Model Kit Reviews

[Geek44]

They may come in handy sometime...either for myself or MAGNA or anybody else here who can use 'em.

[MAGNA]

They will certainly be used Geek. thanks again. All I have to do now is get a Panzer III to modify.

[Whiterook]

I was a Draftsman in my younger days, so the "blueprint" style will probably always ing a few bells for me. And mates, it's not the first time I had my bells rung!

[Geek44]

Been slowly plugging away on the Pz. IV by Dragon. What a kit!!
Sometimes when I build, I try to copy another modeller's style or techniques. As I'm not a prolific armour modeller, I'm using this kit to try out the sequence of techniques outlined by Mig Jimenez in his very useful book; 'FAQ. Frequently Asked Questions Of The AFV Painting Techniques'.
You may remember the last post on this, I'd applied a number of filters as per his 'recipe'. Lately, I've been painting on wear and tear to the 'sand' colour that was painted over the dark grey base. I don't want to weather it too much but I don't want it to look brand new either. On reflection, this model has some rather inconsistent battle damage...some holes in the storage bin but all the fenders are straight. Oh well...I still like how it's turning out. Pics soon hopefully...at the moment, I'm typing with one finger with a baby on my arm and a toddler around my leg...

[Geek44]

Last year, I subscribed to a UK mag/book called 'AVF Modeller'. I've mentioned it before, a very good bi-monthly publication with great articles, a very high modelling standard and a section devoted to fascinating and often unusual reference pics...Syrian use of old WW2 German armour during the Six Day War for example. One issue I have reviewed the Panzer IV I'm currently building and the authour had built his as a DAK vehicle as I planned to. I thought his tank looked awesome, but very weathered. VERY weathered. I studied his pictures pretty hard and decided I'd use his pics as reference, but I wouldn't go as far as he did. What happens to the best laid plans is beyond me...here's the story so far.

Pz. IV Front.jpg
This is the front after the application of maybe a dozen different filters, which to recap, are very diluted enamel coats applied with a brush over the acrylic base coat. When I say 'diluted' I mean one drop of paint added to a bottle cap full of turpentine. A 'Filter' differs from a 'wash' in that it's about varying the base colour and not accentuating detail. The effect is more pronounced on the rear deck where I tried to suggest colour variation due to the heat of the engine.

ChpFront.jpg
This is the front after the application of paint chips. I used thinned Tamiya 'Dark Grey' which is lighter than their 'German Grey'. This is where it helps to know how your subject actually worked and what lay behind the access panels and hatches. I don't really know because I'm not really an 'Armour Guy'. I copied the model in my magazine.

ChpRearDeck.jpg
Here's the rear deck. Hopefully, the engine access hatches show a little darker than the rest. I know these doors were opened to work on the engines and one might reasonably expect dropped tools and heavy parts being handled up here.

Jerry's.jpg
These are two of the Jerry cans. The one on the left has had filters applied. The other hasn't.

[Geek44]

I will add to the effect by adding fine lines of lightened base colour to some of the larger chips but not all. Paint can be used to achieve some optical 'suggestions'. On this other guy's model, it gives a kind of 'thickness' to the base colour and pushes the chips optically 'under' the base coat as opposed to painted 'over' it. The process of adding the chips has been pretty time consuming but I like the effect. You'll note I haven't finished yet either...the fenders are still not done. It's all been pretty simple actually and not beyond the abilities of anybody here IMO. Here are some more.
ChpTurretTop.jpg

ChpLeft.jpg

ChpRight.jpg

Chips 1.jpg

Oh yeah...for some reason, Dragon include three five-part jerry cans in the kit but not the bracket to hold them on the fender. I made one out of a strip of aluminium can, found it was too big and made another, smaller one. I then glued on the one that was too big. I also found that the chipping effect didn't look very good until I added some scratches. The 'lines' scribed into the paint in random directions did the trick. Later, I will add a few chips and scratches in lighter base colour to suggest shallower paint damage where the paint is just 'bruised'. I will also pick out a few and add a very dark brown into the grey chips to suggest damage down to the metal. Here, I will have rust effects but that's for a bit later. Will post pics again when it starts to happen.
Peace.

[Tom Houlihan]

WOW!




Damned system said that was too short a message.

[LAH 1 SS]

geek 44 mate a bloody masterpeice that is really nice

[McCoy]

Lookin' extremely good there mate! Ever considered movin' full time to armour? Come on mate We know that you crave for it, join the dark side...

[Geek44]

Originally Posted by McCoy

Lookin' extremely good there mate! Ever considered movin' full time to armour? Come on mate We know that you crave for it, join the dark side...

Too much bloody work mate! Although I have been looking through my magazine collection and saw an ad for Dragon's 'Premium Edition' Elefant. I have two PE sets for one as well as Friulmodel tracks...I'll just HAVE to get that one day.
I'm enjoyin' the armour as a break from aircraft and will certainly do some more. It's not like I DON'T do armour as some kind of rule. My reference collection is pretty limited though. I guess if I had to critique my own work here, I'd be pointing out lots of wear on the paint but all the fenders are still straight. There's some limited damage to the rear of the turret bin (as an experiment) but I don't really have a cohesive 'story' for this vehicle. It participated in the Battle of Tobruk but I don't know how new those vehicles were, or how old...so I don't know how 'accurate' that level or wear n' tear is.
I'm basically using it as a test bed for copying Mig Jimenez' weathering recipe. I'm quite happy with the progress.
Thanks for the encouragement lads...we'll see where it goes from here.
Peace.