Neubau-Fahrzeug Nr. 3-5 Finished! 05-12-13

wbill76

the doog

Bish

She is looking very nice. I still don't get how you guys can paint the tracks like that.

lol, I was going to say the same thing---I read your response, Bill! I was like, "BIll painting his tracks on the model?!?!?! What have I missed here?!?!"!

It IS a wicked-looking tank, and the camo looks great!

 

Thanks Karl! But to be fair, I can't claim credit for painting them on the vehicle. The tracks were painted in sections off the vehicle after they had set up and then reinstalled once painted. Each track run was left in 4 pieces so I could remove them. I'm not that good!

 Nice tip, not sure i wouyld have tought of that, will have to make a note of it.

Latest round of effort focused on the details for the fenders. The Neubau has a lot of fender space for tools and such but doesn't use the 'normal' type of clamps for them, so I stayed with the kit-supplied clamps and made minor modifications in thinning a couple of the molded-on handles to be more in-scale. Reference pics showed that the crews added two sets of spare tracks to the right hand fender so I used some spare PE brass strip and some Lion Roar hex nuts to create some simple mounts along with two runs of 4 links from the left-over kit supplied tracks. I used a #76 finger drill to open up the pin holes on the first and last link for each spare run for added detail. Last but not least, using the same finger drill, I also opened up the threaded ends on the gun-cleaning rods and used a short length of white rod styrene to simulate the 'male' end of the rod with the cleaning swab.

All the tools were painted using various colors. Metal portions were base coated with MM non-buffing metalizer Gunmetal and lightly dry-brushed with MM Steel. Wood portions were given a base coat of 50/50 MM Dunkelgelb/Light Gray followed by a wash of MM Leather and then dusted with Burnt Umber artist pastels. For the mufflers, I applied a base coat of metalizer Gunmetal, followed by a wash of MM Leather, then stippled MM Rust to create a random pattern. This was followed up with some dry-brushed MM enamel Burnt Umber to blend things back together a bit and tone down the Rust.

Then the tools were installed in place on the vehicle. It's worth noting that the small MG turrets need to be in place before doing this as the front turret in particular can't clear the track tensioning wrench once it's installed. The rear turret also has clearance issues with the jack mount but can still rotate enough in the opposite direction to allow it to be removed. The turret MGs were painted and detailed in the same fashion as the metal tools and glued into place in their respective mounts.

I also used the available time to add some subtle variation to the Schokoladenbraun camo pattern applied last time around. I used MM Italian Dark Brown via airbrush to create some slight lightening and shadows here and there as further prep for the weathering work to come.

Although not shown clearly in the above photos, I also used some regular enamel Silver to paint the interior faces of the small side lights and the large front headlight. Tamiya Clear Red was used for the rear brake light as well to round things out in the detail department.

Next up will be sealing everything and applying the markings.

Awesome work, Bill. The camo looks perfect.

Really nice to see something different here. Those tools look superb too! I like how you photographed them all laid out impeccably!

Thanks Karl! It's a fun little oddball project to work on. While an evolutionary dead-end in German design, it's still fascinating IMHO.

Hi Bill,

as allways there is so much to learn in your blog.

I will adopt to the track trick instantly.

Did you do a similar grey/brown scheme before?

The pictures in this thread are very convincing and I would like to try this on a mark II or 38?

VBR

JT

Spiffy neat, Bill. I always admire the attention to detail in your builds.

How dirty are you going to make it?

Johan

Russ

I totally forgot about your Neubau-Fahrzeug build log Bill!   I have to say its looking mighty fine and serves as an inspiration when I start working on mine. 

Glad you stopped by Ernest! I had to put the build on hold for a while but now it's back on a regular schedule. Hopefully I can finish it up here in the next couple of weeks depending on how things go. Look forward to seeing yours when the time comes!

moving along nicely Bill,I used your track method on my E-10 and i loved the look

Thanks Anthony! Loved the look you got with that E-10, glad to hear the track method worked for you.

One of the most interesting things about the Neubaus in my opinion is not just their rarity but their individuality. #10 has a special case of individuality and the kit provides for this with the decal markings. As you can see in the reference photo below (posted for discussion purposes only), the markings on this vehicle underwent different transformations depending on when in 1940 it is depicted. This particular photo is sometime after the end of April 1940 and includes what appears to be a crew-memorial dated 25.4.40 on the right rear turret. The #10 insignia have also been painted over but are still clearly visible on both the turret sides and rear.

The Dragon finishing guide provides for this but with the added twist that the decal markings are all in white...no panzer gray numbers are provided. So to recreate this particular look, some extra creativity is called for. I started by sealing the previous paint work with a coat of Future acrylic floor polish by airbrush and let that thoroughly dry before adding the markings. The vehicle doesn't have a lot of markings, but most are large/prominent. These were all applied using Walther's Solvaset to get them to snug down tight to the surface. The left side turret number had to be carefully cut at the top of the 0 to allow it to fit over the lifting eye but all the others fit perfectly.

