A Facelift and Refit For a Bandai Hummel

[SCHWEREPANZER]

I am humbled by your kind words. But, like most of us in this addictive hobby, we can sometimes get obsessed with 'little things' as you yourself should know all too well. And, believe me, I'm a piker compared to some around here.

[ColemanCollector]

Tarps look really nice. Initially, I thought your big side tarp looked a bit too lightweight and droopy, figuring they would've used heavy oiled canvas coverings. But you hit it bang-on when you look at this pic. Glad I wasn't a crew member in the middle of winter near Smolensk!

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Stellar Hummel!

Mike.

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Thanks Mike. And thanks for the great picture which I'm saving to my reference library. I'm still not entire convinced with my large tarp. The color is a bit neutral and perhaps a darker color would give it the 'heft' I was looking for. But, I'm trying to curb my OCD problem, so maybe I'll leave it alone. Thanks again.

Ralph

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I like the idea of the "baby wipe" for a tarp, and I want to try it. Aber Herr SCHWEREPANZER, how does one get all the white glue off the model after the "tarp" has dried into shape? I would think the model would be left with enough white glue to require rigorous washing in warm water.

[SCHWEREPANZER]

A fair and good point, Herr Dr. Professor. You are right, and that's why the utube videos seem to emphasize that the tarp making should take place before the model is painted. Great! But, what to do if one decides to create a tarp on a model already painted. The subject of paint damage arises for the exact reason raised in your perspicacious question. In my case and which I failed miserably not including in my earlier comments, I used a piece of un-painted styrene sheet as a 'model' and draped the soaking wet 'tarp' over it, shaped it with a tooth pick (gently), allowed it to dry overnight. The next morning, with a little coaxing using an exacto, the tarp, more or less, popped off. Were the attempt to be made on a painted model, some utubers seemed to find success using Saran Wrap-type paper as an underlying base or tin foil, which crinkles up to actually help form a nice shape. However, the properties of white glue seem to be such that even if the tarp-making is taken over a painted model, the white glue's burning into paint is minimal. I tried it (well after the fact) for yuks and was quite surprised that in the one test case I tried, the 'tarp' did pop off with no damage. Granted, the test case was only with a relatively small 'tarp.' The result may be different if the tarp was large and covered a large area.

[HERMAN BIX]

A technique I have used is to dress & clean out a new tea bag. Size limited of course but a coffee filter paper can also be used to get larger sizing.
Airbrush the flat sheet into the desired colour on both sides & let dry.
On the model, use Tamiya flat clear out of the pottle and a paintbrush to soak the material into shape and position to get the look required.
Once dry it is self-adhesive and holds shape firmly, plus any slops dry almost invisible anyway.
I am going to try a wipe using both methods.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Of the two methods Heavy Tank and Bix offer, I can see that the "Saran Wrap" trick might make the tarp removable. So, e.g., I might make a tarp to "throw" over my M10 and be able to take it off if I want to put in a few crew members--the ones I have yet to afford. The "flat clear" solution would probably have the advantage of staying in place if the model is moving over rough terrain, say at one of those great food-and-beer UK, Polish, Spanish, or German club meetings (of which, here in southern Wisconsin, there ain't none).