Ok gents, here are the final pictures of my completed 1/35 Tamiya StuG III Ausf. G. I did mine up as one that served with "Das Reich" during the Kursk offensive.
Paints were exclusively Tamiya Acrylics. Tamiya Acrylics can be difficult to hand paint with, however they work great of you mix them with a little Tamiya X-20A Thinner. It gets the paint to a more fluid consistency and has a drying retarder that gives you a lot more time to work with the paint. I just mix a small batch in a clean beer bottle cap (got plenty of those laying around ![Smile,Wink, & Grin [swg]](/emoticons/icon_smile_swg.gif)
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The base coat was a blend of XF-60 Dark Yellow with about 20% XF-57 Tamiya Buff. I usually thin my Dark Yellow batches at about 70/30 paint to thinner. I added a bit more XF-57 to lighten it a bit as I sprayed to get some subtle variations in the paint. Don't worry about making it too contrasty as the oil washes will tone the contrast down nicely and add a lot of warmth.
I had a tough time deciding on which green to use. Olive green looked pretty close to the Echelon decal guide for the Das Reich StuG and other profiles I've seen, however from much of my research I had gathered that the green was a bit darker and more "pine" looking to coincide with the type of trees in much of Europe, including European Russia. I never was satisfied with the paint to thinner ratio and had spattering problems. Perhaps the paint was old or I didn't use enough air pressure. I ended up patching up the dark yellow to fix overspray, then very carefully touched up the green again with XF-61.
Weathering was done with burnt umber oil washes, as well as some dot washes of red, light green, dark green and a spot of yellow here and there. Paint chips and scratches were replicated using a piece of foam packing material dipped in a mix of gray with a bit of dark yellow. It is almost like a dry brushing technique as I just dip a tiny corner of the foam into the paint, then tamp it out on a clean sheet of paper until almost dry. Then just carefully touch, glide over, pat... whatever it takes to replicate the effect you're looking for at that particular spot.
I'm still experimenting with how I paint and weather wood. I painted the jack block and tool handles XF-59 Desert Yellow and used light streaking with straight raw umber oil paint. Just a tiny little touch with the brush in the oil goes a long way.
The jack, steel tools and tracks were sprayed Metallic Gray, then weathered with the chipping technigue. Works great for making weathered steel, then just follow up with a black and raw umber wash.
The lenses of the periscopes were done with just a dab of Tamiya smoke, basically like putting a drop so it's a bubble on the plastic. I just kept the StuG verticle while the paint dried.
I finished things off with a final very light dust coat to add a little dustyness from the sunflower fields these things crunched through during Operation Citadel. It also helps for blending. That somehow always ties things together and neutralizes any overdone contrasts with the weathering.
Questions and comments welcome. The figures will be painted at a later date. I may just assemble the figues and pop them in to take some ghost panzer trooper pics. ![Cool [8D]](/emoticons/icon_smile_cool.gif)
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Thanks for a really fun GB gentlemen, I really enjoyed it! And don't worry Tigerman, you'll get your mojo back. Just watch the 2nd Austin Powers movie, then dive into your favorite project. It will all come back. ![Big Smile [:D]](/emoticons/icon_smile_big.gif)