Once the decals were set, they were sealed with another coat of Future by airbrush. Then the fun part began. Working with a fine detail brush and the lightened 80/20 Panzer Gray/Light Gray mix I'd sprayed earlier to create highlights, I hand painted over the white turret numbers. After the paint was dry, I added the three 'R' markings along with the Feldwebel Faulhaber memorial decal again using Solvaset. Once they were set, a final coat of Future sealed them all up and created a uniform surface for the weathering to come. 

Next weekend I will be at the AMPS show in Atlanta so this one may not get an update for a couple of weeks as a result, but the next step will be to start in on the weathering.

Huh!  I never noticed that before about #10 Neubau!  Great attention to detail Bill and I love how you overcame the painted over markings situation!  Good stuff!  Looking forward the weathering of this steel beast!  Have fun at AMPS and with all the attending forum members!

Now that looks awesome!!

I have the 1/72 little brothers of these in my stash. Seeing your build progress to completion makes me want to get them out and start building!

 Wow, I've put out so many compliments on professional model results here on this site...  I wish I could come up with something new and original.

How about "well built and well done", also very well planned out in the tracking strategy.

Ernest

Great work Bill, it's been slow but worth it, to see this fascinating vehicle come to life.

Terry.

That is an interesting tidbit Bill! I love how it turned out on the model, looks great!

Jester75

That is an interesting tidbit Bill! I love how it turned out on the model, looks great!

Terry

While I had a lot of fun at the AMPS show in Atlanta last weekend, the Neubau needed some more attention to keep it on track and not feel so lonely. I started in on the weathering stages but with a dark vehicle the process is a little different. Normally the weathering will darken a finish but as dark as the gray/brown scheme is already dark colors, in this case the weathering lightens it. My goal is to create a dusty look to this big machine, so I started by applying an overall wash of thinned MM enamel Raw Sienna with a large #1 round sable brush. It doesn't have to be neat/even at this stage because of the stages to follow. I also applied the wash more heavily to the fenders and lower sides to provide a sort of demarcation between areas that would get different degrees of dirt/dust exposure.

The Raw Sienna makes for a great foundation to apply dot filters over. The wash isn't sealed as it's not intended to remain as a separate layer but rather as an easier way to apply an 'earth tone' color that will be incorporated with the dot filters. I used MM enamel Panzer Schwarzgrau and Light Gray as my filter color choices. Small dots were applied with spotter brushes and then a square blender brush lightly dampened with thinner was used to blend away the dots and create a streaking/filter effect using repeated strokes in the direction I wanted the streaking to flow.

Here's the turret in the process of getting filters applied:

And how it looks after the filters are done:

This process was applied to the entire vehicle working small sections at a time. Because the enamel dots will dry much faster than oils, it's important to work small areas at a time but the advantage is that the faster drying time allows for a lot of progress in a relatively short space of time.

My experiment with the turret numbers also paid off handsomely. No issues whatsoever with the different layers playing nicely with each other during these weathering phases.

Next up will be a pin wash treatment to bring out some of the details and then on to the pigments!

Looking good Bill.I this uis the first time i have seen enamels used for weathering like this. I like the effects. I am guessing that if you doing doing a 3 tone scheme, you would use colours more like the 3 camo colours.

Bish

Looking good Bill.I this uis the first time i have seen enamels used for weathering like this. I like the effects. I am guessing that if you doing doing a 3 tone scheme, you would use colours more like the 3 camo colours.

Thanks Bish! I use enamels for my dot filters and washes on a regular basis, glad you like the results! For a three-tone scheme I would use totally different colors. Typically start with a wash of Raw Umber and then apply various colors over that depending on how large the color patches are on the camo and what effects I'm trying to produce.

Man Bill, I don't think I have ever seen this two tone scheme as well done as you pull it off. The two colors blend together so well and if I remember correctly you've done black and whites of your builds and it looks just like the real deal. Awesome work as usual!

Great work as always Bill. Sorry to chime in so late.

Eric (Jester)

Hi Bill,

Great link earlier, thank you.

This is excellent.
And you make it look so easy.
Keeps me coming back to this forum.

Thank you for sharing, please keep the good stuff coming:)

Very Best Regards

Johan.

Wow. We've waited along time for this project to mature and it certainly has even worth the wait . Super work Bill.

Terry.

Thanks Terry! Been a long few months but almost across the finish line with this one!

Only a modest amount of progress to report in this session as bench time has been precious the past week. Still moving forward though and that's what counts! This round of effort dealt with applying a pin wash of MM enamel Burnt Umber to provide some depth to the raised details and add another layer to the finish. I used a small pointed brush to apply the wash and after it was dry, used the same brush and some clean thinner to make minor adjustments here and there.

Next up will be the pigment weathering for the lower hull and track runs.