War in the Desert - African campaign GB - 12/9/07 to 5/13/08

Saddler that's a crying shame as the paint job that's on the kit in those photos look A1+.  Btw, what are you as reference for the color info on the Shermy III?  I ask this because I have the 1/35 version of that kit and want to make it accurate when I get round to building it.

Cheers

NEVER TRUST THE INSTRUCTIONS!!

Im in the process of building my Dragon 1/72 Sherman III and for once I followed the instructions without proper research. The instructions indicate a light stone/black colour scheme for the 3 tanks modelled. I had a gut feeling this was wrong and only after i've painted it do I check and find out it was wrong!

No Sherman IIIs were ever painted in this much earlier scheme and im now in the process of repainting it in the correct light mud / blue black scheme

Heres some pics of the wrong Sherman III, It now has an all black base coat again!

SMJ I agree with Dupes you could leave it as is and have a really nice model, but adding the chipping and weathering you're talking about should really make it a killer model.  Good luck.

Cheers

rjkplasticmod: Thanks man!

dupes: You know, I thought the same thing about leaving it as is...a passing thought at best!!!  I lost my "dusty" look in the washes, kind-of a downer, but I know I can airbrush them on again later.  This thing is shaping up to be one of my fav's, I think the next steps will really make it look awesome.  I'll be scratching-up the cargo area floor and sidewalls a lot.  I'll be chipping off the wood rail paint and exposing the wood beneath it...wish me luck...

Wow SMJ...that is looking AWESOME! Shoot, you could just leave it like it is right now (pre-chips and scratches) and be pretty darn happy.

Uh oh...I'm starting to have deuce-and-a-half flashbacks from the Army...sir yes sir! Sir I would love to load and unload full rucks from that deuce repeatedly so you know I am capable of doing that sir!

Looks fantastic SMJ.  Excellent work .

Regards,  Rick 

WIP: I sprayed the "desert dust" on the lower portion of the truck, it is a VERY thin mix of Tamiya Desert Yellow and thinner.  It took about five spray/dry passes to get the look I wanted.  I like the look so much I will do it again near the end of the weathering process to get a fresh "dust" look.  I added the wheels and sprayed them with the same technique. 

Here it is after three oil washes:raw umber, burnt umber and lamp black:

I'll be drybrushing and adding the chips & scratches next...long and tedious process, but well worth it!!!...

darson wrote:

Arki the Hurricane front office is looking great please keep the updates coming.  I have that Ultracast set myself and I'll be interested to see how it goes fit wise.

Darson, the Ultracast sets are typical great fit.  The Hasegawa fit....not so much.

I went out and bought Dragon's latest PzKpfw II Ausf. F so I could canibalize one of the Afrika Corps Decal sets.  The decals are on the Tamiya kit now. 

Next step, seal it all up with Future, then begin the weathering (including the leaf springs).  The tracks and muffler need just one more wash then they should be good to go.

Very nice work on the Jimmy .  I plan on building the 1/48 version one of these days.

Regards,  Rick

Guys:  I finally made some real pogress on my "Jimmy".  This is the 1:35 Tamiya kit and it is superb!!!  There are a few building/painting sequences that need to be thought out a bit, but besides that, this kit was very easy, and quick, to build.  The cargo area can be built several ways.  I've built it strictly for cargo, but it can be built as a troop carrier too.  The wood slat sides can be modeled in the down position as benches(the supports are included). The canvas supports that go over the top are also included in the kit (no canvas cover though). The engine is really well detailed, I plan to put it in a wood crate of some sort and add it as "cargo" since it can't be seen...I'd hate to have it go to waste. 

Here are a couple pics', I'm airbrushing the "desert dust" on the bottom and lower sides now (drying even as I type this).  I will start the washes next:

SMJmodeler

I painted the panzer and the muffler seperate.  I started out with burnt iron for the base color.  I then used vietnam dust followed by a light dusting of standard rust.  I then used the soot pigment to give the apperance around the exhaust pipe.  Kinda played it by eye.  Remembering that in the desert rust would be minimum.  The colors I used were Gunze and the pigments were MIG.

Hope this helps.  Thanks for the complement.

Guys I've just been checking out the last couple of pages of posts and wow there is some really high quality work being posted here.

Rick that's a great looking front office and the detail painting on the seat is fantastic.  I wouldn't  worry too much about the IP as you really won't be able to see a great deal of it once the fuselage halves are closed up.

Arki the Hurricane front office is looking great please keep the updates coming.  I have that Ultracast set myself and I'll be interested to see how it goes fit wise.

Lu what can I say but I love your work.  Thanks for taking the time as usual for the pictures and the descriptions they are an excellent reference for me.  Please keep them coming as your models always turn out brilliantly and I really enjoy seeing them come together.

Moose great looking Panzer, that ones definitely a keeper .  Btw how did you do the weathering on the exhaust it looks spot on the money.

Thanks.  It was  a fun GB that you hosted.  Tried new things and learned alot.

