The Ostfront (eastern front) GB 2010/11

Andy,

If you are really wanting to do that particular scheme i am sure not going to stand in your way. Who is to say this particular schem could have never been used on the russian front? As far as i know and from what little knowledge i have there were no standards. Paints were handed out to the crews and they sprayed it on as they saw fit did they not?

I will let you make the call yourself but as a host to our little group here i would say go for it! (EDIT: the germans never stopped fighting the russians even when defending berlin. The term Eastern front can be regarded in more ways than a strict "warfare in russia itself". So late ware equipment has been used fighting the russians)

Richard

Richard- I really appreciate your offer... thanks buddy!  Being little anal about history accuracy especially if I am planning to enter my Panzer IV at model contests I should keep it accurate if possible or judges like Manny would have caught my mistake.  Remember my partly painted figures to go with the Panzer... they were from 1942-1943 too so it is easier to change the camo scheme to make it work. 

I don't mind doing the second scheme or other scheme I saw online that I liked... either ways it will be FUN!   

As you said on the other thread, can always use that scheme on another build. I know Manny pointed out the problem with that scheme for an eastern Front build, and i am sure he has good evidence for it. But if that book is the one i think it is, and i don't have mine with me right now, i would treat it with caution. I have noticed a few errors in that and the related books, especially in the colour plates. I think in one case they use the same plate of a 251 for 2 different units, and there do seem to be a few other errors from memory. But if that tank is 9th Pz Div, then yes, it was on the western front, at least in early 45.

Manny should know a thing or two about camo jobs.

I'm sure it will look good no matter what your choice is.

Hey guys, here a quick update of the T-26T:

Before the move (late May):  Base color with some panel highlights applied

Now:  Post-shading with AB, blended back in with base color, Brown and Green filters applied (Sin Industries). Oh, and I sprayed on a little red star on both sides using a PE template!  Don't know if its accurate but I really wanted some sort of marking on it!

Bufflehead-  It is great to see your T-26 back on the workbench.  Again, great work on the shades...

Guys- Earlier Pat (shoot&scoot) in Armor forum noticed that the muzzle brake was cocked.  I am so glad he did because the brake would have fell off by itself.  When I was about to have it fixed, it just fell off. 

Now it has been fixed with CA... I have to spray Dunky over the muzzle brake again when I have the chance. 

I have decided to give my second top choice of camo scheme a go.  The edge was not hard or too soft...

Using this poster putty to hold the templates...it allows little space between the skirts and templates for softer edges.

It took a while to cut all templates... i used my boys index cards since they are much thicker and stronger.

Here's the result... you will notice the spots where putty were to hold the templates.

Tomorrow I will touch up the Dunky to hide putty spots and see how it looks.  What do you think?  I only want honest answers...   I am not too sure if I like this. 

Maybe I should re-do and cut templates using straighter lines instead of doing curvy templates? 

Buffel, ye nice to see that back, and its looking good.

deaf, great job on the camo, i think it has come out great. I can only spot a couple of areas that don't match the plate in the book.

Wow !!!!!!!!! All this beautiful work goin on here, you guys are killin me man. I am gonna haffta pull out all the stops just to keep up

Andy - Wow, you did a really good job of copying that pattern!  I think it looks great and I luv how you used the sticky tac and paper to get a softer edge to the camo!!  Great work, keep it up!

Thank you guys!  I learned that from one of magazines a while ago as it was used on an airplane.  But if I had to do it again, I would be more careful not to overdo with the over spray.  I would thin the paint more next time.   

BBBUUUTTTTT  please don't kill me...   I wasn't too happy with the result and somebody sent me the actual picture of the Panzer IV #505 in other forum.  Jeez, the artist's drawing wasn't even that close and I liked the real scheme.  Check it out...

It showed how soft the camo edges were so I decided to follow this actual scheme.  Since the picture of #505 panzer showed that it has more dark green so I repainted the base coat using MM Dark Green after pre-shading job. 

With help of my new best friend... iPad sitting next to the airbrush booth I did my best to copy the scheme. 

Then I freehandedly airbrushed the Dunky spots...

This time I am pleased with the result...  but it is not over yet.  I plan to do an touch up on the dark green area.   Then I am thinking about doing an over spray of heavily thinned dark green to make the camo blend better.  Or should I use Dunky instead?  

What do you think?  Thanks again for the comments and looking... you guys rock!

Andy,

That is just spot on my friend. I really think you nailed it right there! Also you gave me a good alternative reason to justify purchasing an ipad with my wife[;P]. "Yes it's expensive honey... but i simply need it for my airbrushing...."

Richard

Woops, forgot the filter comment...

Looking at the picture the underside of the schurzen look more like the dunky yellow, probably due to dust and dirt but a heavier coat on that place might do the trick...

Sorry bout the double post

Richard

That looks grrrrreeeeaaaattttt Andy. I love it. I might have to borrow that idea for my Ferdy since I've seen similar camo schemes.

Diggin' it, Andy!

If I may, I'd suggest a filter of dark green, followed by an application of highly thinned dust/tan (NOT DUNKY). 

Completely different subject matter, but I applied a filter of dark green over the Ocean Gray/Dark Green camo of the P-47 I built at the beginning of the year, and it did a bang-up job tying the camo together.

Compare to the one preceding it (the decals botched it on this one and wrecked the whole build...), which I didn't filter.

I'm planning on doing the same with my Spitfire WIP, with a filter of Dark Earth over the combined Dark Earth/Middle Stone camo.

Also think doing a filter of overall dark green, the filtering the lower half-ish of the panels with dust (I'm a big fan of Tamiya Dust, but any similar shade) would lend more depth to the proceedings.

