bases models. So here's a quick wargaming base, done my way (...NOT the best probably...)

1. I cut a plastic sheet to size - roughly 5mm larger than the vehicle all around - then I smear on some good old Polyfilla! At first I just spread on a uniform 1mm layer, but as it begins to cure I start to work with it to imprint some of the mini-diorama details (like tank tracks or wheel furrows)...

[Update: It was suggested to me that you might want to roughen and score the surface of your plastic base so the Pollyfiller has something to adhere to.]

2. The polyfilla having 'cured' (hardened but not completely dry) it is easy to start applying some ground detail (I used some spare model truck wheels to print on tyre tracks)...

3. Once completely dry it's time to base-coat with black car-primer spray paint...

4. At this stage you could add a dark brown wash, but I really like powder colours (either AK Interactive or Humbrol powders, or the cheaper artists conte crayons ground up)...

5. After a coat of spray varnish I slap on a generous sprinkle of static grass...

6. And then I work into the scene, giving it some highlight and shadow tones (were this a vehicle you might say that this was the 'weathering' stage)...

...I am now ready to base the vehicles and possibly add some final touches - like long grass or shrubs, or rocks and stones - so the next pictures you see will be the final finished models!

Always sleep on it, then things aren't as bad as they seem

Sometimes - I guess - you think you have spoilt a model, things just get out of control and the more you try to save the situation the worse you make things. This is how it felt last night with my BA armoured cars.

I was tinkering with the last weathering stage and - on paper - there wasn't actually that much left to do as I had already decided to go easy on the wear and tear effects. Even so, things got messy - literally - as I tried to add a smattering of mud. But, oh I *wasn't* happy, not one bit!

It's not the fault of the product I was using, I was using Tamya's 'Weathering Stick' effects - 'Light Earth' and 'Mud'...

I like this product because it's like a cosmetic approach to applying effects, I *guess* they are like women's eye-shadow or foundation (not that I have a lot of experience in this area)! What I mean is that this medium is a soft 'cream' and always remains 'live' (it doesn't really dry), so it can be spread about, blended and wiped off.

The two sticks I have work together well and nicely represent 'dry' mud and 'fresh' mud. But this didn't help me, I was having a nightmare where everything I did didn't seem right.

HOWEVER...I slept on it. And I also did a very useful thing - I took a couple of snaps on my iPhone to record the stage I was at and check what the 'failed' effects looked like through a lens. What a good idea this turned out to be (and I will do this more often)!

When I got up this morning I sat down with my mug of tea and opened my Flickr photo gallery page...And do you know, things weren't as bad as I thought! What do you think?

Anyway, there you go. If things look like they are going badly, stop! And sleep on it - things might not be a bad as you think.

Next: I'm starting to work on the model bases - designed for the Rapid Fire game rules - and I also will be making the headlights. Nearly there!

All washed up! Soviet armoured cars.

It's time to put the techniques I practised on my little T-34 to good use. Having sprayed on my 'dust' layer I now apply a pin-wash to my Finnish armoured car company...

I am using AK Interactive's enamel based 'Dark Brown Wash for Green Vehicles'. I prefer this to my initial attempts at pin-washing where I used black. Black is too harsh and makes it look like you are drawing an outline around everything, by contrast AK's brown wash has a nice greasy hue to it.

When applying the pin wash I have found using two brushes helped - one thin brush to apply the pin-wash itself and a second clean brush dipped in thinners to clean up mistakes and tidy up wonky lines.

Next I will start to apply he chipping - but I want to go easy with this and won't be adding too much rust either. From what I have seen in reference photos the Finns seem to have taken quite good care of their equipment. Perhaps because it was in such short supply.

So, just some light wear on the most vulnerable parts - like the edge of the fenders and parts that had the most use (like doors and hatches).

Oh! Nearly forgot - what's next? Well, as we are nearing the end I must start on the bases for these models.

Dusty Finnish armoured cars

Well, having satisfied myself that I was happy using AK Interactive's weathering medium I got down to applying AK's 'dust' to my BA-10 and BA-20 armoured cars...

The advantage of this enamel effects wash - when applied over a thin varnished layer - is that you can blend the 'dust' layer using a brush which has been moistened with some thinners...In this way you can get a nice streaking effect if you want it.