Well everyone here is my finished mark IV.  Man! I've got to tell you the tracks were a pain in the .  But, I got them done.  Only came apart 3 times.  All the final parts came together remarkably well.  I then weathered the entire vehicle with mig pigments.  I used Veitnam dust on the tracks.  I then used the African dust pigment over the entire thing.  I do plan on painting a figure to ride in the commanders hatch.  I wanted to give the impression that the vehicle had stopped during a road march and was covered in dust.  I am very happy in the weathering and painting.  Thanks for the tips on the template method.  Also a thanks to those that pointed out errors, so as I could fix them. Well here are the pics.

[/img]

[/img]

[/img]

moose421 - Looks great to me... i like the layers of color... look forward to the rest of the build!

panzerkampfwagen - good luck in your build!

mokei/Lu - Language is not a problem! I follow your explanations without a problem, your descriptions are very clear. I again thank you for taking the time to write about your build in such depth! Love your pictures.. not to mention the model! I specially like the weathering on the step-up.

Looking better at every step Lu.  Excellent work .

Regards,  Rick

Tamiya 1/48 scale Universal Carrier

Guys - Thank you all so much for your encouraging words. I am glad you are enjoying my evolutions and as for the explanations I know my english expression is limited so I am happy if you can get what I mean and believe one image always helps because modelling is universal language for modellers.

Moose - I think yours Pz IV is going well and no fear when it comes to weathering. As you well say desert is one very hard environment for one tank so you are free to go so far as you want, but please bear in mind not all models can receive all treatments at same time and that is up to service condition. I would not concern so much as for chipping or dusting up a lot, but as for paint not all desert schemes wear off in the same grade and those very famous super battered german desert vehicles showing the original panzer grey base coat were not all repainted in fact. I guess the popular images of early models of Pz IIIs and IVs in the desert belong to tanks which received a temporary desert camouflage just after arriving Africa made with fuel and sand that wore off very quickly and that may not be the case of your tank seeing the version you are making. Bear in mind both axis and allied forces quickly developed specific colors for desert warfare to fix this problem. Please do not get me wrong and I recomend you to follow your references regarding this point because I am not one expert in this theme and I may be wrong likely.

PzKwgn - The Tamiya Pz II is one excellent candidate (shoud I say victim? ) to try new things I think.

The Universal Carrier is going well and reasonably fast. In the past  days I had time to paint some chipping and scratching on the model. With one dark acrylic mix and one fine brush I went adding small dots and chips here and there. To me the important points here are (1) to make chipping small to scale and (2) to reproduce those effects in reasonable areas to achieve one convincing look. Actually I am not adding chipping and scratching only but also other small dark dots/stains that appears due to use, but at this small scale is impossible to make one visual difference between one type and others. It is advisable to add chipping little by little to decide how much the model needs, so not all of them were painted in the same session and this required following applications until I got the look I liked. Also think some of those small chips will fade away later under following weathering treatments.

The running gear received its respective dark wash and chipping and before continuing I made a very light drybrushing with one metalic shade to gain track links definition before adding earth and dust to tracks, so surely I will need to add more metalic shine after completing weathering.

Lu

panzerkampfwagen wrote:

if its not too late put me down for the tamiya panzer II kit and i may do the figures for this as well :-D. will give me a reason to build this lol.

Sure, can't have too many Panzer II's.

Looking good Moose.  Nice work.

Regards,  Rick

Hi All

Sorry I have not kept up.  Been busy with work and all.  But I did get some build time in this last weekend.  Got all but the tracks built.  Still working on those yet.  Also started the painting and weathering.  First sprayed the entire tank in dark gray.  Followed up with sand brown.  I then spray sand yellow for the fading effect.  I also left some areas light on the top two colors.  I tried to represent the sand blasting effect. Don't know if it came though on the pics but will try for next time.  I also put a good amount of chipping on it as well.  I figured that the desert is extreme and reading that the sand colors where not that durable.  Still have the pigments to add.  that and final assembly.  Like mufflers tracks and antenna. 

Well here are some pics.

[/img]

[/img]

[/img]

Excellent painting Lu.  Hard to believe that the running gear is just one piece.

Regards,  Rick

Tamiya 1/48 scale Universal Carrier

Rick - Good work on the Spit and glad to see aircrafts and AFVs run simultaneously in this GB because although I am one armor modeller basically I love making aircrafts from time to time too, so I appreciate both subjects alike.  As for the IP the decal is not a big concern to me meanwhile you get one compact and impacting Pit. Actually I also use decals for IPs at times and I do not regret it to say true.

I follow working on the Universal Carrier. After decaling I made a dark pin wash to highlight all small details all over surfaces. As for the dark wash I more like enamels than oils because faster drying time and matt finish. Recently I am using the new MIG production washes which are enamel based and proved to be very efficent product because works pretty well directly from the bottle -you only have to shake it well before using- and the mix is odorless totally, something I also appreciate to work comfortably. As usual the important point here is to make wash very selective and to avoid darkening the whole model, not mention to you can retouch and remove the excess easily with one pointed brush wet in clean thinner. Also notice I also started coloring some details from this stage (ammo boxes, seats or exhaust, etc...).

In paralell the running gear is recieving its respective treatment and road wheel ruber bands and tracks are primed with acrylics and one pointed fine brush. For those who might wonder if it is hard to paint those details on the assembled running gear truth is it is not so hard to make it if one takes care and time to go litrte by little.  

Lu