From JasperO: Stretching the Pit of the Pendulum (42 points)

I may be stretching even other attempts to shoe-horn a project into a Challenge description a bit with this entry, though in a more literal sense: I need the pit to fit a vehicle about 7.4m long, 3.8m wide and just over 3m high. It's got to be a big pit to fit a King Tiger! That said, the description does say "something torturous and terrifying" and I imagine seeing a King Tiger slowly rolling in your direction is exactly that. 

The model is Warlord's plastic K/T with the Zimmerit moulded on. From a historical perspective, I very much appreciate it when manufacturers supply the stuff (I've applied it myself once on a 1/35 scale model, that was enough). It is almost guaranteed to be overscale, however, and I find it requires careful painting not to overdo any weathering effects. A general wash and dry-brush would make the hull and turret sides look like they'd been raked by a diligent gardener! The Zimmerit gives an interesting challenge with the decals too. A (very) liberal application of decal softener and then gently pushing it into the surface with a cue-tip seems to have worked pretty well.

For weathering, I've been having a lot of fun with pigments recently. They're designed for scale modelling - i.e. models that nobody's going to touch after completion - which means it'll rub off over time if you don't fix them. There are specialist fixatives, but turpentine seems to work fine too. Varnish through the airbrush works as well, though you have to be careful not to have the pressure on too high or the pigments will detach and cover your work area instead of the model.

The commander is a Perry Miniatures tanker. He's wearing shirtsleeves, which limits the vehicle to the Summer of 1944, I suppose. That's okay though, I figure this vehicle will serve in sPzAbt 503, which used the early turret in Normandy. Points-wise, this is one 1/56 vehicle, plus barely a half-figure for the commander and the Pit of the Pendulum, making it 42.

Oh, and the bucket has been painted since I took the photos...