I gently airbrushed the dust on concentrating at the bottom of the vehicle. Once dry I carefully wiped a broad brush - with a touch of thinners - down the vertical surfaces.

(I decided to do the 'dust' effect *before* the pin wash as this sprayed on layer would obliterate any panel line work I had done during pin-washing.)

NEXT: Pin washing.

The best laid plans, etc...BA-10 problems

Funny thing about doing a scale model hobby blog is that you have a tendency to highlight the successes rather than the failures. I don't think it's deliberate, it's just that people like looking at interesting or nice models. Well, anyway, by way of balance here's a tale of one of my 'mishaps'...

If you model then you know what a 'Ping!' is. It's fairly self-explanatory if you have tried making small plastic models - it's when you are working with a very small part or cutting it off a sprue when...'Ping!' Off it flies, who knows where. Certainly I can never seem to find them again.

I blame my 'Ping!' episodes on my big porky sausage fingers...I really should use tweezers more often (note to self).

Anyhoo, 'Ping!' went the passenger's side side-step thing and despite a good search it was never heard of again. So I had to make one. I guess - actually - this is a positive thing and shows how I have improved a little as a modeller because I didn't panic (I did use an expletive) but philosophically thought out how to make a replacement part.

Luckily this was a simple small part, with not a lot of detail...Otherwise I would have been scuppered! :)

UM BA-10 - new wheels

I'll keep it short and sweet today...My BA-10 armoured car now has new wheels!

To recap, I was worried that the infamous 'vinyl rot' would affect the UM's rubbery tyres but aside from that the moulded tyres were quite distorted and slightly misshapen. A few of the tyres bulged when fitted to the wheel hubs and looked like they were going to pop off.

Well, I solved this problem when I came across a cheap Pegasus BA-6 kit, this included hard plastic one-piece versions of the wheels and tyres. Bit of an annoying sacrifice - as the Pegasus kit is nice in itself - but I was determined to finish my BA-10.

Well, they aren't perfect - but the new wheels are now on. Next, glossing and the decals.

Right...Let's go! Finnish armoured cars!

OK, having taken time to tidy up my attic 'man cave' and take stock of the plethora of half completed projects littering my work bench. Having done my inventory and checked against what my plans were I have created a plan to get me up and going again and making models!

Top of my list for 2014 is my 1944 Finnish Army (Rapid Fire) project, and a large number of the semi-completed models belong to that category. I've drawn up a list of what I have and what needed doing and have decided the running order for kit making for the next couple of month. There'll be no getting distracted this time!

Job number 1 is to complete my Finnish Armoured Car Company. To re-cap from last year this was going well, I was really pleased with my purchases - a ACE BA-20 light armoured car and a UniModel BA-10 Heavy Armoured car - and they were both about 70% complete...

Left: UniModel BA-10. Right: ACE BA-20

The snag which stopped me finishing off this set was the issue of the UniModel's vinyl tyres. I had come up with a plan to stop the notorious 'vinyl rot' but, in the end, was scuppered by the very bad fit of the tyre on the wheel hubs. The tyres bulged and were - in any case - of inconsistent quality, some looked fine but others were badly moulded.

So, to get this project to completion I have bought Pegasus's BA-6 Soviet Armoured Car Set...

The Soviet BA-6 and BA-10 are nearly identical, the most noticeable
difference being the turret types (though both are armed with a 45mm gun).

This is rather a nice set in it's own right - and gives me the option to add a BA-6 to my BA-10 as a companion heavy armoured car - but it's the solid plastic wheels/tyres that I want scavenge. I will use one of the sets of BA-6 wheels to replace the shoddy UniModel BA-10 wheels and thereby get the kit on it's way to being finished.

The nasty vinyl tyres of my UniModel BA-10 (left) compared to the one-piece
plastic wheels of the Pegasus BA-6. You can also see the different turret
designs which defines the two armoured cars.

(I will send the second set of wheels up to my brother and have him duplicate these wheels in resin should I wish to build the second BA-6 or get any further kits with similar wheel issues.)

