1/35 Muddy Hetzer WIP & Gallery pictures

about muffer.. first- i like 'overusted' mufflers. in my way scale modeling is not building and painting direct in scale, but I like cheating watcher's eyes with some stereotypes :> muffler have to be rusted :>

Well said and whole heartedly agree.  Love what you've done.  Just wish you were building it for me

Spectacular. Really love the finish.

thanks for your kind words. i'm glad you like it

SuppressionFire

How did you do the periscope lenses?

firsi I painted them with light blue. next I applied a few layers of tamiyas smoke mixed with clear, floding lenses with this mixture.

I'm using different colors as a base for it. sometimes I'm flodding lenses just with smoke on a hull-color base, sometimes as a basecoat I'm using dark blue, vallejo's smoke, silver or black..

That weathering is so "believable" that it's UNBELIEVABLE!  Fantastic!

Awesome work, I love the weathering! I also like what you said about cheating the viewers eyes with stereotypes. Interesting point. I guess sometimes we model based on what he think other people will see or want to see rather than how they actually always appear in real life. Good stuff.

Tanks for taking the critique as such and not criticism!

Too many post then become offended when people offer tips & critique, we all have seen the fall out and resulting war of words, egos and even people being banned from the site over a bit of critique.

Your work is excellent KFS and that was the only item I didn't 100% like on this build.

Q:

How did you do the periscope lenses? I toil with scratch built lenses out of blue tinted swim goggles and am usually disappointed when they are barely noticeable. Yours look like the ones I attempt to recreate!

thank you

about muffer.. first- i like 'overusted' mufflers. in my way scale modeling is not building and painting direct in scale, but I like cheating watcher's eyes with some stereotypes :> muffler have to be rusted :>

but, you ha right- this is not the best part of this model. I just was trying to give for it an effect of rusty muffler with some white camo remains.. but not really successful

Outstanding! I have no doubt that the owner will be pleased. And yet another WIP I've learned from.....

Excellent work!

Karl & the modeler's at Mig Productions will really like this one!

Heavy weathering is subjective and a personal preference.

The only item the looks 'off' to me is the muffler. The texture & color just does not seem right as rust is more orange, brown or shades in between, never red or pink.

I know its a minor item yet I cannot seem to look past. Its easier to be critical of others work online behind a computer screen than to post your own and take the critique. Once I get set up again to model you can critique my work where I expect  demand honest, constructive opinions!

..and finished

some final touches. I made some oily stains and parches on wheels and details of the suspension. They are painted with thinned Tamiya's Smoke and tiny brush.

then I mounted all details. Last I painted sights- with light blue coated with smoke mixed with clear

gallery pictures of finished model will be posted in a few minutes

thank you

OK, let's go with some mud..
First I mounted track links. Don't worry about the shape of upper link- it will be hided behind schurzens..

Next I airbrushed lower parts of the hull with natural umber pigment

whet it was dry, i rubbered suspension with a big hard brush

I covered it with some fixer and I was able to start work on the mud structure. I used for it Russian Earth pigment and Lighter Fluid.

First I'm wetting surface with lighter fluid

then I'm sprinkling some pigment from a soft brush

and last I dripping pigments with fluid again, very gentle, without touching of the pigments

and finally we have some clods on the tracks and other surfaces

it is recommended to protect it wit pigment fixer at last..

t.b.c..

   EXCELLENT!

 My favorite type of nitty-gritty  finish.......

Paintchips.
First I painted with a piece of sponge some chips with vallejo's smoke.

then, with same technique, I applied mix of glossy black with some gunmetal and smoke

painting of rusty patches I started with MIG's dark wash, using a tiny brush

for more visible patches I used mix of dark rust oil paint and brown enamel. I applied small dots of this mixture and rubbed them with soft brush slightly wet with white spirit

now it's time for suspension..

Really nice work so far on the white wash and other features, I'm sure the owner will be very proud to have it.

As to the question of the gun barrel, the first group of Hetzers were intended to be fitted with a threaded-on muzzle brake but it was found that the brake wasn't needed and dropped from later production, so they were never fitted. The threads wouldn't have been left as bare metal though, they would've been painted the same dark-gray lacquered primer as the rest of the barrel. HTH!

I used 'rusty' paints from Lifecolor's Dust&Rust set to paint the muffler

disastermaster

I LOVE IT!

Don't forget the lens in the gunners scope. I don't understand the uniform silver tip on the main gun though.

 

muffler is really not finished..

whole vehicle is not finished.. :>

I LOVE IT!

You should try a bit of that whitewash on the muffler even though I'm sure it would have burnt off easily. The burnt/worn appearance would give a lot of interest to the overall scheme and eradicate the gloss areas of the exhaust assembly.

Don't forget the lens in the gunners scope. I don't understand the uniform silver tip on the main gun though.

I can only imagine how well this ride will look once the tracks are installed.

I'm just painting it. Perhaps owner of this model will put it on the base, but i don't know nothing about it..

I'm back!

Ok so most don't even know I had left LOL

Anyhow...

Great job on the Hetzer!  like the picture showing the muffler as I may scratch build one for a 1/72 scale project that was the wrong version for the vehicle I wanted to depict. Good thing mine is not glued on!

Now the vehicle has appropriate winter camouflage do you plan on a suitable base?

Hey buddy,

I must admit that although it was shaping up nicely that original scheme wasn't doing it for me BUT that hairsprayed whitewash looks absolutely awesome.

What a great job, looking forward to more

I've been building for a couple of years now and have never done a proper whitewash with hairspray - I really need to grow a pair and try it!

ATVB

Ben

I colored details and washed whole vehicle with a mix of van *** brow oil paint and white spirit

Thank you

Litle update

I decided to make damages of white camouflage using hair spray technique. So, first I covered whole vehicle with hair spray applied direct from the can.

then I airbrushed it with mat white acrylic paint

next step is typical- damaging of the paint surface with wet brush. please note, for wetting I used not water, but Lifecolor's White oxide Tensocrome.

Appears to be shaping up nicely..........

I like that camo .

Like it nice job.

Ron

Cool... I'll be waiting for an update!

Kenneth

Maybe not accurate, but I kind of dig that camo.