First Old Armor...FINISHED!!!!

You can probably get a set from Tamiya USA or ask at various modeling websites. Many serious German armor modelers automatically change out the vinyl tracks with metal tracks and have piles of leftover vinyl tracks. Most would send them to you for the price of postage or for free.

As usual,Rob has given excellent advice.

Don't be scared off by indy tracks, Tedious yes, but in the end they look so much better. There are some good tutorials on ho to assemble them.

As the others have said, don't be scared off by indy tracks. I am a big fan of Fruils which I find easy to put together and very realistic, though they are expensive. Unfortunately I have already given away all of my Tamiya Pz IV tracks.

Look forward to seeing some pics.

I've got a couple of sets, one is definitely Tamiya, not sure about the other. They're vinyl, if you want them PM me your snail mail address and I'll send them to you.

That would be awesome Spamicus!!! I did a piece together set of tracks on a Dragon panther and it turned out horrrible..lol... that was years ago though. I have a set for a hanomag and a Tiger that have not been built yet. but sadly none for a PIV.

If I have pictures on my FB page can i retrieve them from there or do I need to get them on say Photobucket first?

If you can retrieve the link from FB, I don't see why not. I know we can link to other photo's already on line. Give it a try.

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thats copying the link from FB...no image though :(

Did you use rich formatting.

I did use rich formatting from FB then i remembered that i already have photobucket so i uploaded and reposted from there. it works!!!

That's looking good.

is that the old monogram kit or a newer one?

If I am not mistaken wayne, that the more recent Tamiya release. I've got the same kit in the stash.

No you are not mistaken Bish. I have had the kit for almost 11yrs though. Tamiya 35085. Thanks for the compliment too. This was done last night, Tamiya Drk yellow undercoat. Tomorrow will be the red brown and drk grn..... Will try to go in for a white wash. This is my first ever try at weathering/detailing.

Really, that's the older Tamiya kit then. Still looks damn good. I didn't realise that one came with the crew figures, that's what threw me.

cybermodeler.com did a reveiw of it in 2008 but I know i had mine before I was married and thats going on 10 yrs. it has the motorization hull but could be a newer version. I got it off of ebay.

looked on TamiyaUSA sight and now the kit item is 35233.

SO i got the camo on and now ready for white. Suggestions on how to make the white wash look beat up? I keep reading about using hairspray and sponge?

Hi,

Yes, its the "hairspray" technique.

Basically take a hairsprya, and lay a good layer of it, let it dry and then do it again to have 2 hands.

Then airbrush white all over it.

Then, just use water and stiff brush and remove the white paint.

Look at youtube, there are tons of videos on how to do it.

Is looking good, the figures look very nice from what I see.

Whirbelwind was my second model ever . Ah, the memories...lol

Cheers...

Thanks for compliments guys. Its nice to hear that i can remember some of the skills..lol.. I sprayed Testors Flat white over the camo after i brushed hairspray around the edges and areas that i felt would warrant wear and tear. This is my first time weathering this way so all feedback is appreciated. I am far from finished with this step but wanted to get some pics up to see what you all thought. More pics soon.

That's looking good. I keep hearing about this hairspray method but not tried it yet.

Its pretty easy to do. However I dont think that i did it right....while scraping the white away, I think im actually scraping even the camo underneath...looks like i took it down to the plastic color

So other than the snow/mud that is going to end up on the running gear I believe that I am done with the weathering. I made a base out of dense foam and clay. On top of this i will use unsanded grout and baby powder for the snow. Wasnt really sure on the grout but I saw a few pics with it done and i liked it. I added a little rust to the deck hinges and then did 2 washes with gunmetal since gun smoke in my exp has more of a bluish hue. All in all I am very happy with the way its turned out after more than 5yrs out of practice...and even longer before that. Let me know what you guys see I can do differently.

First I want to say thank you for the compliments and information given. I've been busy with work but I was able to finish my first diorama. This was also the first detailing of paint and weathering. I used a foam base with celluclay for minor terrain, followed with unsanded grout for snow. I then used baby powder to soften the grout. Although not as good as many of the works that I have seen on this site I have learned a lot and will be back for more. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated as i have re-found the joy of modelling and will continue to build.

Congrats on your build; you have done an admirable job.

You mentioned ..."while scraping the white away, I think im actually scraping even the camo underneath...looks like i took it down to the plastic color."

I believe your results will be more what you expected, if you  use a brush (tooth, paint, chip, whatever) dampened with water to wash away the white overcoating in the areas you wish to.

The water will dissolve the hairspray and thus remove the white paint it is under.

The amount of "rubbing" will determine how much in any one area you remove.

The result will be less like scraping or chipping of the white and more like a wearing through of the white; although both techniques can be used on any one model in various locations, as needed.

Still I like what you did this time 

Thanks Duster!! I did end up scraping to the base plastic unintentionally. Next time i will use a stiff paint brush instead of the tool that i used this time. Pretty sure tool choice was wrong for what i intended. I am happy with the way it turned out. The more i look at it,  the more I want to get on another build. I just got a Bronco Models Panzerspahwagen 221 scout car and I already have an Academy Stalingrad set that has a PZ II. Im thinking of a commander meeting with his scouts while troops march by in summertime.