As I said, I originally planned to make my Rapid Fire Finnish AC Company up from the light BA-20 and the heavy BA-10, but having seen the quality of the Pegasus BA-6 I think I will pair up one of these with my BA-10 to make a all heavy armoured car company (the Rapid Fire Finnish rules I am using allow for the choice of these two types in the unit). My BA-20 will now be moved to another unit in my army as either a reconnaissance or radio car.

A captured Soviet BA-20 being used by the Finns as a radio/recce car.

EDIT: Just double checked the Rapid Fire rules and I cannot, in fact, replace the BA-20 with a BA-6 in the Armoured Car Company as the rule specifically call for a BA-20 to be used as the Company 'HQ' vehicle. Still, never mind, the BA-6 kits will come in handy - they are nice.

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 6 - base coat

I do like Humbrol's Light Olive, especially when you add a thin gloss varnish layer...

This is my first chance to see the BA-10 and BA-20 together in their final base colour and they do look a really sweet couple! At the moment I am trying to ready the god awful UM acrylic tyres, the UM kit maybe better than the ACE BA-20 kit, but I wish I had the ACE's hard plastic wheels for my BA-20.

However...I have a cunning plan.

So while I tinker with this I will move on to the decals and also get the wheels on the BA20.

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 5 - Vinyl rot prevention

As a newcomer to modelling and it's dark arts I happen across brief mentions in modeling forums of things I do not understand but worry me a lot. 'Track rot' sounds very nasty indeed but I really don't have a clear understanding of what it exactly was/is, but the various reports of vinyl tracks disintegrating and rotting plastic parts they adjoin were a concern.

So imagine my shock when - while posting up the progress of my UM BA-10 armoured car on the Society of Gentleman Gamers forum - I discovered that the vinyl tyres of my model were exactly the type material that causes this sort of disintegration. Chris Steadman (of SoGG) commented on my project...

"On the UM kit, did you use a barrier between the vinyl wheels and the plastic? Are you aware that they are known to interact and that the plastic dissolves with time? PVA apparently acts as a good barrier. There are also reports that washing the vinyl parts well, helps to reduce the effect. Also, when you paint the model, any paint with a solvent base will attack the vinyl parts."

Eeeek! This was enough to send any kitnoob like myself into a mild panic...But I calmed down!

And so, my solution was a bit belt and braces but I hope this works; I detached the tyres from the plastic wheels and coated the wheels with a gloss varnish to act as one barrier between the materials, then I sprayed the wheels their base colour (Humbrol acrylic Light Olive) to act as a second barrier. I also sprayed a light coat of varnish over any other area - notably the front fenders - where the tyres would come into contact with the main model.

Having done that I next turned my attention to the tyres themselves. As recommended I washed the tyres in soapy water and then, once dry, I painted on a thin solution of PVA just on the inside of the tyres where they would come into contact with the plastic wheels.

Coating the vinyl tyres with a thin layer of PVA glue to act as a barrier.

I was going to weather the tyres using a AK Interactive enamel based weathering wash - for dust effects - but I will avoid anything like this now. Instead I will use chalk and conte crayon dust brushed on over a very thin coat of PVA to hold the dust in place. Bit of an experiment there but let's see how that turns out.

So, little hic-up. To be honest I was skeptical about the merit of the vinyl tyres right from the start, tyres are just as easily modeled using hard plastic and paint effects. In any case they are a pig to fit and deform - I will probably try to avoid them in the future (though I can't really avoid vinyl tracks unfortunately).

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 4 - Construction complete

Got the last little twiddly bits stuck on (I think that's the technical term for it)! Looks OK I think...

The next phase would be the base coat - Humbrol Light Olive - for this and it's BA-20 partner but I am going to pause here while I finish off my 'man cave'. Once done my new hobby space will have my airbrush booth set-up and I will be able to spray these properly.

So, a short break from armoured cars, let's see what else I have in the unfinished project box.

BA-10 & BA-20 together, this represents my Rapid Fire! rule set Finnish
armoured car company.

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 3 - Cab

A nice way to finish off the weekend - some BA-10 relaxation. Once again the UM kit's complexity has turned a small job into a bit of a intense session. I did have to wonder if they really had to have separate parts for some of the features of the cab.

Take the engine hatches, I am pretty sure if I bought the Pegasus BA-6 kit that these hatches would be perfectly well represented by being moulded onto the hull's body itself. But would they be as sharply and delicately as defined as they are in the UM kit?