Andy -- you definitely made the right call, the respray is 100% better and the dark green filter will draw it together and damp down the overspray effect.

Doogs -- great work on that T-bolt! The filter is subtle and excellent -- any chance you could walk us through your technique???

Cheers, Mike/TB379 (who will get back to his Bf 109 if real life -- read PhD thesis completion -- ever leaves him alone...)

Very nice job on this. You first go was excellent when compareing it to the colour plate, but i have come not to trust those plates in that book, in fact colour plates in general are dubious.

I would give a light misting of thinnd DY.

Bufflehead,

Everytime i see your T26 i love it a little bit more. It is such a rarely modeled subject on here and everybody knows i like the russian gear Great preshading job and the red star doesn't look out of place one bit to me. Great work sir!

Guys,

I think i am just about ready for some spraying on my Heinkel... Need to mask the last windows, attach a fiddly bit here and there and off we go Even managed to keep the underside knob bits intact while sanding and filling the area

The masking on this model was the hardest part i must say as everything else seemed to come together very easily and swiftly. The four clearpart nose section had a great fit as well:

I also decided to paint the area underneath and around the top turret window in it's designated black green color as some of it can be seen once the masks come off. Will tidy that up ofcourse before the preshading

Hope you guys like her sofar.

Richard

That's a lot of glass Richard.

Richard- Thanks... I am glad you liked it better.  I have to agree and I will have rest of the tank painted before I can do the filtering part.   Great work on your wingy thing... like Eric said... too many glass scares me!  I will be following with interest as usualll... this has been a great GB. 

Do you really need ask your wife for permission to buy something?  Only kidding... there's a thread going on about Jeff and his wife thing.  Trust me you will love it.  The only part I hates about my iPad is how awkward it is to type so I still prefer to use my laptop for forums if I want to make comments.  And what's worse you can't just type to make comments from iPad at this moment... little complicated but its great for surfing...

Eric- Thank you my buddy!

Doogs- I am with you on this.  I remember your plane WIP.  I have done that on my past builds but this time I wasn't sure which paint I should use because this time I used dark green as base coat instead of usual Dunky.  I will do green filter at the top but use tan/gray for the lower part.

TB- Agreed.  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy to see you here.

Bish- For sure I have learned a lesson not to rely on color plates... still have so much to learn you can see.  Appreciate you taking your time to post comments. 

Kermit man that's a bunch of glass to mask, woulda taken me a week at least !! Sure is gonna look good with colors added though, cant wait to see it.

Richard I bet you're glad the masking is done! Looking forward to seeing the paint go on,build is looking really clean! Would like to put a Hs123 in the g/b if its okay thanks in advance

TREYZX10R

Richard I bet you're glad the masking is done! Looking forward to seeing the paint go on,build is looking really clean! Would like to put a Hs123 in the g/b if its okay thanks in advance

Actually... unless it's a 72nd scale fighter plane i kinda enjoy masking canopies... Such a nice chore to have watching a dvd... Call me weird

Trey, if you give me the data like brand and scale i will be very happy to put you on the list right away. A Hs123 is such a rarely modeled yet interesting to look at subject.

I must say that the participants in this GB are not afraid of doing more uncommon models. Really like it

Richard

Richard thanks! The kit is from Amtech and its 1/48 scale

its a remold of the old Esci kit and comes with a upgraded resin cockpit and unspatted landing gear

got the side panels fitted so far

Richard, nice job on masking that. I like those large clear bits, hasegawa now does those for its B-24 nose's and i found it alot easier to just mask the windows rather that fit all those little windows.

Trey, that looks a nice kit, be interesting to see how it comes together.

Guys,

Thank you each and evryone for your kind comments. By now i regret leaving this kit in my stash for this long as it really is a delightful and trouble free model to build

Trey,

Thank you! I will update the front page after i am done with this post. Have fun and very interesting to see some resin work as i have yet to tackle my first foray into this medium. Looking forward to any and all progress pics

As for me.....

The splinter pattern has been applied (RLM65/70/71) and this morning i applied a coat of future to aid in the decalling process. I expect the shinyness to be a lot less after the winter spraying but i can always add a little coat of flat after all the spraying is done. The little bits of tamyia tape are covering pieces of clearpart that had their masking torn off after i tried to remove the masking used for the splinter.... Should work out fine...

The future messes a bit with the camera but you can see on the undersides part that my preshading came out subtle but effective. Very happy about that myself.

So the general plan now is to leave all this to cure for a full 24 hours, apply some general markings and then some winter camo with flat white. Still trying to work up the courage as it will be my first winter spraying..... Hope it turns out as i am hoping for...

Richard

Nice paint job, what did you use to maks between green's.

Bish,

With the jerry splinter being hard edged i used tamyia tape. Sprayed the undersides first, masked that off completely before spraying the bronze green all over the top. Left it to cure for 24 hours, then masked the lighter green area's and applied the black green.

Richard

I was thinking of useing the same when i get to one of these schemes. Seems to work out nicely. Now looking forward to seeing how you tackle the white wash. Thats something else i have yet to try.

Well, main plan for now is to freehand it completely using my airbrush... The instructions indicate a pattern of bands in a random fashion. This seems to be doable with flat white, using my AB close in, finishing off misting the white inbetween; blending it all in...

Crossing fingers...

Richard

Richard the splinter came out great, looking forward to seeing you tackle the white wash! Still cleaning up the resin parts for the office and they are very brittle! Even with extreme care I've already had to fix some broken details. Hope to have some more pics to post up later this evening provided my fumble fingers do'nt break more parts!