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Old Italeri 1/35 Hetzer tank - need help for camo

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  • Member since
    January 2014
Old Italeri 1/35 Hetzer tank - need help for camo
Posted by JayF on Saturday, March 8, 2014 6:44 PM

Hello

I'm currently finishing the Hetzer from Italeri, an old kit that dates way back to the 60's.

Great kit, easy to build, but I would like some help painting the camouflage scheme.

So far I painted it completely in dark yellow. I want to do a nice camo, but not too difficult.

Could a kind soul help me with that ?  Angel

Many thanks !

  • Member since
    May 2005
Posted by pyrman64 on Saturday, March 8, 2014 8:57 PM

The JagdPanzer 38(t)was usually painted one of three ways.... 3-tone camo of rotbrain/olivgruen/dunkelgelb, plain-jane dunkelgelb, or the ambush scheme. Just image google and see what looks good to you.  In the end, it's your Hetzer, paint it how you like. BTW, if you can get a copy of MBI's Hetzer book.

Greg H

"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." Gen. Wm T. Sherman (11 April 1880, Columbus, Ohio)

  • Member since
    January 2013
Posted by jibber on Sunday, March 9, 2014 6:10 AM

Jay once you have the base down you can spray a pattern of the green and brown as you wish (I'm assuming you're using an airbrush). Then once that dries you can take the base color and thin it down to apply a soft overspray. This will blend the camo theme and lighten it up slightly. Then the fun starts with the washes and weathering. All the best my friend, enjoy it.  

  • Member since
    March 2014
Posted by BarrettDuke on Sunday, March 9, 2014 7:38 AM

JayF, getting the camo to look right is tricky, for sure. A lot depends on what looks good to you. I'm just getting back into modeling and am still struggling to get camo and all the new finishing aspects down. If you have a steady hand and an artists' eye, you can probably just take your airbrush and spray on a pattern. I tried that and couldn't keep the airbrush moving at a consistent enough speed across the model to prevent either light sections, wavy sections, or runny sections! While I continue to work on my fine motor skills and airbrushing, I resorted to using silly putty to mask off my camo pattern. It's a little time consuming, but it provides stunning results. It enables you to you use your airbrush at your own pace and you don't have to worry about a bunch of brush marks like if you did the whole thing with a brush. It will still require some touch-up, though. I posted some pics and comments on "masking with silly putty" in the painting and airbrushing section of the forum. Other members weighed in there, as well. You may want to have a look at that. I hope this helps. best wishes. And. like everyone else said. It's your model. Do what you want.  

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by T26E4 on Sunday, March 9, 2014 8:31 AM

@BarrettDuke: May I suggest this with your next airbrush session?  Thin your paint down to the consistency of 2% milk.  Crank your PSI down to 8-10.  Then practice with your a/b nozzle about 2 inches from the model surface.  You can get tight wavy lines or tight demarcation sprays for area coverage in this way.  Hope this helps

Roy Chow 

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Sunday, March 9, 2014 9:40 AM

By all means, Google hetzer 38t then click on the images tab. There are plenty of color pictures, but if you want an authentic pattern, focus on the black and white pictures and what appear to be period color images.These would be primary sources and are more likely to be real operational schemes. Next, study the artists' illustrations, These are secondary sources, presumably based on real schemes. Third in quality are museum pictures and reenactment vehicles. You can tell these by the high quality of the color image...good focus with no fading. I'd consider these tertiary sources. Lastly, study other models. These are very weak sources as they are interpretations of one of the first three types of sources and should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Some might be dead on accurate, but others could be quite fanciful.

You'll note as you look at these, some had soft edged camo and others hard edged. For the hard edges, cutting low tack masking tape to shape will work on this vehicle since it has nice flat surfaces. If you choose a soft edged pattern, you should be able to replicate this with your air brush. Quite frankly, that's a skill all modelers should develop. Low pressure, thin paint and keeping your tip close to the surface and either perpendicular to the surface of aimed into where the pattern is filled with the color you're using.  

As mentioned, the colors were a base of dunklegelb (dark yellow) with rotbrun (red brown) and dunklegrun (dark green) as disruptive patterns. In the ambush pattern, the colors have  spots of contrasting spots to replicate the mottling effect of sunlight through foliage. Some of these spots were roundish and others in hard edged angular shapes.

Yes, it's yours and you can ultimately do what you want,but I'm assuming you asked for advice so there it is.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    May 2005
Posted by pyrman64 on Saturday, March 15, 2014 12:58 AM

 nevermind

Greg H

"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." Gen. Wm T. Sherman (11 April 1880, Columbus, Ohio)

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