It is a nice kit - I shall have to get some more UM models.

My only criticism of this stage would be the delicacy of the guns. I would prefer to find a brass turned barrel to replace the 45mm main gun. The machine guns are a little fragile too.

Next: Mating the chassis to the cab and adding the additional hull features. Let's see if I can get the construction phase finished!

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 2 - Wheels

The UM model is a complex one, amazingly the construction of the wheels, suspension and lower chassis includes about 42 parts! So while it seems I haven't made a lot of progress here it actually feels like I have done a lot.

The rubber tyres are interesting to work with. There was a little flash around the inside which needs to be trimmed off with a sharp knife and then you slip them onto the wheels themselves. The fit is OK but some went on better specific ways round, and these pop off easily and look strange, so these ones were fitted onto the inside of the rear double sets.

There is also the issue of painting the tyres. I decided to not glue the double wheel sets together at this point so I could remove the tyres again and spray the wheels before the final construction. Otherwise getting at the inner wheels to paint them would be tricky.

Everything goes together easily enough though and unlike the ACE BA-20 kit I just constructed the UM model has very helpful pilot holes or makes it obvious where things are supposed to go.

So there we go, aside from being a little skeptical about the merits of real rubber tyres - precisely because of their flexibility - I am enjoying this construction so far. You could say that there is a little too much complexity, but that would depend of whether you are a war-gamer or a display modeller. You are certainly aren't going to be able to bang this one together in a hurry (try the Pegasus BA-6 which only has 23 parts in total if speed of build is your goal)!

Next: The upper chassis and hull.

1/72 Unimodel BA-10 Armoured Car Pt. 1 - Unboxing

While I complete the construction of my ACE BA-20 armoured car I thought I would start off the BA-10 I got to accompany it as part of my Finnish Army recce company. Another Ukrainian made kit I had trepidations after my ACE BA-20 experience.

However, a quick look over the various sprues in this kit (4, plus bag of tyres) was enough to satisfy me that the general quality of this UM model was superior to the ACE kit.

Moulded in a 'Russian green' plastic the parts are quite sharp and free of flash. Kudos UM!

No raggy edges or vague matching parts, everything looks likes they are meant to fit together tightly. But we shall see at the construction phase, still the look of the quality does instill some confidence.

Importantly - unlike the ACE BA-20 - each part is accompanied by very clear numerical IDs moulded onto the sprue...

This, of course, makes things a whole lot easier when it comes to identifying parts. Quite important when this model has more than 80 parts to it! Quite remarkable really.

And talking of identifying parts, this brings me to the instruction sheet...

The instructions are quite clear and everything seems to have an obvious place to go, again unlike the ACE armoured car where here were no pilot holes to help connect components together. Probably just as well with so many parts to deal with.

Of particular note, I thought, were the nicely moulded black rubber tyres. I haven't dealt with rubber tyres before in the kits I have made so far so this should be interesting.

As to the historical schemes that are included, well according to the instruction sheet there are three. All Soviet.

Now this is rather interesting as the decal sheet included in this kit also includes a Finnish option too. Good news for me you might think as I want to build this model as a 'liberated' Finnish  version of this vehicle. But no...

Unfortunately, and inexplicably, UniModels have included Finnish Hakenkruis (Finnish swastika) in completely the wrong colour. UM have supplied you with three medium blue swastikas on white outlines - while medium blue is correct for the Finnish air force of WW2 the Finnish army identified their armoured vehicles with a modified hakenkruis in black on an offset white outline.

There also appears to be a set of post-1945 Finnish roundels (as part of the peace agreement made between the Soviet Union and Finland in September 1944 the Finns got rid of their swastikas, for obvious reasons, and replaced them with blue and white roundels instead). Apparently the BA-10s (known to the Finns as the BAF C) served with the Finnish army until 1959, so these roundels would be appropriate if you wanted to build a post-war model.

Above: A captured Soviet BA-6 armoured car (predecessor to the BA-10) in use
with the Finnish army. You can see the off-set black swastika.

In conclusion, I am quite pleased so far with this UM kit, the first I have bought, and there are a lot of positive points especial compared to my recent ACE BA-20 build.

So, it's onto the construction...