Swanny's Models - DVD 4 - Salt Chipping and Water Diorama

Product Review
Reviewer: Pablo Bauleo
IPMS: # 46363

Product: Instructional DVD Vol.4
Title: Advanced Modeling Skills; Salt Chipping & Water Diorama (3-disk set)
Total Running Time: 8 hrs. 45 min.
MSRP:  $39.95
Available at: www.swannysmodels.com

Review

Matt Swan keeps providing us with more modeling blessing on the 4th installment of his instructional series. The scope of this set is water dioramas and salt chipping technique. The subject is a 1/48 Tamiya Rufe and a nice beach scene, including everything you can imagine, even scale fish in the water!

Towards the end of his 3rd set, Matt shows how to build some simple bases to display your model. This time he goes into town showing step-by-step how to create a base, a sandy beach, foliage and more importantly: water. That is not all, as he will build a Japanese float-plane and show how to replicate paint chips using the 'salt chipping' technique.

Before showing how to build a diorama, Matt devotes some time to cover the tools and materials needed to build a diorama, including where you can get most of them and some comments regarding the cost of them.

The video moves back and forth between the diorama and the airplane; which replicates what would occur in real life, as any modeler would likely work on both a diorama and the subject in parallel.

The model construction serves as a 'refresher' on best modeling practices, although it will not spend much time on 'the basics'. It will still cover them, but not dwell long on them. A nice touch is to show how to recreate the elusive 'aotake' (blue-green japanese interior cockpit color) using Alclad paints.

Most of the model construction is devoted to finishing and how to recreate the paint chips effect with salt. It covers everything, from the different salt types that you can use, to how to apply the salt, how to fix problems and mistakes and how to remove and 'blend-in' the chips in the paint. It includes a few 'lessons learned' tricks, like how to go about masking around the yellow tactical identification and re-apply salt to maintain the overall 'chip pattern' across different camouflage colors. 

The diorama construction literally shows every single step along the way, with ample detail and even heads up on potential problems. You get to see how to build a frame out of wood, how to stained it and how to seal it. The next steps cover how to lay foam and colored celluclay to crate the terrain and cover it with different materials to develop texture. It also shows how to create scale foliage on the beach out of plastic plants he picked up at a home décor store.

The water build up is shown in great detail. In order to create the illusion of depth, clear resin is tinted and Matt shows how to do it. Then there are two more resin pours, one of which includes scale fish and how to position and anchor the model into the water. Finally, after the last clear resin is poured, the DVD finishes with a demonstration on how to create waves in the water.

Perhaps the most important part of the diorama construction is that Matt describes his though process on when, where and how to put detail. Stuff is not just 'thrown in' around the diorama. Matt talks things like 'fish tends to be in groups, they like to be under the shade of a wing or around a float', and he positions the fish accordingly. Plenty of other details like this are described both in the diorama and aircraft finishing.

As with the previous DVD sets, whenever a mistake or problem happens it is not edited out, but actually kept in the set and it shows how to fix and recover from it. High instructional value there.

I would recommend this DVD set to modelers of any skill level, except for the absolute beginner.

Here is the link to the DVD trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHd6wwmoQY

Review sample courtesy of my own pocket. I was lucky enough to have Matt send me the 1st production set autographed, which I'm grateful for.

Swanny's Models - DVD 3 - Vacuform and NMF

Manufacturer: Swanny’s Models

Product: Instructional DVD Vol.3 “Advanced Modeling Skills: Vacuform conversions and NMF” (4-disk set)

MSRP: $48.95 plus shipping from http://www.swannysmodels.com/DVD3.html

Reviewed by: Pablo Bauleo

The third installment of the series comprises 4-DVD for a total running time of over 12 hours. This set will show you how to work with vacuform parts, will guide you, step-by-step in the process of “sanding to the line”, how to re-scribe panel lines, and how to assemble a vacuform fuselage, including the important steps of scratch building reinforcing and alignment tabs, extensive descriptions on how to use of fillers and make them blend with the surface of the kit.

When working with conversions you might find that some of the resin parts might have flash, bubble holes or blemishes. Learn how to correct those problems by seeing how a couple of propeller blades are “carved-out” from all the surrounding flash, see how holes are filled and the whole blade is filed into shape.

Do you want to see how a challenging paint job is done? Matt will finish a vacuform conversion kit with a natural metal finish. It will show how to use different metallic shades to create enough contrast to make a model, to make it look like a miniature of the real aircraft. It will also explain how to weather a natural metal finish model, by the use of pre/post-shading.

Did you think that was all? Well, not. This installment finishes with the construction of three different display bases, and briefly covers some details of taking pictures of your models.

This set is intended for the average to advanced modeler that is ready to try those “one-of-a-kind” models, but not sure how to get around a vacuform kit.

Swanny's Models - DVD 2 - Resin and PE

Manufacturer: Swanny’s Models

Product: Instructional DVD Vol.2 “Advanced Modeling Skills: Resin and PE cockpits” (2-disk set)

MSRP: $29.00 plus shipping from http://www.swannysmodels.com/DVD2.html

Reviewed by: Pablo Bauleo

The second volume of this series moves into more advance techniques: Resin, Photo-etch and vacuformed canopies in a 2-disk set for a total running time of 4hs 50min. Note that I said “advanced techniques” and not “difficult techniques”, as this DVD set will teach you how to build the skills (and confidence) needed for you to finish your models the way you always wanted to. If you feel like you are ready to take your models to the next level of detailing, but you are not sure how-to, this DVD set will show you that resin and photoetch is not difficult, it is just a little bit different.

The first disk of the set shows how to put together a P-39 resin cockpit from Cutting Edge. It begins from resin parts preparation and shows how to fix deformed parts and how to work with acetate panels for instrument dial details. It then moves into the whole assembly and painting of the cockpit, with emphasis on the importance of dry-fitting, particularly when you are working with aftermarket parts.

The second disk focuses on photoetch parts, by working with a .50 caliber machine gun from Aires and a P-47D cockpit detail set from Eduard. It shows you how to anneal parts, how to cut them from the fret, how to paint and assemble them. Again, it shows step-by-step the process to do all of the above, de-mystifying the use of photoetch. It won’t make it seem easy; it will show you that it is not that different than working with plastic parts.

Among many other things, this DVD taught me how to bend photoetch parts by using simple tools (razor blades) or how to do it with a photoetch bending station. I like the fact that for each technique, it shows different tools and ways to do things.

Something I’ve found really interesting is that most of the assembly is shown in real time (i.e. almost no video editing). That is done as to show that working with resin/photoetch is not a high time-consuming task. It takes about the same time that would take you to assemble and paint a plastic-injected cockpit.

This set is wrapped-up by showing you how to score, cut and trim vacuformed canopies. After all, if you put all that effort in super detailing a cockpit, you want to make sure it is possible to see it very clearly!

As with the previous set, it includes a round-up of the tools needed to work when you are dealing with resin and photoetch and more importantly, how to do it in a safe way.

This set is perfect for the modeler that has already built some kits and wants to move to the next level, and for the beginner that is wondering all about aftermarket detail sets.